[santaclaws]

The first time I got a 74, devastated and picked myself up from it
The second time I used NINJA MCQ and Becker got a 69 after spending 60+ real study hours. I know I bombed the SIMS because the questions were too conceptual for me. Im a math person so I hate audit.

This time I am reading the actual AU-Cs and Re-taking Becker from scratch, writing them down on excel as I study. I am not getting NINJA MCQ anymore because the SIMS were terrible and not relevant to the actual test (sorry Jeff but it is true)

I will use Becker + final review + wiley cpaexcel.

For those of you whom passed AUD in high 80s and 90s, let me be frank, how da heck did you study?

[Missy]

I took the ninja notes and copied them WORD FOR WORD, ten pages a day for 31 days (in addition to 50+ mcq) got me from a 71 to 84. And practice sims in any review are irrelevant to the actual test but that's not why we practice them.

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

[NeedsA75]

I got a 96 and posted my study method in several other threads. Look back at my posting history and find the posts where I give detailed steps on how I studied.

It involved the becker book and gleim/ninja test banks

[acardone51]

Hey Santaclaws,

I used the same pattern to pass AUD, FAR, and BEC (have REG up next.) Not sure how much time you're giving yourself to study…I give myself a large period between tests compared to some of the other people I've read on here, but anyway for each chapter (I use Becker only) I cycle this…sorry in advance for how long this is:

Day One: Watch Becker Video, copy their notes into my book and try to pick up as much as I can
Day Two: Read the Becker book chapter thoroughly and at least try to just understand each concept
Day Three: Half of Multiple Choice…write down notes in notebook for anything I get wrong or that seems important, and create notecards for anything I really think is important and I want to look at often
Day Four: Other half of M/C (same as Day three)
Day Five: Nothing, rest

Under that routine, you should be able to get through all the Becker chapters in 30 days. From there I do:

Week one and two
(Monday through Thursday) – Answer 100 MC questions with the Progress test and Watch half of a chapter's video (so four full chapters will be re-watched over 8 weekdays – taking Fridays off).
(Saturday and Sunday) – Look at my answers/Becker explanations to the progress test questions and write more notes in that notebook (I don't go too deep into the explanations during the weekdays for time reasons – save for the weekend.)

Week Three – Practice Sims and watch another half video each day

Week Four – Same as week one and two. Add or subtract weeks as needed of this step, obviously, based on your test. But we're at about two months now. Unexpected stuff is going to come up of course…so maybe assume all this will take 9-10 weeks.

When you're ready, throw in the Becker Final Exams…also, any free time you have, time on trains, planes, waiting rooms, long car rides…read that notebook you're taking notes in from the Multiple choice. Oh, and but Becker's notecards they offer on their site and make some on your own. I read those during my lunch breaks.

Sorry again for the length but good luck! Hopefully it will all be worth it for us soon!!

[IcecreamF]

[Matt]

The 74 hurt (I sympathize) and even though I'm not in the high 80's club our score are similar and I hope my advice is helpful. (I honestly believe it took a lot more for me to pass audit then a lot of other people).

You we're close even 69 isn't a 40, but there we're elements of your knowledge lacking and very likely things you convoluted.

Everyone has a different way of handling things and you need to work out you, but here's what I did.

First I scheduled my exam for the last day possible in the period.

I bought a 3 month AUD ninja multiple choice test bank (It had a good value at about 50 bucks) and used it until I trended at 85 percent. (No Sims No more videos). I used the program until I felt like I had a moderate level of proficiency, 3-4 hours a day 7 days a week. Every 2 weeks or so I would do a shorter day 1-2 hours.

Then when I felt ready for the harder questions, I moved onto my gleim program's multiple choice (same 3-4 hours a day, no videos/sim) and used it until I had an average of 75% in every category. There were three or categories that I ended up focusing more on because my score we're initially lower (40-50% range).

So what I would do with Gleim It's broken up into 20 sections(this was where the bulk of my time went). Each day I would first do one set of multiple choice with all categories selected, then I would do another set with every category under 75% and continue that way until my brain started to feel like it was liquidating.

I also made sure I went through and understood every question I answered right or wrong.
I know it took more for me to pass then many other people on here, but I did and so can you.

Good Luck.

FAR 74

[C / X]

My 2 cents: I didn't get that high of an AUD score but studying AUD was a breeze for me compared to the others because it had more relevant real world application I dealt with.

I don't know if you dealt with an AUDIT before or have had to do YE stuff (inventory counts, correcting entries, budget vs actual comparison) but AUD involves looking for things to be correct/suspicious stuff/etc. AUD is pretty much looking at the financial reporting stuff (FAR topics*) and testing to make sure it's correct.

When you are studying for AUD, you need to place yourself in the auditor's shoes, review courses tell you what AUDITOR's DO in an Audit BUT the only way to apply that is to compare and learn to do that yourself or find a way to imagine it, etc.

Tips for audit:
1. Every little detail matters.
2. Timing is the MOST important
3. Mixing stuff up is easy (OSCARS??..lol) but has a devastating effect in careers so think of it also have a devastating effect on your test..

[Author]

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