[Witty]

I got a 65. I am not surprised i failed considering i guessed on 5/7 sims because i only had 50 minutes for them. That was my mistake. I didnt finish studying the becker book because i just had no time. I basically skipped chapter ten and half *ssed non for profit. Also my mistake. I didnt think i would get such a low score considering my multiple choice werent so terrible. I did study ALOT and i am bummed to see that score. Any advice on what i should fully concentrate on to take it in three weeks? i dont have time to go over the entire book again and i need to take it in 3 weeks so i can receive my bonus God willing.

I am thinking fully studying Gov, Non for Profit, Bonds (i had difficulty with them), EPS, and the last chapter with random detail. Then just doing progress tests. Any other pointers you think i should definitely do to get 10 more points?

Thanks

AUD - 85
BEC - 81
FAR - 79
REG - 75

DONE!!!!!!

AUD: 70, 73, 85!
BEC: - 81!
REG: - 75!!!!!
FAR: -

[Stilgoin]

Do an overall review- such as rewatch lectures and take notes, or read the book and take notes. Then do MCQs up until exam.

Stilgoin, CPA

There are enough critics. Be an encourager

B | 62, 78
A | 73, 67, 79
R | 82
F | 59, 59, Waiting

Ethics | 93

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
~Winston Churchill

“In a world full of critics, be an encourager."

[Witty]

Yeah but doing the lectures for the entire book or even fully concentrating on the entire book takes me way longer than 3 weeks thats my problem. I get chapters 1-4 really well so I am going to start studying from chapter 10 since the last 5 chapters are the more difficult ones and just keep doing progress tests every day for a few hours. I also work full time.

AUD - 85
BEC - 81
FAR - 79
REG - 75

DONE!!!!!!

AUD: 70, 73, 85!
BEC: - 81!
REG: - 75!!!!!
FAR: -

[Anonymous]

I posted this on another thread before I found out I passed FAR, but since I know it worked for me, I'll post it here. Hopefully it helps you too

Best strategy for me (very effective):

1. Watch the video lecture and type notes on all the key points (I use a split screen – video on left & take notes on right, while watching)
2. Read my notes when video is over
3. Take quiz (complete all MCQ’s and TBS, if any)
4. Review all explanations (even the ones I got correct, to verify the explanation corresponds with my understanding)
5. If the lesson contains any JE’s I don’t know by heart, I add them to my Excel file named “Important JE’s” and write a descriptor next to it to help me remember.

Example of what I did for bonds:

1/1/11
dr. Cash 93,720
dr. Discount 6,280 – contra-liability
cr. Bond Payable 100,000

1/1/11 BS (non-current liability)
Bond Payable 100,000
Discount (6,280) – contra-liability
Net bond Liability 93,720 – present value amount (discount “REDUCES NET BOND LIA”)

I also created an amortization table of the example problem while the professor explained it in the lecture.
I made sure I knew how to calculate the premium/discount, the “cash interest” paid, the interest expense, etc.
I also made sure I did problems with bonds sold in the middle of the year with accrued interest, etc.

My point is, if the topic is historically known to be highly tested on the exam, notes are important!
You need them to review when you get through all the material.
The bulk of most topics on the CPA exam can be fit into a few sentences (10 sentences max) so I didn’t find it that time consuming (unless you’re wasting your time on the nitty gritty stuff)
Overall, I recommend spending the majority of your time doing the problems and really understanding them.

Also, spend a full day grinding only NFP/Gov’t MCQ’s. This is a must as it only really takes a day to understand about 80% of the problems and it accounts for about 20% of your total score.

TIP: I think a majority of people saying notes are a waste of time “hand-write” their notes. I think this is poor use of time and very inefficient since you need to go through 50 pages of chicken scratch to find your notes on Leases, etc.

BTW, I only used WileyCPA and I don't know how Becker videos work, but WileyCPA videos are broken down into like 260 small lessons.

Cheers.

[Witty]

Thanks @crazygoliath that helps and yeah i mean i usually learn better when i hand write but it does take A LOT of time that i dont believe i have right now so instead of hand writing the JE's i will do an excell with all the important ones to review before the exam.

AUD - 85
BEC - 81
FAR - 79
REG - 75

DONE!!!!!!

AUD: 70, 73, 85!
BEC: - 81!
REG: - 75!!!!!
FAR: -

[Stilgoin]

https://www.another71.com/how-to-pass-the-cpa-exam-in-20-days/

Stilgoin, CPA

There are enough critics. Be an encourager

B | 62, 78
A | 73, 67, 79
R | 82
F | 59, 59, Waiting

Ethics | 93

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
~Winston Churchill

“In a world full of critics, be an encourager."

