[Jimbo Slice]

Just wondering if you understand what types of questions you need to improve on? For example, is it the simulations, calculation-type problems, conceptual type problems?

I agree with the above post that recommended writing down journal entries. To practice for simulations, I would recommend going through the Becker book and flagging all pages that have journal entries / complex calculations on them and make sure you know those backward / forward. Draw yourself t-accounts, write down journal entries repeatedly until you feel that you’re solid on the topic.

If you’re considering the Wiley book to re-study, I found that a lot of the MC questions are repeats from Becker. Also, they are way more difficult / wordy than anything that you’ll see on the test, but if you can do them, it’s probably a good indication that you understand the stuff conceptually. If you want to get the Wiley book for simulations, focus on the ones that ask for calculations / JEs. I didn’t think that the bubble-filling ones were very useful / similar to the actual test.

FAR - 8/30/11 [60] | 11/23/11 [88]
REG - 10/28/11 [84]
BEC - 1/2/12
AUD - 1/21/12

[Jimbo Slice]

@pshustler. Just wondering, what makes you say no to re-viewing the lectures?

FAR - 8/30/11 [60] | 11/23/11 [88]
REG - 10/28/11 [84]
BEC - 1/2/12
AUD - 1/21/12

[Anonymous]

Jimbo, Thanks for posting, you and I are in the same exact boat. FAR was my first, and I got a 64. Keep your head up man! What I liked about your post is not once did you make an excuse for not passing. In my final weeks of studying for FAR is had to stop looking at some web sights because it was detrimental to me to read posts from people complaining about how they werent prepared and yada yada yada. I have as many excuses as anyone else, but it comes down to how I studied, and the fact that I didnt even look at a SIM until two nights before taking the test and decided to semi-blow off Governmental and NFP is MY FAULT.

So yes, now I am looking at how I schedule everything out. I too am studing for BEC now, and do I blow that off and dive back into FAR and then I start AUD and REG review at the end of October and then I go into tax season starting in Febraury, hell I dont know. Just got to keep your head down, and keep moving forward. And hey Jimbo, be glad you are taking this test before you have a wife, 2 kids (I am assuming) and a full time job.

Right now I am thinking about getting Becker FInal Review because I just feel like I need somethign to get me over the hump on the FAR material. I feel pretty comfortable with everything, I think I just need to see it presented to me in another way. There is no way I could back and watch the Becker videos again and with the Becker questions I have worked on I almost get to where I memorize the answers to them so it does me little good.

I'll keep checking back with you and your post to see how you are approaching things and I will let you know what I do too.

[Anonymous]

Hey Hustler, how did you apply Jeff's notes or study using them? DId you just simply memorize them? I had them, but chose more to focus on multiple choice questions and then write down why I got the answer right or wrong.

[Anonymous]

@phustler What did you like about the Wiley Test bank?

[pshustler]

I liked Wiley because I thought the questions were more focused on stuff you might see on the exam instead of hammering home basic stuff. The basic stuff is good 1 or 2 times, but Wiley covered a lot more stuff than Becker. Its a great supplement

With Jeff's notes, towards the last couple weeks, I stopped reading Becker Text and just reviewed those every day on top of doing questions. The most important part was doing tons of MCQ

BEC - 86
AUD - 94
REG - 88
FAR - 89

[Jimbo Slice]

Thanks for the input pshustler. How many weeks did you leave for final cumulative review for FAR?

FAR - 8/30/11 [60] | 11/23/11 [88]
REG - 10/28/11 [84]
BEC - 1/2/12
AUD - 1/21/12

[jamesjohnson11]

I left 12 days for final review and what I found personally was the last two days I ended up remembering the most. I broke up FAR into day one and day two and I ended up retaining a lot of it. When I did audit I only left myself three days for final review and it ended up working out.

The thing I say is why leave a week/ two weeks for final review when you can be done watching the lectures and doing the material closer to your test date. Currently I feel like the longer the final review period I have the worse it is for me. That's just my personal take on it.

R PASS
A PASS
B PASS
F AUGUST

[jamesjohnson11]

I also think all the people that say not to rewatch the lectures are people that haven't failed a section and had to restudy it. Anyone who has failed knows that the best way to restudy is to watch all the lectures again.

