[ayyemmtea]

Hello all! Going into Q1, I had passed FAR and BEC. I was so tempted to try and rush through REG and then try a Hail Mary for AUD (and maybe get lucky) to avoid the August score release.

Although once I got to the final stretch, I decided an extra 4-5 days was necessary to pass REG and I didn’t want to be in a situation where I didn’t pass either because I rushed. I received my REG score yesterday (80) and while I am very happy… part of me is thinking “Dang, maybe you could have tried that 1/100 shot to have finished AUD too :-P”

Logically I know that on a different day or with less studying it would have been very possible to fail REG and 4-5 days of full-time studying would probably/definitely result in a fail for AUD too.

Did anyone try what I was thinking? How did it work out for you?

[Wanna_B_TXCPA2014]

Spent 20-25wk studying REG in an attempt to pass before the changes and for my efforts earned a 66 which is a whopping 6pt improvement over my Dec 2016 score. So hard controlling my emotions right now. All I want to do is scream and curse the graders of this exam because they are ruining my life! Im so over this test! Wish I could just quit bc its complete BS but Ive come to far. I just want my damn life back.

[ayyemmtea]

Ahhh. I'm sorry. 🙁 Are you working full-time or spread really thin? 20-25 weeks is a really long time. Maybe you should think about switching up your process to see if another way works?

I work full time, so I just studied at night and had longer days on weekends, and I passed after 4-5 weeks of studying for BEC, FAR, and REG. I know everyone is different though! Just a suggestion to maybe change things up. I know here people really tell you to hammer out MCQ, but that didn't work for me… so I study the way I see the most results.

[tygolfer]

@ashleymarietea I was in the exact same boat, except I would have had about 7 days to study for AUD. Maybe I should have tried, who knows, but I didn't really feel like putting myself through that after killing myself preparing for REG. Now I am procrastinating starting for AUD, the fact that we won't know til August doesn't really have me in much of a hurry to take it in April, so I will be waiting til the end of May

[Wanna_B_TXCPA2014]

How did you study? No joke Ive passed 3 exams but I feel like I dont know how to study. It takes me 4-5 to try and consistently score mid 60s to mid 70s on MCQs. What did you daily and weekly to study? For REG I took 1-2 weeks to go through all the Becker HW MCQs per chapter grouping for me it was 3-4,1-2,6-8,5. After going through the HW and taking notes then I would do tons of practice exams in the hopes of fine tuning my understanding then the last 2wks work in SIMS.

Any suggestions on changing my plan?

[Anonymous]

I came into this quarter with only REG passed and wanting to avoid taking the new exams. I tried taking AUD, FAR and BEC this quarter. I ended up passing all of them as of yesterday! Don't know how I did it other than tons of MCQ's and Ninja Audio.

[ayyemmtea]

@tygolfer – Yeah, I haven't started AUD yet. I always knew I would instantly go back to REG if I didn't pass, so I was kind of preparing to re-start that studying. Now that I passed, I'm not in a huge rush to start up again lol (studying is the worst, huh)

My birthday is the beginning of May, so I was thinking of trying to do it before that? But I dunno.

I'm probably just going to study and then schedule it when I feel ready (if ever) lol. I live in VA (DC Area), so there are so many Prometric centers. You don't need to schedule very far in advance.

I just REAAAAAAAAAAAAALLY want to be done. Mad props to anyone that keeps it going through multiple tests. I am burnt out after 3.

[Anonymous]

My entire exam experience was a hail marry. I did audit in 4 days last December knowing that if I failed I had the Q1 window. I got the perfect test. All the sims were drop downs and all the topics I skipped because I didn't have time were just a question or two.

[ayyemmtea]

@Wanna_B_TXCPA201 How many times has it taken you for each section?

So I never saw the benefit in practice exams. You don't instantly know the correct answer and you may never actually review the responses after you finish. Also on test day, you may remember answering “B” for that answer, but not remember that it was wrong.

