Can video games help you ace your ACCA exams?

In the twenty-first century, video games are a big part of many people’s lives. From the Candy Crush requests sent to you on your Facebook profile to the latest PS4 console - video games come to your rescue every time you are bored or want to de-stress.

While you may know of the social benefits of playing video games, you may not be aware of how they can also help with your accountancy career. Video games present a number of cognitive benefits that can pay off when you are preparing for your ACCA exams.

Read on to learn more about the benefits of video games, and we’ll highlight a few games that can help get you a good score in your ACCA exam.

How can video games help you with ACCA preparation?

Here are a few advantages of video games for ACCA preparation:

·       Better concentration and comprehension: Most ACCA papers and some video games have two things in common-they can be difficult to understand and require your full attention. Playing video games can develop your concentration levels and provide you with an improved ability to comprehend complex scenarios in a shorter time. Both these skills can help you crack difficult questions in ACCA modules.

·       Higher retention of concepts: Studying for an accountancy test can require you to cover a lot of subject knowledge and difficult concepts that can be hard to remember for a long period of time. Playing video games that involve multiple storylines or characters can help you retain small details and processes and store more information. This can help you prepare for subjects that require you to remember many technical details.

·       Enhanced problem-solving skills: Video games are structured in such a way that the difficulty level keeps increasing. Hence, video games help you develop persistence and patience-qualities that can help you go a long way with ACCA preparation. Your mind will also become more analytically sharper – a skill that can help with financial strategies in an exam.

Games that can help you with ACCA

While all video games have their own advantages, here are a few game suggestions that may help with your ACCA preparation:

·       Monkey Labs: This game involves solving maths puzzles including playing with crates, moving platforms, lasers, magnets, mirrors, switches and buttons. The rooms are set up as environmental puzzles, challenging the player to solve them in a limited time-frame. This balance between fun and learning develops your analytical and maths solving skills. This can be exceptionally helpful when you are preparing for subjects like taxation and financial accounting.

·       Rabbits and Wolves: This is an interesting statistical and probability game that can develop your thinking and comprehension skills. The primary role of the game is to build a natural habitat for the rabbits and wolves, in which they can survive for a long time. Building an ecosystem which sustains itself is key in today’s ecosystem. If you can master the art of assigning the right values for the constraints in this game, this can help with the statistics sections of ACCA. The artificial intelligence (AI) incorporated into the game will also help your strategy-making ability.

·       Rapid Math: This game involves solving maths equations in a given time, like a rapid-fire round where one must answer a set of questions before the time runs out. The early round starts with basic arithmetic equations, such as summation and multiplication, then moves to more complex equations. This game can help you prepare for ACCA subjects like accounting and advanced taxation.

·       Age of Empires: This is a strategy game that can be played on both your phone and computer. A customisable army features, and it’s up to you to come up with a strategy for the troops, testing your analytical and decision-making skills. This will also help you understand the power of teamwork.  This game is particularly helpful when you are studying for strategic business reporting, financial management, and performance management. 

Though video games might take your mind off the stress of preparing for ACCA, they will not necessarily compensate for extensive studying for the exam. Of the various ways to prepare for ACCA, the best way is to complement video gaming with an ACCA preparatory course from the London School of Business and Finance. The course can help you cover all the modules in great detail and provide mock tests for better practice. To learn more about the course, click here. Find out how you can get a free Oculus Go VR headset when you enrol on a LSBF online postgraduate programme.

This article was written by Sweha Hazari and edited by Anisa C.