[CPA8675309]

This is for everyone who has finished the exam or is nearly finished. What would be your top piece or pieces of advice for people just starting the exam process or even in the middle of it like myself. What worked for you or what did you learn did not work for you as far as studying? Do you have any test-taking tips? Would you do anything differently?

AUD - 77
BEC - 85
FAR - 84
REG - 85

I'm done!!

[Anonymous]

This is not a test taking advice but unless you're really. confident. that you can finish the exam in 6 months, I don't recommend signing up for them all at once.

[hasy]

Study to UNDERSTAND the concepts (there are parts you can memorize but understand the overall topic)

Exert effort for QUALITY studying (you'll accomplish so much more)

I don't ever do MCQs the day before (if you do bad, you psych yourself out; just do light review, unless you're cramming, which I have no advice since I never crammed)

If you spent more than 2 minutes on question, move on. If you can't automatically figure out, finish everything else before you get back to that question. I want to say this for the SIMs too but man, I can't believe they're splitting the SIMs in the multiple testlets too. Might be a little harder to get points on those going forward.

Lastly, faith. Have faith in the process. If you study, you WILL pass. I genuinely didn't think I will pass and I made so much jokes to everyone in the world that I wouldn't pass or couldn't see the day where I didn't have to flippin' practice another MCQ or SIM. But it happened. It was like wow, I get to be in that club now. Good luck!!

AUD - 83
BEC - 80
FAR - 83
REG - 78

BEC - 80 (Roger + NINJA MCQ + WTB)

FAR - 72; 83 (Roger + NINJA MCQ)

AUD - 83 (Roger + NINJA MCQ + WTB)

REG - 52; 78 (Roger + NINJA MCQ)

Ethics - 68, 96 (how I dislike you)
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This forum is more addictive than drugs. Still returning after licensure.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved - Helen Keller

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BEC 80 (10/23/15)
FAR 72 (4/2/15); 83 (7/11/16)
REG 52 (4/28/15)
AUD (9/9/16)

Roger + NINJA MCQ + WTB

[DZagt]

1. Learn concepts and you can answer anything.
2. One exam at a time.
3. It doesn't matter how you feel after the test.

AUD - 92
BEC - 90
FAR - 83
REG - 88

DONE!

[ipadminihalf]

In no specific order:

1. Take enough time between exams for your brain to recharge.
2. Make a study schedule that works for you and stick to it.
3. Realize you will have effective and ineffective study days. Sometimes a day off might be more helpful than trying to force it.
4. Try to exercise a few times a week.
5. The most important advice I can give is do what you think is best for you. We are all giving advice about what worked for us and maybe our friends, but we are all individuals with different preferences. My old boss told me to only do MCQ, but I knew that wouldn't work for me, so I didn't listen to him and mostly followed what the review course told me and I passed. My other buddy, following our old boss' advice, only did MCQ and failed AUD on his first attempt with a 50 something. By the last 2 tests, you will probably have a good idea of what works and doesn't work for you.
6. For anyone who hasn't started yet, it is a long tough process for most people. If you want to take the exams, commit 110% to doing so, otherwise it will be a waste of time.

.

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

[Jdn9201]

I'm repeating alot of the above posts, but here are my tips of advice:
1. If you are contemplating going for it – know your why – Why are you doing this? Don't do it because everyone else tells you to, or because you think you have to.
2. Know yourself and try to fit everything about this process around what works for you. That means everything from your learning style to your pace to what order to take the exams to what time of day you take exams, etc. There is a lot of good advice here, but there's also tips some people swear by that will not work for you. Examples of the above for me – I found flagging questions to be a waste of time; I took exams in the afternoon because I am not a morning person, and I took the 5 minute break between almost every testlet. I also left FAR for last on purpose. Everyone is different.
3. Take one exam at a time, and give yourself a short break after each one. I found my sweet spot by studying intensely for 4-8 weeks then giving myself 2 weeks off.
4. Focus on quality, not quantity. Countless hours or MCQ's mean very little if your eyes are glazed over half the time from exhaustion. Understand WHY an answer is correct or incorrect.
5. I don't know how they'll be for the new exams, but I relied very heavily on the AICPA outlines when prioritizing study time and I found them to be very accurate regarding what's heavily tested vs what's not.
6. You don't have to know everything because they don't have time to test you over all of it. Especially with FAR, pretend you are in an airplane flying above it at 20,000 feet – what would be important? Focus on that.

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

[Missy]

Treat studying like a paid job, make a schedule and stick to it. Too tired? Study anyway. Favorite team playing? Study anyway. Basically unless it's an excuse you'd give your boss (Ill enough to see a doctor, death in the family, planned vacation) study anyway. It's way too easy to find excuses to procrastinate so this rule of thumb will keep you on track.

Old timer,  A71'er since 2010.

Finance manager/HR manager

 

 

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

[aaronmo]

It boils down to two things…

Never panic. Everyone struggles somewhere in this process, you're NOT alone.

Do the work and put in the time.

AUD - 96
BEC - 84
FAR - 89
REG - 86

Aaron and always remember, YMMV

I profit from your CPE frustration. You're welcome.

