[Anonymous]

1st full week of studying for my retake. I jumped right into Ninja MCQ, and about half way done. My average score is 78-the topics I am weak on are no surpise. I started to re-write my own notes today, but that was so de-motivating, I didn’t get very far. Tomorrow I need to re-write my notes (they are disjointed from my first test, I want to re-write them by topic in a new notebook). I really need to re-read my Becker book on acquisitions, equity method, and non-monetary exchanges so far. My plan is to get through the rest of the Ninja MCQ by end of next week, and re-write the rest of my notes. I then plan on printing out Ninja notes (didn’t utilize last time) and then jump into SIMS, while re-doing the missed MCQ in Ninja and continue re-reading the book. How are others approaching their re-take?

[Anonymous]

Anyone else is starting to go down the rabbit hole of self-doubt? Was doing the “missed since last time seen” questions, and they kicked my butt. I know that I'd rather get demolished in practice, but it's demoralizing….Put me in a total funk. If I don't pass in February, I will have to wait until April to re-take, wait until end of June for the score and my BEC expires end of July….I know I have to get that out of my head, but this whole process is getting to me…Sorry to vent, but no one else gets it, unless they are going through the same hell!!!!!

[Right Brained Accountant]

Don't go there @anyatver! Remember that highly successful people don't even consider failure as an option. Planning out your next 6 months based on fear doesn't help you retain any more material 😉 If you weren't completely capable you wouldn't be sitting with three passes and a near fourth! Keep your chin up. The last few weeks before my exam I went through the same thing but had to fake it (let's hope I made it, ha). I did notice improvement once I started purposefully believing in myself. You can and will totally take this last exam down!

[Anonymous]

@Right Brained Accountant-thank you I had to hear it:) Just have to keep sticking with my plan, studying my hardest, and hope for the best..It is hard to keep motivated, but if finishing this up is not motivation enough, I really don't know what is…. 🙂

[msquared17]

@anyatver – stick with it you are doing great! Besides, you are my inspiration. I was feeling pretty stressed trying to keep up with the Becker live online class. They cover 2 chapters per week. I thought I could handle it because technically this should be review for me. Well I decided scrap what little notes I had from last time (f1-f4) and start from scratch. That was a really stupid idea. LOL I'm plugging away. One module at a time.

[Anonymous]

@msquared17-aww, thanks! Keep at it! We are all going to pass, one way or the other, we must! and we will:)

[Tncincy]

You guys are really on a role. I am so jealous. I have spent most of the day getting my office ready for tax season. The bad part is I had so much energy to do homework when I got home, but when I got home there were different fires to put out. Momentum gone again. I need help, I cannot miss another day 🙁 …Oh my word. I'll keep trying though. It's too late to give up now.

It begins with a 75
Been here too long as a cheerleader....ready to pass

[Lentilcounter]

@anyatver

It's better to be beaten up in practice than on the actual test. Make sure you take notes on the “missed last time” and really understand it because that is what is dragging your scores down. If you see a topic in the “missed last time” that is an “analysis” topic per the AICPA blueprints, hit it hard!

BEC = 72 (6/08/16)
FAR = ?
REG = ?
AUD = ?

[Anonymous]

@Lentilcounter-that is so true. I actually had a good study session yesterday-only got 64 questions done, all “missed since last time seen” but took some notes, re-read the book, and feel like I buttoned up some areas up.

[satyakatiwal]

@Lentilcounter , when you have done Becker’s , Gleim , Wiley , Ninja etc then how you decide which one lead to pass ? Just curious, somewhere you mentioned you did Gleim and Beckers but most of the time u mention only Wiley n Ninja which is half truth.
I understand you are trying to help people which is evident from your SIMs thread .

[Lentilcounter]

I used Becker to learn the material. I then used Wiley and Ninja for additional practice on MCQ OR sims. For Reg only, I also added in Gleim because of the awesome Sims.

You obviously don't need all these systems. Most people only need one study system or two at most. I used everything I had. The main take away from what I've said is not what study systems I am using but that I'm using the blueprints to guide my studying.

BEC = 72 (6/08/16)
FAR = ?
REG = ?
AUD = ?

[Tncincy]

@anyatver
Are you setting aside a specific time per day to study? How are you staying so consistent with study? Open for other suggestions to beat this rut….

It begins with a 75
Been here too long as a cheerleader....ready to pass

[msquared17]

@tnciny – I understand what you're going through. It's a struggle for me to stay focused at home. Most days my study plan is trumped by family time. I know it's my fault but it's hard when you have teens that unknowingly demand your attention. Lol! I tried staying up late at night but that doesn't work. I feel like I'm moving really slowly. It took me 2.5 hours last night to read, take notes and do 20 mcq for F3M3. Maybe I'm a slow reader. Lol

[msquared17]

Quick question…… for those who take notes, do you attempt mcq right away or do you study your notes and then do mcq?

[Anonymous]

to the above, ideally you want to wait a few weeks before trying mcq. You want the info to seep into your brain.

but on a serious note, I read the cpa material and while I read, I took notes, and then I did the mcq. anything i got wrong, I would screenshot the question and track it all on a word doc and then revisit them a few times.. It worked for me.. Passed it in my first attempt.

[Anonymous]

@Tncincy-I don't know how I stay so consistent-i have been doing this for so long, that around 8pm or so, (when everyone ends up winding down for bed) I end up studying. I probably put 3 hours a night, until about 11pm, and 4-5 hours on the weekends each day. 8-11pm is not ideal time to study-everything take longer and I am easily distracted by FB and other stupid things:) Right now is a good time to study because my 13 year-old doesn't have soccer on the weekends until April. Granted this is a re-take so I feel like I don't spend as much time studying. What I also did before consistently is listen to Becker lectures in the car on the way to work. I am in the car for about an hour before I get to the subway every day, so it was a good amount of time to listen to it. I might actually start listening to certain parts of it again before my test. My son learned BAE BAE and thought it was annoying:) (I don't blame him:)) LOL!
As far as notes, I have been trying to re-read my notes every day. Last week I took almost all week exclusively for writing notes and going through the book, so when I got to MCQ I found myself going back through my notes as I did the MCQ and jotting things down. I know it's kind of cheating, but it's not productive otherwise. For most of the questions, I am able to just do them, but I have been working on “missed since last time seen” in Ninja and found myself referring to the notes a lot and taking notes as well.

[Author]

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