[HowLuckyWeAre]

I’ve scheduled my exam for August 31st after the struggle in getting my NTS (transcripts were never sent from the document delivery service my university uses – had to request again). I set up my schedule using Jeff’s ELL method and gave myself an extra week for studying on top of it. Unfortunately, I’ve fallen severely behind in getting through the material. I’m about 40% of the way through the CPAexcel lessons, following the NINJA Framework. Despite allocating 240 hours from the start until August 15th, with a separate 2 week review, I just haven’t gone through the study material as quickly as I had hoped (and needed.)

Part of the problem is strong desire to leave my shitty industry job in a Tax department. Actually, the job is fine, it’s my supervisor who’s a micromanaging, nit-picky, passive aggressive shrew who’s never taken an accounting class in her life. Seriously, I almost lost it after an email about when to paper clip things for review and when not to. Also, the proper way to paperclip things together. A – I sit in the cube right in front of you, no need to idiotic emails, just tell me what you want me to do. B – It’s a paperclip, not rocket science. I still want that 5 minutes of my life back. For the record, this is my first real job (2.25 years in) after college and I’ve since realized that there is no more advancement or knowledge to be had and it’s time to move on.

This situation has culminated to a goal of a jump back to public accounting during the Fall hiring wave and so I’ve put a ridiculous amount of pressure on myself to pass at least one section of the exam. How ridiculous? I’m averaging 5-6 hours of sleep a night and my doctor wants to put me on anti-anxiety medication. And I’ve gotten fat because I’ve stopped running and lifting . (Not a bro, just lady who loves Hot Cheetos.)

While it’s true that I did have an internship with regional accounting firm during school, so I’m not totally green, I have a nagging worry that recruiters will not take me seriously coming from industry unless I’ve got a win under my belt. The result of this worry is that I’m probably super-overstudying for FAR. I read the text, watch the video, copy the slides in legal pads, and do the PQ and then move on to the next “bite-size” lesson. I close my study sessions by reviewing my Ninja Notes. It takes forever and sometimes I want to just cry because it’s not Efficient Learning AT ALL but I can’t bring myself to condense for fear of missing something important. Not that I would know what that is if it hit me in the face.

My main issue is that I don’t know by how much I’m overstudying because this is my first exam ever. I’ve got a pretty good handle on basic JE’s (or can figure it out) but it’s those stray topics that I just have no clue on because I haven’t seen them since college (governmental and non-profit) or at all (anything IFRS.) While I understand that you can’t know everything going in, I have no idea how to whittle away the stuff with a lower probability of being tested. I just don’t know what to focus on.

Now I’m at a crossroads:

Option One – Keep studying the way I’m studying and just reschedule for October, thereby buying myself more time for the exam, but knowing this could shake out in the worst way possible: not getting hired and having to deal with Boss Shrew for another year.

Option Two – Ditch my study method and follow Jeff’s advice here: https://www.another71.com/how-to-pass-the-cpa-exam-in-20-days/

So buy NINJA MCQ’s and just gorge away while taking a different set of notes than the 3 legals pads I’ve already used up and work away till August 31st.

Any advice fellow Ninja’s?

FAR - 78
AUD - 85
BEC - 70, 83! Ninja note bump of 13 points!
REG - 65, 70, 2016 Q1 retake before FAR expires 02/29/16

CPAexcel + Ninja Notes + Ninja MCQ = Success

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. And boy, I am HANGRY!

[zoctoman]

I'll give my two cents. I am a bit like you in that I prefer to know everything inside and out before a test. In my masters program the tests were small enough that I was able to ensure that I would ace most any test. For the cpa exams, I came close to mastering audit and got an 89. But for reg and far, I strongly considered delaying them because I knew that I was not going to master the material. It was truly hard for me to accept going into any test with many topics “up in the air”.

But for far and reg, even though I knew I missed many questions mostly because I didn't have a mastery of the material, I just made educated guesses and moved on. Low and behold I got an 86 on reg and 82 on far. I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I was actually looking at some topics for the first time the morning of the exam. There is just so much to learn.

Since this is your first test, I would recommend not pushing it back. And in actuality, not taking a test in a window is the same as failing. And keeping the deadline will ensure you don't slack off like you might if you knew you had another month or so.

Just hang in there and accept the fact that some topics you may never master. But you never know, come aug 31 you may just blow the exam out of the water!

