[jdagna]

Any Becker CPA study tips before I start? I work full time so any tips on stuff to focus on and not waste time would be extremely helpful.

 

 

[NotYourAverageCPA]

Skip the lectures – it wastes 8 hours of study time per week. Instead just use the online version of the book which has all of the notes, annotations and underlining. Then drill multiple choice questions over and over and over til you have done thousands.

• BEC - Pass Feb 2014
• AUD - Pass Feb 2014
• REG - Pass April 2014
• FAR- Pass May 2014

Licensed CPA - Jan 2016

• CISA - Pass June 2016
• CRISC - Pass December 2016

 

FAR - PASS
AUD - PASS
REG - PASS
BEC - PASS

NY CPA- Licensed Jan 2016
CISA Exam - Passed June 2016

[jdagna]

Hmm you're the second person to say skip the lectures. I don't do well learning by just reading a book so I was hoping the lectures would help. Do they add anything, like extra examples or explanation, besides just the notes and underlining that is in the online book? I don't want to waste 3-4 hours on a lecture if I can just look at the book and get the same info.

[SaveBandit]

The lectures aren't great but I never could warrant skipping them. May as well take advantage of all the tools you're given. My biggest piece of advice for becker users is not to get bogged down in the wordy, lengthy MCQ. Work them once but don't spin your wheels on them. I had exactly zero questions that mirrored the length of some of those lengthy ones on the Becker review course. Ninja questions were closer to the real thing in terms of length.

AUD - 94
BEC - 86
FAR - 85
REG - 90

If you pray enough, you can turn yourself into a cat person.

4 for 4

FAR 85
AUD 94
BEC 86
REG 90

[jdagna]

I'm thinking of doing the Ninja Notes during Becker. Viewing the becker videos while taking notes, then homework and take more notes on concepts I missed. Then during my 2 week review re-writing the Ninja notes as well as my own, and doing the Ninja MCQ. I am hoping this is enough.

[CPA2BEE]

I agree with skipping the lectures. Its not that they aren't helpful, but just not efficient for the amount of time they take IMO. I recommend just reading and taking notes straight from the E-BOOK (not the hard copy). The reason is because the e-book has all of the notes and highlights that you spend the majority of your efforts concentrating on getting down through the lecture anyway. I found myself spending more time thinking about “underline this, highlight that” than the actual material they were lecturing on. So why spend 4 hours highlighting and taking notes when its already done for you? Just go straight to the e-book and take your own notes on that. In addition to that, do all of the MCQs as many times as you can and the SIMS at least once. Becker is pretty good, but I have failed with it as well. I supplemented with NINJA MCQs for all exams except FAR and I really think it has helped me pass, I'm a big fan of the Becker/NINJA combo. But whatever your study method, just put the time in and I think you'll do fine.

CA CPA - est. Dec 2016

FAR - 80
AUD - 82
BEC - 80
REG - 85

ETHICS - 90
EXPERIENCE - COMPLETE
Application for California license mailed 8/4/2016

[NotYourAverageCPA]

I used the ninja notes along with Becker and strongly feel that they were necessary to pass. I would recommend reading the Becker books cover to cover, doing as many multiple choice questions as possible (while reading explanations of right and wrong answers) and rewriting the ninja notes to the point of memorization (that if you had a topic you could quote the notes). I was 0-3 with Becker alone, and 4-4 when I added ninja to my toolbox.

I strongly recommend it!!

• BEC - Pass Feb 2014
• AUD - Pass Feb 2014
• REG - Pass April 2014
• FAR- Pass May 2014

Licensed CPA - Jan 2016

• CISA - Pass June 2016
• CRISC - Pass December 2016

 

FAR - PASS
AUD - PASS
REG - PASS
BEC - PASS

NY CPA- Licensed Jan 2016
CISA Exam - Passed June 2016

[Ag12thman]

