22108 Chap.13 AAA Final Exam Playbook: Restricted Open Book and Excel
AAA Final Exam Playbook: Restricted Open Book and Excel
Assessment task 3 carries 50% of the subject mark and is sat online in the UTS formal examination period, with your individual sitting time published through MyStudentAdmin. What is officially stated is a short list: the weight, the window, the book status - restricted open book, which is a third state and must never be read as either open or closed book - online delivery requiring a laptop or computer with a working web-cam and microphone (an iPad or tablet is explicitly not sufficient, and a UTS-provided computer can be requested on hardship grounds), that Excel is needed on your own machine, and that generative AI is not permitted. What is NOT published anywhere in the subject materials this guide was built to mirror is just as important: the duration, the question count, the marks per section, the question-type mix, and exactly which materials 'restricted' permits. This chapter tells you what to do about that.
What this chapter covers
- 01What is officially stated: 50% weight, the UTS formal examination period, restricted open book, online delivery, web-cam and microphone required, tablet not sufficient, generative AI not permitted, Excel required
- 02What is NOT stated and must not be guessed: duration, question count, marks per section, question-type mix, and the permitted-materials list (the UTS Handbook entry for an EARLIER offering records a length of 2 hours - prior-offering evidence only)
- 03How to prepare for a restricted open book exam: build one compact page of triggers around method, not content you hope to copy
- 04The four repeatable procedures worth automating: the four-question recording algorithm, the statement order of operations with the two articulation formulas, the four-family ratio set with the averaging rule, and the identify-controls / identify-weaknesses / design-a-control answer shape
- 05Excel readiness: cell references, SUM and AVERAGE, and formatting a submission so it reads cleanly under time pressure
- 06Technical setup for an online exam: device, web-cam, microphone, power, connection, workspace, and the permitted materials confirmed against the Subject Outline
- 07A dependency-ordered revision route through the twelve official topics - no topic weighting is published, and Topics 7-12 are the whole management-accounting half
- 08The mark map: Task 1 Part A 10%, Part B 25%, Task 2 two stages totalling 15%, and the final exam 50% - the single largest block
An exam-shaped run from transactions to a ratio
- +1Check the opening position first - thirty seconds that protects everything after it. Assets 15,000 + 20,000 = $35,000; liabilities and equity 10,000 + 20,000 + 5,000 = $35,000. Balanced, so the opening data is complete.
- +1Post the flows. (1) Cash +18,000 and Revenue +18,000; Inventory -10,000 and Cost of sales -10,000 in equity - two legs. (2) Cash -6,000 and Accounts payable -6,000; no expense, because this payment only settles a liability - the cost of those goods becomes an expense when they are sold, as in event (1). (3) Wages payable +2,000 and Wages expense -2,000 in equity; no cash. (4) Cash -1,000 and Dividends -1,000 in equity; not an expense.
- +1Closing assets. Cash = 15,000 + 18,000 - 6,000 - 1,000 = $26,000. Inventory = 20,000 - 10,000 = $10,000. TOTAL ASSETS = $36,000, all of it current.
- +1Closing liabilities. Accounts payable = 10,000 - 6,000 = $4,000. Wages payable = $2,000. TOTAL LIABILITIES = $6,000, all of it current.
- +1Profit and equity. Revenue 18,000 - cost of sales 10,000 = gross profit $8,000; less wages 2,000 = NET PROFIT $6,000. Retained earnings = 5,000 + 6,000 - 1,000 = $10,000, so equity = 20,000 + 10,000 = $30,000. Proof: net assets = 36,000 - 6,000 = $30,000 = total equity.
- +1The ratios. Current ratio = current assets / current liabilities = 36,000 / 6,000 = 6.0 times. Profit margin = net profit / revenue = 6,000 / 18,000 = 33.3%. One line of interpretation: liquidity is very comfortable, but half the opening inventory has been sold and not replaced, so the position is strong on paper and thin on trading stock - the question to ask next is what the replenishment plan is.
Key terms
- Restricted open book
- The book status stated for this exam - a third state that is neither open nor closed book. Some materials are permitted and others are not, and the permitted-materials list is not stated in the subject materials this guide was built to mirror. Read the official statement on your Subject Outline and exam instructions, and assume nothing is permitted until you have.
- Formal examination period
- The university-scheduled window in which centrally timetabled exams are sat, with an alternative period for approved cases and an official results release date afterward. Your individual sitting date and time come from MyStudentAdmin, not from the subject.
- Reweighting policy
- Where a student fails to submit 6 of 11 quizzes and/or 6 of 11 class submissions, that component's weighting may be added to the final exam - conditional on applying for, receiving and complying with approved special consideration. Without approval a mark of zero is awarded. It is a reweighting rule, not a hurdle.
- Online exam equipment
- A laptop or computer with a working web-cam and microphone, with Excel installed. An iPad or tablet is explicitly not sufficient. Students facing hardship can request a UTS-provided computer. Confirm the current equipment checklist through Canvas well before the examination period.
