[Anonymous]

I graduate at the end of this semester (December) and I plan to start studying for the CPA starting January 1st in the FAR-AUD-REG-BEC order. I have an offer pending from B4 so I will be using Becker and likely nothing else.

If you were in my shoes and had no obligations (no school and no work until September) and could theoretically study all day for your respective sections, how many actual hours per day would you dedicate to studying and how many weeks would you allocate per section?

[theCPA15]

I have been in your shoes since May. I would focus less on the number of hours you're putting in, and more on the amount you're getting done. It takes me two days to do a Becker section. I watch the lecture videos, take notes in the book, and do the HW questions and practice simulations in those two days. Becker has 10 lectures for FAR, 6 lectures for BEC and AUD, and 8 lectures for REG. Each section takes a different amount of time, but I start studying at 8am and usually go until any time between 5 and 8pm with breaks in between. I do three lectures a week because I work on Saturdays, but I find it helpful to take Sundays off to give myself a break if I'm not too pressed for time. After finishing going through the lectures one time each, I review each lecture. The review takes me one day per lecture. I reread the book and the highlighting/notes I made while studying and then take my own written notes. Then I give myself three days before the exam to do practice tests, reread my written notes, practice the simulations again, do more MC problems and clarify any weak areas. I also like to take at least half of the day before the test off to refresh my brain.

I started studying May 29th, took FAR on July 5th. Gave myself a day off from studying, took AUD on August 5th. Gave myself a day off, took BEC August 29th (Studying for BEC felt a little rushed to me with this time frame. I mostly wasn't able to take Sundays off). Gave myself a weekend off after BEC, and am taking REG on October 3rd.

This schedule sucked at first. I was getting mentally exhausted and didn't think I could do it, but after a while, you get into studying shape and you get used to it. Also be aware that obviously everyone goes at a different pace for this exam. That's just my experience, and it's worked for me. Only you can really know what's best for you.

I hope that helps!

[thechapman]

I have been in the same situation. My signature might give you some sort of an idea

Edit – since there's nothing on there before FAR to tell you, I studied for 5 weeks for it. Just remember, you aren't going to study all day everyday. You get sick of it fairly quickly

Passed - 2014

[umkcfuturecpa]

I graduated in May and my start date isn't until the end of October, so I've been an all day-every day studier for a couple months, and have since taken/passed two exams. I also used Becker, but on AUD and now on FAR I'm supplementing with the Ninja MCQs because I feel like Becker just doesn't have enough and I start to memorize them. Here's a rough estimate of what I do:

2 sections per week. Run early in the AM (make sure to find time for a hobby or you'll go crazy!), and start around 9-10. Take lots and lots of breaks because I don't focus well after about 20 minutes. Work until anywhere from 5-8pm, but usually I'll take a big break when my husband gets home and pick it up again later, like 8:30-9. Watch lectures one day, make notecards/review book and do MCQs the next. With working 2 sections a week, I had the Becker material done in 4 weeks for REG, 3 for AUD, and 5 weeks for FAR. After the material was done, I left myself an additional 2 more weeks to review (so in total: 6 weeks for REG, 5 for AUD, 7 for FAR, will be only 5 for BEC because of time constraints). During review week I take a day to review each chapter and redo all the MCQs/Sims. Every morning I'll do a progress test before I move on to the next chapter. Once every chapter has been reviewed, it is Ninja MCQs until test day. I usually take Sat/Sun off, but not lately since it is crunch time for FAR.

Hope that helped a bit, and best of luck! Really use this opportunity because you're likely never going to have the time for this again, and best to get it out of the way now. Trust me, I did my masters and worked at the same time and it was hell! I can't imagine taking these exams and working in public!

REG - 87 (Becker)
AUD - 96 (Becker & Ninja MCQs)
FAR - 85 (Becker, Ninja MCQs, Audio and Blitz)
BEC - Last one! Waiting on score release 11/24!

Remember: a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

[Anonymous]

Best answer I can give is whatever it takes. Study as much as you can while being productive, if you are hitting the wall, take a break. Setting time limits never seemed to work for me, Some nights I can do far more than expected, others less. I try never to schedule my exam now until I am actually ready to take it. Going in to an exam when you aren't ready after putting in all that work just seems like such a waste. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

@umk why didn't you use ninja mcq for reg? I have both becker and ninja about to finish lecture R7. My exam is 10/10 and I haven't started any mcq yet? I know I'm crazy but I paid for the exam and can't push it back any more because I have bec to take before my nts expires. Should I just stick with ninja and get into adaptive phase or should I stick with becker. Doubt I will have time for both since it's already 9/20. I also have one grad class and the whole recruiting process going on to lock in a job starting January.

[Anonymous]

I have been studying all of September for FAR. I had planned to take 8-10 hours per day to study, but like others have commented, that is just not realistic on the brain. Now I end up studying about 6 solid hours per day. I figure if every hour is focused and with full energy, I could get more done, and retain more than if I were studying burnt out.

[msgolds]

Here is the thing; even if you have all day to study, your brain can only process so much information at a time. On weekdays I would study 2 hours per day max. On weekends, I might have done an extra hour per day. My point is, there is no point trying to cram all that information at once. It just doesn't work, our brains weren't built that way.

BEC - 90 PASSED
FAR - 84 PASSED
AUD - 93 PASSED
REG - 84 PASSED

I DID IT!!!!

