He has been a member of Another71.com's Club 75 since August 2010.
Week 6:
Im getting pretty anxious. Im not sure whether this is a good, bad or indifferent thing, but Ive gotten to a point where Ive been studying everyday for almost 2 months now and I want to take FAR and move on to the next one. I dont necessarily feel that Im prepared to take it as is, I know I need to study more and cram probably what will amount to be another 1,000 MCQs in the next two weeks for me to even have the slightest shred of confidence going into the test.
With 2 weeks left to study, I picked up a Yaeger CPA Review CRAM DVD, and I am almost through it. I wanted to get through the entire thing in one weekend, but 18 hours is a heavy undertaking to watch in a weekend, so Ill finish up today or tomorrow. After watching the 46+ hours of FAR Homestudy, I was ready and anxious to start pounding MCQs, then after a few weeks of that, it was nice to watch the CRAM DVD as a bit of a change of pace. Ill have to do a better job of changing it up a for the next test. I have plenty of study materials to read, watch and answer.
After almost getting through the CRAM I can say this about it, you definitely pick up things that you missed out on before and it helps to reinforce concepts and it certainly cant hurt going through concepts you already know one more time. Its definitely good for those topics where you sort of know it, but need a quick run-through again to better understand so you dont have to go through several hours of Homestudy again, a half hour of CRAM on the topic is a nice alternative.
Id recommend it for the week or two before the test. Ive averaged 55% on the Wiley CPA Test Bank before the CRAM, so Im hoping when I start the MCQs again Ill see a nice bump up in score. I have no frame of reference as to how 55% on random Wiley questions equates to the CPA Exam, but the higher, the better.
Thankfully I have a very light work schedule coming up in the next few weeks so I should have no problem doing 3 hours a day until the Exam on Nov. 16. which will give me at least 45 hours more studying time. Now I dont know how quantity will factor into passing FAR over quality of hours as I do have a tendency to space out from time to time.
Sometimes I just have to stop altogether because Im listening to the CD, or reading a question and it pretty much sounds like a foreign language because none of it is registering. When Im watching Yaeger Homestudy, this usually happens, then Cindy will say, go to page 149, Im on page 149, please turn to page 149 and it snaps me out of it.
Now if I could somehow figure out how to get Cindy Simpson in my head during the exam I might be alright. I can hear it now Read the stem Jason…You can pick letter A if its the right answer.
Anyway, for what its worth my hourly breakdown so far has been:
Yaeger FAR Homestudy: 46 hours
Yaeger FAR CRAM: 18 hours
Wiley MCQs: 14 hours
Reading & Rewriting Notes: 9 Hours
So, Im about 87 hours in, I hope to add at least another 45 on top of that. For around 130 hours total. Hopefully there is a good mix of quality and quantity, at least enough to scrounge up a 75.
2 Weeks to go until FAR.
-J.W.
