[alinute]

Ok so I have been studying since September, 2013 with Becker and I have not passed any sections yet. I was extremely nervous about the CPA exam so I started out with BEC (since it’s a smaller section and I thought if I passed I would be pumped up for other parts). I sat for BEC in October and later found out that I got a 74, which was crushing! I have put so much time and effort into studying! I regrouped and started studying again for BEC, I bought Wiley Test Bank, NINJA audio and notes (which I thought were great), and redid all the questions and lectures in Becker. I had scheduled my retake to January 6th, 2014 and in the meantime I have scheduled FAR February 28th, 2014. BEC January 6th ended up getting canceled because of the Arctic Freeze in Chicago, so I rescheduled to January 13th. I sat for that exam, walked out feeling like I passed for sure this time.. Later found out that I got a 71! How is that even possible to get a lower score than the first time after I added in so much more material and redid Becker? I was so angry, I felt like I just got kicked in the face! So now since I had already scheduled FAR, I have been studying for it and I seriously feel like Becker is just not “sticking”. I can watch the lecture and after watching it I cannot remember anything that was covered in the lecture and the MCQ are a disaster to go through because most of the time I don’t learn anything from lecture. So needless to say I felt like I wasn’t ready for FAR and rescheduled to April 1st (NTS expires April 2nd), now I have another month to make sure I understand the material. I work full time, I come home exhausted, I study for 3 hours each night and 6 to 8 hours on each weekend day. I literally don’t do anything else other than work and study (I feel guilty even working out or going to dinner with a friend). I have all the motivation in the world to pass this exam, but i am starting to feel like Becker is just not doing it for me. I watched Roger CPA on youtube and it seems like those lectures are interesting and the couple videos I watched seemed to “stick”! Am I just panicking too much? I am so confused and not sure what to do. I am planning on taking FAR April 1st, BEC end of April and I think I might take AUD end of May. I feel like I have wasted so much time studying and I really cannot fail again, it’s so crushing! Please help and give me your thoughts, maybe some had a similar experience?

 

 

BEC:74,71,80
FAR:57
AUD:61
REG:

Switched from Becker to Roger in April.

[mla1169]

Obviously Becker is sticking because you're scoring in the 70's. Probably scored lower the 2nd time because there were less questions in your strong areas. Remember you did not take the same test again.

You've got the ninja notes, did you try rewriting them? My 3rd attempt at AUD I copied the ninja notes 3 times (10 pages per day) and did 50-100 MCQ per day. It really made a difference.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[mla1169]

Obviously Becker is sticking because you're scoring in the 70's. Probably scored lower the 2nd time because there were less questions in your strong areas. Remember you did not take the same test again.

You've got the ninja notes, did you try rewriting them? My 3rd attempt at AUD I copied the ninja notes 3 times (10 pages per day) and did 50-100 MCQ per day. It really made a difference.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[RachelP]

So sorry to hear about your fail!! It is really hard to pick yourself back up from it!! I am proud to hear you keep going after it & don't even hang out with friends! That is what I struggle with the most!

I use Becker & I treat the lectures as sort of “hold my nose & go through this.” I don't ever answer the MCQs for the section I watched the same day, but try to get them in in at least 2 days after watching my lecture. I do my best to at least get a 60-70% on the first time, and if I miss a question or even if I did a “good guess,” I always make sure to read why the wrong answers were wrong. I find that just taking the time to comprehend each answer and what they were trying to trick you on means next time I see a question similar in the section, I'll prob get it right. I then wait one more day & redo the questions I missed the first go-round. If I am just SUPER struggling with a concept even after working through the questions twice (missed almost all of them again) then I read through the section before I go to bed – I am not like a lot of people in here, I do not learn AT ALL by copying things. I have to just read them & read them. If you read something straight away before bed, your brain processes it differently & it goes to “long-term.”

You sound like you are like me, just NOT a listening learner. I do think that watching the lectures are helpful though because some of their “tips & tricks” have helped me invaluably!!

So basically, a work day looks like this: watch lecture during lunch, finish after work. Work MCQ's from lecture yesterday, work MCQs I missed yesterday, read if I must. Weekends I try to work the SIMS and catch up on anything/get a head start on those dang lectures.

I also recently picked up the Ninja flashcards & work them at work instead of checking fb for my “mental breaks” (:

"Don't worry, beeeeee happy!"

