[10keyLeah]

I’m looking for other peoples experience about how well they do with MCQ’s when they first start studying?

I’ve just started reviewing for FAR, and attempted a few of the free cpaexcel MCQ’s, and I am doing terrible at them. This has me a little nervous and frustrated.

So, what has been the experience of others with this? Do you get a lot better at MCQ’s as you go?

Ninja Combo, Yaeger, Wiley -- Licensed CPA, May 2015

[msgolds]

There's nothing wrong with getting questions wrong in practice, especially on the first go around… it decreases the likelihood that you'll make the same mistakes on the actual exam! The first time you go through a set of MCQs, don't be overly concerned with your score. Just try to answer the questions as best you can and consider it a way to test the waters and know what to expect. Here's what I recommend: as you're going through, take note of the specific areas that are giving you trouble. Those are where you want to focus your energies. Go back over your notes, and work lots of problems in those areas.

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."

[mmcgrad1]

I usually got around 65-70 % the first time around. I would then focus on what I did wrong and reread everything and my scores increased by ~20%.

NIU CPA Review Correspondence is awesome!

I passed all four sections on the first attempt

[10keyLeah]

I guess I'm trying to gauge where I am just starting out. I'm probably at around 30%, but it's on stuff that I haven't really reviewed or studied yet.

Ninja Combo, Yaeger, Wiley -- Licensed CPA, May 2015

[Anonymous]

Its normal, I got about 60% my first time on most MCQ sections. Sometimes lower or higher depending on how complex I found the material.

Don't worry just keep improving, learning and practicing.

[Sandra]

I couldn't do the MCQs too early in my review and always held off on them until the day or two before the test. Not that I recommend that, but I do think there is value in waiting until you feel like you understand the material. Once I did tackle the MCQs I scored a little better than had I started with them, but more importantly (I mean who really cares what you score in practice anyway) I didn't remember the wrong answers.

I didn't score too well on the practice- mainly because if I didn't know an answer I didn't spend too much time trying to reason through it, and instead just looked up to see what the answer was. That did bring down my score a lot, but I think helped me on the test. That way instead of remembering the wrong answer, I remembered the question on the “looked up” correct answer. Does that make any sense?

I was scoring 80% on FAR on average (the highest section), 45-50% on REG, 65 on AUD and didn't do BEC.

[Rukus]

It definitely gets better. So are you reviewing as in a final review for the exam, and you are through all the material at least once? Or are you just doing some questions while you are still working through the material? Jeff recommends, and I definitely agree, to wait to do any assigned MCQs until you have gone through all the material at least once (watching videos and taking notes). I think the percentage correct of MCQs at that point is misleading. If you have just watched a video/read a chapter you will probably do decent on the MCQs because it is fresh info, on the flip side if you haven't gone over a chapter yet and are trying to answer questions over that material it likely won't go well, as you have seen.

My advice is to get through all of the material (videos/reading/notes) before you work any MCQs on your own. Then once you you start reviewing everything you went through you can start hammering out MCQs. The logic behind this approach is that any questions you are working now you won't remember in a month or two when you are trying to review right before your exam so you are really just wasting valuable time. I personally was a bit apprehensive at first but after getting great results from trusting Jeff's plan, I'm sold. He has a video somewhere on this site about his study plan – you definitely should check it out. Good Luck!

FAR - 81 (8/31/12)
AUD - 93 (10/19/12)
BEC - 79 (11/27/12)
REG - 92 (2/8/13) DONE! All 1st attempt!

[TaffTax]

@Rukus – I will have to try your advice when I get back into FAR. I was doing terrible and getting very discouraged. The thing was, I was just doing the MC questions (at work on the computer) and getting very low %'s.

[Rukus]

When I said “my” I mean what I learned from Jeff. 😉

FAR - 81 (8/31/12)
AUD - 93 (10/19/12)
BEC - 79 (11/27/12)
REG - 92 (2/8/13) DONE! All 1st attempt!

[jenuno01]

@Sandra, you seriously waited until the last day to do the mcqs?! lol woahh that's pretty impressive

Class of 2012

[Anonymous]

Sandra doesn't study MCQ's. MCQ's study Sandra.

[10keyLeah]

lol@cashmoney.

Thanks for all of the responses. Sandra, you made sense. I think studying to find out why an answer is wrong seems to be the way to go.

Rukus, I'm not doing a final review. In fact, I probably won't sit for the first exam (FAR) until April. I'm finishing a BS in accounting a few years ago, and I'm just now finishing up 3 classes so I still have to apply after that. I won't buy any review material just yet, so I've started reviewing with my textbooks and thought I would try to gauge where I am now at the beginning by doing some MCQ's. I'm finding I'm terrible at it at this point. I'm just wondering if this is totally normal.

The review method you mentioned sounds very reasonable.

Ninja Combo, Yaeger, Wiley -- Licensed CPA, May 2015

[Trisha]

I usually score in the 60's first time through… I suggest waiting a little bit, then going over the concepts you had difficulty with before attempting the questions again. I know I have a tendencey to memorize the right answer rather than learn the concept… Good Luck!

@ CashMoney ~ LOL!!!

REG 72, 86 and DONE!!!
BEC 80 🙂
FAR 72, 78 🙂
AUD 73, 76 🙂

[Roxwella]

I review through MCQ…meaning that basically when I come to a question I dont know the answer to, I go find the answer, take note of why I missed it, and read any supporting info for it.

[10keyLeah]

It's been about 3 or 4 years since I had most of my accounting classes so I guess I've forgotten most of the details of I learned. Looks like I'm going to have to do a lot of reviewing before I can do any better with the MCQ's.

Ninja Combo, Yaeger, Wiley -- Licensed CPA, May 2015

[Sandra]

hahahahhaha. Good one CashMoney!

The truth is that I am a lazy procrastinator.

I do NOT recommend waiting until the day before the test to do the MCQs, but I do think there is value in waiting on them until the end of the review. It can help stuff click, you pick up a few little things and (IMO) most importantly you'll remember some of the questions for the actual exam.

[Author]

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