[Stgeorge]

So I take my first CPA exam FAR on August 27th. I use the Wiley CPA excel 2014 book and it has taken me since early May to get to 80 percent of the material done. I read the chapters, try to understand, do the MCQ, and do the SIMs. So I have about 200 pages to go Misc. chapter, Govt. Accounting, and Not-for Profit. I hope to get finish those last chapters by the 15th hopefully couple days sooner. I took time off till the exam so I have about 9-10 days of straight review.

I am just worried that since I have not been going back and reviewing throughout my 3-4 month of studying I am in a bad position. I plan to buy the WTB, also have Ninja Notes which I will use when reviewing. Just wanted to get some input and advice. I will be dedicated around 8 hours a day for those last 9-10 days of review. Should I really be going back and re-reading all the chapters? or skimming through and re-doing the MCQ and SIMs while also doing the WTB and Ninja notes? Just want to know what would be the best use of the last 9-10 days. PLEASE HELP!

FAR 81
AUD 65, 84 (Used Ninja MCQ which I say contributed to my huge increase in score I love you Jeff)
REG 87 (CPA excel Wiley Self Study Book, Ninja 10 point combo)
BEC 86! I Must Pass or I lose my FAR Credit, Pray for me(Becker, Wiley, WTB, Ninja MCQ, Ninja Notes)

DONE!!!!!!

Using : Wiley CPA Exam Review Textbook, Wiley TB, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQ

[jft]

If I were you, I would reread the NINJA notes and the notes that you took while you were studying. I suggest that you focus on your weak areas right now. That's what I did on my last week. I hammered my weak areas like bonds, govt accounting, etc by doing MCQs. Make sure you go to the AICPA website and do the practice exam. It's really short but it will give you a feel of what is like on the actual test.You can do it. Do not panic and be confident. You can do a lot in 9-10 days. You don't need to know everything, you need to focus on the topics that were emphasized on your review course. Good luck.

FAR-DONE

BEC-DONE

AUD-DONE

REG-Last one

[Smashbox20]

Forgeting material is a concern when you study for longer than 8 weeks for an exam. I wouldn't go back and reread but I would certainly focus on working quite a few MCQ from the sections you haven't seen in a while. Always remember, MCQ offer the “most bang for your buck”. Everyone has their own way, that's what I would do. Good luck, keep up the hard work and you will do fine.

FAR: Passed
REG: Passed
BEC: Passed
AUD: Passed

[krokofilen]

I was in a similar position about a week ago. My exam is on Aug 14.

So, what I did, all though I am not yet sure it will actually work out, is:

1. Finish reading the last chapters (both gov and NFP are major topics of the exam)

2. Focus completely on a) doing MCQs and b) reviewing your own notes every day up to exam day

I would skip re-reading completely – there is no time. Put trust in your previous readings instead, and move on with #2 above as soon as possible, to get your knowledge refreshed and your MCQ skills up to speed.

As for #2 above, I divided the total of all NINJA MCQs on my number of remaining study days, and found out that I would have to do at least 120 MCQs a day. So that's what I am doing. In betweeen sessions of 30, I go over my notes to review them. For MCQs I fail, I make sure I understand why I failed, and build up my notes as needed to compensate for my lack of knowledge on that topic (if needed, I also revisit the books on that particular topic). This also helped me in identifying my weak areas, so now about a week away from my exam, I am putting extra focus into for example governmental accounting (I do extra Becker MCQs on that topic, and closely monitor my trending score in NINJA to see how well I develop).

Just make sure you're spending the last 1-2 weeks on the right things (which normally would not include re-reading chapters you already read, that is too time consuming at that stage of your review, if you ask me).

Good luck

Big 4 Audit Manager from Europe here to pass the CPA in the U.S. of A in 2014! Niiice!

AUD - 95 / Jul 15 / 130h over 4 weeks
FAR - 86 / Aug 14 / 240h over 4 weeks
(11 week break)

REG - 81 / Nov 14 / 200h over 4 weeks
BEC - 87 / Nov 17 / 30 h over 2.5 days

[Stgeorge]

Wow thank you jft, smashbox20, and krokofilen for such great advice. I guess I should just re vist every chapter and just do a quick review and focus mainly on MCQ, and taking notes while using Ninja notes.

Krokofilen I also have the ninja MCQ and also plan on purchasing the WTB. Are you doing 120 MCQ per topic and assessing your knowledge on each topic or did you mean you are doing 120 mcq a day based on all the topics and seeing where your weak points are. That sounds like a good idea, and I will probably be skimming those topics in my wiley book to just get a refresh.

This CPA FORUM IS AWESOME!

