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Score: 86 with 12 week, 1 chapter per week study plan, 15-20 hours a week
Background: I graduated with a BS in Accounting in 2007. I worked in a small 4 person firm for 1.5 years before returning to get my MBA. My current boss suggested I get a certification so I decided on the CPA instead of a CFA (too long!). I am married with no children and I work in corporate treasury so I don’t have too many long days unless the CFO needs something ASAP.
Materials: Becker Self Study
Schedule: My schedule was pretty basic. I would watch all the videos for 1 chapter on Sunday and take the rest of the day off. I would workout then just do something around the house. The week was pretty much, 4:45am wake up (Tues-Thurs), gym until 6am, work, study for 1 hour over lunch, home by 6, dinner then start studying from 7-9pm. I would go over the eBook as it had the Becker markings and I would almost rewrite the whole chapter throughout the week as my notes. I would take a section of notes, do the MCQs, then start on the next section of a chapter. I could get through most chapters with taking Friday evenings off and finishing early Saturdays. For chapters 1-6 I would do some 30 MCQ reviews of previous material but stopped when I was on chapter 7. We had a string of 4 days off from work due to weather so I was able to get an extra chapter in and add an extra week of review.
Final Review: With 3 weeks to go, I would take Becker Practice Test #1 with 2 weeks to go, review the weak areas, Practice #2 with a week to go, review weak areas, get ready for final. During my review I would do at least 100 MCQs per day in sets of 30. 120 MCQs was the norm but you get tired after a while of just MCQs. KEEP AT IT! I saw Jeff mention rewriting notes which would have been time consuming for me to do everything so I decided on a couple of chapters of my weak areas. This included Bonds, Leases, and Fixed Assets seemed to help a lot. I would also keep a fresh note pad around to jot down things I needed to remember for the test. What is a boot? What is the Net Periodic Pension Expense Mnemonic? All of this were little 1-line notes to make me remember the item easily.
Test Week/Day: During the test week (test was on a Friday) I was SICK of MCQs but I kept doing them. I would select some chapters and just do questions from a specific chapter to change it up. One set of Governmental question where I only got 22 out of 30 scared the crap out of me. But I kept doing this. I would drink some wine at night while doing this. Test day came and I got there early where I saw others sitting in their cars studying. Walked in and was confused as it was my first test. They are helpful. I brought ear plugs which I practiced with as I like little sound to get my focus. Check you markers as they are probably dried out so you do not waste precious time getting new ones.
What helped I can pass on? If you are studying and need a nap, take it. Some days I would take <1 hour nap on weekends just to keep fresh. A tired brain does not want to study and it is just wasting time. Exercise/workout. This is something I do anyway but it is missed by a lot of people. I would recite mnemonics on the treadmill and one time trail running I fell while thinking of a governmental concept. Ouch! It keeps you fresh and your brain active. I would also watch the videos on the treadmill since it was cold when studying. It just helped with getting to know the information. Oh and the NINJA Forum Study Group! I would try to answer questions and also ask questions which helped reinforce my knowledge. I feel this was a big boost as we were all in it together.
MCQ Help: Becker has an “eBook” button you can press when doing MCQs. This was super helpful in remembering concepts which I had forgotten. I felt like I may become dependent I was actually learning this way! If you remember an MCQ answer, try to talk yourself through the math to get there. The answer is X because you do Y and Z and voila! Just remembering the answer doesn’t help, remembering how you got there is the key!
Any questions? Feel free to ask. Also hopefully this turned out well. I probably missed something helpful as I am beaming with excitement with a pass when I had nightmares of a 73.
Journey Started - January 2015
FAR - 4/2015 - Passed
AUD - 7/2015 - Passed
BEC - 8/2015 - Passed
REG - 11/12/2015 - Passed
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