[smyoung0521]

I apologize in advance if this has been a thread before, but I was curious and thought others might be too.

A question for you guys, is that your latest score or your first score…..what do you think was your secret? Was it the prep company that you went with, your general IQ, your work experience, or is it the time and energy that you put in? A combination of all that combined? What was your general amount of time studying as far as weeks before exam? I know that you only need a 75 but……I would love to score higher…..

I guess I am wondering what is the secret formula :-)? (A lucky sock perhaps?)

Restarting my journey!
Using Rogers and supplementing with Ninja

[peetree]

Totally not trying to scare people @seattle! I put people like you who are doing it with those added responsibilities on a pedestal!

You should be so proud of yourself.

FAR 02/21/13 - 95
REG 07/02/13 - 87
AUD 08/02/13 - 94
BEC 08/30/13 - 85
Ethics Exam - 90

Illinois candidate awaiting his license

Used Becker Self Study | Ninja Audio | Becker Flash Cards | Ninja Notes | Wiley Test Bank

[SeattleAccountant]

@peetree,

Thanks!

Although being proud is probably way over top, just feeling satisfied and really tired, like totally burned-out doing final BEC review and keep getting stuck around random stuff 🙁

Becker Class of Jan - Aug 2013: FARB DONE!!!!
CPA license pending 🙂

[wizards8507]

I don't have the sky-high scores that some of the others do, but I'm pretty proud of them considering I ONLY used the Wiley Test Bank. No reading, no review courses, no audio, just MCQ review, once or twice through the test bank's list of questions (maybe an hour or two a day for a month per section). I didn't think the exam was nearly as life-consuming as others seem to say, and I think a lot has to do with your personality. If you LIKE accounting and really UNDERSTAND accounting, the exam really isn't all that difficult. I think the people who spend hours and hours a day for many months (or years) to pass the exam do so because they treat it like a memorization exercise. You CANNOT pass the CPA exam trying to memorize all the content. The people who seem like they do probably just drilled it into themselves enough that they couldn't help but start to really *understand* it. If you understand bonds, for example, there's no need to memorize an amortization schedule because you can create one on the fly. If you understand GAAS or fund accounting, you don't need to memorize TIP PIE ACDO or DRIP CEG PIPPA (or whatever it is). I think the mnemonics are the biggest travesty and waste of time in the CPA candidate community because they do absolutely nothing to develop your understanding and waste time developing your ability to create lists while ignoring your ability to APPLY those lists. The CPA exam is primarily multiple choice. You will never ever ever have to write a list of the ten Generally Accepted Auditing Standards, so I don't understand why so much time is spent memorizing that list. If you do have a “create the list of XYZ” question, it'll be on a Simulation where the answers are all there in the authoritative literature, which you have more time to use if you zoom through the MCQs by not taking the first 20 minutes to write down all the silly lists the Becker told you to memorize. I know I'm in the .01% minority on this but I feel really strongly about it and think it's a huge reason why people fail time and time again. Memorization can fall victim to forgetfulness and/or test anxiety. True understanding is immune from those things.

NY CPA

[Anonymous]

I know my scores are not super high, but I did pass each exam on the first try.

I agree with @wizards8507 on the mnemonics and memorization. You have to know and UNDERSTAND the concepts!

Also, what helped me was getting into the MCQ 2-3 weeks before the test so that everything stayed fresh. If I spaced them out during my whole study routine I would have surely started forgetting things at the end. I would do lectures, note taking and reading until the 2-3 weeks (depending on the volume of the test material, i.e. 3 weeks for FAR and REG) before the test and then just do all of the MCQ as a review.

[Anonymous]

I haven't passed them all yet, and my scores are modest (81 and 83), but I would second what @wizards8507 and @Charzy have said. I have focused on understanding, and haven't had to put as much time into these exams as some people do. And, I haven't intentionally memorized a thing for these exams! The only thing I would consider memorizing is the ratios. Beyond that, memorization is not needed. (Again, I haven't taken them all – I've heard rumors there's some numbers to memorize for REG, but don't know for sure.) Understanding, though, is paramount.

In my opinion, an ounce of understanding can substitute for pages and pages of memorization. Like, if you understand the theory behind creating journal entries (debits and credits etc), you never have to memorize a single journal entry. If you understand the theory behind the auditing standards, you don't have to memorize them, because you know the goal and intent even if not every word of the law.

Of course somethings are somewhat memory – like that a review provides limited assurance, and an audit reasonable assurance. But, the things that have to be memorized are able to be picked up just reading through the material and doing the test bank, without sitting down and intentionally memorizing. And…I'm no memory whiz, so it's not like I memorize it all without meaning to!

But, I would follow this up by saying this doesn't work for everyone. Some people need the lists of facts and acronyms to organize the theories in their head. I don't think there is anything wrong with memorizing certain things, as long as the person is using the memory to understand, not counting on lists of facts to substitute for the understanding.

[Jason2345]

Make sure you understand everything.

To be sure I understand things, I'll walk through the process in my head. If you can explain it, without notes, you know it. If you blank on something, you know you need to go back and take another look at it.

[Anonymous]

@smyoung0521…..my primary prep software is also mdscpareview. I passed FAR with a 78 & leaving 2 1/2 SIMS blank. I feel like it did a good job of covering the material you needed to know without overwhelming you with a ton of details. I sat for REG on 7/29 & felt good coming out of that test. With BEC I felt like I wasn't fully prepared for some of the IT questions & there were some Econ concepts that could've been a bit more in depth. I failed my first BEC attempt with a 74. I supplemented with NINJA audio, & a free cpareview course I found online. Just found out todat that I passed BEC with an 80 (thank you God & a curve) although I came out feeling like I failed. Waiting on REG & moving on to AUD. What works for me is sitting for the exam within a day or two of “finishing” my prep work for that section. Its still fresh and I don't have time to forget the concepts. I did find that reviewing all of the lectures first before completing any mqs also worked better for me than doing the mqs iimmediately after finishing a given lecture video. That's my two cents. Good luck!

FAR 78

BEC 74, 80

REG 7/29-waiting

AUD TBS

[Author]

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