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What Are the ACCA Pass Rates for Each Exam?

ACCA pass rates vary widely by paper — from the high knowledge-level papers to the low 30–40% range at Strategic Professional. Here's what the numbers mean and how to beat them.

One of the first things every ACCA student searches for is the pass rate for their next exam — and for good reason. Knowing roughly how many people pass tells you how much the examiner is really demanding, and where you need to focus. ACCA publishes official pass rates after every sitting, but the pattern is remarkably stable from year to year.

How do ACCA pass rates change by level?

As a rule, pass rates fall as you climb the qualification. The knowledge-level papers are designed to be accessible; the Strategic Professional papers are designed to stretch you. Typical ranges look like this:

  • Applied Knowledge (BT, MA, FA): often 70–85% — the highest pass rates in the qualification.
  • Applied Skills (LW, PM, TX, FR, AA, FM): usually 40–55%, with law papers higher and PM/FR/AA among the tougher ones.
  • Strategic Professional (SBL, SBR, AFM, APM, ATX, AAA): frequently 30–50%, with SBL sitting higher and APM/AAA often at the bottom.

In other words, at Strategic Professional level roughly half the room fails. That is not because the content is impossible — it is because most students under-apply their knowledge to the scenario and run out of time.

Why are the pass rates so low at the top?

The single biggest reason students fail the professional papers is not a lack of technical knowledge. It's exam technique. The most common failure patterns are:

  1. Writing everything you know instead of answering the specific requirement.
  2. Failing to apply points to the scenario — generic textbook answers score badly.
  3. Poor time management, leaving whole requirements unanswered.
  4. Ignoring the professional-skills marks that are handed out for structure and clarity.

How do you get above the pass line?

The examiners repeat the same advice every sitting: pass marks come from applied, well-structured answers, not from volume. Practically, that means:

  • Practise full questions under timed conditions, not just reading model answers.
  • Mark your own answers against the official marking scheme so you see where the marks actually are.
  • Always tie each point back to the scenario — name the company, use the numbers.
  • Plan before you write so every requirement gets its fair share of time.

This is exactly why practising with instant, examiner-style marking matters. Seeing your real mark on a real question — and precisely which marks you dropped — is the fastest way to move from the wrong side of the pass rate to the right side.