Importance of practicing MCQs

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  • #175103
    JakeO
    Member

    I was discussing the CPA exam with two managers at my office, both of which passed the exam fairly easily, and they said reading the book or watching the lectures is a waste of time and I should really just be doing as many MCQs as I can get my hands on.

    For me, this makes a lot of sense, but I feel like maybe I won’t understand the entire picture of the process. I should say I’ve been through all of the material for FAR before (albeit fairly fast and I didn’t review it before the test). Maybe just reviewing the heavily tested sections or complex areas such as NFP and Governmental and then focusing on the MCQs and reviewing my NINJA notes to piece together the processes and interplay of the different functions.

    Anyone with some thoughts or experiences with only focusing on MCQs?

    AUD-Failed (Waiting for Score)
    BEC-PASSED (First try)
    REG-Failed (Retake February 2013)
    FAR-Failed (Retake January 2013)

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  • #385548
    rupert
    Member

    This is the opposite of my approach. I prefer to learn as much as possible before hitting the MCQs (other than the MCQ's in my review book).

    FAR 90 Oct. 6, 2012
    AUD 96 Dec. 8, 2012
    REG 93 May 30, 2013
    BEC 84 Aug. 31, 2013

    NIU CPA Review Correspondence and Wiley Test Bank

    #385549
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Here is my take on this………..MCQs are great and a ton of them need to be done before taking the exam, but i really feel you need to know a majority of the material before you start doing them. I cant imagine just blindly going into some of these MCQs. Sure there are quite a few i dont know or get wrong, but for the most part i am familiar with the material and by doing the MCQ i can learn if i get it wrong.

    Everyone is different, but to start learning just by doing MCQ just doesnt work for me. Reading the book is the worst thing in the world but i am convinced that is how you pick up alot of the detail that is tested on the exam

    #385550
    G35
    Member

    I would somewhat agree with your coworkers.

    Here is my approach, and it worked very well for me:

    I'm using Becker.

    I watch the lecture, highlight, underline, etc.

    I study that particular chapter at a slower pace.

    I than start on the homework.

    After I go though the entire textbook I start with chapter 1 again and skim through it for 30 minutes tops to refresh the material in my mind, then I would hammer out the MCQs again, multiple times if I need to. I think this is where the power MCQs comes to play. I would not spend time studying the chapters and re-watching the lectures at this point. You benefit more by applying the concepts you just learned.

    This might be a long approach, but the key is repetition, the more you exposed to the material, the more likely you are going to retain it.

    AUD 88 | FAR 79 | BEC 81 | REG 82 |

    #385551
    MCLKT
    Participant

    I like to have an overview of all material as an introduction. Just to make sure I'm aware of concepts before tackling any MCQs. If you are very familiar with the material, you could skip the instruction then just go back to it or the text if you notice weaknesses in your MCQ battles 🙂

    A:[73]97 F:[74]85 R:86 B:[74]82
    *NINJA 10 Pt. COMBO & Yaeger*

    #385552
    Roxwella
    Member

    It works like a charm as long as you can dedicate yourself to understanding the answers, and not just memorizing them

    #385553
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Rozwella nailed it on the head! Do MCQ's until you are blue in the face, but be sure to UNDERSTAND why the answer is what it is. Take time to review the ones you get right too!

    #385554
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    My process, somewhat like G35's above…

    1. Follow lectures, highlighting/underlining as they told me to. I would always do the entire book's worth of lectures before going back to individual chapters.

    2. Starting at Ch 1, read (FOR UNDERSTANDING) the chapter, then do the multiple choice questions for that chapter.

    3. Once step 2 was completed for each chapter, use progress tests to add an element of randomness to multiple choice questions (unless there was one area I wanted to focus on).

    Caveat – The above was all I ever had time for. I could only study about 2 hours per day, and I never gave myself more than 6 weeks for any test (in fact, only gave myself 4 each for FAR and REG). I'm not sure going through the entire book before going back to each individual chapter is for everyone.

    To the original point of the OP though…I used the MC for reinforcement of the material. It's interesting how I thought I knew material while I was going through it, only to have MC questions pop up and have no idea what the answer was. I would never go back to the material after the initial lecture and then subsequent read through…at that point I figured I knew as much as I was going to know. It was all about crushing as many MC's as possible at that point. But I established my baseline for doing the questions by going through the material first.

    #385555
    JakeO
    Member

    Thanks everyone for the responses. Considering I have taken each part at least once at this point and have watched all the lectures at least once I am just going to study the MCQ's and set a goal of getting through so many in a day. I might also make some flashcards if I come across any topics which are extremely difficult or tricky. I'll try this for FAR and will see how it goes!!!

    AUD-Failed (Waiting for Score)
    BEC-PASSED (First try)
    REG-Failed (Retake February 2013)
    FAR-Failed (Retake January 2013)

    #385556
    no.cruncher
    Member

    Personally, reading to understand/comprehend is where it is at. The MCQs only reinforce what you read, however, I feel they are not at all representative of the actual CPA questions, except for computational aspect.

    FAR - 7/16/2012 *76 : 2.5mo [Exp. 1/2014]
    AUD - 8/31/2012 *82 : 1mo
    REG - 11/27/2012 *83 : 2.5mo
    BEC - 2/27/2013 *80 : 2.5mo LET'S DO THIS!!!
    Ethics - 3/13

    [ 2011 Kaplan Self Study - Textbook, MP3s, FlashCards ]

    CMA... Hmmm...???

    #385557
    ravengirl80
    Member

    I just took auditing-my first section- and I'm waiting for the score release tomorrow…waiting and waiting. I did becker and found that watching the lectures helped me understand what was going on, but no matter how much I read and highlighted during or after the lecture, I would still get between a 60-70% on the MCQs for that section and the only thing that would help me with them was to retake them over and over until I got a 90+% on each section. By the time I got to chapter 6 in Auditing, I was done with the videos. I just did the MCQs for the section and if I got the question wrong I would read the reason at the bottom. When I took the exam though, I felt like the MCQs were really easy, they got harder in testlet two and three but I don't remember any questions where I had no clue, I was able to reduce the responses to two answers on each question at least so I had a 50-50 chance if I needed that. On the SIMs, I know I got one 100% right..other than that, well they were harder than I thought they would be. So I guess what I'm saying is that do what works for you and makes you feel confident when you go into the testing room. I felt confident going in. I will find out tomorrow how I did…

    AUD 11/24/2012
    FAR TBD
    REG TBD
    BUS TBD

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