I've already started on FAR with Becker, so I'm in your same boat @jdagna. I have started watching some of the lectures and the folks above are right from what I can tell so far. They do not add enough to warrant the time they take to get through — at least that's how I feel so far. They are basically Peter or Tim reading to you and telling you what to highlight, circle, underscore, etc. As @CPA2BEE states, all of that is already done for you on the e-Book you'll find in the study software when you log-in. I think @CPA2BEE and @NotYourAverageCPA give some good advice above and I had already planned on skipping lectures going forward. If you come across a topic that is giving you trouble, you can always go back to the lectures and watch them, if need be. Watching those lectures takes a lot longer than you are probably thinking they will take. Plus, you will have to stop the video constantly and go back to allow for time to physically make the mark-ups (highlighting, circling, underlining, etc.) as you are trying to get through them. Takes a good deal of time!

FAR: July 2016

[waffle_house]

I don't watch the lectures because I can just read the book but if you are going to watch the lecture you should try this study plan:

Per sub section (topics in F1-F10)
1. Watch the videos

2. MCQ for that section (once you are finished do not go back and redo the ones you got wrong just yet)

3. Read the book and take notes on stuff you don't understand fully ( I strongly advise you read since you will pick up the details the lecture doesn't go over)

4. MCQ over again (this time mark the ones you get wrong then find them in the book and understand why you got the question wrong)

5. Move to next section and repeat

6. Always always always do a set of cumulative questions from the past sections everyday (sets of 20 to 40 questions).
This will help prevent forgetting what you've learned and reinforces the topic in your brain.

7. Don't forget the sims 🙂

AUD - 80
BEC - 75
FAR - 84
REG - 76

Exams started Sep 2014 -Exams done Mar 2017

Texas CPA

I put in work, it was evident

[Ag12thman]

@NotYourAverageCPA – Did you use Ninja MCQ as well? Or did you only supplement Becker with Ninja Notes? Just curious.

FAR: July 2016

[jdagna]

So if I skip the lecture part would you recommend just reading the book in the first step instead?

[CPA2BEE]

Yup, read the e-book with Becker's notes and highlights included.

CA CPA - est. Dec 2016

FAR - 80
AUD - 82
BEC - 80
REG - 85

ETHICS - 90
EXPERIENCE - COMPLETE
Application for California license mailed 8/4/2016

[perezc3910]

I don't recommend watching the lectures. I did it for two chapters and felt it was a waste of time. They don't go over the whole page with you, just what they think is important which you will know anyway because it will be highlighted or underlined in the ebook. I think that reading the book is so much more important than watching the videos. I read before work and during my lunch. I am lucky enough to be able to listen to the NINJA audio during work hours. I then go home and do homework. On weekends I rewrite the Ninja Notes for whatever section I'm studying for that week. For review, I will use NINJA MCQ and becker practice tests.

BEC-July 2016
REG-August 2016
FAR-October 2016
AUD-Nov/Dec 2016

[Anonymous]

Also, you can use Becker's lectures (with headset on bed) to put yourself to sleep. I do this a lot. This saves me from taking extra substance in my system such as antihistamines.

[nartycart18]

read over the chapters and do the MC. listen to the lectures if the section is confusing. The lectures actually help me understand more especially in chapters where it's just all information and no calculations. Do progress test. I felt like the questions on the exam were all over the place in that they ask you stuff from ch 1 then skip to ch 3 then to ch 4 then back to ch 1 so the progress test kind of mixes things up similar to the exam

REG 8/18 -
BEC 75
FAR
AUD

[NotYourAverageCPA]

@Ag12thman, Ninja MCQ didn't exist when I was taking the exams from 2013-2014, so I used WileyCPA as a supplement which came in the package. I felt that the questions were harder and better prepared me for the exam. It definitely can't hurt to use two test banks as they were totally different questions.

• BEC - Pass Feb 2014
• AUD - Pass Feb 2014
• REG - Pass April 2014
• FAR- Pass May 2014

Licensed CPA - Jan 2016

• CISA - Pass June 2016
• CRISC - Pass December 2016

 

FAR - PASS
AUD - PASS
REG - PASS
BEC - PASS

NY CPA- Licensed Jan 2016
CISA Exam - Passed June 2016

[Author]

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