[Anonymous]

Hi everyone! For those who only used NINJA MCQ and NINJA notes for FAR and passed the first try, how did you use the material for the first time?

My company covers Becker so I started with Becker but noticed the amount of time I spent for watching the video and doing Becker MCQ after each module for each chapter was just soooooooo long. I began forgetting everything that I studied from three days before. The only thing that helped from reading Becker book and listening to the lecture was doing the questions correct right after I read and listened. However, since I forget everything after several days, those corrections did not mean anything anymore. It was almost a new start…In that case, I was thinking how does it make a difference if I jump right into the mcq if I just forget everything from the reading and the lecture videos. I read great reviews from you all regarding NINJA mcq and wanted to give NINJA mcq a try. However, since I dive straight into the questions without grasping the materials beforehand, I get really bad correction scores for each of the first try on the new mcq set. The worst could be as low as 30% for the first try of 25 question set yet I could get almost 75%-90% right on Becker mcq if I do them right after I listened the lectures and read the chapters. I feel quite concerned. Should I be worried about this, or is it normal for the first time trying out all the questions? Should I go back to Becker?
I have 5 weeks of FULL TIME to study for FAR and my plan is to do hardcore MCQ. Do you guys recommend that I keep reading or watching Becker stuff while doing the MCQ since I have time? How long did you guys take to get to the review stage and how long did you guys take to finish the whole mcq sets in the system if you did?

What would you recommend to approach this within 5 weeks of studying if you have Becker NINJA MCQ and NINJA NOTES?
Thank you all for sharing!

[Anonymous]

So, not sure how helpful this will be, but this is how I studied over 8 weeks using only Becker:
Week 1: F1
Week 2: F2-F3
Week 3: F4-F7 (First week after tax season, so I had a lot more time)
Week 4: F8-F9
Week 5: F10
Week 6: Progress Tests/review
Week 7: Progress Tests/review

For weeks 1-5, I would read (not watch) the book, because I could do this much quicker than watching. Afterwards, I would take MC questions, marking ones I missed or guessed on. Soon, you note patterns you need to read up more on. During weeks 6 and 7, I would take 50-100 question progress tests over F1-F10. If I noted for than 1 or 2 questions in a section that I missed I would go back and look at those closer. Again, I can't speak for NINJA products, I'm sure they work just fine if you will actually use them. I can't say I think you need them though if you have Becker.

I would estimate that I was averaging 10-12 hours of studying a week, so full time in 5 weeks is enough time for sure. In my opinion going into MC with no reading or watching of material is a bad idea unless you have a very strong background in it already.

Disclaimer: I took the exam in early June, so I don't know my score. Also, I didn't do any mock exams or sims for FAR. Don't know that I would recommend that either, but it was my last exam and I definitely had lost a little motivation.

Maybe this helps some.

Chandler

[Anonymous]

@Chandler When you did the progress tests, did you recall what you studied during week 1 and 2?
Thanks for sharing btw.

[Anonymous]

No problem!

For the most part I remember what I had learned- I reviewed more topics from the beginning probably. However, if you are having problems recalling topics from three days earlier as you stated, I am wondering if you are sufficiently learning the the materials the first time around. Ie. do you understand WHY an answer is what it is, not just what the answer is.

I found on the other sections when I didn't read the lectures, I would often start poorly, but would get better as I re-did questions. I could easily get to 90% or higher, but even days later I wouldn't retain the knowledge, perhaps scoring around 50-60%. When I read the lectures though, the drop after a few days was only to around 80% maybe less. So for me, I believe reading the lectures definitely helped me learn and retain the knowledge. That being said, I am not under-emphasizing the importance of MCQ or saying that there are not people who can succeed without any lectures. I am merely saying that these strategies did not work well for me.

[Mike J]

I would focus on setting and achieving small goals.

For each section of MCQ (the 5 or 6 topic groups for each exam), endeavor to get 80% correct of a block of 20 MCQ questions twice before moving on to the next topic. Do this for all 6 topic groups. This should take between 1 to 2 weeks.

Then, study the SIMs Jeff identified as corresponding to an exam's main topic group. If you subscribe to NINJA MCQ, you will see how Jeff groups the SIMs. Likewise, I estimate about a week.

Then, do random blocks of new 25 MCQ, that pick from all 5 or 6 topic groups. Try to get 80% 5 times.

At this point, you should be about 3 weeks in. I assume that you will study, 5 days a week for max of 4 hours.

Then, go through the recently released MCQ. Jeff usually has 4 sets, medium and hard from the last 2 years. Do that for one day.

Then pick 2 or 3 main topics that you believe gave you the most trouble. DO NOT go by score, but how comfortable you feel about the material (eg you could be guessing right). Choose a block of 20 or 25 MCQ for each topic. Do that for a few days.

Most important, make sure you're reviewing the questions and answers at each stage.

That should be enough for you. Plan your 5 weeks accordingly.

The idea is to not just work hard but work smart; quality over quantity.

Good Luck.

[Anonymous]

@Mike030882

After you do the sets of 20MCQ for the first time, do you do adaptive for that whole same 20 questions set or just redo the “last missed questions” till you get at least 80% right? Or did you mean keep on doing the same topic over and over again until I can hit at least 2 blocks of 20mcq right for over 80% correction, then move onto the next topic? If it is the third one, do you select new questions each time or do you do the missed questions?
Also, do you think taking notes besides reading the explanation of the answers is necessary or should I keep working on going through the questions more often as the more I do, the understanding will flow smoothly without keeping notes?

How did you guys study for the questions?

[Author]

Replies