[StrongMind]

Hi everyone,

I am having a hard time putting in all the 5-8 hrs(Gleim suggestted) a day for each study unit.
What is/was your strategy to feel you were retaining the content, and maybe not spending so much time in one study unit.

In advance, thank you!!!

[StrongMind]

Anyone!!!

[mtaylo24]

What section you in? My current strategy for Gleim. I read the entire chapter first, sometimes i do the audiovisual slides, then i hit the big boy tb for that chapter and do all questions in order. Then i do random 20 mcq sessions for that chapter until i hit 80% then i move on.

AUD - 1st - 60 (12/12), 61 (2/13), 61 (8/13), 78! (11/15)
REG - 55 (2/16) 69 (5/16) Retake(8/16)
BEC - 71(5/16) Retake (9/16)
FAR - (8/16)

[mtaylo24]

Oh yeah this one dude who got 90s had an interesting strategy too, cant remember which thread it was on. I think it went like this:

Week 1: read the book twice, work the questions in the book during second reading.
Weeks 2 and 3: make it through entire tb, reading the books once in each week
Weeks 4 and 5: buy and complete ninja mcq and read the book each week, gleim sims?

AUD - 1st - 60 (12/12), 61 (2/13), 61 (8/13), 78! (11/15)
REG - 55 (2/16) 69 (5/16) Retake(8/16)
BEC - 71(5/16) Retake (9/16)
FAR - (8/16)

[StrongMind]

@mtaylo24 thank you for the input… I am studying BEC. My exam is on 02/04/17… I just feel its taking forever to go over a study unit, and I fell behind a couple units due to working late, so I am feeling overwhelmed….

I don't feel I am doing that many MCQs .. Because I am going over the S.Unit(trying to complete the video lectures; Mcq1 & 2, Focus Notes, and WC) I don't feel I have time to do extra MC on the test prep….

[mtaylo24]

Yikes, i never thought their suggested steps was enough. Not trying to ruin your current strategy, but i would recommend adding a few random 20 mcq sessions per chapter in the big boy tb just to take advantage of the adaptive learning, or at least add the questions from the book. Also read over the WC examples in the book, they are helpful.

AUD - 1st - 60 (12/12), 61 (2/13), 61 (8/13), 78! (11/15)
REG - 55 (2/16) 69 (5/16) Retake(8/16)
BEC - 71(5/16) Retake (9/16)
FAR - (8/16)

[Matt]

I use Gleim and passed FAR, waiting on Auditing, got a 74 the last time and but cleared up a good deal of confusion this second time.

This is just what seems to be working for me now along with a few people I've spoken with. studying for BEC- same as you- now waiting for February for audit scores.

I listened to gleim's shorter audio overview, bought ninja multiple choice supplements for $50 bucks, got a trending average of 85% after a few weeks, switched to gleim (more detailed) multiple choice used the test bank to select all the chapters and did it until I got 75% in most categories.

After that I would do one set of everything multiple choice, one set of all the stuff under 74 and then 1 or 2 sets of my weakest section. Honestly the videos were a waste of time, the true and false was a waste of time, the slideshows did nothing and once your familiar with its format, the practice simulations are never going to be close enough to be relevant to your actually exam.

And honestly by the time I got 75 in all the gleim categories, I understood what tripped me up the first time. Do what works for you and I hate having all these things in the program that I don't use, this is just what seems to be working for me.

And good luck.

FAR 74

[ImmoKnight]

Well, here is what I did.

I know myself enough to know that I have issues with spending long periods of time studying. I don't exactly like studying (Not many people do) and as a result, I sort of followed their methodology.

I would start by doing the practice questions for the SU (Study Unit), but if there is something that I would get if I knew a formula or something then I would look it up. I hated getting low grades on these things because they tended to make me feel bad about myself and the unit before I even studied it.

I then would just watch the powerpoint slides (They are usually 20 – 30 minutes long). If there was something I didn't understand then I would read up on those things in the book.

The next day I would do the True/False and the rest of the stuff to finish the study unit. Meaning the 2nd MCQ testlet and then the additional 2-20 multiple choice questions (I would do 1 on the unit itself and then a cumulative one of the chapters that I have finished thus far but that would only be if I did well on the prior MCQ, otherwise I would do 2 on the unit that I just did instead of just 1.) then Sims or WC as applicable.

The reason I did so little on the first day is because I didn't want to overwhelm myself with too much information and give myself a chance to absorb it. I might do the True/False as well on that day to see how well I understood the powerpoint slides.

Every person is different and I just attempted to create something that would fit with my needs (Not spending too much on reading).

I will mention that I felt at one point that I was getting lucky (This was after passing AUD and FAR). As a result, I studied so much harder for REG (I hated the feeling of wishing I had studied more every time that I was in that exam room). I added reading the majority of the book to my study schedule. I think I overloaded myself and spent too much time trying to finish (all the readings I had planned to finish) instead of trying to understand the concepts in the readings. That was my only fail… the one time I studied my hardest (Pretty ironic, huh?).

I spent 3 weeks with Ninja audio and Ninja MCQ (Along with Gleim MCQ) and boosted my grade. Then a month and a half afterwards, I took BEC.

I hope this helps and I hope this is understandable. It's a bit late and I am unsure how helpful I have been despite my intentions.

AUD: 85 (3/8/16)
FAR: 77 (6/7/16)
BEC: ??? (9/7/16)
REG: ???

[StrongMind]

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for your responses. Its good to see how other candidates approach their study habits.
I will need to add more sets of MCQ per day, since I don't feel I am retaining all the information. I guess thats the frustrating part for me. The exam date is approaching and I am starting to freak out…. 🙂

[LCMAU]

I use Gleim's suggested approach to studying and it has seemed to work well for me so far. However, I am currently studying REG and not scoring as high as I did on the other sections. Maybe I am not as strong in tax or maybe this Gleim study section is just harder? Time will only tell for my exam in February…

[StrongMind]

@LCMAU and everyone else…I am about to reschedule my exam. My exam is 02/04/17 and I am not able to finish one study unit a day, and still have the time to go back and review the past units, etc.. I had set up 30 days to study, but to follow Gleim approach, thats not doable for me. I do have about 4 hrs a day during the week and 5-6 on weekends if needed… But not feeling prepared at all right now…

How many days and hours did you guys set aside for BEC and your other parts with Gleim Material…
I was hoping to get BEC & REG done this quarter.. But 30 days for each session won't cut for me. Unfortunately rescheduling REG for next window…

Thank you again!!!

[LCMAU]

I used six weeks for BEC, and eight weeks for AUD and FAR. I just completed my MBA, so a lot of the BEC formulas were pretty fresh.

[StrongMind]

@LCMAU Thank you. yes, I would def. need a extra week for BEC right now!!!

[CPWAT]

for those of you feel like the exam came from a different planet. Did you focus more on the MCs/SIM or the actual text/concepts or the structure of how the questions were asked?

[Author]

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