I did a once over of all of the lectures in Becker (skipped homework) for FAR and BEC, which gave me a high level understanding of the material and how it all connected. If Chapter 2 helps explain confusing parts of Chapter 1, then why stress to understand it so early. REG is a bit different because the HUGE difference between Tax and BLaw. This time I did all of the Tax lectures (skipped homework) then did the homework in Becker… then listened to all BLaw Lectures, then did the homework in Becker.

I don't move onto Ninja MCQ until I am in the review stage. I feel there is a major benefit in working the same type of problem a few times over (like in Becker) instead of jumping around a lot. Also, I feel like in Ninja, I see the same question a LOT even before I get very far % into the questions. I find myself memorizing the answer, rather than actually understanding why. Like, if it was worded differently or had slightly different answers, I wouldn't get it right.

Also, I write a LOT. I will write down the entire explanation for each question, not just the ones I get wrong.

I also did not work one SIM until 2 days before FAR and 1 day before REG. I think MCQ is more important and will help you answer the SIMs as well.

I am no master and I'm not pretending that my way is the best way – But that is what I do.

[Jax]

I think I did a Hail Mary – I took REG on 2/17, had a software crash, had to retake REG 2/23 and then took AUD 3/10. As you can see from my signature, I failed both with a 73. Didn't work!

[Wanna_B_TXCPA2014]

@ashley
FAR 6X
AUD 3X
BEC 1X
REG 2X

I'm a little confused with your response. Did you watch Becker lectures for understanding & use Ninja MCQs for REG or did you work Becker MCQs after watching the videos then used Ninja to further your understanding?

[Peasqueezy]

I did a quasi hail Mary… I took audit 1/30 and reg 3/10. It didn't leave me much time to study but it was just enough.

[ayyemmtea]

@Jax – Your exam crashed!? What would have happened if you took it 3/10? That seems to unfair that you had to come back. =/

[ayyemmtea]

@Wanna_B_TXCPA2014 – I used Becker Lectures to get a full basic understanding of everything… then I do the homework questions in Becker (like maybe 1/2 for each Chapter. Then after I am completed that. I go to Ninja for more MCQ and mastering topics. I would say that Becker has the better questions (longer, more complicated questions and better explanations) but you can't beat the sheer quantity of questions in Ninja MCQ.

REG Schedule
Watch Lectures for Chapters 1-4 in Becker. (Take the notes that they say)
Do homework in Becker for Chapters 1-4 (Maybe half of the total population)
Watch Lectures for Chapters 5-8 in Becker.(Take the notes that they say)
Do homework in Becker for Chapters 5-8 (Maybe half of the total population)
Go to Ninja MCQ to do even more MCQ. I don't separate by section. If I find myself having a really bad % for a certain section, then I go to the Becker book/homework to try and work more questions/understand that better.
Once I realize I am memorizing too many Ninja MCQ, then I go back to Becker and do MCQ there to switch things up.
On the day before the exam, I looked at SIMs just to see if I would have a basic understanding on how to proceed on different types of questions.

In my free time, I listened to Ninja Audio. I really liked Ninja Audio for FAR and REG was pretty good as well.

[Anonymous]

I tried a hail mary, or as Becker would call it “fast pass”.

All my credits had been expired for a while, and I had failed REG by a few points 3 times. But for some reason in about Nov 2016, I said, I'm going to pass all four before the exam changes. Took BEC in Dec – passed. Had surgery in January, which messed up my study schedule, but I survived. Took REG in Feb – failed by 3 points. Took AUD in March – passed. Had FAR scheduled for the last day before the exam changes, but felt like I only had a 50/50 shot at passing and did not feel lucky, so I rescheduled for early April.

All in all, I passed 2, I'm feeling pretty good about FAR in April, and I've got all summer to prepare for REG. Not bad.

[Wanna_B_TXCPA2014]

@ashley got it! I like your plan, I think I tweak it and just watch videos for further understanding on the content that I am scoring low on. This stuff is pretty fresh in my mind, so I can get back at it and start grinding MCQ's. The 2 wk break I took after test was for the best I was tired and just about burnt out.

[Author]

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