Unhappy with job, long distance boyfriend, not much studying:
FAR- 66 [08/28/12] AUD- 61 [10/04/12] REG- 59 [11/28/12] BEC- 63 [01/11/13]
Year off (from exams): Got new job, got married, moved, etc
✓ AUD- 79!!! 01/10/14 FIRST PASS!! WOOOO!!!
✓ REG- 73 02/27/14, 81 10/27/14
✓ FAR- 83 5/16/14
✓ BEC- 80 7/24/14
✓ Education ✓ Experience
Ethics Exam

[RachelP]

So sorry to hear about your fail!! It is really hard to pick yourself back up from it!! I am proud to hear you keep going after it & don't even hang out with friends! That is what I struggle with the most!

I use Becker & I treat the lectures as sort of “hold my nose & go through this.” I don't ever answer the MCQs for the section I watched the same day, but try to get them in in at least 2 days after watching my lecture. I do my best to at least get a 60-70% on the first time, and if I miss a question or even if I did a “good guess,” I always make sure to read why the wrong answers were wrong. I find that just taking the time to comprehend each answer and what they were trying to trick you on means next time I see a question similar in the section, I'll prob get it right. I then wait one more day & redo the questions I missed the first go-round. If I am just SUPER struggling with a concept even after working through the questions twice (missed almost all of them again) then I read through the section before I go to bed – I am not like a lot of people in here, I do not learn AT ALL by copying things. I have to just read them & read them. If you read something straight away before bed, your brain processes it differently & it goes to “long-term.”

You sound like you are like me, just NOT a listening learner. I do think that watching the lectures are helpful though because some of their “tips & tricks” have helped me invaluably!!

So basically, a work day looks like this: watch lecture during lunch, finish after work. Work MCQ's from lecture yesterday, work MCQs I missed yesterday, read if I must. Weekends I try to work the SIMS and catch up on anything/get a head start on those dang lectures.

I also recently picked up the Ninja flashcards & work them at work instead of checking fb for my “mental breaks” (:

"Don't worry, beeeeee happy!"

Unhappy with job, long distance boyfriend, not much studying:
FAR- 66 [08/28/12] AUD- 61 [10/04/12] REG- 59 [11/28/12] BEC- 63 [01/11/13]
Year off (from exams): Got new job, got married, moved, etc
✓ AUD- 79!!! 01/10/14 FIRST PASS!! WOOOO!!!
✓ REG- 73 02/27/14, 81 10/27/14
✓ FAR- 83 5/16/14
✓ BEC- 80 7/24/14
✓ Education ✓ Experience
Ethics Exam

[alinute]

I did, I rewrote the NINJA Notes (once), listened to audio pretty much all the time in my car and did 50-100 MCQs per day also. I feel like I know BEC Becker book front to back and did the MCQs numerous of times. I guess after spending so much time on Becker I actually did learn something. But now that it's my second month with FAR and still scoring pretty terrible in MCQ, I am feeling so discouraged.

BEC:74,71,80
FAR:57
AUD:61
REG:

Switched from Becker to Roger in April.

[alinute]

I did, I rewrote the NINJA Notes (once), listened to audio pretty much all the time in my car and did 50-100 MCQs per day also. I feel like I know BEC Becker book front to back and did the MCQs numerous of times. I guess after spending so much time on Becker I actually did learn something. But now that it's my second month with FAR and still scoring pretty terrible in MCQ, I am feeling so discouraged.

BEC:74,71,80
FAR:57
AUD:61
REG:

Switched from Becker to Roger in April.

[F15hy]

I posted something on this thread about what I did to finally pass BEC (on my fourth attempt), it's towards the bottom.

https://www.another71.com/cpa-exam-forum/topic/thank-you-from-f15hy

Also, make sure you're not JUST watching the lectures. I know if I set up my laptop to watch, I fall asleep or daze in and out. Try to take your own notes while watching, pause to write them down so you don't miss anything. It will help to keep you engaged and the info will stick better if you have to think about what to write and how to write it. I also added the NINJA notes and audio, that's how I finally passed.

PS

I also posted some stuff on FAR in there, more towards the beginning of the thread.

CA Candidate

B-79 (4th Attempt, finally killed you Nov 2013)
A-81 (3rd Attempt, Feb 2014) AND I AM DONE!!!!!
R-80 (1st Attempt, Feb 2013)
F-77 (2nd attempt, Jan 2014)

Becker, Becker Final Review, NINJA 10-Point Combo
($M.O.B$)

CA Ethics-92%

[F15hy]

I posted something on this thread about what I did to finally pass BEC (on my fourth attempt), it's towards the bottom.

https://www.another71.com/cpa-exam-forum/topic/thank-you-from-f15hy

Also, make sure you're not JUST watching the lectures. I know if I set up my laptop to watch, I fall asleep or daze in and out. Try to take your own notes while watching, pause to write them down so you don't miss anything. It will help to keep you engaged and the info will stick better if you have to think about what to write and how to write it. I also added the NINJA notes and audio, that's how I finally passed.

