[Subpart_F]

In a cost saving effort (working through the exam while in school, no firm to sponsor me) I’m working through the Wiley review books alone. My study tactic to date (two days, 8 hours, taking REG first) has been to slowly outline the book while reading through it. The problem is, there is SO much information that I doubt I could get through this whole thing once, thoroughly, by Mid-november when I take it. I’ve heard that Wiley is a great supplementary resource, but overly thorough; is there some way that I can figure out what the more important topics are, so I can focus less on the sludge?

I know it sounds lame, but right now I’m too poor for even a moderately priced review series like Yaeger, so I’m trying to figure out the best way to utilize these Wiley books.

[Anonymous]

Your best approach without buying any additional materials would be to focus on the MCQ's and SIMS in each of the chapters. They tend to cover the most important topics. I would read the solution to the problems as they are pretty comprehensive, and then if you don't understand something go back and read the corresponding text.

Another suggestion would be to buy the NINJA notes which are a great outline of the material. The only downside is they don't go in order of the Wiley book so you'd be spending some extra time figuring out where the topic is covered in the book. Jeff is good about running specials on these.

No matter what you do, I'd highly recommend buying the Wiley test bank to supplement your studying.

I debated about spending extra money for the FAR and REG Cram courses since I already had the regular Home Study course, but in the end that was only slightly more than the cost of retaking a section if I didn't pass. I'd rather spend the money upfront than have to spend more money on exam fees plus deal with the extra studying if I had to retake a section. But if you are still in college and have a pretty good grasp on the material, then go for it. Good luck!!

[TheHonestMan]

I agree that the MCQs will tell which topics are most important. Keep outlining all the chapters though. The great thing about the Wiley books is that there will be almost no surprises on the exam if you study in depth. Here was my study routine:

Read chapter and take notes

Do MCQ at each break in chapter

Do sims at the end of each chapter

Re-read the book without taking notes

Re-do MCQ, but wait until the end of each chapter now

Read notes the last few days before exam

That method worked really well each time. My REG score was lower than the others, but I blame the Olympics being on the 2 weeks leading up to that exam.

AUD - 95
FAR - 92
REG - 79
BEC - 93 DONE!

[Anonymous]

Do per above:

1) Take notes on each chapter as you read it.

2) Do the mcq's and SIMS for each chapter (Wiley prompts you where to stop and do mcq's).

I made a 8 1/2 x 14″ template in excel so that I could keep track of each of my runs through Wiley. After each section, I would pull both a section average and an overall average so I could see where I stood. I felt this pointed out which sections I was strong on and which sections I was weak on.

I'll tell you that Wiley wasn't organized very well, IMHO, for REG. AUD and BEC, most certainly but REG was just a brain dump. I would highly suggest that you buy the Ninja notes because they are a great organizational tool. The Ninjas also help with some nice visual learning tools—three simple boxes on securities regulation replaced several pages of notes from Wiley.

Rewrite your notes and do the MCQ's and SIMS multiple times. Wiley is great for all but REG just because I think it could be organized better.

CPAPending

[Author]

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