How many MC per day?

  • Creator
    Topic
  • #198381
    OlintoJr
    Participant

    it seems that hammering mc is a common advice on this forum. I am curious to get a feel for just how many mc problems people actually fit into their days. Anyone care to share how many mcq’s they were able to complete daily? I am averaging about 100/day (studying the explanations after answering each). I feel like I should be doing more but I start to burn out after getting to the 80-100 mark.

    FAR - 11/30/14 -79
    AUD - 2/19/15 -86
    BEC - 4/09/15 -86
    REG - 11/30/15 -87

    I'M DONE! ITS OVER! WOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
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  • #743997
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @JayManBro dont worry you're doing everything right there is no way to work an do 150-200 questions the right way- by taking notes and understanding the question, and reading explanations.

    i can do 1,000 questions a day! i just guess and pick random answer choices and click next question. but does that really mean i did a 1,000?

    i want to emphasize that doing question properly and doing questions for speed is two different things. i choose quality over quantity- others, on the other hand, may prefer quantity (different ways of learning i guess.) there's nothing wrong with that but I have my own proven way of passing and it involves learning from the MCQ's and that requires spending more time on each question vs less time on each question.

    #743998
    for425
    Participant

    @eesti

    Do you use Ninja MCQ? Just was curious what your average time per question was…

    I also spend time analyzing and taking notes after each question, so curious how yours compare. I am averaging 2:01 min a question, but that includes my time for note taking.

    FAR - 72, 81
    BEC - 76
    REG - 78
    AUD - 61 (1/24), Retake (6/6)

    Materials: Becker
    FAR Retake: + Wiley TB
    REG & AUD: + Ninja MCQ

    #743999
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I think it completely depends on subject matter and your comfort level. If you're in the review phase and feel comfortable, there's no reason you can't do 300/day (10 sets of 30 questions). I was able to do more than 2,000 questions for AUD the week before my exam trending 90 towards the end by doing 2 sets of 30 questions before a break 5 times a night because I was comfortable with the material. For FAR, I could only do half that in a night because there were more computations and less comfortable with the subject matter.

    #744000
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @for425 using Becker ~ AUD ~ about 1:30 per question (but im slow lol) and this is my first go-around since reading. it will probably get faster in review phase.

    to tell you the truth 1:30 is an estimation -takes me about an hour for 30 questions. so maybe even closer to two minutes. because i dont use the timer at all- i kno i wont have time trouble on the test so i dont bother using the timer whatsoever.

    #744001
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Awesome thread… 🙂 Thanks for asking this question…

    #744002
    cpamonkey124
    Member

    I was about to ask this question too. I think it differs with everyone. I haven't touched any accounting material in like 3 years. I do take 2-3 min per question which includes taking notes and going over why all the choices are wrong. Once I get comfortable with the concepts I should be able to knock 150-300 depending if it's computation vs theoretical.

    F-1/4/15
    a-tbd
    r-tbd
    t-tbd

    #744003
    rsouxlja7
    Member

    @eesti

    What is your deal? Anyone who is capable of doing more questions than you isn't studying correctly? lmao Some people are just faster readers and more efficient test takers. I think my scores speak for themselves.

    Let's put it into perspective: if you do 100 MCQ a day then that is 15-20 days to answer every MCQ once in Ninja and probably 25-30 to answer them all once correctly. Add that on top of however long you're studying the lectures/books for and it is even more time.

    Each section of the CPA exam can be done in 3-4 weeks. Any more than that is needed for some people, but it is not the most efficient way of doing things.

    FAR - 94
    AUD - 90
    BEC - 86
    REG - 87

    #744004
    tuanxn
    Participant

    whoa, let's cool it guys. I can already see where this is going haha

    OlintoJr, I think you can see that there's a wide range of possibilities when you're studying.
    You said yourself that you get burned out around the 80-100 question mark which is totally fine.

    At that point I would switch to reading or going through flash-cards, something that will engage your mind in a different way (and not penalize you for guessing wrong).

    As long as you're staying consistent and getting around 2 hours of quality studying done everyday; you should be on the right track—regardless of whether it's reading, reviewing, or cranking out MCQs.

