[krstnam]

Do you change up your study strategy during the last two weeks before the exam?

This is the first time actually finished all of the chapters and have time to do a full final review. I’ve been splitting my time. About 75% MCQs and 25% flash cards for the last two days. I was hoping the practice tests would help steer me in the area where I need the most help with but it looks like I’m bad at everything LOL.

[Abe]

Hey so I actually just go multiple choice heavy especially during the last couple of weeks.

If you are using Becker … you can utilize their outlines for each chapter. It is tremendously helpful because it only take maybe 20-30 minutes to go through each one and will touch atleast a little on each significant topic so if you see a topic you completely forgot, it would be your cue to go back to the materials for that topic.

Besides that, do the mock exams and just pound out the multiple choice.

You can also focus on your weak spots, meaning are you usually having trouble with the sims during the exams or the research questions or the mcqs? You can practice those. Maybe you are struggling with timing yourself… focus on being able to perform calculations quicker and focus on identifying the objective of each question and how to solve for it quickly (if computational).

It really comes down to which exam you are taking. If it is FAR then I would focus on being quick, if it is REG maybe focus on the small details because we know tax law has a lot of details. If it is BEC I would just ensure you have a decent understanding of everything incase you have a writing component on it and remember the significant formulas and AUD is quite simple, just understand how to select the absolute BEST answer because that exam can be quite subjective lol.

[SuperAccountingGod]

What I've been doing the last 2 weeks is basically just MCQ from Ninja. I don't use the Wiley ones since I've seen some of those show up on Ninja and frankly just don't have all the time in the day to do both of them. I've also been listening to the Ninja audio in the car from the beginning to refresh all the stuff I studied over 2 months ago. And when I go through the problems, I work at my own pace. I review the questions I get wrong and take notes on why it is the right answer. I don't worry about why the others are wrong, as if I know why one is right then I already know why the others are wrong. And afterwards if I have time, I go back and review the sections I was doing poorly in (bonds, leases, government/NFP, etc). I haven't practiced sims yet since I feel those are something you can't really “study” for, you just have to know the concepts and the MCQ do a good job helping you relearn/reinforce said concepts. I take FAR next week (8/30) and plan to take the AICPA sample test sometime this week and knock out another practice exam or 2 during the weekend.

And just remember this: EVERYBODY is different. What works for one person may not work for you. I've seen posts on here say they study like 10 hours every day and do like ~1000 MCQ leading up to the exam. Personally I think that's a bit overkill but if I didn't have a full time job I'd prob do the same, but my brain can't handle studying more than 6 hours a day. So you kind of have to experiment a little in the beginning to figure out your niche.

[Recked]

I always tried to do at least 100 MCQs a day. Your review course should have breakdowns by chapter or topic to show you where you are lacking, or scoring poorly.
Do cumulative MCQs to review/refresh on the earlier material, but also focus on those weak areas.
Be sure to hit the AICPA practice exams at least 2x.
No MCQs the day before the exam. Just review notes, charts, and mnemonics, or rewatch videos on trouble areas.

[krstnam]

Thanks for the tips. In the 10 exams I've taken, I've never even looked at the AICPA practice exams! That'll be a good resource.
I'll keep on doing the MCQs. I'm reducing my stack of flash cards to the ones I keep getting wrong.

I don't want to burn out on studying right before the exam, but I also want to put in enough effort to feel like I really tried. This is my 5th attempt at this exam and I'm really hoping I can get enough work in to come up with a pass.

[SuperAccountingGod]

@Recked How long does it take you to get through 100 MCQ? I usually get through like 30-40 a day since I work full time but also spend ample amount of time reviewing and taking notes on the problems I miss, so that takes up part of my time. It's slow but it is helping me learn alot.

[Recked]

I was usually getting in about 25 hours a week and tried to get in at least 2 hours a day. I'd say about 2.5 hours for 100 MCQs with thorough review. I did them in 10 MCQ blocks.
It also depends on the exam section and how computational in nature the questions were. I remember some blocks of 10 in FAR were taking me 20-30 minutes with review. It was agonizing.

[Author]

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