FAR 81
AUD 65, 84 (Used Ninja MCQ which I say contributed to my huge increase in score I love you Jeff)
REG 87 (CPA excel Wiley Self Study Book, Ninja 10 point combo)
BEC 86! I Must Pass or I lose my FAR Credit, Pray for me(Becker, Wiley, WTB, Ninja MCQ, Ninja Notes)

DONE!!!!!!

Using : Wiley CPA Exam Review Textbook, Wiley TB, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQ

[krokofilen]

Stgeorge: You're welcome. My approach to the NINJA MCQs is to generate 120 new questions every day. That will give me questions spread out on all topics. In the beginning I read all answers carefully and made sure I got it right based on my understanding of the concept, rather than for recognizing the question from before (I did some Becker MCQs while reading the chapters). However, I now read the answers carefully only where I struggled in answering the question, for the “simple ones” I just move on since I am now confident I know that particular concept. A few days in on this 120-MCQ-strategy, I figured what my weak areas were and put a lot of focus on getting up to speed there. As of today, I know that I need to improve in governmental accounting, so in between my NINJA sessions of 30 new MCQs I now almost exclusively focus on doing Becker MCQs of like 20 or so specifically in the governmental area, and reviewing my notes on that topic.

Big 4 Audit Manager from Europe here to pass the CPA in the U.S. of A in 2014! Niiice!

AUD - 95 / Jul 15 / 130h over 4 weeks
FAR - 86 / Aug 14 / 240h over 4 weeks
(11 week break)

REG - 81 / Nov 14 / 200h over 4 weeks
BEC - 87 / Nov 17 / 30 h over 2.5 days

[Anonymous]

I think you're probably over doing it with three to four months of studying. I'd take six weeks total for FAR. Eight tops.

[005]

Jeff says never study longer than 2 months…

BEC - ✔
REG - ✔
AUD - ✔
FAR - 11/29/14

CPAExcel, Ninja MCQs, and a sh*t ton of coffee

[Stgeorge]

Billbrasskey : Hey yeah I def agree with you, but I was working full-time and going through material slowly. It was not like I studied hardcore for 3-4 months due to work and family I could not study some weeks. Which is why I am worried about the review process since some of the material I have not looked at for couple months. I hope to just quickly skim the earlier chapters and review Ninja notes and constantly do MCQ. I think I will be able to understand everything since I had already read the chapters. Usually it takes me a while to read and finish a chapter since I try to understand it, so hopefully since I already went through the process the second review will be a lot faster.

Krokofilen: Thank you for your input it is really helpful! Goodluck to you I know you will pass!

FAR 81
AUD 65, 84 (Used Ninja MCQ which I say contributed to my huge increase in score I love you Jeff)
REG 87 (CPA excel Wiley Self Study Book, Ninja 10 point combo)
BEC 86! I Must Pass or I lose my FAR Credit, Pray for me(Becker, Wiley, WTB, Ninja MCQ, Ninja Notes)

DONE!!!!!!

Using : Wiley CPA Exam Review Textbook, Wiley TB, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQ

[Stgeorge]

Basically it was 3-4 months due to not consistenly being able to study. That being said I do read all the chapters word for word and try to understand. I do all the MCQ and SIMs usually dont do amazing like 50 percents or so since it is my first time going through the material, but I hope that since I did go through the material I can review for 8-9 days of 8hrs of studying, and be able to pass FAR the first time.

More advice is always helpful! Thanks guys

FAR 81
AUD 65, 84 (Used Ninja MCQ which I say contributed to my huge increase in score I love you Jeff)
REG 87 (CPA excel Wiley Self Study Book, Ninja 10 point combo)
BEC 86! I Must Pass or I lose my FAR Credit, Pray for me(Becker, Wiley, WTB, Ninja MCQ, Ninja Notes)

DONE!!!!!!

Using : Wiley CPA Exam Review Textbook, Wiley TB, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQ

[TiffaNiffaNi]

Before I clicked on this thread, I just knew you were taking FAR 🙂 I had a very similar post prior to my final review for FAR.

My advice: You need to get through those remaining chapters as soon as possible so you can start your review. The review is where everything will come together, and you will feel much more confident.

What I did:

-I skimmed each chapter and took notes ONLY on things that I knew I wanted to review/memorize 1-2 days before the exam. (This actually goes by rather quickly. You'll be surprised how much you actually did retain.)

-After I would do a chapter, I would do a 30 MCQ progress test. (Since you don't appear to have Becker, I'm not sure how you would go about this exactly, but basically randomly choose a sample of 30 MCQs from the chapter you just reviewed).

-Next day, same thing with the next chapter. Skim + notes + 30 MCQS from the previous chapter(s) reviewed and the current chapter reviewed.

-So on and so forth

->You should be able to start by reviewing + skimming Chapters 1 and 2 together since they are pretty easy.