Audit(11/5/13) - 89
Reg(5/16/14) - 86
FAR(7/18/14) - 82
BEC(11/14) - 85

[jpowell31]

it's your first time – just take it. you have nothing to lose and you'll get a better feel for the exam. it's a beast and it's impossible to know everything.

anxiety a huge issue of mine. i can't concentrate (study or sit exam) when i'm under too much pressure so let yourself destress a bit. if you're not ready, you're not ready, it's your first time, don't kill yourself over it – you need to be relaxed. you need to be rested. i sat my first exam averaging 5 hours of sleep with about 3 the night before and spending 14-16 hour days staring at the computer working/studying/cramming because i wasn't organized and was panicked and my eyes and brain just could not focus. it's not the same as exams you're used to taking and you gotta figure it out on your own and in good health! or else otherwise this exam will really test you (and your friendships! :))

take it easy and study the best you can – NO PRESSURE. once your clock starts ticking then you can plan the best way to tackle the final 3.

-__-

[HowLuckyWeAre]

@ zoctoman – “not taking a test in a window is the same as failing” is basically ADVICE GOLD. It should be obvious, but clearly it wasn't for me. Thanks for sharing your experience as well. I know that I will never walk in feeling 100% prepared, not that it didn't stop me from trying… Geez.

@ jpowell31 – Man, that sounds rough. Everyone says to get enough sleep and eat well and yadda yadda, but it so hard to do it in practice. I probably should try to destress a little, but at this point I don't even know how. It makes me feel lazy when I have downtime I'm not doing something CPA related. Maybe it will make the difference between a 74 and a 75? Or maybe I've just cut a few years off my lifespan. Who knows?

Guys, any advice as to how to proceed with the quickly reviewing the remaining 60% of the CPAexcel material? I'm going to focus a little more on NFP and Governmental by watching those videos, reading the text, and reviewing the slides but I'm unsure as to how to get through the rest of the material. I'm not sure how helpful it is to do MCQ's when you're not sure as to the definition of something or what they're asking or how to solve it. I suppose that's what getting it wrong and reading the rationale for it is all about, but it makes me feel like I don't know anything.

I tried doing some MCQ's but between my suddenly spotty internet and my state of mind last night, it didn't go so well and pretty much shook my confidence. I downloaded the app on my phone but it wouldn't let me log in and so I didn't have access to the material I've already covered and so I answered questions on material I've never even seen. Unsurprisingly, I did awful.

I've got 26 days to give it a fighting chance.

FAR - 78
AUD - 85
BEC - 70, 83! Ninja note bump of 13 points!
REG - 65, 70, 2016 Q1 retake before FAR expires 02/29/16

CPAexcel + Ninja Notes + Ninja MCQ = Success

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. And boy, I am HANGRY!

[jstay]

@howluckyweare, same boat as you. first exam 8/31. im like you, wanna know everything understand it etc but it just doesnt seem possible with this exam. im giving it my best and hopefully cranking out a 75. i took off from the 12th to the 31st so hopefully that helps. im planning on cranking MCQ MCQ MCQ as much as possible. im very anxious like you, probably worse. its literally on my mind 24/7. and to be honest the whole exam is going to be until we finish. cause even if we pass..its straight on to the next one.

Are you using Ninja MCQ?

[HowLuckyWeAre]

Hi Jstay – Welcome to the over-anxious club lol. Population 2 right meow. In real life I'm so mellow, but this dang exam has me on edge 24/7. I've had multiple dream in regards to it (or nightmares, if you will) or about failing or about not finding Prometric. Man …

I unfortunately have to give at least month's notice before taking time off and I was feeling okay in June. I took the 13th and 14th off and that's it as far time away from work. You'll definitely have a lot more time to crank out those MCQ's. I'm going to focus the next couple of days of breezing through the other 60% I haven't looked at (videos for things that are new, slides for stuff I should know). And then I'm going to buy Ninja MCQ's and hammer those (Friday/Saturday?) while reviewing the Ninja notes.

I have WTB (got all 4 parts for free for a year), but I don't want to deal with that hot mess of a platform. It looks like the consensus is that Ninja MCQ's super legit and the online platform looks/functions really well. What are you using as far as MCQ's?

FAR - 78
AUD - 85
BEC - 70, 83! Ninja note bump of 13 points!
REG - 65, 70, 2016 Q1 retake before FAR expires 02/29/16

CPAexcel + Ninja Notes + Ninja MCQ = Success

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. And boy, I am HANGRY!

[jstay]

I used becker between june and july went through software..still have some mcq i didnt answer but not as much as some people (some ppl still have whole sections to go through)..the way i study and learn i knew i wasnt going to crank it out in 6 weeks like some people do..with that said..i found the WTB online (a pdf file) printed it and did it manually. i would say it helped me learn and brought up topics that i hadnt seen since F1 and earlier stages. but from the 13th to the 29th ill probably just use bcker again. people i work with have said it really works and they passed using only that so idk what to do, its like a crossroads. but yeah i hope to go through all the MCQ atleast one more time.

PS thanks for sharing that 20 day link, it gave me some confidence being that im taking the 20 days off before and have been studying for this beast all summer.

however a person who is a year ahead of me and just graduated in may failed FAR by 3 points and AUD by 4..so yeah im a bit tense

[Author]

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