PM exam: Wednesday 9 September  ·  One week, taught day by day  ·  You choose which week
PM · September 2026 sitting

The PM
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 PM on aCOWtancy
days until the PM exam
Wednesday 9 September · day three of the sitting
How it works

Seven days, run like the paper

The week follows the paper itself: cost it, decide it, budget and control it, then measure the performance. 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 CVP analysis — the calculation banker Topic 1 of 6

The brief

Cost-volume-profit analysis asks one question: how far can sales move before profit disappears? The examiner's favourite version is multi-product — several models, one pot of fixed costs — and it is marked line by line: each ratio, each working, each stated decimal place is its own mark.

The spine of every answer: contribution first. C/S ratio is contribution over sales, per product. Weight it across the sales mix and you get the weighted average C/S ratio; divide fixed costs by that and you have breakeven revenue. The margin of safety is then just the gap between budgeted sales and breakeven, as a percentage of budget — and the marks for "explain the implications" are earned by saying what the cushion means: how much demand can fall before losses start, and how nervous or comfortable that should make the board.

C/S ratio = contribution ÷ sales · Breakeven revenue = fixed costs ÷ weighted average C/S ratio · MOS% = (budgeted − breakeven) ÷ budgeted × 100
The classic trap: ignoring the rounding instruction. Dec 2025 asked for three decimal places on the ratios and one on the MOS — answers that ignore the note bleed easy marks. Read the note, obey the note.

When you reveal the model answer tomorrow, look for one thing: the workings are a tidy table — product columns, contribution row, weighting row — not a paragraph of arithmetic.

Your questions — two parts, one scenario

Ultra question

Genuine ACCA past exam · December 2025 · Q1(a) · Kaylene Co

Calculate the contribution to sales ratio for each of the three models of washing machine and the overall weighted average contribution to sales ratio for Kaylene Co. Show the ratios as decimal figures to three decimal places. (3 marks)
⏱ 5 minutes3 marksTable of workings
Ultra question

Genuine ACCA past exam · December 2025 · Q1(b) · Kaylene Co

Calculate the margin of safety as a percentage for Kaylene Co AND explain the implications of the margin of safety percentage for Kaylene Co. Show the MOS percentage to one decimal place. (5 marks)
⏱ 9 minutes5 marksCalculate, then explain

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 Variances — who actually gets the blame? Topic 2 of 6

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

Day 3 Core calculations — your weakest family, targeted Topic 3 of 6

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

Day 4 Limiting factors — rank by the scarce thing Topic 4 of 6

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

Day 5 Divisional performance — ROI, RI and bad bonuses Topic 5 of 6

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

Day 6 Performance measurement — the 3Es, with the data Topic 6 of 6

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

Day 7 Final checks — light day, on purpose Light day

🔒 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. "Discuss" wants developed points, not lists. 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 PM 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 ten questions in this sprint are real past ACCA exam questions from the PM Ultra bank — 22 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 Tuesday 8 September — the day before the exam. Sprint early and you leave yourself the run-in to resubmit and improve.

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

Don't sprint alone

The PM 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