I just posted this in another thread for FAR…
I used Becker. I studied a total of 24 days (including test day) for the exam. I only got about 50% of the Becker MCQs done and an even smaller percentage of the SIMS. I didn't take a practice exam. Going into the exam, I was fully prepared to retake…even more so walking out of the exam.
I literally jumped out of my chair in shock when I saw my score last night.
My advice: Understand which learning style fits your personality. Are you someone who can pay attention in class (lectures) and take good notes? Do you learn better with a hands-on approach (SIMS)? Does trial and error fit you the best? (MCQs)?
Either way, set a budget of hours you plan on studying (FAR = 128 for me) and stick to it. Then, use the Becker weighted percentages of the material to budget further (for example, government is 10% of the exam…so I spent 13 hours on government…no more, no less).
It is very important to not get bogged down…I could've spent 40 hours on government, or 25 hours on pensions, or 15 hours on foreign currency…but it's not worth it…expose yourself to the weighted material, trust your instinct, test your instinct, change your thinking on areas you aren't testing well on…
I am most proud of my FAR score, because I spent the least amount of time studying for this exam, which meant I wasted less time on each part (AUD – 1st, REG – 2nd, BEC – 3rd, FAR – 4th).
Good luck…you'll pass