->Each new day, start with a progress test of 30 MCQs from all the chapters you have reviewed.

->Each time you get something wrong on the progress test, investigate it and if you think it's something that you may need to see 1-2 days before the exam, add it to your notes.

Now, I didn't get a super high score on FAR, but I am satisfied that I didn't overstudy or understudy. You will never feel 100% prepared for this exam, but I felt that once I really accepted that, I felt a lot better going into my final review and the exam itself.

Best of luck!

FAR: 7/17/14- 79
AUD: 8/20/14- 91
REG: 10/1/14- 88
BEC: 11/10/14- 85

Becker Self-Study

[Kimboroni]

I would say to do a lot of MCQs, and use your resources as you do them. Look it up, don't guess. Pay special attention to the areas that you did at the beginning of your review. Ignore percentages on practice questions and always focus on learning the material.

It's a ton of material, and no one goes in feeling like they have 100% grasp of it for FAR. You just do the best you can to stuff as much info in your brain as possible and hope it works out.

For future tests, I highly recommend looking into the Ninja method, which is much more efficient. Basically, you don't do any of the MCQs until closer to test day, since you will just have to redo them closer to test day anyway. I do modified Ninja and do a few questions right then, but I don't worry about nailing the hard concepts until later. And even if you work full time (I do), try to study at least a little bit every day. Even if it's just an hour, it's worth it. You have to keep close contact with the material.

But back to the question at hand– definitely don't skimp on your govt and nonprofit. And it's great that you can study full time before the test– that will help so much. You can do this.

AUD 84 (1/9/14-Wiley books/TB + free materials)
FAR 83 (5/21/14-the above + NINJA 10 Pt Combo Lite)
REG 84 (7/9/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC/Notes)
BEC 76 (10/5/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC)

Disclaimer: My ninja avatar is not meant to imply that I have any affiliation with this site other than being a forum member. That's a pic of a T-shirt that my daughter gave me for my birthday. 🙂

[Stgeorge]

TiffaNiffaNi: Wow thank you! Your advice is awesome and very well written/explained. I am going to try and finish these last 200 pages as quickly as possible. Your approach sounds great and I will be trying to replicate it by skimming through chapters, reviewing Jeff's Ninja notes, and writing my own notes as skim and do MCQ. I think the WTB allows you to choose questions based on topics you want so hopefully that will help.(can anyone confirm this) I need to finish reading and once I review I hope to be able to review all chapters within 5-6 days and hopefully the last couple days I will be able to replicate the exam and also do the 2012 and 2009 AICPA practice exam and just continually do MCQ. I will probably go through all the SIMs per topic quickly and focus more on just doing non stop MCQ when I am reviewing and concentrating on JE's

Kimboroni: The ninja method sounds great I will highly utlize the product more for my next exams, hopefully I pass FAR first 🙂

FAR 81
AUD 65, 84 (Used Ninja MCQ which I say contributed to my huge increase in score I love you Jeff)
REG 87 (CPA excel Wiley Self Study Book, Ninja 10 point combo)
BEC 86! I Must Pass or I lose my FAR Credit, Pray for me(Becker, Wiley, WTB, Ninja MCQ, Ninja Notes)

DONE!!!!!!

Using : Wiley CPA Exam Review Textbook, Wiley TB, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQ

[TiffaNiffaNi]

@Stgeorge: My pleasure 🙂

There's a couple schools of thought on the practice exams. I am probably in the not-so-popular group, in that I didn't do any practice exams. Here's why: I waited too long to take them (after I had already done the final review and only had a couple of days left before the exam) and there were only two possible results for me (I stress “for me”):

1. I do well and get overconfident (and blow off the last bits of studying), or

2. I do poorly and freak out!

Others may not “freak out” and use the results as a study aid to focus their efforts (especially if they have the time), but again, it's that old adage, “know thyself”!

FAR: 7/17/14- 79
AUD: 8/20/14- 91
REG: 10/1/14- 88
BEC: 11/10/14- 85

Becker Self-Study

[Stgeorge]

@TiffaNiffaNi : LOL I know how you feel, I dont know if I should take it really easy the day before the exam or just keep doing MCQ and reviewing. Just wondering how many days did you have to review before the exam? I am assuming you only had two days left after you where done reviewing.

FAR 81
AUD 65, 84 (Used Ninja MCQ which I say contributed to my huge increase in score I love you Jeff)
REG 87 (CPA excel Wiley Self Study Book, Ninja 10 point combo)
BEC 86! I Must Pass or I lose my FAR Credit, Pray for me(Becker, Wiley, WTB, Ninja MCQ, Ninja Notes)

DONE!!!!!!

Using : Wiley CPA Exam Review Textbook, Wiley TB, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQ

[Author]

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