Megan is a weekly Club 75 Blogger as she documents her journey through the CPA Exam. She has been a member of Another71.com's Club 75 since April 2010.
It's always really really hard to get back into studying right after you finish an exam. You feel like you worked really hard to do the best you could, so all you want to do is chill for a little bit before moving onto the next test. I don't think that's a bad thing, but don't get stuck chilling. That's basically what I did after I finished and passed REG. Which is why I'm still working on BEC/FAR now.
I'm in total “nesting” mode, so that's more of what I did this week. Not only did I get things done in the nursery, I decided to redo my two-year-old's room too. Not really conducive to progressing with my FAR studies, I know. After I take FAR, I'll only have 2.5 weeks left before the baby is due, so it's got to be done sometime!
I did finish the F1 lectures, but I still have the homework to do. I made a study schedule to outline what I should do for the next 5.5 weeks, and hopefully I can stick to it–assuming I don't find some new project to work on for the boys' rooms.
I had lunch with a friend this week who is in the middle of her testing as well, and I had a revelation. I figured out why I didn't pass BEC and FAR in the past, and I'm hoping to curb that (and I think I may have with BEC).
I took the online course with Becker CPA Review (when I took each section the first time) that gave you a rough example of what your timeline should be. I just followed that, and gave no thought to whether or not it was working for me.
For me, the Becker timeline meant rushing through the lectures and homework, and then giving yourself ample time for final review. This meant I was just doing the lectures and homework to see them crossed out on the program (not really learning anything), and then rushing to actually learn the stuff during those two weeks before the test.
With BEC this most recent time, I focused more on learning the material the first time, even if it took 4.5 of the 5 weeks I gave myself to study, and then just refreshing my mind during a shorter final review process (3-5 days). I felt like I went into the test more confident of the material than I had before, and felt more confident after the test than I have before.
Of course, I have yet to receive my grade, so this new study schedule method may not actually work for me, but I feel like it really helped me. It wasn't really intentional on BEC to do it this way, but I think it worked out.
Hopefully in two weeks I'll let you know for sure!
-Megan
