@kmcg4k – Thank you. 🙂 Overall, my advice is to make this exam your top priority and get it over with. Don't take 2 years like I did.
Study wise, I started passing when I combined CPAexcel and the Ninja Study Guides. I studied online using CPAexcel's cheapest package (no cutting corners – do every assignment and stay on top of it!) Never ever get behind schedule. I made a binder and put the Ninja notes in there, and insterted my own notes as needed, however I made almost all of my notes on notecards. Then after every study session I would go through my notecards and quiz myself. Once I knew a notecard by heart, I'd stick it in a separate pile. In my last week of review, I briefly shuffled through that pile and made sure I still knew it. Then I discarded them and kept going through my other notecards.
I really believe in notecards. CPAexcel was amazing too. I don't think that anyone can really be prepared for the new simulations yet, not 100% at least, but I do believe that CPAexcel prepared me as best as I could be prepared.
Also, in my last 2 weeks or so of exam prep, I took many simulated exams via CPAexcel. These really helped me!!! I'd study every question that I got wrong and make sure that I really understood why my answer was wrong, and why the correct answer was right.
Everyone learns differently. This just happened to work for me… with BEC, AUD, and REG. I'm sure that it would have worked with FAR too, but I already had that passed before I discovered CPAexcel and Ninja.
Don't ever let yourself give up on this exam. The CPA exam SUCKS and can feel really unfair. But you can conquer it. Trust me – if I can do it, you can too. This has been such an exhausting journey for me and I can't even express how wonderful it feels to be done.
FAR: 71, 77
BEC: 70, 82
AUD: 62, 78
REG: 71, 68, 85
CA Licensed 11/2011
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