Advice on Study Materials

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    Topic
  • #2709996
    mloveb1019
    Participant

    This will be my second time attempting the exams. I had previously taken REG (51), AUD (63), and FAR (56). The last time I studied and tested was in April of 2018 and I graduated in 2015. I was using Becker and it was basically useless for me. I need something that will be exciting and easy to understand. I know nothing about accounting is exciting but I think just about anything will be better than those guys at Becker and the book itself was just too hard for me to read. I have dyslexia and if I’m reading things I need it to be very clear and easy to comprehend or else everything turns into a jumbled mess of letters. The lectures were way beyond my level of comprehension as the only real world accounting experience I have is as the lower level property staff accountant role I’m in now.

    With everything being so expensive and me being so broke I really need some advice on what materials to get. I checked out Rodger and when I get home I’m planning to try the free trial out. They have a good special right now but I don’t want to dive in and purchase until I get some suggestions from people who are having success with materials other than Becker.

    Thanks in advance.

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  • #2710074
    TheeAccountant
    Participant

    Hey, I find accounting exciting! A suggestion for you. I can't recommend a different review course as I used Becker and I thought it was pretty good. However, I don't have dyslexia. Do you have a diagnosis from when you were in school? You might consider getting an accommodation with the AICPA to perhaps get a screen-reader and more time on the exam. It would require getting a specialists' opinion that's no more than three years old and having been accommodated during your primary/secondary/college school years. Here's the problem – you find a review course that works but you get into the exam and the questions are not going to be easy to comprehend. I don't have any LDs and I think the wording of some of the stuff on the exam is convoluted. I can't imagine how it would be to try to read that nonsense if I didn't read well.

    All that said, a lot of people pass with Ninja only. And it's much cheaper than any of the other review courses.

    AUD - 85
    BEC - 92
    FAR - 84
    REG - 88
    I've found an anomaly in the Space-Time Continuum. NASBA and the AICPA are in the 19th century. They use slide rules to score the exam, and then they send the scores by Pony Express to the State Boards. That's why it takes so long for them to do a score release.
    #2710089
    mloveb1019
    Participant

    My parents didn't get me officially diagnosed when I was younger. They just knew because my mother is also dyslexic and it didn't really effect my schoolwork until I got to college and at that point I didn't know I could do anything about it. I really think I'd be able to figure the questions out if I had a good grasp on the material and Becker just didn't cut it for me. I feel like their lectures kind of jumped around in some areas and it was difficult for me to pay attention to that (unfortunately I do have ADD so that just makes the learning/studying thing even more fun lol). The worst part was that I just found them so, so, so boring. Especially the older gentleman. He literally put me to sleep a few times. I am a very physical learner so I need someone that's high energy and motivational and I need materials that are going to give me tons of MCQs and SIMS because the only way I truly learn is by physically doing things. I feel like if I had more experience in the field it would be a piece of cake for me, I pick things up really quickly if I'm the one doing them but I never had a good enough GPA to be considered for the fancy CPA firm jobs.

    #2710101
    mloveb1019
    Participant

    I've lived with all my issues long enough that fortunately I have learned how to force myself to focus lol, these exams make me push it to the limit but I can do it. During the exams the comprehension wasn't the tough part for me. It was more that even after months of studying I felt totally unprepared and when I went into the testing center I went in knowing I wasn't going to pass because no matter how hard or how long I studied I just couldn't pick things up from those lectures or from the book. It was literally like learning a foreign language and I had been out of school long enough that I hadn't remembered anything from school except the basics and I wasn't working as a true accountant until January of this year so I had no real experience and no one to learn from. I was basically starting from scratch, like a first day of school freshman accounting major, and I was teaching myself everything.

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