[HustlinHustlin]

Ok I have been studying with Becker since October 11th. I do not plan on taking the FAR until Jan so I have a good amount of time. However, my current process is lecture, notes, read – more notes, then MCQ’s and it’s taking me FOREVER ( and this is just my first round of all of them)

I tend to spend a ton of time on my first round doing the MCQ’s and am wondering if I should just abolish the whole reading and note taking process – since this takes me 4-5 hours and it certainly hasn’t been showing to be effective when I do the MCQs.

I heard Jeff’s podcast about basically just focusing on what the lecturer goes over – anything else can be learned during the MCQ’s. And it would make sense since the exam is “a mile wide but an inch deep” (just love that quote). I have also heard from many that the BASICS are tested, not the itty gritty detail. So I’m thinking, why am I spending all this time rewriting the book and trying to memorize every minute detail???

I am thinking about starting a new process – read over my lecture notes (since I am live, I don’t get a chance to do all the hw right after) only focus on the material in the lecture, review flashcards, do mcq’s, make flashcards of the questions I got wrong, and redo them another time (without using the book or notes) before moving on.

Has anyone else been successful with this process?

B 71 - 79 EXPIRED
A 69 - 75 EXPIRED
R 65 - 48 - 45
F 56 - 61 - 65 - 64

Becker, Wiley Test Bank, Wiley Text and Ninja Notes

"The fish who keeps on swimming is the first to chill upstream" -311

Experience - Done, like WAAAY done.
Still need 30 more credits, in basket weaving (gotta love new CA requirements)

[See Pee A]

I personally have a visual memory, and like to see material presented in as few ways as possible. That is why flashcards don't help me. When I see a question, after studying significantly, I can usually picture the page in my mind (not photographic memory, just the location). My point is that you need to find what works for you. I used just the notes, and then took my own notes on the basic calculations in my own way, so that they were easy to understand and commit to memory.

My process is lecture, MCQ's using the lecture (since it's a learning process), and then move on to the next lecture. Every few lectures I review old ones (after 3, review 1&2, after 6, review 3-5, after 9, 6-8, and then final review). You don't have to learn everything, just look over the past stuff to jog your memory and keep the BASICS in your head. Then in final review you can work through parts that you struggled with as well as sections that have lots of rules to be sure you have the basics as well as the most common exceptions understood.

I personally did not use the practice exams or sims at all, went through maybe 2-3 sims just to see the format and how they physically work (clicking around and stuff). But the sims are random and you can't prepare specifically, you just have to hope that your studying was sufficient and pull on that knowledge.

Memorization works for me, to an extent. I try to understand things as far as I can, and then the remainder I memorize. For example, depreciation methods all subtract salvage, which makes sense since you can't depreciate beyond what you expect to get back when you sell the asset. However, DDB (declining balance) does not subtract salvage when calculating, which makes sense since it's an artificial method of depr, but is done because it reduces expenses earlier, BUT even with DDB you cannot depreciate beyond the salvage value — so in the last year you plug the depr to make it hit salvage. Try your best to **understand** things before you memorize them. Other things seem to make no rational sense, in which case just memorize. This way, when you get to the exam the thought process of “do i subtract salvage or not?” is in your head when you have to do anything with depr.

Hope this helps, best of luck. FAR is tough, but the biggest challenge is keeping everything fresh.

BEC 86 (08/30/11)
FAR 84 (10/13/11)
REG 88 (11/08/11)
AUD 86 (11/29/11)

Exam prep - Becker self-study

[Joe36y]

What I did that helped me so so much and I swear got me a good extra 10 points on that exam for FAR was print out all the HW question I got wrong.

I would do the lecture then read and take notes on every section. After I would do the multiple choice and mark everyone I got wrong.

After I would print them out and review them and save them for my final review. Honestly the explanations the MC give for Becker are amazing and help you learn to apply the concepts to actual questions more than the book.

Hope that helps

BEC: 82
FAR: 79
AUD: 85
REG: July 10th

[makinthemagic]

i went through the becker lectures once. i spent most of my time working the mcq's.

Bec 4/11/11 91
Aud 7/11/11 75
Reg 8/31/11 80
Far 5/24/11 86
Ethics - 98
California Licensed CPA
Illinois Registered CPA

[RedRage00]

I took a ton of notes while watching the Yaeger videos, but I never really looked at them again unless a certain topic was giving me difficulty. I learned a majority of the info just by doing the Wiley MCQs. The Wiley tests bank gives a really good explanation of the correct answer and why the others are wrong. I found that to be a lot more helpful than reading notes.

But I still take notes while watching the videos. Even though I didn't really use them after I still remembered them. I also took a lot of notes the first time I worked through Yaegers required MCQs in the Wiley book. Writing it down just helps me to remember it later even though I really don't look at it anymore lol

Texas CPA
Licensed, March 2012

[Author]

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