R PASS
A PASS
B PASS
F AUGUST

[Anonymous]

A good lesson I've learned about studying for the CPA exam is that you need to find your OWN way of studying because each person has they own unique way of absorbing this material. One person may need to rewatch lectures over an over in order to pass. But that may not work for another person because maybe he/she was better off focusing on doing more MCQs. Each person learns in a different way.

I've failed FAR way too many times and I kept asking advice from people on how to do well. None worked, hence my 4 previous failed attempts. The same thing happened with AUD which is why I failed that originally. So, I decided to develop my own study method and guess what? I passed FAR and AUD with flying colors.

Then when it came time to study for REG, it was a totally different ballgame for me since it was my first time tackling that beast. I decided to seek some advice and also took the advice from my review course instructor. It was all great advice and I decided to follow them rather than continuing with my own special study methods that I did with FAR and AUD. I got my results and failed with a 64 despite all that hard work I did. Now, all that advice was given to me in good faith so I don't blame anyone for my failure. I'm sure it worked like a charm for those people, but it just wasn't the right study technique for me.

I now know that your OWN study methods is the best way to go. Now finding what study method works for you is the hard part. You need to ask yourself…. am I grasping the concept this way? Do I know enough that I'll be able to answer any question they throw at me on this topic? If someone asked me to explain this to him/her, can I explain it in my own simple terms?

Find out which study method will help you answer “yes” to all those questions, whether it be doing tons of MCQs, taking a lot of notes and then rewriting them, watching the lectures again and again, reading your review book, using flash cards, etc… Only you can figure that out…

[Anonymous]

CPA Man…you are the MAN!!!! i love the advice!

[gottagetmycpa]

thanks CPAman for the advise because I too followed what others said and came out of FAR through the skins of my teeth. I think I understand how I learn now and am praying that it works for my upcoming REG exam. I think I will still seek advice but I will take it with a grain of salt and hope I make the right decision.

FAR 76
REG 76(2x)
BEC FAILED (2x)
AUD FAILED (2x)

"When you don't give up, YOU CANNOT FAIL"

[Jimbo Slice]

@ddiver, didn't see your initial post. Sounds like we're almost in the exact same boat minus the kids haha. Keep your head up. I was sulking in embarrassment earlier this morning when I found out that all of my buddies passed FAR (all on their first try) and I was the only one that didn't pass. But then I thought to myself, I have no time to waste and that a 75 wouldn't magically appear if I kept pitying myself. I'm still trudging along with REG which I find to be a lot easier to grasp than the million concepts that FAR shoves down your throat. I'll definitely keep tabs with you mate. Best of luck!

@CPAMan. You are an inspiration to us all. With your tenacity and persistence, you've proved to us that with the correct learning method, we can all pass FAR! I know you'll have CPA after your name soon. Keep going at it! But you got me curious now, what's your method of studying (I promise I'll take it with a grain of salt 🙂 )

FAR - 8/30/11 [60] | 11/23/11 [88]
REG - 10/28/11 [84]
BEC - 1/2/12
AUD - 1/21/12

[Peanut]

CPAMan is 100% right, we all have out own methods of madness that will prepare us for these exams, the hard part is mastering how to find that!

AUD 81 (X4) Previous scores 59, 72, 72
REG 80 (X3) Previous scores 59, 60
FAR 75 (X2) Previous score 67
BEC 79 (X2) Previous score 58

[hilaryh_88]

Jimbo Slice

I am a firm proponent of Yaeger CRAM. That is what I got that finally got me through it!

AUD - 82 Becker
BEC - 75 Becker
REG - 71, 82 Becker
FAR - 66,61,71,74,70 and #6 80!!!! FINALLY DONE!!! 9/20/12
Yaeger and Yaeger CRAM for the final battle!

[Jimbo Slice]

@hilaryh. Can you elaborate a bit more? How is Yaegar CRAM different from what you were originally using/used?

FAR - 8/30/11 [60] | 11/23/11 [88]
REG - 10/28/11 [84]
BEC - 1/2/12
AUD - 1/21/12

[Author]

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