CTA Exam Support, Built Around Your Trainees

The CTA is a demanding qualification, and the standard course alone isn't enough for every student. We provide tailored exam support for firms' CTA trainee groups. Small-group sessions, individual feedback and mock exams that work alongside their main course provider, keeping your people on track to pass.

Please get in touch to discuss your team's needs.
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Trusted CTA Exam Support

ExtraTax Training has supported Chartered Tax Adviser students at leading firms for every exam sitting since November 2022, across Advanced Technical and Application and Professional Skills papers, including Taxation of Larger Companies and Groups and Taxation of Owner-Managed Businesses. With our associate trainers, we can support trainees across the full range of CTA papers.

Working alongside your course provider, not replacing them

Your trainees' main course provider teaches the syllabus, supplies the study manuals and runs the tuition and revision programme. We don't duplicate their CTA classes.

What we add is the layer the big course providers can't: small-group sessions tailored to your students, individual feedback on their work from early in the study period, and personal support that keeps them progressing. Our schedule is designed around the main provider's tuition and revision stages, so the two fit together rather than compete.
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Why firms invest in extra support

Becoming a Chartered Tax Adviser is the gateway to your trainee taking on more responsible work at higher charge-out rates. A fail costs far more than an exam fee: months of repeated study leave, the disruption of a resit cycle, a stalled member of the team. And, where firm policy limits retakes, potentially losing a promising person you've already invested years in.

Targeted support changes those odds. Problems surface early through weekly homework feedback rather than at the mock. Students who would otherwise drift between tuition stages stay engaged. And the firm gets visibility: we flag concerns to you while there's still time to act, not after results day.

What the support looks like

Every programme is tailored. The structure below reflects how we typically support a small group through a sitting.

Regular small-group sessions

Short, focused online or in-person sessions across the study period, scheduled around the main provider's tuition stages. Early sessions tackle the foundations students most often struggle with, such as approaching calculation questions and pro forma layouts. Once the students are on firm ground, we progress to harder technical topics, from loan relationships and restructuring to international tax and CFCs.

Homework with individual feedback

After each session, students submit answers to exam-style questions and receive individual written feedback. This is where the real progress happens: applying knowledge, week after week, with someone correcting course early — not discovering gaps at the mock exam stage.

Mock exam and one-to-one review

A full mock exam, sat under exam conditions with remote invigilation, in the window between the revision course and the real exam. This is followed by a one-hour one-to-one session with each student to review their script, answer questions and settle nerves.

Support, not just tuition

CTA studies are a grind, and motivation matters as much as technique. We get to know each student, encourage them through the dips, and keep them believing they can do this. Because confidence on exam day is part of passing.

Visibility for the firm

We keep you informed of how your trainees are progressing and flag any concerns early, so you can support them while it still makes a difference.
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Track record

We have provided CTA exam support to a Big 4 tax team in Belfast for every exam sitting since November 2022. Typically supporting trainees through the Taxation of Owner-Managed Businesses paper in May, and the Taxation of Larger Companies and Groups Advanced Technical and APS papers in November, including sittings in which every supported student passed.

We also support a Top 25 UK accounting firm's ACA/CTA Joint Pathway students for the Taxation of Larger Companies and Groups paper. Every supported student passed at the 2025 sitting, and the firm engaged us again for 2026.

Firms coming back sitting after sitting is the strongest measure of whether support like this earns its keep.
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Your tutors

CTA support is delivered by the same team behind our graduate and corporate tax programmes. Where trainees are sitting papers outside our core team's specialisms, we bring in trusted associate trainers.
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Linda Mercel FCA CTA

Linda has over 15 years of experience in professional education, including teaching ACA and CTA students for large training providers. She focuses on breaking down complex topics and helping students to apply their knowledge in the exams.

Alyson Sutcliffe CA CTA

Alyson has almost 30 years' experience in UK corporate and international tax. Throughout her career she has been committed to training the next generation of tax professionals. Her collaborative style is built on helping trainees learn to find the answers to tax problems for themselves, not simply telling them the solution.

Catriona Loughran FCA CTA ADIT CTC

With over 25 years in corporate and international tax across global accounting firms, multinationals and HMRC, Catriona designs training that develops people, not just knowledge.

Frequently asked questions

Does this replace our main CTA course provider?

No — and it isn't designed to. Your trainees stay with their main provider for the full course, manuals and revision programme. Our support runs alongside it: tailored small-group sessions, individual homework feedback, a mock with one-to-one review, and personal encouragement throughout.

Which papers do you support?

All of them. Our core team has particular depth in Taxation of Larger Companies and Groups and Taxation of Owner-Managed Businesses, where we have supported trainees across multiple sittings. With our associate trainers we can support Advanced Technical and APS papers across the full range. Contact us to discuss the specific papers your trainees are sitting.

How are the sessions structured?

Typically a short online session weekly or fortnightly through the study period, scheduled around the main provider's tuition stages, with homework and individual feedback after each one, a remotely invigilated mock exam, and a one-to-one review session per student before the exam.

When should support start?

Ideally, early in the study period, e.g. in January for the May exam sitting. The value of weekly feedback compounds, and problems caught in February are far easier to fix than problems found at the mock. We design the schedule once exam dates and the main provider's timetable are confirmed.

How will we know how our trainees are doing?

We keep you informed throughout and flag concerns early. That visibility is part of the offer: you've invested in these trainees, and you shouldn't be finding out about problems on results day.

Do you offer one-to-one tuition for individual students?

No, our support is designed for firms' trainee groups, commissioned by the employer. The one-to-one elements within a programme (such as individual homework feedback and mock reviews) are part of that group support. Individual students looking for private CTA tuition would be better served by a dedicated CTA tutor.

How do we get started?

Contact us with the papers and sitting your trainees are working towards, and we'll propose a support programme designed around them and their main provider's timetable.

Please get in touch with any questions on CTA exam support for your tax trainees.

A member of our team will respond to your query as soon as possible.
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Alternatively, contact us by email or phone.
info@extrataxtraining.com
+44 (0)28 9590 5990
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