[mcalabrese3]

Hello all! I am long-time lurker, first time poster. I have a question for all who have studied for and completed the Audit test. I recently studied for and passed REG; I am now studying for AUD. As of right now, I am using Wiley and I have about 20% of the lessons completed. However, I am finding that after I finish reading each lesson and proceed to do the MCQ’s, the MCQ’s are extremely specific and not closely related to what I just read as the questions are too specific. More often than not, I am using my mentality of “What would an auditor do”, rather than use what I just learned in the readings in order to answer the questions. (It almost seems as if whatever material I am reading is not worth the time.) My question is this: what is the most effective way to study for AUD? (i.e. should I skim the readings and focus on the MCQs, or something else?)

Any suggestions for myself (and my friend who is studying and encountering the same problem) is much appreciated.

Good luck on your studies!!

[TheHoundThatRides]

I learned a lot from the lectures/readings for FAR and BEC but I am finding it hard to do that for AUD. I think this exam is very reliant on MCQ based learning. So just try and get a feel for the most important subjects and the types of questions that are asked for them.

And yes you have to be able to “think like an auditor” for a lot of questions. There's lots of possible scenarios that the exam can create and present to you and it's better if you try and practice them with MCQ rather than trying and memorize the right processes from the reading.

I have noticed wording for the various reports are very important. I think that's probably the thing you can't fully rely on the MCQ for. I plan on sitting down and writing the reports to be able to remember them when a “what report is this sentence from?” type question pops up.

BEC - 78 (August 2015)
FAR - 80 (November 2015)
AUD - 73, 67. (Ok I gotta confess I was even more lazy this time around)
REG - August 27th, 2016

[mcalabrese3]

Awesome, thanks for confirming what I thought. I will definitely focus more on the MCQ's.

Anyone else experiencing this?

[Ne’O]

Newbie here. This is my first post, and I expect to take 1st exam [AUD] probably in August.

I too am using Wiley and find it as you do. I am about 50% of the way through a first pass at the material.
Even going slow over the lecture and notes, I am finding the MCQ to be specific and sometimes not covered well in the notes. I would say I only score 75-80 on the quizzes. That disturbs me.

Even though Wiley provides a huge test bank, I begin to understand why other people use others use a second source of test banks like Ninja.

Ne'O

Newbie CPA Candidate

[mcalabrese3]

Thanks Ne'O. And good luck to you. Since my posting, I did a few more lessons and still experienced the same issues. I'm starting to think that it may make more sense to simply skim the Wiley readings and purchase Ninja notes for AUD. (The Ninja Notes for REG were great).

I have the Wiley test bank too. I think I may start doing that now versus waiting to do it during my review period.

[Pawn Maker]

I am also using Wiley and CPAExcel. I really recommend using the Wiley test bank and taking the quizes in CPAExcel in study mode first. I have found that my understanding of the material has improved a lot by looking at each of the answers to the MCQ and seeing why they are right or wrong.

Also I would recommend getting the Ninja notes, they are really great at providing an overview of the whole course.

Best of luck to you both! I am taking my AUD exam tomorrow and I am freaking out!

[TheHoundThatRides]

“I would say I only score 75-80 on the quizzes. That disturbs me.”

Not sure if joking…..

BEC - 78 (August 2015)
FAR - 80 (November 2015)
AUD - 73, 67. (Ok I gotta confess I was even more lazy this time around)
REG - August 27th, 2016

[mcalabrese3]

Hi all, reviving this post. My AUD exam is coming up this week. I went through the Ninja notes (which helped a lot). Now I'm simply ripping through the Wiley test bank. Should I do the sims on the Wiley test bank as well??

Any further suggestions would be highly appreciated!!! Thank you!!

[bhunt815]

I seem to be in the minority, but I found audit harder than FAR. More so than FAR or BEC, it seems like you need to more thoroughly understand the concepts in audit. I was trending really well (high 80's/low 90's) in the days before my audit test but really struggled on the test itself. Barely scraped by with a 79 and was happy to have it.

Do some SIM's but in all honesty…the ones on the test don't even resemble anything in Ninja or Becker. Spend as much time as you can making sure you understand the most important concepts really well.

FAR 04/11/2016 - 84
AUD 05/12/2016 - 79
BEC 07/06/2016 - 81
REG 08/29/2016

[Nessie]

Some of the learning of concepts will be in the MCQs-within the correct and incorrect answers. This is true for all sections with basically every review provider. Make notes when you are answering the MCQs just like you would for lectures and you will be fine. I didn’t even have time to go over all my notes I made of MCQs, but just writing it down once will get your brain going in the right direction.

REG Aug 20/15: 88
AUD: Feb 29/16: 80
FAR: Jun 10/16: 80
BEC?

Becker self-study, Becker Final Review & NINJA MCQS

[Author]

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