[Will911]

Hey everyone, hope everyone that is studying for the CPA exam is enjoying their weekend and making gains! I’m looking for a few tips/have a few questions. I just finished my first 2.5 hours of studying for FAR…As the title states I’m using Wiley CPA Excel. I have my NTS but have not scheduled my test date, I want to make sure I’m ready before scheduling. My schedule is 2 hours/night on weekdays and 10 hours on the weekend. Anyway on to my questions:

If I don’t understand/do bad on a section (like the MCQ section), should I stay on the section until I understand completely, or move on to the next lesson and come back later?

Also did you guys take notes during lectures/reading? I’m a little perplexed about what I want to do here because I’m not sure how often I will refer to them. I’m considering only taking notes on MCQ’s that I get wrong.

I think that’s about it for now… Going to go get some food in my system and get back at it for another 2.5 hours today. Thanks in advance for your advice :).

[Anonymous]

My first suggestion would be to schedule your exam. Waiting until you're “ready” could be a problem for a lot of reasons. First, you take a risk of there not being an open spot when you actually want to take it. Also, I think most people will say they never really feel entirely “ready” for any of these exams. I studied for nine weeks for FAR, and I definitely still didn't feel prepared on the day I took the exam. However, having a set date will keep you on a tight study schedule and give you less opportunity to be sidetracked and keep pushing it off. As soon as I got my NTS, I scheduled all of my exams at once and I think that's part of the reason why I was able to be disciplined with my studying.

I also used CPAexcel (and I added Ninja MCQs for BEC and FAR). If you're having problems with a section…especially in FAR…just do your best with it and move on to the next. FAR is beyond overwhelming and a lot of the material didn't make sense to me until the last few weeks leading up to my exam. When you keep moving through the material, some of what you didn't understand before will start to make more sense later.

I took some notes while reading through the material, but my notes were mainly from doing MCQs. Those were the notes I referred back to the most during my review. I suggest doing the CPAexcel MCQs while going through the material, and then adding Ninja MCQs for the final two weeks or so leading up to your exam. Also, I did not watch any of the lectures for FAR. I took AUD first and watched most of those lectures, but after that I never watched any of the lectures for the other sections. Basically I learned how to study more efficiently by the time I got to FAR, and there is so much material that I had to cut corners somewhere. I tend to just zone out during lectures, so they weren't helpful to me. However, we all learn best in different ways, so if you find them helpful, then keep watching. On the other hand, I would suggest maybe only watching them if you're really struggling with a specific topic. Hope some of this helps. Good luck with your studying!

[Will911]

Thank you for the tips ASUalum. By the way if you happen to come back to this thread, did you follow the “due” dates that CPAExcel gave you, or did you more or less do your own thing? Thanks 🙂

Currently thinking about skipping lectures because basically what I watched was 50x more simple than what the MCQ were for that section. Even reading the section seemed simple enough compared to the MCQ that were provided in the accrual accounting section. I basically am going over the ones I got wrong and taking notes on the explanations/how to do them (same for task base simulations). It's weird like on these MCQ and TBS, things are popping up that weren't even talked about in the text or lecture.

Anyway thoughts after first 5 hour+ study session:

-No idea how I am going to get through all of this in 7 weeks.
-Scared to schedule my exam in fear that I won't get through all the material and my exam date will be here before I know it.
-I'm spending more “study” time per section than average according to CPAExcel, but I'm making sure I understand before moving on and so far its been OK.
-Lastly just overwhelmed right now and typing a bunch of gibberish.

[monikernc]

you will learn a lot about what type of learner you are. i use ninja book and mcq's. i read once then do mcq's and take notes. i watch videos for concepts i struggle with or when i am tired but need to keep going. there is a lot to FAR so don't get overwhelmed. stick to your study schedule. as you progress make sure you do reviews so older material won't be forgotten. get through everything once. then organize your notes, figure out what your weaker areas are and hit those again. do the sims to seal your grasp on concepts and to get a feel for how they are presented, what the instructions say/don't say and compare to what it actually wanted. don't plan on studying for too long, especially if you keep up your pace. look at dates now and what seats are available for when you think you will be ready. do not wait more than a week to set your date. having a date set really does motivate us. you can reschedule 30 days out for no extra fee – otherwise $35. wait to get your next nts.
you will do great. give yourself an evening off each week. i take fridays except in the last weeks – then it is go time and it is all study, all the time. eat well. drink water. sleep well and exercise. do not underestimate these exams – if you start to think this is a breeze, work harder – you are either a genius or missing something.
breathe. don't panic. and study like you mean it. it's go time.

AUD - 93
BEC - 82
FAR - 76
REG - 88

How have you been?
Ninja book and MCQs and the forum, all first try! 2016
Licensed State of Montana April Fool’s Day 2020
State of Colorado June 2020 - AICPA Ethics 93
Experience was the worst part of the journey for me. You?
If you want things to change you have to do something different.

