Final review strategy

  • Creator
    Topic
  • #852913
    thelatebloomer
    Participant

    Hello everyone,

    I’m taking my first CPA exam attempt on Friday (BEC), and I’d like people’s input on my final run-through before the exam. I went through all of the Wiley CPAExcel questions until I got them all right, then started doing Ninja MCQs. I am currently averaging 72% having done 893 out of 1367 total questions. At this point I know I won’t be able to get through all of the questions by Friday, so my plan is to focus my efforts on my weaker areas and then do a few WCs to get a good format down.

    Financial Management was my lowest average score, so I finished every question and I end up with a 70% average in that section and 106 questions missed. I’m thinking I will finish the last 55 questions left of Economic Concepts because it is my next lowest score, then go back and run through the questions I missed in Financial Management until I finish those. From there I would like to hammer them out until I get every question right in Financial Management. However, with my schedule I will probably only be able to do another 8 hours. Should I just start practicing some WCs, or is it even worth bothering if I feel I write pretty well?

    Anyone else struggle with Financial Management?

    Thanks!

    BEC: 88 (expired)
    REG: 77 (expired)
    FAR: October
    AUD: TBD

    Wiley CPAExcel + Ninja MCQ + Ninja Audio + Ninja Notes

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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    Replies
  • #852937
    .
    Participant

    I wouldn't bother with practicing the WCs. Maybe just do a search on this forum for threads in the past about the format. “Written communication” “BEC”

    Do you really need to do all the questions until you get them all right? Different from my method. I just try to do all the questions at least once.

    FAR- 88- 6/16- (Ninja Avg. 74%)
    REG- 89- 7/16- (Ninja Avg. 77%)
    AUD- 95- 8/16- (Ninja Avg. 81%)
    BEC- 82- 9/16- (Ninja Avg. 75%)
    [Wiley CPAExcel + Ninja MCQ]

    Finally licensed.

    FAR - June 2016 - 88
    REG - July 2016 - 89
    AUD - Aug 2016 - review phase currently
    BEC - Sep 2016 -

    Wiley CPA Excel & Ninja MCQ

    #852960
    thelatebloomer
    Participant

    Thanks for the tip about WCs. I think a quick overview of a proper format is probably all I need.

    I don't really need to get them all right. I know the advantage of the Ninja MCQs is that you get immediate feedback. You are showing very solid average scores for only doing them once. I think for my next exam, I'm going to put more into reading the material and taking notes before I do questions. That way, when I hit Ninja I can really solidify my scores to ensure I pass in one. Your scores are very impressive, and I think you've inspired me to do it a bit differently. I figured my best bet was to try to nail down concepts from my trouble areas, and I would get there more quickly by focusing on questions I missed. This would be sort of a “last minute” approach, considering I feel I will get weak marginal gains from the sections I'm getting 75%+ in, especially with IT where I feel it is so broad with memorization that I'm better off pulling from my decent IT background.

    BEC: 88 (expired)
    REG: 77 (expired)
    FAR: October
    AUD: TBD

    Wiley CPAExcel + Ninja MCQ + Ninja Audio + Ninja Notes

    #852979
    .
    Participant

    I don't know if my method is the best. It worked, so I stuck with it but who knows.

    I ran out of time on BEC also and ended up not finishing Ninja MCQs. For the other exams I did almost all of the Ninja MCQs. Here are my stats for BEC:

    https://i.imgur.com/uPJFj3m.png

    FAR- 88- 6/16- (Ninja Avg. 74%)
    REG- 89- 7/16- (Ninja Avg. 77%)
    AUD- 95- 8/16- (Ninja Avg. 81%)
    BEC- 82- 9/16- (Ninja Avg. 75%)
    [Wiley CPAExcel + Ninja MCQ]

    Finally licensed.

    FAR - June 2016 - 88
    REG - July 2016 - 89
    AUD - Aug 2016 - review phase currently
    BEC - Sep 2016 -

    Wiley CPA Excel & Ninja MCQ

    #853176
    jules_cpa
    Participant

    For my “final review” I did the Becker Final review for 3 days, reviewing all lectures and answering all questions. Then on the last day I only used the MCQs in the Wiley Test Bank. I really like the format of the Test Bank. For FAR and Aud I didn't even do any practice SIMS.

    AUD - 77
    BEC - 82
    FAR - 75
    REG - 76
     Licensed CPA - September 2017
    #853467
    thelatebloomer
    Participant

    @circadian malfunction: It looks like we have very similar scores, except you did a lot better on Financial Management. Thanks for posting this. I spent most of my time doing the MCQs for CPAExcel. How much time did you spend on reading/lectures in CPAExcel? I don't think the lectures are an efficient use of time, but I think I will at least read through the material more consistently for my next exam.



    @jules_cpa
    : So does Becker's “final review” essentially summarize all of the lectures? I'm glad the Wiley Test Bank worked well for you. If I ever have to do any re-takes I will either do that or Gleim as supplemental. However, I have been very happy with Ninja MCQ! It's a very cost effective product.

    BEC: 88 (expired)
    REG: 77 (expired)
    FAR: October
    AUD: TBD

    Wiley CPAExcel + Ninja MCQ + Ninja Audio + Ninja Notes

    #853489
    mtaylo24
    Participant

    I'm final reviewing for BEC myself. The Becker final review is actually pretty good. The text is really condensed (maybe like 10 pages per section) with large spaced out font. I'm not really using the lectures though (maybe 20-30 minutes depending on the section). You only get about 180 mcqs, but they are all legit. There are a lot of I, II, III, IV questions. I'm trying to get through those at least 5 times. I'm using Gleim in between.

    CPA (2017)

    REG:  75

    BEC:  76

    FAR:  77

    AUD: 78

     

    CMA (2019)

    P1: 380

    P2: 360

    AUD - 1st - 60 (12/12), 61 (2/13), 61 (8/13), 78! (11/15)
    REG - 55 (2/16) 69 (5/16) Retake(8/16)
    BEC - 71(5/16) Retake (9/16)
    FAR - (8/16)

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