BCTA MACF Blueprint Test 1 schedule

MACF Test 1 Strategic Blueprint & Study Pack — Your build-up plan to 18 August

The foundation of the Test 1 study build: what to focus on, in what order, and how to spend every week from the 10 July start to exam day.

What the Blueprint is

A strategic document built on all seven past Test 1 sittings — B22F through to the most recent, Stellar Air (B26F, March 2026) — each read line by line against its mark plan. It's the analytical foundation every topic guide and mock in this pack is built on.

Why is Test 1 predictable?

Test 1 owns Unit 1: cost information, costing systems, strategy and short-term decisions. No corporate finance — it's never once appeared in seven sittings. The examiner builds every paper from the same blocks: a strategy or business-risk opener, the costing engine, a relevant-costing decision with a key-factors discussion attached, and either a multi-product breakeven or a full variable-vs-absorption profit statement. The Blueprint ranks every topic by how likely it is to appear — from relevant costing and key factors (in all seven papers) through business risks and ABC (six of seven) to the variable-vs-absorption statement, the swing block that was the single largest requirement on the most recent paper.

The two paper shapes

Test 1 comes in two forms, both reconciling to 60 marks: Shape A is breakeven-dominant; Shape B turns on a 20-mark-plus costing statement — and Shape B is exactly what the most recent sitting was. You get the honest mark-band math on each, and why the costing statement is the block most likely to decide your result.

The build-up plan

Sequenced by predicted mark value, not the content-release schedule — so you cross 75% of the high-value topics by 30 July and finish the full predicted paper by 2 August, sixteen days before you sit. Week 1 costing engine and strategy, Week 2 breakeven, Week 3 relevant costing and limiting factors, Week 4 integration, then a ten-day run-in on two full timed mocks.

What comes with each week?

A topic guide, a mock question, and a challenger — a harder variant with a built-in trap — each mock and challenger with its own full solution and per-part mark plan, all in authentic Milpark Test 1 style. The pack also ships the flagship 60-mark mock (Zamani Ceramics) with a suggested solution and a four-tab Excel mark plan that reconciles to 60 three ways.

Prepared by David Du Preez, CTA Thrive Coach. Independent — not affiliated with Milpark Education.