FAR 7/25/15 76!
AUD 10/30/15 93
BEC 2/27/16 82
REG 5/23/16 88!
Ninja Book and MCQ and the forum - all the way!!!
and a little thing i like to call, time and effort!
if you want things to change, you have to do something different

[Anonymous]

For the most part, I followed the “due” dates, since I knew exactly when I was taking the exam and wanted to stay on schedule. Actually, I tried to finish an extra week ahead of the CPAexcel schedule so I could have more time for review. You will definitely continue to find that the MCQs and SIMS don't always follow what was covered in the reading. Try not to worry about that too much…all of the material will eventually be covered and it'll make sense at some point. I completely understand the feeling of being overwhelmed with FAR. I purposely saved FAR for last because of that. I felt like I might have given up on the CPA exam entirely had I attempted to take FAR first. While there are a lot of people on here who say FAR was the “easiest” section for them, for me it was, by FAR, the most difficult. I wouldn't consider any section “easy,” however, I thought FAR was on a completely different level. You will continue to feel overwhelmed by it…but by the time you get through the first CPAexcel book for FAR, the second book will be a bit more manageable. It seemed like the material in the second book just wasn't as complex or difficult to understand, at least for me anyway. Just keep at it and try to not get too frustrated and stressed out by it all. Just keep reminding yourself that you're getting it out of the way first and the worst will then hopefully be behind you. FAR is beyond miserable…I am waiting on my score and the thought of potentially having to start studying it all over again pretty much makes me sick to my stomach. Haha!

[Will911]

That's a good idea. I'll try to finish a week earlier than CPAExcel, I also think I'm going to schedule my test 8 weeks out. I'm sure you did awesome on FAR, you have some nice scores on the other 3 parts! Also you sound like you have studying down to a T. Also… there is a second book? Haha I didn't even see that yet.

@monikernc Thanks for the motivation and advice :). Maybe I'll take Friday nights off as well and plan to do 12 hours over the weekend instead of 10. I just think I may be spending too much time on a section but I don't want to leave it if I got over 50% of the MCQ wrong 🙁 lol. But yeah my goal is too get through everything and review/hit weak points like you said.

[monikernc]

Then wait till your score is a little higher but don't get bogged down. With far pieces will start to click. You will hit everything again as you review. You building knowledge. Scores will start low but as you progress they get better. Keep moving forward and let the information in. Don't fight it.

AUD - 93
BEC - 82
FAR - 76
REG - 88

How have you been?
Ninja book and MCQs and the forum, all first try! 2016
Licensed State of Montana April Fool’s Day 2020
State of Colorado June 2020 - AICPA Ethics 93
Experience was the worst part of the journey for me. You?
If you want things to change you have to do something different.

FAR 7/25/15 76!
AUD 10/30/15 93
BEC 2/27/16 82
REG 5/23/16 88!
Ninja Book and MCQ and the forum - all the way!!!
and a little thing i like to call, time and effort!
if you want things to change, you have to do something different

[Will911]

Ugh… So so far I still feel so overwhelmed. I feel like I'm not absorbing anything and my multiple choice results aren't the best.

My study method (I do this by section.)
Listen to Lecture
Read (Sometimes I read first/then watch lecture)
Do MCQ that are part of the lesson (Usually like 5-15 questions)
Task based simulations if any.

I'm falling behind schedule (set by CPAExcel) a little bit, I'm hoping I can get caught up/work ahead on the weekends as I study more. I skipped some lectures on parts but I feel like they are helpful. I feel like I forgot like everything from college and I'm still pretty young. I think I made a mistake picking FAR first lol.

[Will911]

Soooooooo…..

Sorry for the double post but now I have a problem. I waited to schedule my test (was planning for early in July). Well I got forced all the way back to Jul 26 due to all chairs being booked. So I already started to study (About 15 hours under my belt atm)… Should I just keep going and study for 11 weeks, or wait a couple of weeks and start over?

Also – I noticed they had dates available in “blackout” months. What is up with that?

The struggle is real.

[Anonymous]

Ugh! I'm bummed for you that you waited and that happened. 🙁 Just look at this as a lesson to book your other exams plenty early, as spots fill up quickly. I suggest for you to just keep going…I studied for nine weeks and felt like 10 probably would have been better. It will definitely feel overwhelming the ENTIRE time. I also felt like I was forgetting everything, but things do start to start to come together at some point…although that point for me was about week eight. If you stop now, you'll get out of the study habit and forget even more. The more (to a certain extent) weeks you have to review and just hammer out MCQs after getting through all of the material, the better. A lot of your frustration with FAR is the reason why I chose to take it last…however, you'll eventually end up thanking yourself for getting it out of the way first. Just keep at it!

[Anonymous]

Link: Current CPAexcel Discount Codes

[Author]

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