FR exam: Thursday 10 September  ·  One week, taught day by day  ·  You choose which week
FR · September 2026 sitting

The FR
Sprint

One intense week, on one page. One topic a day, taught right here — then the real past-exam question that goes with it, ready to answer and get marked on. You pick the week. Just show up seven days running.

Start Day 1 FR on aCOWtancy
days until the FR exam
Thursday 10 September · day four of the sitting
How it works

Seven days, run like the paper

The week follows the paper itself: calculate the ratios, interpret them, prepare the group figures, then analyse against a benchmark. Each day: a short brief that teaches the topic, then genuine past-exam questions, to time. Pick any week before the exam — start on a Monday, or start today. Days 1 to 6 earn the marks; Day 7 is deliberately light, so if you run it as your final week it lands the day before the exam.

Loop · 1

Submit tonight

Draft in a doc, paste in, keep your draft. There's no save-as-draft, and you'll want your answer again on Day 6.

Loop · 2

Feedback first

Next morning, read yesterday's marking before you touch today's topic. It's the cheapest teaching you'll ever get.

Loop · 3

Reveal with a target

Each day tells you the one thing to look for in the model answer. Open it hunting, not browsing.

Loop · 4

Redo the weakest

Day 6, 4pm: your lowest-scoring answer gets its second attempt. That resubmission arrow is the week's proudest number.

0 of 7 days done

Day 0 · before you start

Find your weak spot

Five-ish minutes. It follows your mistakes — get one wrong and it digs deeper there — and it decides which calculation family your Day 3 question targets. Answer honestly, tag how sure you were, and it'll tell you the difference between what you don't know and what you don't know you don't know.

Diagnostic

Ready when you are

Six questions to start — one per Sprint topic — then it follows whatever you get wrong. Ten to fifteen questions at most.

Sprint access

Enter your access code

It's in your purchase confirmation. Day 1 is open below either way.

Day 1 Ratios — the five marks nobody should drop Topic 1 of 6

The brief

Half of FR Section C is interpretation, and every interpretation question starts with a calculation you are simply handed the numbers for. These are the most reliable marks on the paper: no judgement, no scenario reading, just the right numerator over the right denominator, shown as a working.

The examiner protects these marks with bracketed instructions, and that is where candidates lose them. June 2024 asked for return on capital employed excluding deferred income and the current ratio excluding deferred income. Perfect arithmetic on the wrong base scores nothing. Read the bracket, obey the bracket, and show the adjustment on its own line so the marker can see you obeyed it.

The second discipline is consistency. You are calculating two years so they can be compared. If you exclude something in 20X9 you must exclude it in 20X8, or tomorrow's comparison is built on sand.

Gross margin = gross profit ÷ revenue · Operating margin = operating profit ÷ revenue · ROCE = operating profit ÷ (equity + long-term borrowings) · Current ratio = current assets ÷ current liabilities · Receivables days = trade receivables ÷ revenue × 365
The classic trap: ignoring the words in brackets. "Excluding deferred income" appeared twice in June 2024 — two ratios, and both are wrong if you use the unadjusted figures. Write the adjusted base as a visible working: $X + $Y − deferred income $Z = $W.

When you reveal the model answer tomorrow, look for one thing: every ratio has its workings shown as a fraction, not just an answer. Marks live in the fraction.

Your question

Ultra question

Genuine ACCA past exam · June 2024 · Q2(b) · Rey Co

Calculate the following ratios for Rey Co for the years ended 31 December 20X8 and 20X9: • Gross profit margin; • Operating profit margin; • Return on capital employed (excluding deferred income); • Current ratio (excluding deferred income); and • Trade receivables collection period. (5 marks)
⏱ 9 minutes5 marksTwo years, same basis

Before you submit: draft in a doc and paste it in — there's no save-as-draft, submitted answers can't be retrieved, and you'll want your first attempt beside the feedback on redo day.

Day 2 Interpretation — where FR is actually won Topic 2 of 6

🔒 Locked — enter your Sprint access code at the top of this section.

Day 3 Your weakest area — picked by your diagnostic Topic 3 of 6

🔒 Locked — enter your Sprint access code at the top of this section.

Day 4 Goodwill — and why the group is one company Topic 4 of 6

🔒 Locked — enter your Sprint access code at the top of this section.

Day 5 EPS and the adjustments that move profit Topic 5 of 6

🔒 Locked — enter your Sprint access code at the top of this section.

Day 6 The flagship — 15 marks against a sector benchmark Topic 6 of 6

🔒 Locked — enter your Sprint access code at the top of this section.

Day 7 Light day — on purpose The day before

🔒 Locked — enter your Sprint access code at the top of this section.

Non-negotiables

The four rules of the week

Rule 1

Questions beat notes

Each day's brief takes ten minutes to read. The question takes the rest of the session. That ratio is the whole method — the marks are earned in the doing, not the reading.

Rule 2

To time, every time

1.8 minutes per mark. Every question above has its timer printed on it. Set it, and when it rings, stop — in the real exam the next question's first marks are the easiest ones left on the paper.

Rule 3

Answer the question asked

Underline the verb. "Identify and explain" pays twice — the name and the reason. "Analyse" wants a movement, a cause and a consequence. And quote the scenario: generic answers score generic marks, which is to say almost none.

Rule 4

Get marked, don't self-certify

You cannot mark your own FR answer objectively — everyone gives themselves the benefit of the doubt. Submit each day's answer and let the feedback tell you what an examiner would actually pay for it.

The unfair advantage

Every question above is in your Marking Hub

The questions in this sprint are real past ACCA exam questions from the FR Ultra bank — 19 genuine past-exam questions, every one markable with tutor-led marking, seven days a week, back within 48 hours. Answer each day's questions and by the end of your week you'll have a folder of personal marked feedback to revise from.

Worth knowing: your access runs right up to exam day, and the last guaranteed submission is around midday on Wednesday 9 September — the day before the exam. Sprint early and you leave yourself the run-in to resubmit and improve.

Get Ultra for FR
Real past exam questions — the actual June 2025, Dec 2024 and earlier sittings. Not made-up mocks.
Two attempts per question — get your feedback, fix it, prove you fixed it before Thursday.
Marked within 48 hours — seven days a week, usually much faster.

Don't sprint alone

The FR textbook, past papers and practice questions are on aCOWtancy for every topic in this sprint. From an ACCA Platinum Approved Learning Partner.

Start at acowtancy.com