[mtans]

Hello Everyone,

I’ve been looking for information regarding how/what I need to do to sit for the CPA exam. Hope you guys can give me some helps here. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

What are the steps that I would need to do before looking/purchasing for studying materials?

What kind of studying materials that you have found to be useful? Like, Becker, Roger, Ninja, etc?

What is the standard studying gap between each section if there is any?

What is the section that you guys prefer to take first?

Thank you so much for your help in advance,

[Mamabear]

Each review course typically has a sample you can view before you decide who to go with. Pick the one that compliments your learning style the best. I prefer Ninja, which used to be a supplement, but has just released their own question bank for all sections and has released a book for BEC and should have the other books out by August (I think). If you do the 10 point combo you get Blitz videos (shorter than other review course lectures), Ninja Notes (condensed notes similar to becker and CPA outline Notes), Ninja Audio (to listen to in the car), and Ninja Flashcards (great for quizzing concepts). All of these are more condensed than some of the other review courses. They highlight the main concepts and then you can add your own notes as you go through your book or the MCQ. It's also cheaper than most of the other courses, if money is limited.

I wish I had started with FAR or REG because they have much more material than BEC or AUD. Going from less material to more material feels like climbing a steep mountain. I wish I had started at the top of the mountain and worked my way down instead.

I fyou are studying full time you can probably take any section in 6 weeks. I work full time and have other committments so I gave myself 3 months to study for BEC, AUD, and FAR, and have to do REG in 6 weeks because I paid for my NTS early and my 6 months is going to run out if I don't take it before July 20th.

CPA Exam - Finally DONE (November 2014)
BEC (08/10/13) 80
AUD (08/24/13) 65 (11/13/13) 85
FAR (04/12/14) 81
REG (07/19/14) 69 (11/29/14) 87!!

[AScott89]

1. Decide what your learning style is. For example do you learn from watching video lectures, reading, etc? Also how much are you willing (and able) to spend on study materials? Another thing to do would be to try free demos of different systems to see if they look like something that would help you.

2. The wiley books and ninja materials are awesome for me. The wiley book I just use as a supplement for my ninja materials. The wiley test bank is not as good as ninja's in my opinion.

3. I give myself three months between sections since I work part-time. That way I don't have to study for 4 or more hours a day. I just don't have the attention span to do that.

4. If I could go back I would've taken AUD before BEC since I think that would've helped with the section in BEC about internal control and other audit-related topics. Some people take what they think will be their hardest test first but I prefer to start off with something easier in order to ease myself into the process.

I hope this has been helpful for you.

BEC-65
AUD-72(8 '14); 68(11 '14)
FAR-
REG-

[Mamabear]

here are a couple of links others have posted about things they wish they knew before they started the process.

https://www.another71.com/cpa-exam-forum/topic/2-tips-i-wish-id-known-when-i-started-the-process

https://www.another71.com/cpa-exam-forum/topic/cpa-start-to-finish

CPA Exam - Finally DONE (November 2014)
BEC (08/10/13) 80
AUD (08/24/13) 65 (11/13/13) 85
FAR (04/12/14) 81
REG (07/19/14) 69 (11/29/14) 87!!

[mtans]

Thank you all for the HELPFUL replies, it helps A LOT since I was clueless.

[Author]

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