Tips from Elijah Watt Sells winners? Anyone heartbreakingly close??

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    Topic
  • #187179
    Sarah1421
    Member

    I read a post a couple days ago by Scottso990 (it was started about a year ago). He received an amazing cumulative score of 95.5 on his exams, but was heartbreakingly shy of the Elijah Watt Sells award. Although I see why that would be bittersweet, I’m SO impressed with these scores. I read through the entire thread and came across some excellent study tips from people with some incredibly high scores… and I’m hoping we can get more input like that here.

    For those of you in these shoes, I’m curious what to hear your typical % scores on your homework and practice exams? Were you constantly testing in the 90-100% range? But maybe it was more reasonable – maybe in the 80s?

    If you have some tips to share with “the rest of us” – please do. I’m lacking some motivation on this horrible rainy day, studying transaction cycles and ratio analysis in AUD. 🙁

    I just need two 97s and a 99!! lol Actually, I just need to three 75s… 🙂

    FAR - 90
    AUD - 91
    BEC - 86
    REG - 87

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 29 total)
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  • #588453
    JamesBJames
    Participant

    Unless I pull, like, 96 on BEC and 99 on REG, it looks like I'm falling short. It was never my intention to go for the EWS award in the first place, but it's cool to know that I'm not insanely far off. I'm curious to see if I get 90+ on BEC. Of course, a pass is a pass; give me a 75 for all I care.

    For FAR, AUD, and BEC, I would usually get 80-85% the first time through the Bcker HW. There were a couple of trouble sections in each area (FAR: pensions and taxes, AUD: transaction cycles, BEC: variance analysis) that I averaged closer to 65-70% on. Transaction cycles suck, but they'll probably click for you eventually.

    As far as tips, just build frameworks for all the important material. It's especially important for AUD if you know how everything interacts. Also, with HW questions, always try to understand why you got an answer wrong. On top of that, I like to figure out why the other answers are wrong; if they're conceptual, are they referring to some other topic; if they're computational, how would a person get to an incorrect choice?

    I'm also curious to hear from past EWS winners or people who are very close. I know there are a couple of people active here who have 90+ averages, but I don't recall seeing anyone in EWS territory (as of recently).

    FAR: May 1st, 2014 - 91
    AUD: May 29th, 2014 - 97!
    BEC: July 16th, 2014 - 91
    REG: August 29th, 2014 - 88

    Licensed December 2015

    Feel free to add me on LinkedIn by clicking my username!

    #588454
    silverdice7
    Member

    Is this where we come to brag about our scores?

    AUD 94
    BEC 91
    REG 88
    FAR 91

    Done!

    #588455
    Sarah1421
    Member

    Thanks for sharing your experience – It's funny, because when I wrote this post, I actually thought of your scores and how you could pull it off. Let's hope you do it… and it's awesome that you started testing on May 1st. Nice work!

    I've been getting similar scores in my AUD practice, I just have a hard time trusting them… I worked much harder in FAR to memorize the concepts. Glad to hear you didn't particularly care for the transaction cycles either (and still got at 97!!). My scores seem to be solid, but when I get questions wrong… I get them wrong for scary reasons.

    I'm going back through them in a few minutes. It's probably why I'm on this discussion board right now. 🙂

    Let's hope we hear from others as well!

    FAR - 90
    AUD - 91
    BEC - 86
    REG - 87

    #588456
    Sarah1421
    Member

    Sure – Nicely done!! What were your practice scores before your exam? AUD is freaking me out…

    FAR - 90
    AUD - 91
    BEC - 86
    REG - 87

    #588457
    impska
    Member

    Silverdice, your scores suck.

    REG - 94
    BEC - 92
    FAR - 92
    AUD - 99

    #588458
    jobach_lsu
    Member

    I normally get between 75-85% on the homeworks (Becker) the first time through, and very rarely fall below 70% (I'm looking at you pensions). I get most of my prep from working the MC after I read through the chapters relatively quickly. Almost all of my practice exams have been somewhere in the 80s except for one of the REG exams.

    It's funny because I wasn't even aware of the award until I started the lecture for my last section and Peter Olinto mentioned something about an award. Now I'm afraid I may have slacked off a bit too much during REG and ruined my chances. Either way I'm just ready to be finished.

    AUD 4/4/2014 - 97
    FAR 5/29/2014 - 97
    REG 7/10/2014 - 90
    BEC 8/1/2014 - 89

    #588459
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @Jobach — Can you roll some of the excess points over to some of us? I mean don't be selfish. They're just being wasted in idle on your signature.

    #588460
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Envy you guys, I am taking FAR in a month and scoring 35-50% on MCQs using Becker. It's more frustrating than anything

    #588461
    itsjustatest
    Member

    @bigbob if it aint broke, dont fix it. You sound ready.

    AUD - 83
    REG - 78
    FAR - 69,73,79
    BEC - 85

    #588462
    jobach_lsu
    Member

    Whelp I guess I was right, slacked off too much on REG. It's still possible but I need a 99 on BEC, and while I'm pretty confident I passed I really don't think I did well enough for a 99 lol.

    AUD 4/4/2014 - 97
    FAR 5/29/2014 - 97
    REG 7/10/2014 - 90
    BEC 8/1/2014 - 89

    #588463
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I was scoring 95% on the Wiley Test Bank for FAR and ended up with a 73 on score release day. Why? Because I memorized the answers. I wouldn't put too much into the % of questions correct from your review course. What matters is whether or not you understand the concept.

    #588464
    JamesBJames
    Participant

    I'm still in the running. Just need a 104 on REG.

    FAR: May 1st, 2014 - 91
    AUD: May 29th, 2014 - 97!
    BEC: July 16th, 2014 - 91
    REG: August 29th, 2014 - 88

    Licensed December 2015

    Feel free to add me on LinkedIn by clicking my username!

    #588465
    NYCaccountant
    Participant

    James you would come so close to the mark if you get a 99 on REG. Anyway, great scores! really nice BEC score in particular.

    AUD - 99
    BEC - 84
    FAR - 93
    REG - 87
    NYC born and raised.

    FAR - 93
    REG - 87
    BEC - 84!!!!
    AUD - 99!!!!!! CPA exam complete.

    #588466
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    This is an interesting thread. I feel the same as @JamesBJames and @jobach_lsu in that I never really intended to go for the EWS Award. I just wanted to pass my CPA exams. Then after the scores came out last Friday, I realized I have a realistic shot at it. I would have to score a 91 on BEC which isn't easy by any means. Anyone have any suggestions on how I should prepare in this last week in order to get the score I need?? Anyone tips would be greatly appreciated! I'm freaking myself out a bit.

    #588467
    M.O.D.
    Member

    @ CPA2b

    Buy the Gleim CMA package and do all the MCQs and essays.

    It might be worth a $20,000 signing bonus with PWC.

    BA Mathematics, UC Berkeley
    Certificates in CPA and EA preparation, College of San Mateo
    CMA I 420, II 470
    FAR 91, AUD Feb 2015 (Gleim self-study)

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 29 total)
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