I'll start with the disclaimer. I'm a very strong test-taker, always did well in school without studying, took GMAT without any prep and scored pretty high, 4.0 gpa in grad school. So what works for me might not work for others.
I work full-time with a fiancee, no kids. Sometimes I can study at work, but it depends how busy I am. I haven't really been able to since the new year since I have so much year-end stuff going on. Because I'm trying to minimize stress during this whole process and because I'm 5 years out of school I'm doing one exam per test window. I average around 15 hours per week of studying, sometimes I'll go 7-10 days without any studying at all and other times I'll put 30 hours in one week. Final review weeks I generally study 30-40 hours. I study to get a 90 because I do not want to re-take any sections.
First thing I do is set up the study planner. I don't black out any days, I just put the approximate date I'm taking the exam (minus 7 days) and the study hours per week and I have it text me when I fall behind schedule. I subtract the 7 days from the exam date because the system only gives you 7 days for final review and I want 14. I try to stay a week ahead of schedule but I have fallen behind a few times and the text message instills enough urgency in me to get back on track.
I follow the study units sequentially. I skip the pre-quiz, as I've been out of school so long I know I'll do poorly on it, and it will give me no useful information since I have to review everything anyway. I very carefully read each section of the book (usually on the computer) making sure to internalize the concepts and understand the reason behind everything. I think memorizing is not helpful most of the time. I do the true/false at the end of each section. I don't watch any videos because they are time consuming and I often zone out during them. Then the system has me do quiz and sim testlets. Usually I get 70%+ on the first try so it doesn't make me do very many of them. For example in AUD it will have me do 1 quiz, then 2 sims, then 1 quiz and as long as I average >70% it will say I completed the section. If I do poorly on one of the quizzes it will make me do a third one. I make sure to review each quiz and sim (all questions, not missed/marked) to make sure I understand why the right answer is correct and why my answer was wrong.
Once I've finished all the sections I do a few 20 question study sessions (instant feedback). Using these and my own feelings on my weak areas I will go back to my weak areas. If I'm really shaky I will re-read the section. Then I will do MCQ's just from that section until I know it very well. Then I go back to doing MCQ's from all sections and identifying more weak areas to focus on. I will focus not just sections, but sub-sections as well. I really love the way Gleim breaks your performance down into 60+ different subcategories. I like to go into the exam feeling confident on all topics. During the final week I do the AICPA practice exam. The day before the exam I take it easy and just do some minor review of the material. I make sure to go to bed early the night before the exam and eat a healthy breakfast in the morning. I do the exam in the morning because I'm a morning person and my mind is crystal clear and focused in the morning.
I try not to do too many MCQs. Gleim has a very large test bank and I've never done all of the MCQs from any section. The more repeat questions I get the less helpful doing MCQs becomes since I know the answer from previous attempts. This is why I think thorough reading and internalizing of the material is crucial. Audit is my weakest subject so I may buy Ninja supplement to get some additional MCQs for this section, but for BEC and FAR I only used Gleim.
FAR - 97 (10/12/17)
BEC - 95 (01/15/18)
AUD - 88 (04/06/18)
REG - 89 (11/16/18)
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