Using Becker Self-Study

"If we were put here to carry a great weight, then the very things we hate are here to build those muscles."

[umkcfuturecpa]

@cpa8488 – I didn't use them for REG because honestly I didn't know they were available. There was a sale advertised so I grabbed them for AUD and now I'm hooked. Definitely helps to drill MCQs. You say you're on lecture R7 but haven't done the MCQs; do you mean just the Ninja ones or any at all? I would definitely try to do at least the Becker MCQs after each section so you can focus on learning the material from that section before you move on. If you only have one class and just one section of lectures left you are still in a great spot, just really buckle down and try not to make excuses for yourself. In my personal opinion the Becker MCQs are great, just not enough, but you should at least start there. Tell your friends and family you're busy until 10/10. 😉 YOU CAN DO IT!

REG - 87 (Becker)
AUD - 96 (Becker & Ninja MCQs)
FAR - 85 (Becker, Ninja MCQs, Audio and Blitz)
BEC - Last one! Waiting on score release 11/24!

Remember: a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

[Matt]

I'm also studying full-time, although I always end up procrastinating for many weeks and then finally start studying at the “last minute”.

I studied AUD for about 2.5 weeks and got an 88.

I studied FAR for about 2 weeks and failed by 3 points.

I studied BEC for just over a week and got a 79.

I studied REG for 9 days and got an 81.

Each of these cram periods was completely miserable and I certainly don't advise it. I basically developed insomnia by the end of each one, which usually persisted for at least a week after I took my test.

AUD: 88
BEC: 79
REG: 81
FAR: 72 » 74 » 88

Study method: 100% watching videos, including solving problems covered therein; no books, paper, or pencils

[CPAfit]

@matt can you please elaborate on your study method. As I'm racing against atm, as my BEC will expire in November. I'm scheduled for FAR on 10/9 and I want to do REG on 11/27. This will be my second attempt for FAR and first for REG. I'm working full time currently and can easily put 2-3 hours on weekdays and 7-8 during the weekends.

AUD - 82
BEC - 78
FAR - 78
REG - 83

HIYA!

NH Licensed CPA - Jun 2018

[Anonymous]

2-3 sections per week with minimum 2 week review. Some sections are harder than others so take that into account.

[Matt]

@zubairs: My “method” is basically to just consume as much information as I can, from as many different sources as I can, as repeatedly as I can, taking limited computer notes whilst doing so to review for later. I do very little problem solving, which is probably why, aside from running out of time to study Not-for-Profits, I failed FAR.

For REG, I basically did this:

1. Watched all the Becker REG video lectures except for REG 8 (low probability of being tested), generally watching each video multiple times until I fully understood it before moving onto the next video (or sometimes watching an entire lecture and then re-watching that entire lecture before moving onto the next lecture), though I didn't re-watch the Peter Olinto business law videos due to their lower probability of being tested (and I didn't need to watch them multiple times to understand them anyway). While watching the videos, I took computer notes––first on a simple text editor (i.e., TextEdit/Notepad), and then just by taking computer screenshots of paused video stills to review for later. For FAR, I took notes with Microsoft Excel (the spatial aspect helped me to organize my notes better than just a simple text editor).

2. After I watched almost the entire Becker video review course, I watched all the samples available on YouTube from Roger CPA and Miles CPA to get a different “angle” on those topics.

3. Watched Ninja Blitz to recap everything and make sure I haven't forgotten about any major points.

4. Reviewed my notes.

5. Took the test.

As you'll notice, I didn't actually work through any problems on my own, aside from the sample questions covered in the Becker video lectures. I of course wouldn't advise this, but I just didn't have time to “test” my knowledge when my limited time meant I had to devote 100% of my time to simply “learning” the information to begin with. I also didn't do much reading, simply because I'm a rather slow reader; I get bored by long texts; the full texts are too much information to cram anyway; and I figure there's some sort of multi-perspective benefit to watching the video whilst listening to the video's audio, which stimulates both the eyes and ears, as opposed to just reading, which can get so dull that I end up trying to take a nap in my seat. Then again, for AUD I mainly read instead of watching videos, and that turned out to be my highest score, so who knows.

Hope this helped. Good luck.

AUD: 88
BEC: 79
REG: 81
FAR: 72 » 74 » 88

Study method: 100% watching videos, including solving problems covered therein; no books, paper, or pencils

[Mamabear]

You didn't do any MCQ before you tested for REG and you scored an 81? Holy crap! I want to be you. I did thousands and failed with a 69. 🙁

CPA Exam - Finally DONE (November 2014)
BEC (08/10/13) 80
AUD (08/24/13) 65 (11/13/13) 85
FAR (04/12/14) 81
REG (07/19/14) 69 (11/29/14) 87!!

[Matt]

@Mamabear:

Looks like we've both got 3 sections down and 1 retake to go.

Here's to hoping you can get my 81 on REG and I can get your 81 on FAR. 😛

AUD: 88
BEC: 79
REG: 81
FAR: 72 » 74 » 88

Study method: 100% watching videos, including solving problems covered therein; no books, paper, or pencils

[Mamabear]

I'll take that deal! Let's finish this in 2014!

CPA Exam - Finally DONE (November 2014)
BEC (08/10/13) 80
AUD (08/24/13) 65 (11/13/13) 85
FAR (04/12/14) 81
REG (07/19/14) 69 (11/29/14) 87!!

[Author]

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