    #744005
    Missy
    Participant

    For me it totally varied. When I was still learning the material it was probably between 20-50 questions a day. When I was getting closer to review time it was never less than 100 per day and on weekends closer to 200 in a day.I don't feel I was rushing through them but reading the solutions at approximately the same pace as I was reading the text during learning. If you visualize the questions and solutions printed on an 8×10 page doing 100 questions is probably about the same as reading 30 pages which for some of us is just our pace. Some need to move slower, some can go much faster.

    Old timer,  A71'er since 2010.

    Finance manager/HR manager

     

     

    Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
    Finance/Admin/HR Manager

    #744006
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    okcpa2015 said —> By no means did I do 300 in one sitting. — When reviewing I would wake up and do as many as possible in an hour. Head to work. Do about 25 before I started working. Do as many as I could at lunch. Then review when I got home. Can't eat the elephant in one bite… —

    Psychologically, this technique is called “chunking”, In programming, project management, accounting and the sciences it's called “stepwise refinement”. In a computer program, if you know what a “block of code” is, then that's a cohesive “chunk”, which would probably represent one *step* in an algortihm.

    Chunking can be used for memory or reading comprehension or both.

    The idea is like – if you bought a pizza, could you eat it all at once? No. If you tried, you'd end up with it on your face and shirt and probably choke to death. Instead, you'd cut the pizza into slices and then take a bit at a time. So too with the MCQs. Suppose there are 100 in a chapter section. Cut it into four study sections. Do 25 at one sitting; 25 at another and so on, until you do all 100. Try it again, and you'll see improvement. Eventually all 100 will come easily, since you will know what you're doing at that point.

    In game theory, this would be considered a war of attrition, as – no matter how fast you eat and digest – the pizza will gradually “atrophy” and eventually be all gobbled up. Once you know 10 MCQs, you inevitably have 90 left; learn another, and youonly have 80 left, and so on. Eventually, you'll get them all done.

    Chunking is not really a problem solving strategy, so much as a project management one. But – as you learn how to solve the problems – you build up your endurance to handle a greater number of them.

    #744007
    Jay
    Participant

    When you guys say you take notes after a MCQ. What exactly are you noting? Why it was wrong and why another answer is right?

    The CPA journey is truly a nightmare.

    REG 82 (08/08/15)

    #744008
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @Another.CPA.candidate i have no idea what any of what you said means…but your post did make me order a pizza 😀

    #744009
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    JayManBro – In my case, I figure there's what's going on in my head, and there's what's going on on the MCQ's page, so I try to make sure my *reasoning* was correct. Suppose I get one correct, but for the right reason, then what? Sure looks good, but it was probably more of a lucky guess than anything else. So I try to ascertain and make note of the strongest and most resolute determinations I can given whatever I can gleen from the MCQ information, textbooks, and the sum of all my own experiences – relating it all back to reasoning, if possible.

    Reasoning – explaining why, yes? Why = motivation, yes? Stay motivated by building your motivation with proper notes.

    That's what I do anyway. 🙂

    Best of luck to you all!

    #744010
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    eesti… Really? In school they didnt teach you how to break a problem down into manageable steps?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCh6x_sj5VY
    Chunking for Reading Comprehension
    (The first three minutes is sufficient)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRgTdfAmxSc
    Chunking for Memory
    (The first minute is sufficient)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lnJ-IC-Nqk
    How To Do Stepwise Refinement
    (The first two mins are sufficient)

    When okcpa2015 said —> By no means did I do 300 in one sitting. When reviewing I would wake up and do as many as possible in an hour. Head to work. Do about 25 before I started working. Do as many as I could at lunch. Then review when I got home. Can't eat the elephant in one bite…”

    He would look at a group of 200 or 300 MCQ's like a big pizza (or elephant) and then break the work up into more manageable “chunks”. Over the course of a day, he's saying he would build it up, until eventually he would reach 200 or 300…

    Judging from your sig vs his – it would probably be a good idea to listen to what he said as best you can… I would because I am in much the same boat as you are… I think you are right when you say 200-300 is a lot… The most I have ever been able to do in a day is 180, and then I was exhausted afterwards… But I also think one has to develop that kind of rigor… That is simply what the test demands…

    I'm sorry if my posts confused you. A lot of the buzz words I used are common terms, and they could be readily accessed via a google search. It was my intention to be helpful, so I will stop our communications from this point on.

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