[Anonymous]

NINJA Question –

Hi all. I am new to the forum and would love your input on my approach. I have taken and failed the FAR twice now (both score were in the 60s). The first time around I used Wiley and second time around I used Becker Online Self Study. Because of this, I just quit my job and I was wondering if there were any recommendations on a new approach to get the extra 10-15 points to pass. I need something to get the ball rolling because it is discouraging to know you spent all those hours after work and on weekends but still can’t make the cut. I browsed around the forum and saw a bunch of people mentioning Ninja? Can someone shed some light on this. I’d really appreciate it

[Anonymous]

Jeff, the owner/coordinator of this site, created Ninja products for situations like these. He has his own test bank, audio, notes, reviews, etc.

Home

Check out some of the products there. I'm sure Jeff will swoop in soon enough to pick up where I left off 🙂

[Kimboroni]

I really like the Ninja products, especially the Audio, which I listen to pretty much whenever I'm in the car, so I picked up so much information just by listening to the FAR audio over and over. They are also quite affordable, not requiring you to fork over an arm and a leg and your first-born like some review courses do.

There are free samples to download if you click around on the site. Then you can test them out and see what you think.

How long are you studying for? You mentioned hours after work and on the weekends, but I think still it's possible to underestimate these exams and underprepare because of it. One poster recently said how they had tracked their FAR studying and couldn't believe how they had studied a total of 60 hours and still couldn't pass. 60 hours is way too low for FAR. Some people (fresh out of school and/or do lots of journal entries at work) might be able to pass FAR with that little studying, but most people would need at least 2-3 times that.

Then another issue is stretching out studying for too long (over 8 weeks or so), which can make retention low.

So I was just curious about the big picture on your study habits.

AUD 84 (1/9/14-Wiley books/TB + free materials)
FAR 83 (5/21/14-the above + NINJA 10 Pt Combo Lite)
REG 84 (7/9/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC/Notes)
BEC 76 (10/5/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC)

Disclaimer: My ninja avatar is not meant to imply that I have any affiliation with this site other than being a forum member. That's a pic of a T-shirt that my daughter gave me for my birthday. 🙂

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies so far. The studying for the 2 exams lasted about 10 weeks- it was 3 hours after work on weekdays and about 8-10 hours on Saturday and Sundays, so roughly 30 hours a week. The only problem I've had while using Wiley was how the text before doing practice problems or practice exams seemed so a bit excessive which took up a lot of my time and could not focus on working on practice problem. Then for Becker, it took me an average of a week per section which included lecture videos, mcqs, and simulations- the downside for Becker is that I fall into the trap of memorizing instead of looking at the big picture and understanding the concept. I am leaning towards Ninja mcq/notes as more of a supplement to becker bc it is cost effective and I don't think I can financially invest in a completely different study program. The demo seems like it is straightforward, simple and easy to spot key words. Anyone else have any suggestions?

[Anonymous]

I would recommend the Ninja notes. I had a really hard time retaining all of the info from FAR and I feel that the notes put me over the edge. If I didn't use the notes during review I am convinced I would have failed

[Tarheelgirl]

@boxermama – did you rewrite the ninja notes?

FAR - 46, 79 (7/8/14)
AUD - 56, 59, 2/23/15 3rd times a charm!
BEC - 69, 74 Really??
REG - April, I hope. Fingers crossed!

[Anonymous]

Tarheelgirl – I rewrote all of the notes during my review and then a few days before my review I only rewrote the notes in the areas that I was having problems with along with some of my own notes. The final product was about 10 pages of notes that I reviewed right before I took the exam

[Kimboroni]

It sounds like you're studying enough (although that will vary from person to person) and probably just need to find a more effective way of studying for you. We gave a few suggestions to someone else on this thread that may help:

https://www.another71.com/cpa-exam-forum/topic/why-do-i-struggle-so-much-with-the-cpa-exam

But I do really like the Ninja products and find them very helpful.

AUD 84 (1/9/14-Wiley books/TB + free materials)
FAR 83 (5/21/14-the above + NINJA 10 Pt Combo Lite)
REG 84 (7/9/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC/Notes)
BEC 76 (10/5/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC)

Disclaimer: My ninja avatar is not meant to imply that I have any affiliation with this site other than being a forum member. That's a pic of a T-shirt that my daughter gave me for my birthday. 🙂

[Author]

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