PS

I also posted some stuff on FAR in there, more towards the beginning of the thread.

CA Candidate

B-79 (4th Attempt, finally killed you Nov 2013)
A-81 (3rd Attempt, Feb 2014) AND I AM DONE!!!!!
R-80 (1st Attempt, Feb 2013)
F-77 (2nd attempt, Jan 2014)

Becker, Becker Final Review, NINJA 10-Point Combo
($M.O.B$)

CA Ethics-92%

[alinute]

RachelP- I pretty much do the same thing, I get through the lecture do MCQ for the chapter, then redo the ones that I got wrong, sometimes I don't really understand the explanations though and can't find anything in the book to help me understand. I don't know if it's just me, but I sometimes take 2 hours to do 20 MCQs! It is so time consuming! I am a pretty slow learning, sometimes it takes me a while to grasp a concept, I learn by seeing examples worked out and real world comparisons and I really feel like Becker is not good at that. (Although I do find Peter better than Tim, Peter seems to be better at explaining concepts).

Did you just take REG? are you waiting for your score? congrats on AUD, that must of felt so good to pass a section. I am still waiting for that fuzzy feeling lol.

BEC:74,71,80
FAR:57
AUD:61
REG:

Switched from Becker to Roger in April.

[alinute]

RachelP- I pretty much do the same thing, I get through the lecture do MCQ for the chapter, then redo the ones that I got wrong, sometimes I don't really understand the explanations though and can't find anything in the book to help me understand. I don't know if it's just me, but I sometimes take 2 hours to do 20 MCQs! It is so time consuming! I am a pretty slow learning, sometimes it takes me a while to grasp a concept, I learn by seeing examples worked out and real world comparisons and I really feel like Becker is not good at that. (Although I do find Peter better than Tim, Peter seems to be better at explaining concepts).

Did you just take REG? are you waiting for your score? congrats on AUD, that must of felt so good to pass a section. I am still waiting for that fuzzy feeling lol.

BEC:74,71,80
FAR:57
AUD:61
REG:

Switched from Becker to Roger in April.

[alinute]

F15hy- I do have to admit I am pretty terrible at taking my notes, I tend to rewrite everything word for word. I did think that NINJA notes were great though at seeing the whole picture. I will check out that link!

BEC:74,71,80
FAR:57
AUD:61
REG:

Switched from Becker to Roger in April.

[alinute]

F15hy- I do have to admit I am pretty terrible at taking my notes, I tend to rewrite everything word for word. I did think that NINJA notes were great though at seeing the whole picture. I will check out that link!

BEC:74,71,80
FAR:57
AUD:61
REG:

Switched from Becker to Roger in April.

[impska]

If you're a lecture-learner, then watching videos of people just reading the book to you isn't going to be helpful – and that's what Becker lectures are.

First, evaluate how you learn. Think about how you learn best, then look for a system that complements that. Also, study in a way that focuses in on your best study skills.

Study programs are one-size-fits-all – and yet people don't learn all the same way. So it's very much possible that Becker just isn't for you.

REG - 94
BEC - 92
FAR - 92
AUD - 99

[impska]

If you're a lecture-learner, then watching videos of people just reading the book to you isn't going to be helpful – and that's what Becker lectures are.

First, evaluate how you learn. Think about how you learn best, then look for a system that complements that. Also, study in a way that focuses in on your best study skills.

Study programs are one-size-fits-all – and yet people don't learn all the same way. So it's very much possible that Becker just isn't for you.

REG - 94
BEC - 92
FAR - 92
AUD - 99

[F15hy]

Ok, how about you set a timer? Everrrryyyy liiiiike 15 or 20 min, you pause your video and summarize what you just heard in no more than 5 sentences. If nothing else, at least you are writing something down. And what I did when I rewrote my NINJA notes was, I would read 1-2 sentences and try to re-write those couple sentences w/o looking back at the notes. That way I was required to use more brain power than if I were to be just mindlessly copying them.

CA Candidate

B-79 (4th Attempt, finally killed you Nov 2013)
A-81 (3rd Attempt, Feb 2014) AND I AM DONE!!!!!
R-80 (1st Attempt, Feb 2013)
F-77 (2nd attempt, Jan 2014)

Becker, Becker Final Review, NINJA 10-Point Combo
($M.O.B$)

CA Ethics-92%

[Author]

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