[krokofilen]

Hi guys

(Sorry for any grammatical or spelling misstakes, I am not American)

So, I’ve been reading the Becker book on AUD and gone through all homework MCQs and sims (I skipped viewing the lessons completely and also did not use the Final review material, the final exam tests or the progress tests yet). Today I spent in total 12 hours studying, and tried the NINJAs for the first time the last 2 hours.

My progress on the NINJA MCQs for these two hours were as follows:

MCQ 1-50: 90% score, average 50 seconds per Q

MCQ 51-100: 90% score, average 52 seconds per Q

MCQ 101-156: 80% score, average 30 seconds per Q — getting tired here after 12 hours of studying today!

Total: 156 MCQs, 87% score, average 46 seconds per Q

With exam on July 15, I will be able to practise NINJAs and Becker MCQs for another 80 hours or so (average 10 hours a day). I am abit worried though, since first of all I think 87% sounds pretty low given that a recognize ALOT of the NINJAs from the Becker material and also given that I have not yet gone into the adaptive phase of the NINJAs where I suppose the MCQs will be more difficult. Also, I understand that the real test is adaptive so not likely that I will get easy MCQs like this on the real thing. It also seems like there is a huge gap in the NINJA MCQs in terms of level – some of really ridiculously easy, which makes me wonder why they were included in the material in the first place, whereas others seems almost impossible for me to learn (the ones I failed, basically).

Please let me know what you think about all this and whether or not I should be worried. I would be cool there here how others have been doing on the NINJAs about a week before the AUD exam, and how well the NINJAs reflect the real thing.

Big 4 Audit Manager from Europe here to pass the CPA in the U.S. of A in 2014! Niiice!

AUD - 95 / Jul 15 / 130h over 4 weeks
FAR - 86 / Aug 14 / 240h over 4 weeks
(11 week break)

REG - 81 / Nov 14 / 200h over 4 weeks
BEC - 87 / Nov 17 / 30 h over 2.5 days

[sunlessC]

I think you're worrying too much and if anything hurts you, it'll be that. Obviously, 156 questions is a tiny portion of the total questions, but if you're consistently scoring in the 80s and 90s there's probably more than just getting lucky with getting “easy” questions. Repeating questions is definitely more of a problem, but hey, nothing sticks in your memory more than repetition.

10 hours a day over the next 8 days honestly seems a BIT overkill to me at the point you're at, that's some “oh my god, I know NOTHING and my exam is next week” level of studying.

Just my opinion, of course. If you find it beneficial, by all means. I just know that for me, personally, after 4 or 5 hours tops of answering MCQs over and over again, I get to the point of just zoning out and not really gaining anything constructive.

[krokofilen]

Thanks for your reply.

As for running MCQs for 10 hours in a row, I can handle it. I am not used to studying MCQs since it is not very common in Europe at all, and especially not for European CPAs. For my current euro-CPA, it was a 2-day test with no MCQs or sims, only extensive questions with a 1-2 page answer including calculations. So a completely different setup, and I am not to worried about having to study MCQs for hours and hours, since it is a lot easier done than reading book after book and practising long exam questions.

As for worrying… I note that you think I am worrying too much, and I guess I can come across as the worrying type. However, do keep in mind (all though you would of course not know this before) that I go on a 8 hour flight to get there, and that my employer pays 3-4000 dollars for each exam including fees, travel, hotel, food etc. + that English is not my first language. Would you not also be a little more concerned about really passing, if you were in that situation? I am also a soon to be Senior Manager with a Big 4. So, basically, I just cannot fail on this. I am not worried about the content itself, since it all come across as pretty easy for me to pick up on given my experience, however what messes it up is a) the English language b) different terms as compared with the ones my firm uses, c) the way MCQs are worded to make it all confusing and d) the lack of being able to search in the AL in a proper way and not getting to bring my own litterature to the exam.

Big 4 Audit Manager from Europe here to pass the CPA in the U.S. of A in 2014! Niiice!

AUD - 95 / Jul 15 / 130h over 4 weeks
FAR - 86 / Aug 14 / 240h over 4 weeks
(11 week break)

REG - 81 / Nov 14 / 200h over 4 weeks
BEC - 87 / Nov 17 / 30 h over 2.5 days

[krokofilen]

My track record today has been worse. Still spending less than a minute a question but check this out:

MORNING

50 MCQ: 82%

50 MCQ: 94%

50 MCQ: 78%

50 MCQ: 82%

Average: 84%

AFTERNOON

30 MCQ: 70% (!!!!!)

30 MCQ: 87%

30 MCQ: 87%

30 MCQ: 87%

Gonna do another 60 MCQ now but I realize that my high scores over the last 3 sessions are due to REPITING questions that I already delivered a correct answer to! That really frustrates me since I obviously need to practise more on sessions where I score below 80%.

Any advice on how to deal with this?

Big 4 Audit Manager from Europe here to pass the CPA in the U.S. of A in 2014! Niiice!

AUD - 95 / Jul 15 / 130h over 4 weeks
FAR - 86 / Aug 14 / 240h over 4 weeks
(11 week break)

REG - 81 / Nov 14 / 200h over 4 weeks
BEC - 87 / Nov 17 / 30 h over 2.5 days

[Anonymous]

I understand your worry because of the travel and expense involved in taking your tests, but I think you are doing really well. As long as you understand why the wrong answers are wrong and why the right answers are right you should be fine. I always start to get things wrong that I had previously gotten right as it gets closer to test time. Just make sure you are reading all the questions word for word and not skimming them. Not fully reading the question because you are trying to rush through them is a common mistake a lot of test takers make. Don't let the time pressure get to you. Your review material is designed to be harder than the actual exam.

[krokofilen]

Yeah, thanks for your advice. Understanding the right answer is never a problem for me, I understand all of it, it's just the language and the U.S. terminology that messes it up for me. It seems like audit is described in completely different terms Europe vs. U.S., unfortunately.

But I just did 30 MCQ to 93% in 23 minutes so I guess I'm getting better at this.

Big 4 Audit Manager from Europe here to pass the CPA in the U.S. of A in 2014! Niiice!

AUD - 95 / Jul 15 / 130h over 4 weeks
FAR - 86 / Aug 14 / 240h over 4 weeks
(11 week break)

REG - 81 / Nov 14 / 200h over 4 weeks
BEC - 87 / Nov 17 / 30 h over 2.5 days

[Author]

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