A Fine Line: Not Letting AUD Strengths become Weaknesses

Elizabeth is a NINJA CPA Blogger.

Greetings all,

I hope all is well. To all those waiting on exam scores – my paws, hooves, and fingers are crossed for your successful results.

To account for the basic housekeeping items, I did either review my notebook or my notecards every day and then did some quizzes in the Wiley Test Bank, though not always the two that I had planned. I know many individuals say the key to pass AUD is questions, questions, and then more questions. Well I have done that in the past and it did not work for me.

In school I am a proponent of reading my notes over and over – I am successful in school so I am trying it with AUD even though it is a completely different type of exam. That being said, for school the volume on any one test is not of the same quantity and studying my notes takes about 2 to 3 hours which is a substantial amount of time. Time that I could have spent on questions though that being said I feel I have to try something new.

As you may recall (who am I kidding I can't even recall what I am strong and weak in) I abhor Management Assertions. Recently, I was muttering to myself about Orange County CA, and an acquaintance, whom I did not realize was around, said oh I was unaware you are going on vacation.

I must have responded with a vacant look as vacation is the last thing on my mind and he said you were speaking about Orange County CA. I then said oh I was repeating a NINJA mnemonic about management assertions to his blank face. I do believe I confirmed his thoughts that I am slightly unhinged.

At any rate, management assertions on the face appear to be an area that you can breeze through. How hard can it be to ascertain if you are testing for presentation or disclosure or existence? Well it is very difficult or at least it is for me and for your sake I hope it is not. That being said, I find the NINJA mnemonics extremely helpful.

When I am doing a set of Management Assertion questions, by the end I normally do well but till I get in the flow I muddle every question. I finally feel that I am gaining a grasp of the assertions and then if I do not do questions on management assertions for a day or so I am back at square one.

I am guessing I will always do a few to keep my senses sharp but I am afraid of not balancing well, i.e. spending all my time on items that are not my strengths and then my strengths become a weakness. I am still trying to find a balance – it is a fine line.

Fellow NINJA Blogger Carla wrote about how you need to reward yourself for reaching your goals for that week and it is ok to take a day off from studying. I think that is something we all need to keep in mind. It is also easy to forget everything else in life and similar to what Carla says you get mentally exhausted and then you crash and burn and I do concur.

I am dismayed by the fact that there is less than a month till school resumes and my initial plans did not occur. I crashed and burned though it is my fault and there is nothing I can do now except not to allow the past to repeat. I recently heard a saying and the essence was you have to learn to accept your past and that is the truth. If we keep dwelling on past failures we will be doomed to fail yet again. I am going to try to be optimistic.

In summary, my goal for the upcoming weekish is to read my notes or note-cards and then do 2 pop quizzes a day. Additionally, I want to take my written motorcycle test – a non related CPA goal.

As always, I hope everyone has an enjoyable though more importantly a productive week.

Cheers,

EAB

Related Posts

New NINJA CPA Review Flashcards

Check out the new NINJA Flashcards. No additional app is needed – it’s all included in the new DOJO that’s been optimized for mobile studying. Want To Try The NINJA Flashcards for Free? To Your Success, Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS) NINJA CPA | Another71

NINJA CPA Promo Code

Does NINJA CPA Review have any promo codes? No. NINJA CPA Review doesn’t run promo or discount codes. Most CPA Review courses play the discount code game where they say, “this is the price (but it’s not really the price…wink wink)”. NINJA CPA doesn’t play the promo code game. Instead, we offer the same affordable […]

cpa exam simulations

15 New CPA Exam Simulations added to NINJA MCQ

NINJAs, We just added 15 CPA Exam Simulations to the NINJA MCQ Simulation list. New Simulations: FAR: Consolidation: Eliminating Journal Entries AUD: Evaluating Audit Evidence BEC: Direct vs Absorption Costing (SIM), Expected Value (SIM), Budgeting: Master, Static and Flexible (SIM), Economic Indicators (Written Communication), Financial Statement Analysis (SIM), Performance Measurement (SIM), Capital Budgeting Decision (Written Communication), […]

With a Full-Time Job and Two Kids, I PASSED the CPA Exam!

Hello Ninjas, This will be my last blog entry as a NINJA CPA. I found out at the last score release that I passed both AUD and FAR to bring an end to my CPA exam journey. My journey with NINJA began about 4 years ago. After not having taken the exam for 7 or […]

Leave a Reply