[ipadminihalf]

I got a 63 in FAR at the end of August this year. I took about a month off from studying, as this was my last exam and I felt exhausted. I started again at the end of September. I started out by making note cards for each chapter. After I finished Chapter 1 note cards, I did a 30 question quiz and if I got higher than 80%, I move on. Less than 80%, take another 30 questions. I used Roger, so this was for 30 chapters. While I was answering the questions, I wrote down the journal entries to get my answer. After that, I looked at my scores and sorted them by lowest percentage first. Went back through them again, until my overall average was above 80%. About a week and half before the exam, I practiced some simulations, just to get a better picture of what I was doing. At this time, I also wrote down all the JEs and some other notes that I thought might be important. Day before the exam, I maybe looked at note cards for 30 minutes.

The test itself felt odd, similar to my audit exam, in that I could not tell whether the MCQ testlets were difficult or medium, which played with my head. I finished the sims with 45 minutes left, and all the other exams I had about 5-10 minutes remaining. These signs made me think I was for sure going to fail, but I passed with an 82.

Anyways, don't get discouraged and don't worry about the bonus. It is better to take more time to study to ensure a pass, otherwise you'll have to take it again. Btw, I had my test originally scheduled for Nov 8, and I moved it to Nov 28, because I felt weak on some important topics (CF, SE, Bonds, Govt, Consolidation).

.

REG - 2/19/16 - 77!
BEC - 4/16/16 - 79!!
AUD - 6/04/16 - 84!!!
FAR - 8/31/16

[tg7174]

I just took FAR on the 5th and am expecting a retake already. I went through the whole CPAexcel FAR course, but only had about 1.5 weeks for MCQs. I'm already anticipating a retake. I'm changing things up for AUD and got the ninja combo for it, and it's really refreshing. I feel like some study courses give you way too much material, but NINJA seems to cut to the chase and focus on the concepts.

AUD 83
BEC 78
FAR 78
REG 74, 79

[Jdn9201]

I've heard and read here that preparing for a retake has to be like you are looking at it for the first time. I thought I'd share what I did to pass earlier this year (I started studying February 8th or 9th and took my exam on February 29th). I work full time too. Some may think I'm crazy, but I think one blessing of studying over a short period of time is you can't get lost in the details because you literally don't have time to. Also, I didn't have to worry about forgetting what I had learned or leaving a bunch of time for review, because I didn't have time to forget it. I only used Roger. I hope this helps!

1. Use the CSO (Content Specific OUtline) to guide how much time you spend on a particular topic. My goal was 3 chapters a day, knowing some chapters would take longer than others. For the topics that are a small percent on the outline, I'd get familiar enough with it that i could narrow down an MCQ to the 2 best possible answers. Once I reached that point, I moved on. If it was a larger percentage, I'd try to average 70% on the MCQs.

2. Slow down doing MCQs to make sure you are understanding WHY an answer is right or not right. I realize people learn differently, but one thing people focus too much on IMO is the number of MCQs you do. If you aren't grasping the concepts and knowing how that knowledge translates to another question about the same topic, you are wasting your time. I can't remember how many MCQs I did, but there were some in Roger's test bank that I never got to. I also limited my repeat questions so I wouldn't be memorizing them instead of learning from them (there is a difference).

3. If you can listen to lectures at work (while working of course 🙂 ) so you can save your home study time for problems. There were some lectures that I didn't remember enough of but it made me much more efficient in my time at home.

4. Do rolling chapter quizzes to help you remember earlier chapters. I came up with this on the fly, but i'd set my chapters in Roger to generate questions from Ch's 1-3, then 2-4, 3-5, etc.

5. Familiarize yourself with the AL! I spent a day of my review doing research SIMS so I'd know where different topics are. They give you actual JE's and ways to answer SIMS in the AL but you have to be able to efficiently research in order to find it. The AL is severely underrated in how people study, IMO.

6. When you get to the point where you are taking practice exams, create a time budget and stick to it. This helps you to make sure you have enough time for SIMS. If you can, I'd also suggest planning for at least one break instead of going straight through the exam. When I took FAR, I took a break between testlet #1 and 2, then between #3 and the SIMS. Again, you have to watch the clock but I knew my mind needed the breaks and benefitted from them tremendously. Good luck!

3.

BEC - 88 8/29/15
REG - 82 11/14/15
AUD - 83 1/8/16
FAR - 80 2/29/16

[Author]

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