[ForgottenOne]

1. Take the exams from the easiest to the hardest, BEC is the easiest for most people but it depends, I passed REG first cause I was working with taxes, you might pass AUD first if you have auditing experience. This is very importance because if you try to pass the hardest exam first, you probably lose all motivation and end up quitting after failing twice

2. manage your time wisely, shell out about a year of your life devote to studying. That mean postponing on any major life event; getting married, having kids, and any job requires traveling, etc.

3. If you fail, you are not permitted to take the same section twice per testing window and you only have 18 months to pass everything, it would be wise to take one section at the beginning of the testing window and one section at the end

4. If you are closed and fail with a 60-74, you should spend the same extra amount of time you've spent studying just to get the extra points to pass. For instant, if you study for 50 hours and get 70, you should study for 50 hours more to pass, not 5 hours for that 5 points.

5. DO NOT GIVE UP, candidates have 75% of passing the retakes

AUD - 86
BEC - 76
FAR - 75
REG - 83

Forgot

[komatk2]

I'll probably steal from others on here, but here are some of mine:

1. Have a good study plan and stick to it fairly closely. You might have a few days where you study less and other days where you study more. I know a lot of review courses will create a schedule depending on when you want to start studying and when you want to take the test.

2. Keep up your hobbies outside of work/studying. Whether you play or watch sports, videogames, family stuff, or whatever, absolutely do not neglect those. They help keep your mind off studying and allow your brain to refresh.

3. You probably will feel like you're not understanding the material at some point. That is 100% ok! As long as you're learning from the mistakes you make and why you're answering questions wrong you're making progress.

4. This partially goes with #1, but don't focus solely on the numbers (heh). By this I mean % of questions correct on a practice test, number of hours studying, or average trending score. They can be good benchmarks, but I see so many people on here focused on comparing their average trending scores and how they can raise it or talking about how many hours they put into studying. Look at your weaknesses, understand them, and then attack them.

5. After the test, don't try to analyze whether your testlets were increasing/decreasing in difficulty. The scoring can be a crapshoot. You either passed or you didn't. No pitty posts on the A71 forums. Why worry so much about something you can't change like your score when you could be doing something productive like working on your next section?

AUD - 88
BEC - 88
FAR - 88
REG - 77

Done!

[Yolonge]

1. Make study plan and DO NOT RESCHEDULE! Your selected date is absolute deadline. Think of it as tax return due date. Ready or not, take the test.
2. If you can, schedule your test at the end of testing window and Monday (Take off work) if you can
3. Do not study every day
4. Skip lectures and reading
5. It is just series of test. Not a big deal if you fail, worse thing that can happen is you apply for new NTS.

Good luck!

FAR - 83 (1/7/16)
BEC - 87 (4/18/16)
AUD - 92 (7/2/16)
REG - 83 (12/5/16)
Ethics - 100%!

Licensed CPA in state of Maryland Feb 2017

Materials: Wiley book + Ninja MCQ

FAR - 83 (Jan 2016)
Study time: 6 weeks
BEC - 87 (April 2016)
Study time: 2 weeks
AUD - 92 (July 2016), (74 Feb 2016), (72 May 2016)
Study time: 4 (Feb) + 2 (May) + 3 (July) = 9 weeks total
REG - (70 April 2016)
Study time: 3 weeks

[njvath]

Buy noise cancelling headphones and wear them all the time while you are studying so you can focus. My house is very busy and there is always lots of noise, I have been using my dad's hunting/noise canceling headphones and they have saved me from going crazy and losing time running back and forth to the library.

Becker

FAR - 76
AUD - 74, 74
BEC - 83
REG - TBD

[Track55]

Tell your husband or wife. You won't leave the house for a year and they need to be ok with it. No baseball, no parties, no nothing.

AUD - 99
BEC - 83
FAR - 86
REG - 92

California - Internal Audit

CPA since December 2016.

(took seven tries, 1 year 10 months).

AUD - 74, 99 !!
REG - 74, 92
BEC - 83
FAR - 73, 86

Studying for Ethics exam

California candidate
Business and Industry

[Anonymous]

1. Do NOT commit to this Examination process unless you are 110% Motivated.

2. Plan on spending A lot More than the AICPA's 300-400 hours of recommended studying.

3. This will probably be the Most Challenging process you have ever taken on.

4. The Exams are Passable, but be ready to make A lot of Sacrifices. The More Sacrifices you make the more likely you will pass. The More Miserable you are the More likely you will pass. Sorry, but it's true.

5. Use this Forum for feedback and venting. No one else truly understand or cares.

Goodluck!!

[Anonymous]

Not going to echo what was already posted.

Plan to take a few minutes break between testlet 3 and the sims especially for FAR and AUD. Drink a redbull,banana,chocolate or a power bar.

The brain is a machine, and it needs fuel..You won't realize it but you'll run out of gas. never noticed it till the GRE. Give yourself some fuel.

Looking at the small screen was killer on my eyes. Not sure if it was something with the resolution or what..

[LCMAU]

1. Coffee
2. Take breaks outdoors
3. Take short breaks between exams
4. Change passwords (email/logins/etc.) to include mnemonics

AUD - 90
BEC - 87
FAR - 86
REG - 86

Hmmm

[Author]

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