
He has been a member of Another71.com's Club 75 since August 2010.
Week 15:
I have one week until my BEC exam. I finished up the last chapter a few days ago and now Im in full final review mode. I still have some weak spots where I know I will need to spend a fair amount of time reviewing financial ratios and cost accounting. However Im feeling pretty good about where I am right now.
I did a practice exam last night and scored an 83%. I was shocked. I thought I knew the material pretty well, but I didnt think I knew it that well. Before taking the practice exam I was actually pretty worried, but now Im feeling very confident despite my weak spots.
For comparisons sake I never scored above a 70% when taking a FAR practice exam and I failed that exam with a 69. I think I can attribute my turn-around to a major overhaul of how I studied. For FAR I watched the videos, did the minimum MCQs and moved on without perhaps fully understanding the topic thinking Id get back to it at final review. I didnt go back and read the text.
This time around, I read the first 2 chapters of Wiley and didnt watch any videos. I also took advantage of a feature in the Wiley Test Bank CD here. I would print out all of the questions with the correct answers and the text link explaining, and Id go through every single question and read the text link to really hammer it in. It really helped for the first 2 chapters.
Then I switched back to how I studied for FAR. I watched the next 2 modules of videos and when I was done I realized something. I wasnt really learning all that much after I watched the videos and that the material was really sinking in because Id do MCQs and have no idea what I should do.
I began questioning myself and if I had the right materials, should I switch courses? All these negative thoughts went through my head. Then I went back to how I reviewed the first two chapters when I reviewed each question with its text link from Wiley that is really when the topic started to sink in. Its something where just seeing the same thing over and over, even if you move on not understanding it, but after seeing it for the 3rd or 4th time it really started to click. My confidence rose a little bit, but those negative thoughts were still there. I even thought that if I didnt pass the upcoming exam, that that would be it, I just wouldnt be a CPA because I just didnt know the material.
The remaining 4 chapters I still watched the videos, then did the Wiley questions after, while supplementing it with Jeffs NINJA notes and the Wiley CPA BEC App. Im not sure if going forward watching the videos will be the best use of my study time. I felt I really only got 10% of the knowledge I needed from the videos. They really do give important tidbits that will make a subject easier to understand, but I really felt I got 80% of what I needed to know from the Wiley Text with the other 10% coming from the notes and Wiley App as sometimes just seeing something in Jeffs notes or the app will just put it in a better perspective. I really learned something about myself these past few weeks in that the best way that I learn is just reading it over and over again.
Thats why these next 7 days its gonna be me and my Wiley Text Book and Test Bank and some Apps and Notes here and there when Im not home. Hopefully Ill continue to improve and my confidence will stay high. I dont want to look too far ahead, but I think I may have stumbled upon the study strategy that I need to pass this exam. Ill worry about it later on, but I think just flat out reading the textbook may be the way I learn best. Enough about my Audit, FAR and Reg future though. I have BEC to pass first. I guess the moral of what Im trying to say here is that if something isnt working for you, dont be afraid to change it up.
Sometimes you might even need less than what you have and just focusing on less, instead of more.
-J.W.
What practice test do you use for your studies? Good Luck on Bec
I use the 2011 wiley test bank cd.
I found that the chapters I read from beginning to end stuck with me better. Wish I'd done that for all of them. You will do great. I'm pulling for you!!