[Anonymous]

Now that I am through, I thought I would provide what little useful advice I can for those who are struggling–all based on my experience.

First and foremost, this is a second job and needs to be treated as such. I figured it up this morning that I probably spent between 1,000 and 1,250 hours in total on the four parts over the past 11 months. I would be the first in the office to study for 2-3 hours before work, I blocked off my schedule at lunch in my calendar, and I studied after dinner each night for 11 months. I basically scheduled my study time so that there was no question of when I would study and to ensure that I had enough time to execute my plan. I see so many people I work with who are making a run at it and they sleep late, have lunch with friends, and study a little in front of the TV at night. That will not cut it. I know because my last exam was my 26th section. Doing it my way, I was 4 for 5 on the sections. Doing it their way, I was 2 for 21. I tried fitting the exam into my schedule and life and as you can see it didn’t work. I had to rearrange my life around it.

Okay now for the study plan. I’ll be right up front that I am not a fan of the review courses. Of the courses I have seen, Becker is the best solely because they give you a ton of MCQ questions to attempt. Yaeger has a good following but I did not like that they only suggest specific questions from the Wiley test bank. CPAExcel, the course I bought, did great with their notes (very thorough and complete) but IMHO their MCQ question coverage was not good. I knew from taking notes on their sections and my previous FAR attempts that they were not including MCQ’s on some heavily tested topics. I would definitely have failed FAR had I stuck with CPAExcel because there were questions didn’t cover much of what was on the exam.

So here’s what I suggest, use it for what it’s worth:

1) Get the ninja notes and read them. They will provide a very good framework for the exam.

2) Rewrite the ninja notes in their entirety before starting any MCQ’s.

3) Take notes on each sections from your review course and then attempt the Wiley MCQ’s for each section. Take notes as you go through on what you missed or those you guessed at.

4) After the first run through the MCQ’s, re-read your notes on anything you missed.

5) Rewrite your notes in their entirety–from both Ninja and your review course.

6) Make another run through the MCQ’s in Wiley. Make notes on any that you missed or guessed at.

7) Reread your notes.

8) Make a third run through the Wiley MCQ’s. Make notes on any that you missed or had to guess at.

9) Go through the MCQ’s from your review course to get a different look at a different test bank.

10) Make a final run through Wiley MCQ’s and this time be sure to work the Research SIMS questions. For REG and FAR, do some of the SIMS on the more difficult sections (leases, pensions, bonds, and governmental / NFP).

11) If you have time rewrite your notes immediately before the exam, do so. You might also want to review any MCQ’s that you missed after the last pass.

It’s a lot of work and it will take a lot of time. But I assure you that if you do this plan, you will most likely be over prepared for the exam. On all four parts, I found that the Wiley printed book was much more difficult than the actual exams I received. BEC and FAR seemed like they were easy compared to Wiley’s printed version. Had I just worked the ‘suggested’ questions by the review courses, I would have failed.

p.s. I am a big fan of the WIley printed book. I was told that the Wiley online test bank was different from the printed book and that the printed book was much more difficult than the online version. I know that the printed book was ALWAYS harder than the actual exams. I don’t like the online because it can have technical problems and requires a computer with batteries, etc. You can take the printed version with you anywhere.

Good luck to all.

[littlenumberrobot]

I would think if the person posting had NOT struggled through the exams and posted a similar thread, that might be misguiding. The OP straight out said they struggled and this is what helped them, maybe it could help someone else too?

CA CPA - All because of the journey listed below
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FAR - 53('10), 8/25/12 79 PASSED!
REG - 66('11), 69('12), 12/06/12 77 PASSED!!
BEC - 58('10), 74('12), 01/05/13 77 PASSED!!!
AUD - 43('11), 66('12), 69('13), 74('13) 7/29/13 85 PASSED!!!!!

(Combinations of Roger, Yaeger, Wiley Book, Wiley TB, & NINJA Notes)

Ethics 90%

[Anonymous]

No, it's not misguided.

I struggled with the exams previously because I did NOT follow the advice in the original post. Which was kind of the point of the original post.

Once I implemented the approach in the original post, I was nearly 100% with an 84.5% average. Repetition using materials that are harder than actual exam, I don't see how anyone could consider that misguided.

[kristo123]

Thank you for posting this CPApending. There might be some who will incorporate all of your advice and will do well while others will pick up certain suggestions that you've stated and add these to their own plan and strategy on how to prepare and study for the exam. Your plan does look comprehensive except for that you did not mention working on SIMS for AUD and practice writing essays for BEC unless by Research SIMS you mean all SIMS (problem solving and finding the answers through AL). I assume you do mean all SIMS from every section.

FAR -
AUD -
REG -
BEC -

[waffle_house]

I like this post, maybe instead of the Wiley MCQ now we can insert the Ninja mcq 🙂

[Author]

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