[stamata]

I passed AUD and BEC and am studying for FAR now, which I am taking on 10/2. I started studying about two weeks ago. I am studying full time right now as I don’t start my job until 10/13.

I studied for AUD and BEC pretty much the same way using CPAExcel, WTB, and Ninja MCQ. I would read and take notes for each section then do the exam questions at the end. Whichever ones I didn’t get correct I would take notes on then retake the quiz in a few days so that the answers weren’t so easily memorized. Then after I did most of the studying I would just do WTB over and over.

This strategy was pretty effective but very time consuming and I realized I was falling very far behind on FAR when I tried it in the beginning so I changed it up. I realized that most of the FAR knowledge wasn’t completely new to me as around a third of it was review from my financial accounting classes, so I decided taking notes/reading wouldn’t be the most effective. I decided to follow Jeff’s ‘cram strategy’ of just doing practice questions over and over but I am finding it very difficult to just get questions wrong over and over, and the material isn’t settling in very well because I forget once I move onto another topic. I think because the material is just so broad that I’m not focusing on certain topics, but the topics are just too broad, I don’t even know how I would focus on ‘one’ topic as there are so many of them.

What do you guys recommend? How should I focus on each topic? Has anyone bought the Ninja notes for FAR, and what do you think of those? I’m also on a tight budget as I am just living on savings from my internship right now until I start my job but I can spare a few bucks for a component of Ninja if it is a game changer.

AUD - 76
BEC - 86
FAR - 78
REG -73, 69, 86! DONE

[MrCPA511]

What worked for me was maintaining a list of the hardest problem from each section and just periodically redoing those every few days in addition to the MCQ practice. That way, you'll always have the hard problem fresh in your mind (which should allow you to answer easier ones in that section) and you are also practicing MCQs daily to fill in the gaps.

FAR - 86 7/2014
AUD - 95 10/2014
REG - 87 1/22/15
BEC - 84 7/2015

[Jsmith87]

Since you're studying full time you should still have enough time to read through your book a couple times. I would just read the book and highlight things that are unfamiliar to me. If you are comfortable with the material then just quickly read over it once and move onto harder topics. Maybe outline a schedule for yourself and do everything you can to stick with it.

I wouldn't recommend doing multiple choice on topics that you are unfamiliar with ..that would be ineffective and inefficient for me. I learn best by just reading and taking very brief notes in the book.

Good luck, you should have enough time and resources to fully prepare

[stamata]

Thanks MrCPA and Jsmith for the tips, I will definitely take your advice into account

AUD - 76
BEC - 86
FAR - 78
REG -73, 69, 86! DONE

[Kimboroni]

Something else to try is this, which I do and have found to be both effective and efficient: use your books as you do the MCQs. Set up a practice quiz of, say, 20 questions from just one area of study, and every time you get to a question that you don't know the answer to, look it up. Use your book and/or the testbank resources and find the missing information. Answer the question, and then immediately read all of the explanations of why the answer choices are wrong and right. As I get closer to test day, I need my resources less and less as I gain confidence with the material.

AUD 84 (1/9/14-Wiley books/TB + free materials)
FAR 83 (5/21/14-the above + NINJA 10 Pt Combo Lite)
REG 84 (7/9/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC/Notes)
BEC 76 (10/5/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC)

Disclaimer: My ninja avatar is not meant to imply that I have any affiliation with this site other than being a forum member. That's a pic of a T-shirt that my daughter gave me for my birthday. 🙂

[005]

I can relate

BEC - ✔
REG - ✔
AUD - ✔
FAR - 11/29/14

CPAExcel, Ninja MCQs, and a sh*t ton of coffee

[Author]

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