BEC Study Begins + Finding What Works for Me

02 May 2012

NINJA CPA Review

Rebecca is a weekly NINJA CPA Blogger.

So it begins… I have started watching the lectures for BEC this past week and so far so good.

I have taken BEC quite a few times so I am trying to determine what has worked for me, what hasn’t worked and what I need to try to do differently.

My only conclusion is I have to stop doing what other people are doing because it sounds “better” than my own approach. I do this every exam and I swear it bites me in the butt.

I work for a decent size firm so a bunch of my coworkers are studying for the exam as well. It is a good thing and a bad thing all rolled into one.

The good thing is there are other people suffering with you and the bad thing is you start to compare yourself to them. I catch myself doing this all time and I need to stop.

Just because method A of studying worked for this person doesn’t necessarily mean it is going to work for me. I always get to that point of panic with each exam and change my studying habits, but not this time. I am sticking with my own plan!

I have been listening to a lecture then writing notes for it before moving on to the next, and it seems to be working well. I can’t wait for Jeff’s BEC NINJA Audio to be released since I have a long commute each day to and from work. I could use that hour and a half more wisely with those!

I am also using the Pomodoro approach, which a lot of people rave about in the forums. If you haven’t read about it, basically you study for 20 minutes and then take a five minute break. I find this helps, as my attention span isn’t very long when studying.

I just tell myself if you can make it through these 20 minutes then you can take a short break and it makes it that much more doable. I say give it a try if you haven’t yet!

Until next time,
Rebecca

Leave a Reply