[Anonymous]

Hi,

I am staring A-1 today and my exam is scheduled for 8.31.12, I have only 4 weeks and really need some advice please. I wonder how you guys absorb the information in AUD? What is your strategy? do you reread the book many times? memorize information? I found there are alot of stuff to remember?

I would appreciate if you can give me some advice please

[Anonymous]

Memorize through flashcards. That's my method. The method of just continually rereading the book makes no sense to me. It's extremely inefficient and there's no guarantee that you'll remember the information you need to know. At least, flashcards helps maintain some accountability.

[SonjaBlue]

I just found out today that I passed AUD with an 85 and I studied for 4.5 weeks.

I used Becker, attended the live classes (had a good instructor) – which means I did not watch the DVD lectures that come with the program, did all the homework (MCQ and Sims) one time only, did not do the Becker “Final Exams” (did that with FAR and wasted my time/failed). I did the progress tests at the end of each Chapter (starting with A2). Then I spent the final week of my review “drilling MCQ's” using the progress test section in the Becker Final Review section. I selected at least one 90 MCQ progress test each day; then studied the results (read all the answers I got wrong so I would understand why). I did not waste my time trying to figure out the statistical sampling (scored in the 50% range on that homework), but I DID memorize the relationships (some are inverse some are direct) in the sampling models (two pages in the 2012 Becker AUD book).

I also used Becker iPhone Flashcards during my morning/afternoon commute – 1 hour train ride each way (2 hours a day).

I also wrote my own notes for studying/memorizing (starting with A2 progress test) for any of the questions that I got wrong. As time went on my stack of notes to review got “shorter” because my progress tests scores got higher (and I didn't need to review as much).

Things that most helped me on test day:

1) Drilling MCQ's (progress tests) everyday (do 30 questions if you don't have time for 90 questions)

2) Reviewing FlashCards Everyday

3) Memorizing the Unqualified Opinion Auditor's Report (seriously) then knowing why/where/how the other reports were different

4) Understanding the inverse relationship between RMM and Detection Risk (know IR, CR, DR)

5) Memorizing the two pages about sample size relationships in the sampling model section

6) I also memorized all the financial ratios because the Becker instructor recommended it and it did help me to work problems in the test because I had memorized relationships between various financial statement line items as a result (but that was not an efficient use of my study time; if I were being smarter – I would have just learned the relationships).

It's a crap shoot – because you don't know what kind of questions you are going to get on your test. Just “memorizing” or re-reading the book is probably not going to help – it's important to know “why” something is right or wrong – and you won't be able to accomplish that by re-reading the book (as the previous poster noted). But you do have to take the time to personalize your study plan, A1 and A4 were “easy” for me so it didn't make sense for me to review those flashcards as often as I reviewed A2 and A3 (for example). I think A1 was easy for ME because my strategy to memorize the Auditor's Report helped that chapter make sense to ME (but my fellow CPA's/coworkers got a kick out of it because you don't have to prepare an audit report on the test). They did it their way; I did it my way.

Hope that helps! Good Luck!

FAR 02/26/13 78 [05/25/12 67]
AUD 07/07/12 85
REG 05/28/13 80 [08/25/12 72]
BEC 11/26/12 81

[Anonymous]

When you say you memorized the unqualified report, do you mean you actually memorized it word for word where you were functionally able to recite it? Or, did you just memorize the Becker mnemonic for the order of the key parts of the report so you knew it more or less?

[SonjaBlue]

Yes, I actually memorized it word for word. The Becker mnemonic made that task easier; kind of like the pledge of allegiance or the preamble to the constitution or a singing along to a 3-minute song.

I understand that this would not be the most efficient use of studying time for many people. My coworkers/CPA's teased me about my strategy; but I'm not sure I would have tested as well in the A1 materials without it. My progress test scores for A1 were all 100% as a result.

I've been out of school for a while, so the exercise of memorizing something “easy” (like the pledge of allegiance) just helped get my brain “trained” to deal with the rest of the topics I was trying to memorize and left me feeling confident on test day.

I fell like the Becker progress tests predict fairly well the final score on the actual exam (for example, I was scoring 65-75% on FAR and got a 67 on actual exam; I was scoring 75-85% on AUD and got an 85 on actual exam). Because of my strategy, to memorize the report, I got 100% in the A1 part of the progress tests early on, so I didn't waste any more time studying A1. That left me only 5 chapters to review . . . and so on . . . using the rest of my strategies to “shrink” the amount of material that had to be “re-read or re-reviewed”.

Hope that makes sense.

FAR 02/26/13 78 [05/25/12 67]
AUD 07/07/12 85
REG 05/28/13 80 [08/25/12 72]
BEC 11/26/12 81

[Anonymous]

It certainly does. Thank you! I only have about 9 days to study for audit, so I'm going to try just knowing the Becker mnemonic and the report generally and see how it goes. If I'm not doing well on A1, I'll definitely put in the work to memorize it though. I'm sure memorizing it doesn't take much more than an hour or two of concerted effort.

[MrsB]

I was struggling with putting the time into Aud so I invested in an IPOD touch last week and I am seeing a huge difference in how much time I have to study. I am using Roger CPA review which has a mobile/IPOD option. I listen to my lectures whenever I am getting ready in the morning, cooking, cleaning etc . . . I am allowed to listen to my IPOD at work as well so I used the voice memos option to record myself reading my mnemonics, the unqualified report, my notes, etc . . . I work on multiple choice and sims at lunch and again for a couple of hours in the evening. I am going to try to make a CD of some of my recordings as well so that I can listen to it in the car as well.

F 80
A 86
B October
R November

[Author]

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