[Anonymous]

Figure I start this conversation since today is the cutoff day for the Feb 7 score release!
Good luck everyone, I really need the pass for AUD… Else, I will have to wait until August to find out if I am done with this journey!

[Meg267]

Congratulations to all those that passed! To those who didn't, keep going!! You will get there!

[A1lessio]

@spartans92 – any chance you took the becker practice exams? How did you do?

I sat for the exam Jan 20th and because the AICPA received it on the 21st I have to wait another 16 days. This wait is killing me!

AUD (08/02/2016)

[wc4044]

I wish I could give you sure-fire advice on how I passed FAR…I'll never know. I walked out of there almost in tears so sure I wasted 2 months of my life. My studying for FAR was 5-8 hours a day for 2 months with very few days off-I even went through materials on vacation much to my wife's displeasure. I had the becker app on my phone and literally everywhere I went I would be knocking out mcqs. I did literally everything I could to learn as much as I could and just walked through every question on test day slowly. I was so exhausted after FAR that I got sick for a week…was it worth it? I don't know…according to Peter Olinto I'll be a millionaire one day when I'm done with these. It's all about putting in the time and hope the CPA Gods are in favor with you on test day.

[Spartans92]

@A1, I actually didnt take the becker final.. That may be the reason why LOL. I didnt wanna waste 4 hours on an exam and not know the answers until afterwards.. and I was running low on time. Coincidentally, I never took the becker final for AUD and I'm still takin it.. Whereas I took REG and BEC practice and I passed. I dont know if theres any correlation but I will def take the final this time.

Good luck to you!

BEC- PASS

[txtoca]

@Spartans92, my strategy was to do 100 Questions in Progress test every day and about 7-10 simulations a day (depending on how hard they are). I would just start with chapter 1 sims and work my way down and then repeat. I kept a log of all my progress tests. I took the Final Exam about 2 weeks before my exam and then the 2nd final exam day before or something….
I also discovered that I understand things a lot better if I put them in charts / table format. I can't attach an example here, but essentially I made a chart for every comparison b/w GAAP & IFRS (intangible expense vs capitalize, Leaseback rules), Partnership accounting, etc. If you send me your e-mail, I can e-mail you a few examples. I also put the link below to my google spreadsheet where I keep track of all my progress tests. It takes about 2 hours to do 100 Q and another hour to review, but I feel like I learned 60% of my material from just doing questions and seeing them repeatedly. I don't think anything phased me in the real exam. Hope this helps!!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dinVcs20baa_cQs6dbsagA6sT3oZWzpsIz_AE74LkLc/edit?usp=sharing

BEC – 85
FAR – 91
REG – 2/4/17
AUD – 3/10/17

[txtoca]

(1 of 4) @Spartans92, I used Becker and essentially did 1 progress test a day (with 100 questions) and 7-10 simulations a day (depending on difficulty). I would start with chapter 1 sims, do about 7-10, and work my way down until I did all 10 chapters and then repeat. I did all the Sims once as part of my initial studying and then I did each chapter sims at least twice as my review. The 100 Q progress test took me about 2 hours to do and then another hour to review. I think I learned about 60% of my concepts from just doing progress tests. I also kept a lot of all my progress test and final exam. I took the 1st one about 2 weeks before the exam and the 2nd one night before the exam.

[txtoca]

(2 of 4) I also found that what helped me keep things straight was turning everything into tables. Pretty much anything that involved GAAP vs IFRS was in a table format (intangible expense / capitalize, Leaseback rules, R&D expense / capitalize), Cost vs Par value (with real example JE on each side), Partnership accounting (showing different methods side-by-side really helped me see where the differences are).

[txtoca]

(3 of 4) I put a link below of my Google spreadsheet where I keep track of my progress tests. I highly suggest doing that so you can see which chapter you struggle on the most. I never did questions for just one chapter (I always selected all the chapters in my Progress test), but I used my spreadsheet to figure out where I needed to create more charts / tables to help me clear concepts. Hope this helps!!

BEC – 85
FAR – 91
REG – 2/4
AUD – 3/10

[Spartans92]

Thanks @txtoca! I will give that method a try.. perhaps not as intense as 100 questions a day.

Does anyone by any chance know if I could use the same book (2016) for the 2017 changes with becker.. or should I order a new book? I will be using the updated modules.

BEC- PASS

[txtoca]

Sorry can't share my google doc link apparently…

[wakefern58]

@Spartans92 From what I've heard, you may still use the old book but it may not hurt to just get them to send you the new one, it's $15. That's what I plan on doing. Also, what did you do to boost your REG score so much? Please share all advice as I test in a few weeks.

[Spartans92]

@wakefern, I jumped back into studying for REG immediately when I found out I failed so the material was still fresh.. Though I was 2 chaps in for FAR but I decided to stick with REG before I move on. I went back and re-read every chapter in becker and redo every question and SIMS. After that I bought Ninja and I gave myself 2-3 weeks review. Total 8 weeks. I did about 600 Ninja MCQ and every single ninja SIMS believe theres 75…

Read every single explanation and take notes. Also, I took advantage of the Roger videos on youtube and I watched the AMT video of Jeff's. Luckily, I didnt see too many of those questions. If there is a particular topic you dont feel comfortable on I highly recommend focusing on those topics and thats why I like ninja because you can work on question only in that area.

BEC- PASS

[Spartans92]

@tx, wow your method is overkill. No wonder you got such a high score! I like the idea of writing things side by side to compare. I have a bunch of notes.. I mean like 30 pages on just 2 chaps its a mess. I think being organized for FAR is an issue for me given theres 10 chaps.

BEC- PASS

[txtoca]

@Spartans92 haha, it's overkill, but it sure works. I was just shooting for a 80, b/c when you shoot for a 75, you get a 74. Personally, I'm a really fast test taker (I took 4-5 min breaks after each testlet to go to bathroom / get water / eat a snack) and still finished with 15-20 minutes remaining.So, doing 100Q's a day is a breeze – either I know it or I don't and if I don't, I don't spend more than a minute on it…Sims are what took me the longest to do everyday.

[Anonymous]

@txtoca would you be willing to send me your google link?

[Author]

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