[Goldenbearcpa]

Hi all,

I am on my final leg of the CPA journey (assuming I passed FAR, which I took yesterday), with the goal of finishing all 4 parts before I begin full-time on September 15. I went ahead and scheduled BEC for August 31 and will be taking it on that date, regardless of how prepared I feel. I figure even if I fail, I will have already studied the material and can finish easily while working.

My question is, do you think it would be worthwhile to skip the lectures entirely and go straight to the note-taking process? My study routine for the first three tests has included watching lectures; however, I find that I often don’t pay attention and find myself learning the material “for the first time” when writing notes based on what was emphasized in lecture.

My current plan of action over the next 22 days is to underline, highlight and annotate my physical textbook based on the e-book provided in the Becker software, and then go through the book as usual and write notes on all of the emphasized material. Once that’s complete, I’ll tackle the MCQ and re-write notes on problem areas. Does anyone see any glaring problem with this strategy? The way I see it, it saves me around 25 hours of lecture-watching time, which means I can focus on the note-writing process, which generally helps me learn the best.

If anyone has done this or has any insight, please let me know. I am able to devote as much time per week to this as necessary — the goal is to be as prepared as possible going into the exam in order to give me the best possible chance of fully finishing my test taking journey before I start my career.

Thanks for any input! Cheers.

REG: 84 on 4/18/14
AUD: 93 on 5/29/14
FAR: 90 on 8/8/14
BEC: 91 on 8/31/14

DONE!

[D]

Hmm you mention highlighting everything. I know that's the Becker way, but I think you would be better served by reading a chapter and taking notes, working through MCQs for that chapter, taking more notes during MCQs.

Since you've already taken all other sections and have passed, I think you will definitely be ok skipping lectures and kicking it into high gear with repetitive MCQs and note taking, rewriting your notes, then more MCQs.

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AUD: 77  (Jan 2016)
BEC: 80  (May 2016)
REG: (rematch May 2017)
FAR: (rematch Apr 2017)
**************************

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AUD - 74, 77! (1/2016)
BEC - 80! (5/2016)
REG - tbd (8/2016)
FAR - tbd

Study materials: NINJA MCQ/Audio/Notes

"I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me!"
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[Anonymous]

I watched nearly all of the Roger videos for BEC and honestly didn't get much out of them. BEC is more of an exercise in formula and definition memorization rather than actually applying concepts, so I think you'd be just fine with skipping the lectures.

[Goldenbearcpa]

@Txcpagal:

I definitely hear what you're saying about the usefulness (or lack thereof) of highlighting everything that Becker says to highlight… I mainly just use the highlighting (I actually underline everything they say to highlight, but it's all the same) as a way to show which sections should be read through and which can be skipped over. I've found that focusing my notetaking on sections which have some highlighting/notes in them reduces the amount of time I spend learning irrelevant topics, i.e., topics with very low probability of appearing on the exam.

@amandilee

Thanks for the input — I'm glad to hear that BEC is definition/memorization heavy because I find that to be much easier to learn. For AUD, I was able to study in under 4 weeks because the variability in the questions was much lower than for REG and FAR.

REG: 84 on 4/18/14
AUD: 93 on 5/29/14
FAR: 90 on 8/8/14
BEC: 91 on 8/31/14

DONE!

[Author]

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