[Kelsey]

Hi All,

Is it just me or does it feel like its hard to continue sometimes. I have been knocked down 3 times now. I start this trek back in 2013.. I took my first auditing test in January of 2014 and FAILED miserably. I stopped studying and focused on life and my job. I got married, had a baby, started a new full time job at a CPA Firm. I thought I could take REG really easy without really studying since I was working in tax and then FAILED that too. Not nearly as bad as AUDITNG. I took almost a year off from studying due to baby, marriage, the wbhole shabam… but Now here i am again, I started my journey back up in full swing after this last tax season 2016. I took REG and passed with an 80! Woo then started studying for BEC. I just got my results and failed yet again with a 65. This time I actually studied at least 20/60 multiple choices a day for 4/6 weeks. I am taking auditing again with better study habits that the first time I took it.. But hate to see another FAIL. I wanted to have these all wrapped up before tax season but now it doesn’t look possible… Is this ever going to be over!

AUDITING – BOMBED in RETEST MODE
BEC – 65 FAIL
REG – 80 PASSED
FAR – NOT TESTED YET

[rlarivee01]

Sounds a lot like my journey.. except it's been even longer, and I've spent more money.

And to top it all off, I haven't even passed a single section!

So right now, you have REG done, which is in some people's eyes, the 2nd hardest section. What was the date of that?

Right now, maybe evaluate your study habits. Take a different review course if need be. See if you can find a way to even get an hour or two extra a week.

Stick to the NINJA framework, and I can't imagine any more failures happen.

[mtaylo24]

Hang in there! I've failed 7 exams since I passed Auditing last year, and I sat for my first exam Dec 2012. Just found out that I barely passed REG today. I work and I'm a busy dad too! Buy the Ninja MCQs (I've never scored under a 72 w/ them) and trying to bang out 5K before you sit. Make sure you pump them numbers up, some days I hit 250, never under 100. I guess that's more quantity over quality. Keep on grinding!

AUD - 1st - 60 (12/12), 61 (2/13), 61 (8/13), 78! (11/15)
REG - 55 (2/16) 69 (5/16) Retake(8/16)
BEC - 71(5/16) Retake (9/16)
FAR - (8/16)

[Shane]

I just took BEC for the first time yesterday. For the first time, I am actually looking forward to the score release. I've been on a long road. I took FAR twice and REG twice and failed both times with my second scores lower than the first. Its highly demotivating when you try your absolute best at something and fail miserably. This test is much harder than anything I've ever tried to achieve. From what I've gathered, its not an IQ test but its a commitment test. We almost have to tune out the rest of the world for several weeks in preparation of this exam. I work full time and have 3 kids. My youngest is 2 months old. I've got tons of pressure from my company to pass these exams. Each time I fail and have to tell my manager the results, its a bad day in the office. I know this is lame but I sort of feel like Rocky. Knocked down several times but still get back up. I actually play the Rocky theme song before study sessions to get pumped up. Its the little rituals that give you that extra push. Also, its good to constantly remind yourself of your “why”. Constantly reminding yourself of why you are doing this in the first place. Deactivate your facebook, delete apps on your phone, and get rid of any distraction. But also, schedule in some “Me time” and “Family time”. Its a balancing act.

FAR- 58, 52
REG- 63
BEC-Not Scheduled
AUD-Not Scheduled

Becker Live Courses (new), Roger, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs, Ninja Audio (new).

[Kelsey]

Thanks! Everyone! Its good to heard other people's struggles with the full time life with work & kids. It's hard around people at work that got it all before the full time work habits. Each one of their stories is being in college, no cares in the world. I wish I got to to that but have been full-time employed since 17. (Great for life, bad for CPA studying).

I will keep chugging at the MCQ's it seems to working that way. I will just keep doing more and more in all my spare time!

[Hurricane]

Are you also listening to lectures and reading the textbook in addition to doing the MCQ's? Doing only 20-60 MCQ's per day will not prepare you to pass the exam. To fully understand the concepts, you need to utilize additional resources.

AUD - 96
BEC - 88
FAR - 88
REG - TBS

[N4]

For the exam i would follow the ELL plan! I work full time and it really helped me pass my far test and my reg retake.

Wake up early and study 2 hours before work at a local coffee place near work..study during your lunch…and then an hour or two after work..-5 hrs a day and 6-8 hrs on the weekends. I dont know if u live in LA, but i justified studying one or two hours after work bc the traffic is really bad in LA and i might as well be productive and wait it out. If I didn't wake up early i would study 3 hours after work instead of an hour or two..

But i definetely reccomended watching Jeffs youtube video on the ELL plan! It was a lifesaver

FAR (5/31) PASS (Best birthday gift ever!)

[Mike J]

Make sure you make time to REVIEW the MCQs. It's an underrated part of the study process.

…

You also have to take a sober look at what you don't know.

This was especially hard for me because I used to tutor people in this when I was a student and earned a pretty high GPA. So, when I failed FAR for the first time I thought I just needed to make a few adjustments (small pun).

I realized, after I passed BEC, that when I was in school that I didn't know the basics COLD.

I memorized journal entries and relied on mnemonic tricks. I didn't see that an expense will have a debit balance. If I'm paying cash, then it will be a credit balance. Or if I was paying off long-term liability I would most likely debit a payable.

For tax, I finally broke down and decided to learn everything from scratch BEFORE I even looked at CPA material. Again, my foundation was rotten so why continue to worry about putting in a second floor?

FYI I went through each module here: https://tax.cchgroup.com/downloads/files/contemporary-tax-practice/Module4/Topic3/B-Corporate-Alternative-Minimum-Tax-Computations.asp

For, BEC I bought the NINJA textbook and just took myself back to school. This site was helpful too: https://mbabullshit.com/blog/

…

Honestly, based on what you wrote, you should just start from scratch

[Track55]

I agree with many people above. I did 20 MCQ/hour and studied 20-25 hours a week for 3 months (per test). I did all the MCQ at least one time. Long story short, 60 MCQ/day for a month is not going to cut it. Are you studying the SIMS too?

I had knocked out two before I started my job, then had to do two more while working full-time. And I had it kind of hard as I fly/drive nationwide. You can't do MCQ when you're on a plane with no internet or driving around. However someone gave me their Becker flashcards and I found those very helpful!

Yeah, it bugged me too that the young people had done their CPA stuff without much pressure. But nothing you can do about it now. Increase the amount of time you are studying and like others said, get to work early and stay late. You'll be surprised how much faster you'll do the MCQ when you're in an office. The Ninja really works if you give it a chance!

AUD - 74, 99 !!
REG - 74, 92
BEC - 83
FAR - 73, 86

Studying for Ethics exam

California candidate
Business and Industry

[Author]

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