TAX Test 3 P26F Strategic Blueprint

TAX Test 3 Strategic Blueprint — Your 8-week plan to 27 July 

The foundation of the Test 3 study build. Tells you what to focus on, in what order, and what to expect as each topic pack releases between now and the exam. 

What the Blueprint is.

A 9-page strategic document that tells you what Test 3 will most likely test, what Tests 1 and 2 have already taken off the table, and how to spend the eight Thursday coaching weeks between now and 27 July 2026. Built on five Test 3 sittings (P22S–P25S) cross-read against the IAC and ITC leading indicators, it's the analytical foundation that every topic pack in this series is built on. 

Why Test 3 is predictable.

Test 1 owns VAT and CGT; Test 2 owns deductions and corporate tax. Everything left lands in Test 3 — and the examiner builds it the same way every sitting: one or two natural persons taxed through employment and fringe benefits, with a PAYE review, then a trust, donation or deceased estate hung off the same family, and a company sub-question underneath. The Blueprint shows you that spine and ranks every topic by how likely it is to appear, from employment income and integrated VAT (very high) through trusts and donations tax (high) to estate duty — the rising risk the IAC has been signalling. 

The 8-week plan.

The Blueprint maps every Thursday session to a topic, a deliverable, and a phase — roughly 70% building, 20% revising, 10% on a full timed mock. Topic packs release on the same schedule, in the order students actually need them: employment income, fringe benefits & PAYE first (the foundation), then allowances, share schemes & lump sums, trusts (s7/s7C), donations tax, estate duty, and finally the integration overlay. 

What comes with each topic pack.

Three core artefacts in every pack: a topic guide (PDF) teaching the principle from first principles, a mock question (PDF) written in authentic Milpark Test 3 style, and a four-zone solution workbook (Excel) with live formulas and per-line mark annotations. Where a topic warrants it, the pack also includes additional aids — for example, Topic 1 ships with a Build-It PAYE & fringe-benefit workshop, because the Seventh Schedule basket and the employees'-tax inclusion rule underpin almost the entire individuals side of the paper. 



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