[yvettewalker]

Started studying in the middle of May, and just finished the 1st round Tuesday . . . now I’m going back thru the 2nd round and I’m FREAKING OUT!! I’m scoring 40’s-50’s on the test bank questions (Wiley CPAExcel) and the stress is showing physcially. I woke up to a rash all over, stomach issues, and hair falling out. I’m seriously doubting if I can do this. I graduated in 1995, took the CPA exam in 1996 and 1997 but did AWFUL (not studying will do that! LOL). 24 years of industry work (no public) and I can’t move laterally without a CPA.

I’ve got less than 3 weeks to go. My plan is to go back thru my notes for the next week and re-write important stuff, and take MCQ‘s until my eyes can’t stay open. Practice exam on 8/24, 8/29, 8/30 and 8/31 (if needed?? I plan to go to the library those days to really get a sense of what the exam will be like).

Please tell me what you would do different, and how you dealt with the stress of it all. All these wrong answers on the MCQ are making me really doubt I can do this. 🙁

[jombe]

For my 1st exam (I only took 1 at a time), I had severe anxiety few hours before I took the exam. Didn't even know it was anxiety, because I never had such an experience before in my life. Fortunately, I was calm by the time the exam started, but while I was sitting in the parking lot waiting for the exam to start in few hrs (I went super early in case my car would break down or something), I started having heart palpitation and sky seemed yellow, rather than blue, until it was time to take the exam.
After I took the exam, I came home and thought about what happened. I figured it had to do with my fear of not passing, because I really didn't want to take any section more than once. So, for the remaining 3 sections, I studied and kept studying until I knew there wasn't more I could do. Really listened to the lectures. Really read the book carefully. Did 2,000+ MCQs & 100+ SIMs per section. A lot of people on this forum will say, man, you really over-studied, but I had to do what I had to do. For remaining 3 sections, I'd still get anxious while waiting for the exam to start, but I kept telling myself that I did everything I could and if I still failed, it just wasn't meant to be. That was the way I could keep my anxiety under control. Hope that helps.

FAR - 94 (10/4/15), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
AUD - 99 (1/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
REG - 96 (4/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
BEC - 91 (7/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ

581 days of listening to lectures, reading texts & 10,000+ MCQs...

[Charlie]

What helped me is following a study schedule and trusting it. I would do two sets of 30 MCQ for each new section then one set of 30 cumulative MCQ for everything I'd studied to that point. And I would check off each section on my schedule. I told myself that if I did that I would be prepared for the exam when the time came.

When I would get stressed, I would remind myself that I was on schedule. Wrong answers are good! Each wrong answer is preparing you for the exam. If you keep getting the same questions wrong, then dive a little deeper into that topic. You can do this!

[AGI]

You have been studying since MAY? That's too much. Give yourself a little confidence, 24 years of industry work should get you over this test.

If you have less than 3 weeks to go, I would recommend you skip the lectures and go right into the test bank. If you are using Wiley, you should train yourself to around 60-70s in order to get passing grades. Train yourself until you can memorize the questions. If you are taking FAR, REG, and AUD, the trick is “speed”. Answer the questions as fast as you would, so you have time on the real test to go back and THINK. A lot of the questions, if you THINK ENOUGH, you will be able to plug in your work experience and say “I have seen this scenario before. For FAR and REG, plug the MCQ answers back into the question will solve all the math questions (as long as you have enough time to do them backwards).

I would recommend you do at least 200 MCQs per day. Also, in addition to Wiley, you should get another set of test banks (like NINJA). Please remember the hardest questions in Wiley and Becker WILL NOT APPEAR ON THE TEST. So do a lot of the Sims. So don't spend so much time on it. It's better to review multiple test banks so you actually get to see more variety of question, even if that means just Google some random questions will help.

New York - NYC
Passed CPA Exam (11/2014)
In search for a position in NYC that will fulfills the license requirement.

[iwantthiscpa]

I'm commenting on just one point. I don't think you should take 4 practice exams. I think that time is better spent going through MCQs, where you get the answer for each question immediately and then move on. I used to do lots of MCQs in sets of 10 (that's all I could handle at a time, take a short break after 3 sets) and I'd see the answer after each individual question. I'd only do one chapter at a time (like I'd work questions from only chapter 3 for a couple hours) so I can learn from what I got wrong and read the explanations to help me with the rest of the questions. I tried taking practice tests but never got through more than 5 min because I didn't feel like I was learning. I like doing quizzes because I get the answer right away and knew if I was in the right track or not.

Don't stress out if you're getting a lot wrong. I used to get a lot wrong too! I would just pay attention to the explanations in the answers. If I really didn't get it, I'd go back to that area of the book and read a couple of pages, or watch a lecture (I used roger) and then go back to doing questions. I used roger and ninja (used Ninja for more MCQ practice). The only way I got better was doing a lotttt of multiple choice questions, one chapter at a time. I only did all chapters at once when I was a few days away from my exam. Just FYI I averaged around like 60%-64% on my MCQs by the time it was exam time. I eventually passed all.

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