- Trigger sheet
- A one-page summary built around METHOD rather than content - the expanded equation, the order of operations, the two articulation formulas, the ratio set with the averaging rule, the sign conventions, the three-part control answer shape. It is the right form of preparation when the permitted-materials list is unknown, because it works even if you cannot bring it in.
AAA Final Exam Playbook: Restricted Open Book and Excel FAQ
How long is the 22108 final exam and how many questions does it have?
Not stated. The duration, the number of questions, the marks per section and the question-type mix are not published anywhere in the subject materials this guide was built to mirror, and guessing at them would be worse than useless. The UTS Handbook entry for an EARLIER offering of this subject records a length of 2 hours - that is prior-offering evidence, not a statement about your offering. Get the real answer from your Subject Outline, from the Week 12 large workshop (which is an official overview of the exam with hints and tips), and from the Study Preparation module in Canvas, and get your sitting date and time from MyStudentAdmin.
What does 'restricted open book' actually let me bring?
The permitted-materials list is not stated in the subject materials this guide was built to mirror, so the honest answer is: find out officially before you rely on anything. Restricted open book is a third state - some materials are permitted and others are not - so never soften it to open book and never harden it to closed book. Practically, prepare as though you must be able to WORK fluently rather than look things up: build one compact page of method triggers rather than a pile of notes, because a page you have built and rehearsed is useful even if you cannot take it in. The Subject Outline and the exam instructions define what is permitted; the Week 11 and Week 12 workshops are where it is explained.
Why does Excel matter in an accounting exam?
Because this subject assesses accounting through spreadsheets from Week 2 onward and Excel is required on your own machine for the final exam. It is also assessed inside the in-tutorial rubric all session, where the top band requires appropriate use of formulas and functions such as SUM and AVERAGE plus text and cell formatting, and the bottom band is typed text with no formulas at all. So exam readiness here is tool readiness as well as content readiness: practise building the worksheet to trial balance to statements pipeline in Excel against the clock, using cell references rather than typed constants, until the mechanics cost you no thinking time.
Can AI help me prepare for the 22108 final exam?
For preparation, yes - in the exam itself, absolutely not: generative AI is NOT permitted in the final exam, and the UTS academic-integrity policy applies. As a study aid, Sia is an AI tutor built to mirror how 22108 is taught and assessed at University of Technology Sydney, including this subject's no-debits-and-credits convention that generic models get wrong. Use it to rehearse the four repeatable procedures, to generate fresh full-chain practice questions across transactions, statements and ratios, and to check your working step by step when a proof will not tie. It explains the method and checks your reasoning; it does not do graded assessment for you.
Is there a hurdle on the final exam?
No hurdle is stated anywhere in the subject materials this guide was built to mirror - but the definitive UTS Subject Outline was not captured, so treat the position as unverified rather than settled and confirm it on your own Subject Outline. Do not mistake two adjacent rules for a hurdle: the UTS Handbook's university-wide statement that a student must achieve at least 50% of a subject's total marks is a pass mark, and the Task 1 reweighting policy is a reweighting rule. There is also a university-wide borderline-result mechanism that can allow a supplementary examination in narrow circumstances, capped at a Pass - again, that is a UTS-wide rule, not a 22108 hurdle.
Exam move
Work backwards from what is knowable. Because the format is not published, do not build a strategy around a guessed structure - build it around the four procedures the subject actually drills, and practise each until it costs no thinking time: the four-question recording algorithm, the worksheet to trial balance to profit and loss to statement of changes in equity to balance sheet order of operations with the two articulation formulas, the four-family ratio set with the averaging rule and net credit sales, and the identify-controls / identify-weaknesses / design-a-control answer shape. Cover breadth first so you can start every topic, remembering that Topics 7 to 12 are the entire management-accounting half and are as examinable as the financial half. Rehearse in Excel, timed, using live formulas and a check cell, because the tool is part of the assessment. Build one page of method triggers rather than a pile of notes, and treat it as a rehearsal aid rather than something you are guaranteed to have with you. Do the technical checks early rather than the week before: laptop or computer (not a tablet), web-cam, microphone, power, connection and a quiet workspace, and request a UTS-provided computer through the proper channel if you need one. Use the subject's own free resources - the practice quizzes with unlimited attempts, the additional-practice pages, the drop-in sessions and U:PASS - and go to the Week 12 workshop, which is the official exam overview. Then confirm the format, the permitted materials, the hurdle position and your sitting time on the Subject Outline and MyStudentAdmin rather than on anything you remember.
Working through AAA Final Exam Playbook: Restricted Open Book and Excel in 22108? Sia is AskSia’s AI Accounting tutor — ask any 22108 AAA Final Exam Playbook: Restricted Open Book and Excel question and get a clear, step-by-step explanation grounded in how 22108 is taught and assessed. Read this chapter free, then take your hardest questions to Sia.
