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

The SBR
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 SBR on aCOWtancy
days until the SBR exam
Thursday 10 September · fourth day of the sitting
How it works

Seven days on the marks nobody practises

The week follows the paper: ethics, groups, your weakest area, revenue, instruments and impairment, then the judgement questions. Each day: a short brief that teaches the topic, then genuine past-exam questions, to time. Every one of them is a written question, because in SBR every markable question is. 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 area 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 Ethics — the 12 marks nobody practises Topic 1 of 6

The brief

We start here because of a fact worth knowing before you plan another day of revision. Ethics has appeared in every single SBR sitting in the bank — December 2025, June 2025, December 2024, June 2024, December 2023. Always in Question 2. Always worth 10 marks. And in most sittings it carries a further 2 professional marks on top.

That is a twelve-mark block, in the same place, every time. It is the most predictable thing in the paper — and it is the block candidates are least likely to have written out and had read by anybody.

Here is why it goes wrong. Everybody can name the five principles: integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality, professional behaviour. Naming them is close to worthless. The mark scheme wants the threat identified in this scenario, the principle it threatens, why the pressure exists, and what the accountant should actually do about it. Four moves. Most answers make one.

The professional marks are stricter still, and they are the ones you cannot mark yourself. They are not awarded for knowing more. They are awarded for the relevance of the principles discussed and the actions identified — which is a polite way of saying: did you engage with these facts, or did you paste a paragraph you had ready? You cannot tell that about your own writing. You are too close to it. Somebody has to read it.

Threat in this scenario → principle it breaches → why the pressure exists → what to do about it. Four moves per issue. A named principle on its own is not a mark.
The classic trap: the recital. "The financial controller must act with integrity and objectivity" is a definition and scores nothing. "The controller is being asked to sign off an inventory figure he knows the system has overstated, days before a covenant test — his integrity is directly threatened, and the pressure is the covenant, not the number" is a mark, and it is on the way to a professional mark too.

On actions: be concrete and escalate in order. Gather the facts. Raise it internally with the person responsible. Escalate to those charged with governance. Document everything contemporaneously. Take advice — from the professional body, then legal. Resign only as a last resort, and say so. A list that jumps straight to "resign" reads as untrained.

When you reveal the model answer tomorrow, look for one thing: how often the company's own name appears. In a good ethics answer it is in almost every sentence. That is the entire difference between 4 marks and 10.

Your question

Ultra question

Genuine ACCA past exam · December 2025 · Q2(a) · Tacoco Co

Using exhibit 1, discuss the ethical issues arising for the financial controller and the financial accountant. Your answer should outline appropriate actions which should be taken to resolve these issues. (10 marks + professional marks)
⏱ 20 minutes10 marks + professionalTwo people, two positions

Note the requirement names two people. They are not in the same position — one has authority the other does not, and the right action differs accordingly. An answer that treats them as one person cannot reach full marks.

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 Groups — control, and who counts as the acquirer Topic 2 of 6

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

Day 3 Your weakest area Chosen by your Day 0 diagnostic

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

Day 4 Revenue — five steps, written out Topic 3 of 6

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

Day 5 Financial instruments and impairment Topic 4 of 6

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

Day 6 Judgement, estimates and sustainability — the Q4 slot Topic 5 of 6

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

Day 7 The hardest skill is stopping Light day — on purpose

🔒 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 a point, an explanation and an application. 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 SBR 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 SBR Ultra bank — 28 genuine past-exam questions, 205 marks, 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 SBR
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 Thursday.
Marked within 48 hours — seven days a week, usually much faster.

Don't sprint alone

The SBR 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