[Jgabbay]

I’m really starting to get overwhelmed with AUD and how Becker presents the material. For FAR and REG, I felt the information from the textbook was way easier to grasp, being that the textbook was full of bullet points, pass keys, and I especially found the annotated version of the book beneficial. But for AUD, it just seems like its paragraph after paragraph, page after page with super dense information… I can’t seem to figure out what’s important from what I’m reading and end up just copying the textbook word for word into my notebook and spending hours on end.

I need a better approach, losing steam here, and have my exam scheduled for Sep 6.

Any advice please!!! Thank you!

[CPYAYYY]

Audit is very subjective. Usually, they will have a bunch of good answers and a great one. I think it really depends on your grasp of appropriateness in each section. Get ninja notes. They will help solidify the Becker lessons for you. Some of the sims will feel like really easy FAR sims 🙂

[Anonymous]

– I agree, but the ‘wordiness' of AUD isn't just with Becker. I have seen other textbooks as well and it is very intimidating. Think about it, there are really no numbers and calculations, which means there isn't many example and illustration boxes for computations. They are naturally going to be wordy.

– My advice – smash those multiple choice questions. Keep smashin' em. Over and over and over again. Download the Becker app on your phone and keep knocking those multiple choice questions out like there is no tomorrow. I have gone through each multiple choice question for Audit about 4-6 times, not exaggerating. With there being almost no computational questions in Audit, you will be able to get through a substantial amount of MCQs per day. Just keep hitting those questions.

– As Kiran pointed it out, AUD is very subjective with almost every choice seeming to be the correct answer. The best way to get better at picking out the “best” answer… you guessed it, hammer the MCQs.

– I did pretty decent on Aud and I don't even remember reading the text much except for the opinion report formats. I absolutely did not watch the lectures, nor did I do the skills practice. It was basically three weeks of smashing the MCQs, 1 week of smashing the Sims (twice each) and couple days for the mocks.

– Its kinda like – if you want a strong deadlift… the best way to get a strong deadlift… is to do the deadlifts. Reading about deadlifts, watching videos on deadlifts, doing accessory moves like hamstring curls and back hyper extensions… not really gonna help as much as doing the actual deadlift… amiright?

– Remember… smash the MCQs

[Jgabbay]

@Christophulous – makes total sense and I've definitely been inclined to go that route. I just have this voice in the back of my head saying that just going through the mcq won't be enough as there will probably be little things in the book that the mcqs dont cover, and will end up being on the actual exam. But seeing your 87 and just mcqs is definitely motivating.

[Anonymous]

Yeah I know what you mean. In fact, my first CPA exam was FAR – I basically did what you were doing. Giving more importance to the text than actually doing the problems and working it out. I was afraid that simply doing the questions provided by Becker won't cut it. I gave too much importance to the text and lectures and the skills practice – going into the exam and coming out of the exam – I was not confident at all (thankfully I passed). My buddy recommended the approach of ‘forget that textbook and lecture' Only use the textbook and lecture if you are having a difficult time understanding a concept. In my honest opinion – I don't think the textbook is helpful at all – it is too high level/too simplified and if you notice, you won't even be able to answer most of the MCQs by going off the textbook alone.

You will learn far more with the MCQ and the explanation section of why each choice was either correct/incorrect. This approach will allow you to get through more effective studying than spending too much time on all the extra stuff. Try it out.

[Author]

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