[smyoung0521]

I read a suggestion that I have never heard before but part of it made sense…

When you first begin studying, take a ‘quiz’ with questions from all the chapters. Once done, look at your scores and see which ‘chapters’ you scored the worst on and do those sections first. Do a few of your worst subjects and quiz over those as you go…then retake quiz over whole test and then keep working at it that way. I hope I am explaining it in a way that makes sense. I can see some of the value in this method but I am not sure it would work.

Any thoughts?

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REG - NINJA in Training

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[Missy]

In other situations that may work but I don't recommend it for cpa studying. That advice works on the premise that a test score is based on the % of questions answered correctly. Also anything in the material is fair game on exam day. I had an entire SIM on a topic that wasn't even mentioned in the chapters, it was literally one sentence in the third appendix to my book.

Old timer,  A71'er since 2010.

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Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Anonymous]

I also wouldn't recommend it, though for different reasons. The reason I wouldn't recommend it is because I think most people need a framework to “put away” the information in their head, and this seems like it would result in very scattered information. For the average person, having a start-to-finish review of the materials (whether that's watching lectures through or reading the books through or doing a CRAM review or something else) is the best starting-point, then they'd do something like you've described for targeting weak points during their review phase.

However, different people learn in different ways. Some people pass these exams only doing MCQs, which would provide the most disjointed, detail-level information possible. Other people, I'm sure, have passed using a method like you described. So, I'm not going to say it's a bad method, though I will say I wouldn't recommend it. For most people, I don't think it would work well, but for some people, it may suit their mind perfectly.

[bhunt815]

My study method was slightly different, but the same basic premise. I listened to all of the Becker lectures and outlined the book before working any MCQ's at all, and then studied the test as one whole thing rather than in segments. I would take the Becker progress tests over and over again and would study the sections I was struggling with in more detail as the progress tests let me know where my weaknesses were. I seem to be the only person on this forum that chose this study method, but I passed all the sections so it worked for me.

One caveat – This method did not work for REG. REG has 2 specific and very different aspects and I just couldn't make studying Tax and Ethics/Biz Law together work for me. I actually studied REG in segments.

AUD - 79
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FAR - 84
REG - 78

Becker Self Study supplemented with Ninja MCQ's for BEC and REG.

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FAR 04/11/2016 - 84
AUD 05/12/2016 - 79
BEC 07/06/2016 - 81
REG 08/29/2016

[GitRDone2017]

This method may work if you have studied the topic recently, I would hope that someone who just graduated and has been taking accounting classes in their coursework would not have to go through the entire CPA review course for that topic. However, it does not seem that our education system is set up that way. I took most of my accounting classes during my junior year so i had not seen the material for at least a year when i graduated. Ask yourself, how well have I retained the info? Maybe a good review of sections that you are most comfortable with, it really would depend on how you learn and retain the information I would think. I would recommend at least review the material in a review course before making that decision. It all really depends on you. Good luck!

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[Author]

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