[lightning]

Hello everyone. I recently joined. I was going through the threads and it seems that the ninja notes are amazing. I was wondering if anyone has prepared for all the 4 sections using solely the ninja notes as your main source to grasp concepts without reading any books and buy either the wiley online test bank or gleim’s online mcq to practice what you studied. From what I read it seems that the ninja notes alone are sufficient to understanding the material. Would the ninja notes and wilwy online test bank or gleim mcq be sufficient to prepare for the 4 sections?

[mla1169]

The ninja notes are great but I wouldn't recommend using them as your only study material. For example the AUD notes are only 90 +/- pages, a great summary (outline) but by no means all inclusive. Do yourself a huge favor and invest in a review and use the ninja notes as your final review.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[sbruce810]

The Ninja Notes streamline the information into easy to remember fact nuggets. Unfortunately, it isn't a great stand alone reference to study from. At the bare minimum I would suggest purchasing the Wiley book ($40 on the internet) or a review course with lectures if you think you will benefit from that method of learning.

In the interest of full disclosure, I passed AUD and BEC using only the Wiley book and questions from Cpareviewforfree.com. For FAR and REG I used the Wiley book, questions from Cpareviewforfree.com, and the Ninja Notes. I passed three sections on the first attempt (AUD, BEC, and REG) and passed FAR on the second attempt.

I'm sure other members will be able to provide additional advice.

AUD - Passed
BEC - Passed
FAR - Passed
REG - Passed

Done

[jeff]

The NINJA Notes are a “cram” of sorts.

There have been people who have passed using only the 10 point combo (https://www.another71.com/products-page/ten-point-combo) … notes/audio/flashcards/Wiley TB but videos are a best practice probably.

AUD - 79
BEC - 80
FAR - 76
REG - 92

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS)
NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE | Another71

[someaccountant]

I think it depends on your learning style.

I'm only using the NINJA notes and Wiley test bank for each section. I also had the Wiley book for FAR but never really used it because I was able to learn things through basic understanding from the NINJA notes and repetitive application on Wiley M/C and simulations.

FAR - 84!
REG - 76!
AUD - 80!
BEC - August 2013

[lightning]

Thanks for all your input!

[JakeO]

My only advice is don't get video courses. Get some study books (Wiley) and some MCQ software (Wiley) and then some condensed notes (NINJA) and read through the Wiley book fairly quickly, make notes on your ninja notes of tough topics or calculations which are included, and then hit MCQ's like your life depends on it. Doing MCQ's constantly is where you really start to learn how the exam asks certain questions and which topics are repeated. Doing all this may set you back at Maximum around $500. The video lectures tend to suck, and they take a while, and they still recommend you read the books because they don't cover everything in the video.

AUD-Failed (Waiting for Score)
BEC-PASSED (First try)
REG-Failed (Retake February 2013)
FAR-Failed (Retake January 2013)

[MintsRGood]

Ninja Notes are an invaluable review tool, but I don't think they will get you a pass if used exclusively.

You definitely need a review textbook like Wiley or Becker and you must review each chapter in detail, but the Ninja Notes help cement your understanding once you've put in the work with your textbook.

I read the Ninja Notes for a topic first to gain a broad understanding, then I read and prepare detailed outlines from my review text, then I re-read the Ninja Notes immediately after. This really helps solidify my understanding of the topic!

I also combine this with the Ninja Audio in my car as it takes me an hour to get to work each day and usually an hour and twenty to get home. I'm prepping for Audit now, so it's nice that in 2 days of commuting to work I can listen to the entire audio program! I would strongly encourage you to pick up Ninja Audio, it's a huge help!

Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!

REG: 75 DONE 🙂
AUD: 61, 71, 68, 92 DONE 🙂
BEC: 76 DONE 🙂
FAR: 72, 74, 79 DONE 🙂
Licensed Michigan CPA 🙂
-Some people dream of success...others wake up and work hard for it!!!
-The cowards never start and the weak die along the way!
-You better work, b***h!
-Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.-JFK

[jaemanminard]

@someaccountant, noticed you passed all 4 parts. To confirm, you only did WTB and Ninja Notes only?

“There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person, and it can never be filled by any created thing. It can only be filled by God, made known through Jesus Christ.” (Blaise Pascal) *Revelation 3:20, Isaiah 53, John 14:6, Ephesians 2:8-10*

[Mamabear]

I only read half of a book for FAR and didn't feel like I was getting very much out of it so I used the Ninja Notes and the WTB. I converted the Ninja Notes to Word and added notes from going through the WTB questions to the Ninja Notes to make it more “all-inclusive”. Then I studied from those complete notes and went through the test bank again, section by section. It worked for FAR. I did a lot of the same for REG and it didn't work for me for REG. It just depends on how well you can add meat to the outline from whatever other sources you use. Just looking at the Ninja Notes without any other references would not be wise, but if you through in the information from your test bank that should work. Oh..I also listened to the audio every chance I got. And the Ninja Test bank is better than the WTB. it just wasn't out when I studied for FAR.

CPA Exam - Finally DONE (November 2014)
BEC (08/10/13) 80
AUD (08/24/13) 65 (11/13/13) 85
FAR (04/12/14) 81
REG (07/19/14) 69 (11/29/14) 87!!

[How many letters do you need]

Notes are meant to be notes, not full study material (Jeff is putting out books, and they are very good from what I've seen so far but I'll be a CPA and so will my future children before he is done…haha…jk Jeff). With that, your prior background has a lot to do with how much detail you need in your study material. When I started my background was strong in FAR& BEC related topics so I used the 10pt package along with the Wiley books for detailed reference and a sort of “framework” to work through the topics. That worked just fine for those two. After an initial review with REG, I knew I would need more help so in addition I added Roger CRAM and NINJA MCQs and that worked out very well. I'm getting ready to begin AUD, my last section, and it being a weaker topic I'm going to follow the same REG formula and hope for the best.

Whatever you do I, if you do decide to go with a big fat expensive package, I would shy away from going with all four at once. I know you can save money but there are numerous people here who have said that certain programs don't work and others will say those same programs work great while others don't. In addition, some people have used completely different study materials for different topics, claiming some are just better than others in certain topic areas. Do some searches there is plenty in this forum on this topic, but to me, It's better to forgo any pricing discounts and have the flexibility to change it up if a particular program isn't working for a particular subject.

MBA,CMA,CPA, CFF?, ABV?

[Author]

Replies