ACCA LW Exam Tips: How to Pass Corporate and Business Law

To pass ACCA Corporate and Business Law (LW), learn the legal rules precisely enough to tell close options apart, because the whole exam is objective: 45 questions in Section A and five 6-mark multi-task questions in Section B, in two hours. LW has a high pass rate (ACCA reported 82% in June 2026), but the students who fail it usually knew the general idea and missed the exact rule.

Everything below follows ACCA's syllabus and exam structure, as of October 2026.

The LW Exam Format

Duration: two hours, computer-based, available on demand.
Section A (70 marks): 45 objective test questions: 25 worth 2 marks and 20 worth 1 mark.
Section B (30 marks): five multi-task questions worth 6 marks each, each built on a short scenario.
Pass mark: 50%.

LW is offered in an English law variant and in several country-specific variants. Make sure you study for the variant you will sit; our LW question bank follows the English law variant.

The Syllabus Areas

A. Essential elements of the legal system: sources of law, the court system, statutory interpretation, and human rights.
B. The law of obligations: contract formation, terms, breach and remedies, and the tort of negligence.
C. Employment law: employees versus independent contractors, dismissal, unfair dismissal and redundancy.
D. The formation and constitution of business organisations: agency, partnerships, corporations and legal personality, company formation and the articles of association.
E. Capital and the financing of companies: share capital, loan capital and capital maintenance.
F. Management, administration and regulation of companies: directors, company secretaries, and meetings and resolutions.
G. Insolvency law: liquidation and administration.
H. Corporate fraudulent and criminal behaviour: insider dealing, money laundering, bribery and fraudulent and wrongful trading.

Contract and company law are the largest blocks of material, but every area appears in Section A, so none is safe to skip.

The Distinctions That Cost Marks

LW questions often offer two options that are both nearly right. Learn these pairs until you can explain the difference in one sentence:

Offer versus invitation to treat. Goods on display and most advertisements are invitations to treat, not offers.
Counter-offer versus request for information. A counter-offer destroys the original offer; a request for information does not.
Conditions, warranties and innominate terms. Breach of a condition allows termination; breach of a warranty gives damages only.
Remoteness and measure of damages. Know the two limbs of the remoteness test and the duty to mitigate.
Employee versus independent contractor. The control, integration and economic reality tests.
Ordinary versus special resolution. A simple majority versus at least 75%, and which decisions need which.
Fixed versus floating charge. And how they rank in a liquidation.
Fraudulent versus wrongful trading. Intent to defraud versus failing to take every step to minimise loss once insolvency was unavoidable.
Compulsory versus voluntary liquidation, and members' versus creditors' voluntary liquidation.

How to Handle Section B

Each 6-mark question presents a scenario (a contract dispute, a director's breach of duty, a share issue) and asks several linked questions. Approach each one in three steps:

Identify the area of law before reading the details. Is this offer and acceptance, consideration, or remedies?
Find the facts that trigger the rule. Dates, who said what, whether a payment was made.
Answer each task independently. A wrong answer on the first task does not decide the others.

With 30 marks across five questions, budget about 7 minutes per Section B question.

A Six-Week LW Plan

Week 1: Legal system and human rights; start contract formation.
Week 2: Contract terms, breach and remedies; negligence.
Week 3: Employment law; agency and partnership.
Week 4: Company formation, constitution and capital.
Week 5: Directors, meetings, insolvency and corporate crime.
Week 6: Full timed mocks on ACCA's CBE Practice Platform, then repair your weakest areas.

Each day, do 20 questions from the ACCA LW question bank, mixing new and earlier chapters, and take timed tests on the LW practice page from week 4. The daily ACCA challenge adds a short daily check.

Exam-Day Timing

Two hours for 100 marks is 1.2 minutes per mark. A sensible split is about 84 minutes for Section A and 36 minutes for Section B. Spend well under a minute on each 1-mark question. There is no negative marking, so answer everything.

Common LW Mistakes

Studying only the headline rule. LW questions test exceptions: when silence can be acceptance, when past consideration is still good consideration, when a company can be bound by a director acting outside authority. Learn the exceptions alongside the rule.
Mixing up the numbers. Notice periods, voting thresholds and time limits appear as answer options side by side. Keep a one-page list of every number in the syllabus and test yourself on it weekly.
Leaving company law until the end. Areas D to H cover a large share of the syllabus. Starting them in week 4 at the latest keeps you from cramming.
Reading cases as stories. For each case, write one line: the facts in a few words and the legal principle it established. The principle is what gets tested.

Where LW Fits in Your ACCA Plan

LW is an Applied Skills exam, but because it is on demand, many students take it straight after the Applied Knowledge exams or alongside them while waiting for a session. It is mostly memory and precise application, so it pairs well with a calculation-heavy session exam.

ACCA's transition guidance says LW maps to K3 Business Law in the redesigned qualification from mid-2027, and existing passes receive credit for equivalent elements. Check the transition dates on accaglobal.com. If you are just starting ACCA, see our BT exam guide and ACCA fees and registration guide.

FAQs

How many questions are in ACCA LW?
50: 45 objective test questions in Section A and five 6-mark multi-task questions in Section B.

What is the LW pass rate?
ACCA reported 82% for LW in June 2026.

Is LW on demand?
Yes. You book it at an ACCA-approved CBE centre when you are ready.

Is there negative marking in LW?
No. Answer every question.

Which LW variant should I study?
The one you are entered for. The English law variant is the most common; country variants exist for some jurisdictions.