He has been a member of Another71.com's Club 75 since August 2010.
Week 1:
A little bit of background on me: I just started studying with Yaeger CPA Review a few weeks ago. I first attempted to pass the exam about a year ago when I took the audit section and I used Bisk to prepare. I definitely didnt take it as seriously as I should have and I wasnt even close to passing.
The exam kicked my butt, but ultimately it fell on my shoulders. I knew of the changes coming in 2011, but I had pretty much procrastinated for most 2010.
Then in August, I finally got my butt in gear and ordered Yaeger.
I felt the DVDs would help keep me motivated as opposed to just running questions as I had the year before in Bisk. Now my plan is to study for 8 weeks for the FAR exam (Nov 1.) and 4 weeks for BEC (Nov 30) and hopefully stay motivated enough to get a good 150 hours of studying for FAR and another 60-75 for BEC.
My weapons of choice for the CPA Exam in 2010 Yaeger Then and Now program FAR and BEC this year, with AUD and Reg next year.
Many people at my job spoke very highly of the Becker flashcards so I got them too. I will also try to make use of iPhone apps from Wiley CPA Review.
Ive been studying about 3 weeks now, and Im struggling with whole put my life on hold, which seems to be necessary to pass this exam.
Ive probably logged about 25 hours so far, studying from about 1 to 2 hours a day. I know I need to rev it up to ideally 4 hours a day pretty much from this point forward, so Im hoping that motivation kicks in very soon as it did when I took the CFE exam.
With the CFE exam, I pretty much studied for 3 weeks straight, 6 hours a day and passed on my first try.
That was back when I was almost finished with Grad school and I had a lot more motivation to study. I worked full time then too, so thats really no excuse.
Week 2:
I have 5 Weeks until I take the FAR exam.
I'm not exactly where I'd like be studying wise, but I've been gradually ramping up my study time. I feel I really need a solid 25 to 30 hours a week from here on out and right now I'm at about 15. Since I started studying a few weeks ago it's been hard getting into a groove or a schedule.
I've been getting in about an hour a day on my lunch breaks, but then it's hit or miss when I get home, sometimes I can do 2 – 2.5 hours, but some nights I'm just not into it and maybe get 30 minutes in. I've been reading a lot of notes and doing MCQ's and using flashcards, both Becker and the Wiley iPhone notes, but I really need to get in gear with the Yaeger videos.
I have 10 discs left for FAR, which I'd ideally like to get done by mid-October, so I can then re-watch areas where I am weak.
To catch up I plan on taking a few days off of work in the next few weeks and just hopefully bang out 7-8 hours in a day, instead of the 2-3 I've been averaging lately.
My goal is to get at least 125 hours of FAR in before the exam. I'd really rather get in 150. Right now I'm at about 30 hours. I'm starting to question my 8 week study plan for FAR right about now, hopefully this coming week I'll get over that study hump.
Since I've started studying I've noticed my coffee intake tripling. I probably should invest in Keurig and Dunkin Donuts right about now.
I took note of one of the tips I saw on this site a few days ago, which is speeding the DVD up. I have several media players on my laptop that I use, but the one that works best to speed up the DVD is called VLC Player. It is free, there are no ads or anything. It's a great way to save the $50 bucks and not have to buy a program. Search VLC player on Google, download it and you're ready to go in a few minutes. The speed adjust is in the bottom right hand corner of the Player, and it can be adjusted at .03 increments.
-J.W.
thank you