[msgaillard03]

Anyone reading this forum, please post what you believe is the real secrets or the main ingredients to sucessfully passing the CPA exam. Name them all…..

FAR-8/28/11

[T-rex]

The Secret: Study your @ss off like never before. Seriously.

AUD - 95, BEC - 85
REG - 85, Rawrrrrrr FAR - 88
Used Becker for all sections.
CA candidate not residing in CA

[Anonymous]

Give up your life temporarily!!! I'm serious!

[rknight21]

ditto make any and all sacrify to study, learn and practice the material

[Anonymous]

Get out of your comfort zone. When you are really miserable, you are working hard enough.

[Anonymous]

Besides giving up your life (which is no joke)…so far for me, taking my own notes from the book, and then rewriting them just before I do my final review has helped me a lot.

[jomarie]

All of the above!! Happy Studying!!

Started sitting in May 2002, on and off. But since 2008 I've been nonstop and my scores are....
AUD - 39, 48, 56, 65, 68, 73, 76!!! (Finally passed in Oct 2011!!!) Becker, NINJA, & Wiley
REG - 75 (Lost Credit) 72, 68, 73, 75 (Passed again in Aug 2011) Becker, NINJA, & Wiley
FAR - 65, 68, 75 (Lost Credit) 68, 73, 73, 80 (Passed again in May 2012) Roger, NINJA, & Wiley
BEC - 65, 68, 71, 72, 72, 71, 76 (Lost Credit)- 70, 76!!!! I AM DONE!!! - Roger, NINJA, & Wiley
After 10 long years of studying, I AM DONE!!!! Finally a Licensed CPA in the State of New York!!

[nolifecpa]

knowing how you learn best

the sooner you know this, the sooner you will pass

REG-65,71,74,73,70,74,79
BEC-60's,60's,69,71,76*,78
FAR-67,66,65,79
AUD-54,60's,65,83*,69,80
*expired

DONE

[kb24]

All of the above plus

–do lots and lots and lots of MCQ

–make your study time count – figure out what works for you and use those methods that are most effective

–be consistent with your studying – make a realistic schedule and stick to it – don't think you can cram all of this material into a few days

–lots of MCQ

–take responsibility for your preparation – don't whine about your review course if you don't understand something – ask questions, check other sources, etc.

–supplement your review course with other materials e.g. a test bank, Ninja notes, cpareviewforfree, etc. – sometimes the different viewpoint and/or questions can help you better understand the material

–MCQ

–do a thorough review of all the material

–good time management on the exam – it doesn't matter how well you know the material if you rush thru the SIMS or don't finish them

–did I mention MCQ?????

Good luck.

FAR 4/1/11 - 89
AUD 4/15/11 - 85
REG 4/29/11 - 80
BEC 5/13/11 - 85

[mla1169]

No excuses ever. People from all walks of life and all stages of life do this AND pass. Maybe not the first, second or fourteenth time…..but dont allow yourself an “out” because of your circumstances 🙂

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[anonymous]

Read fiction for 15 minutes before going to bed. It keeps you sane. 🙂

REG -- October 3!!
FAR -- Pass
BEC -- Pass
AUD -- Pass

[IwannaBaCPA]

LUCK!

BEC: 79 - April 2011
FAR: 78 - May 2011
AUD: 81 - May 2012
REG: 79 - October 2012
Ethics: Passed - March 2013
I am finally DONE!

[HazeEastwood]

Come on guys. Give up your life? Really? It's not that serious. All I did was stop hanging out with friends, family and co workers. Spent 5 hours after work studying and the majority of the weekend studying. Skipped parties, social events and spent a few major holidays studying such as christmas, the 4th, memorial day, thanksgiving etc. Ummmm…..now that I think about it maybe I did give up my life. LOL, seriously, its the only way to pass. You will not pass treating it like a normal college exam. Take notes, work a ton of MCQs and understand the concept instead of memorizing the way a problem was solved. I think that's the biggest trap people fall into. They remember how a problem is solved but don't understand the concept so when they see a problem that's not exactly like the problem they saw when studying they can't solve it.

FAR-81
BEC-84
AUD-91
REG-89

[nolifecpa]

i'm surprised nobody wrote this yet

the real secret to successfully passing the CPA exam…NEVER GIVE UP!!!!

REG-65,71,74,73,70,74,79
BEC-60's,60's,69,71,76*,78
FAR-67,66,65,79
AUD-54,60's,65,83*,69,80
*expired

DONE

[Anonymous]

As someone said earlier, you have to know how you learn best plus what works for you. I am always amazed by people easily study for 2 hours or more BUT I couldn't never do that. What may work for you, may not work for me. I didn't have to give up my social life but I had to sacrifice some “sleeping time.”

I think the key for me was reviewing every topic at least once (even those I had problems with such as like-kind exchanges), UNDERSTANDING the concepts AND practising a lot of questions.

All the best.

[PackerFan]

Be mean: the closer the person is to you, be meaner you will need to be. This is a good indicator I think. If you feel horrible that you are pushing people away, then you know you are doing better. You have to be, otherwise it's not worth it! If you are feeling bad (VERY normal feeling!) then take a few minutes to think about how you can make it up to them after you pass. Don't think for too long though, because those valuable minutes that could be spent answering MCQ's.

FAR 72 80
AUD 89
REG 88
BEC 80

[Author]

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