My prep regimen for this last test wasn't ideal, but I'll divulge anyway. My “core” material was Becker. I watched the first three lectures and then just said screw it. I was so tired of highlighting, that I simply read the notes for the remaining chapters. I believe A4 is where they introduced the new guy – purple dress shirt whatshisface? – but I have to say I haven't seen any of his lectures. To be fair, I have studied AUD in the past, so these details were not first-sight for me. I read my Becker notes in detail making my own highlights, I finished Becker MCQ's and then moved onto Wiley Test Bank MCQ's. I did a lot of those, the whole test bank three times over. Then I got NINJA MCQ in the mix. My first test with NINJA and I went from high 80's to mid 60's… so getting new questions into the mix did help.
Ninja audio in the car throughout this entire process. 30 minutes to work and 30 minutes from work. I've always relied on the audio more than the notes, because I just have more time in the car. Don't get me wrong, I read the notes up until exam day, but audio works for me on those long stretches of highway.
Two weeks before the exam I ditched my Becker book and switched to Becker Final Review notes. I kept going over the frame work of everything while pounding out WTB MCQ's. I also started doing SIMS to get comfortable with how these questions may be posed on exam day.
In summary, I did this without Becker lectures, basically just by reading my book, using NINJA materials, understanding core concepts and doing many, many MCQ's from varied sources. For AUD, unlike the others, I find that I often answer questions not by knowing the right answer but by eliminating the wrong answers. Most of the time this gets me to 50/50. At that point I STOP, reread the question, and make my choice from the two remaining. This is probably my biggest takeaway from this section of the CPA, a lot here is about eliminating “never!”, “always!”, “can't under any circumstance”, “every single time”, “will not ever punishable by death!”. The answers just float to the top. AUD covers a lot of grey area, and therefore its rules must be fluid and adaptable.
I know I preached using AL for SIMS in the past, but truth be told I did not use AL for any of my SIMS in this attempt. I thought the SIM portion was very fair. Further, whereas in REG I felt like the SIMS could (and did!) test on minutia, the SIMS here tested core concepts which anyone would be at least familiar with.
AUD - 75*, 88 done 5/14! (*exp)
BEC - 74 , 77
REG - 65 , 76 (10 point combooo!!)
FAR - 69 , 75
Dr: perseverance
Dr: intelligence
Dr: luck
. Cr: . advisory score
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