What is the MAX amount of hours you study in a day?

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  • #180101
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Hey guys, new to the forum and the CPA exam. I really love the site and the community seems to make it even better!

    Only been studying for about a week for FAR (and it’s my first exam) with Becker and NINJA notes. I am also trying to do BEC before the end of the year if possible while going to school. I really wanted to get a feel for many hours you study in one day? Right now I have been trying to do 8-9 hours when I have the day off and 2-3 hours when I have school. I would love to get in more study time but I think after about 8 hours my brain is mush, but that could have to do with the fact that I’m getting up at 5am (I study way better during the morning hours)

    I’m not cramming yet so I’m not talking about right before the exam kind of studying but I would love to hear how many hours is in everyone’s study plan for FAR? 🙂

Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
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  • #435425
    MrsBing
    Member

    3-4 hours/day on the weekdays and maybe 1-2 hours on the weekends (I usually take 2 days a week off from studying). I work full time and I only do one chapter a week and shoot for 15 hours a week and I hate studying on the weekends, so I try to cram it all in on the weekdays. Last 2 weeks of review I study everyday for as much as I can handle.

    This may change for the next two sections because I want to get them done before the end of November, so I'll be doing 3-4 hours/day even on the weekends to try to get through 1.5 sections a week.

    Becker, Wiley Test Bank, and Ninja 10 Point Combo!

    FAR: 89
    REG: 87
    AUD: 92
    BEC: 75
    Ethics: 90

    Licensed Arizona CPA

    #435426
    ZSRizvi
    Member

    I'll be starting work in the fall so I'm trying to get one more exam (like you, FAR) out of the way before then…and then REG/AUD out of the way before busy season starts.

    For BEC, I had a crazy schedule. I'm completely the opposite of you. I study best in the evening/late hours of the night (a nasty habit I acquired from college).

    I would start studying at 2PM until 6 PM. Then take a break. Continue studying around 7 or 8 (depending on how braindead I was) and then finish up studying around 1AM.

    But, of course, with FAR…since there's so much material and I actually have a time constraint since I'll be going on vacation soon… I'm putting in 12-16 hours. Usually start studying around 9-10AM take a break around 12. Start studying again at 1 or 2…study until 5-6. Take a break. Start around 7-8. Study until 1-2AM.

    I find that if I take breaks in between…go outside…watch a program that makes me laugh…eat something fruity…it rejuvenates me and I can continue studying for long periods of time.

    BEC (July 2013)
    FAR (OCT 2013)
    REG (NOV 2013)
    AUD (JAN 2014)

    The CPA Exam is an opponent that not even the Fellowship of the Ring would want to come across.

    I have a long...long...journey ahead of me.

    #435427
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    i work fulltime so generally about 2-3 hours on weekdays, and it try to do around 6-7 on weekends. of course if theres a day im particularly tired after work i might skip studying altogether. or if i have a long weekend, ill try to get more in. im taking far as my first section so its definitely gonna take longer to study for, so far ive studied about a month and im about a quarter through the material

    #435428
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    When I'm off, I try for a quality 6 hours. Beyond that, I know that my comprehension rate goes down! Hence the “quality” 6 hours. I usually take a break in the middle, so it might be 7 hours start-to-finish with an hour “lunch” break.

    On days that I work, I'm good if I get a solid 2 hours in. I'm switching to a job that gets done a bit earlier (4:30, instead of 5-5:30), so I'm hoping that the earlier hour will let me be a bit better about evening studying…

    Off-topic note relative to your plan: I'd suggest studying for and taking one at a time. Like, take FAR in early or mid October, then take BEC at the end of November. It's easier to just keep the information for one exam in your head at a time! Not mandatory – there's people on here who have taken and passed all 4 within a few days of each other – but it just might be easier if you could spread out the tests a bit! Getting 2 per window is very feasible, just easier if you study for one at a time.

    #435429
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I can only ever manage 6-7 hours max per day of actual, useful study, and even that is really pushing it. I start suffering serious diminishing returns after that level, then I have to spend even more time trying to sort out everything I shouldn't have tried to cram into my brain.

    I try to get 3-5 hours of quality, organized study time every single day. Or at least, I try to average out to 25-35 hours per week. Sometimes I get lucky and get 7-9 hours in a day, but that's usually driven by fear the week before an exam so it's usually overall review of stuff I mainly already know.

    I actually keep a spreadsheet of my hours, and what exactly I'm doing during those hours. It has target total hours per activity, days left until the exam, etc, etc. It really helps me stay focused, on track, and to not skip study days unless something REALLY important is going on. There is nothing worse than seeing a big fat zero hours studied when you have to look at the spreadsheet every single day.

    #435430
    HappyDayss
    Member

    I am not exactly sure how many hours I put in each day. It varies depending on the test I am studying for. I only use Becker and I do 2 chapters worth of lectures/MCQ hw per week. So for example, BEC took me 3 weeks to go through since it has 6 chapters. I skip the sims because I think it is worth more to spend the time on practicing extra MCQs then to work those sims that will never come out on the Exams anyway. I think avg for me is about 15 hours a week

    Done ^_^

    #435431
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Yeah after about 6 hours I can't retain anything so after that I usually switch to something like writing out flashcards which I feel guilty doing during my designated “study time” lol

    Very interesting to hear how different everyone approaches the exam though.

    @Lilla I totally agree about not taking FAR and BEC at the same time. I actually set it up so I take FAR first, then BEC later like you said. After I started seeing the workload in Becker I knew I couldn't do it all lol

    @CareBear I love that idea about keeping a spreadsheet (god we are so accountants lol) of the activities I have done.

    #435432

    12-14 hours on the weekends, 2-3 on the weekdays… Am I crazy?

    I just want to get this over with as fast as possible.

    BEC 85
    AUD 99
    REG 88
    FAR 93

    #435433
    Kenada
    Member

    During the weekdays I manage about 2 hours and weekends about 4 hours to 8 hours.. It really depends on the husband. If he is out of the house I can really study. If he home.. I am rolling my eyes…

    I normally do have one weekday night off. Usually its Friday evening to take a break and watch a bit of TV.

    FAR 05/27/14; 786/110 - Done !

    #435434
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    For BEC and this time with FAR I started a spreadsheet of how long I thought it would take me to go through the reading / lectures / MCQ's. That has helped me keep on track. I set a timer for 30 min, know how much I should get done, and then take a 5 ish min break when done. The breaks really helps with the long hours on the weekends (9-12 hours usually). And it keeps me really focused. I even do this at work, at times when I am prone to distractions, like lots of emails! I spend 1-2 1/2 hours a night at home. Nights are not the best for me, so I started working 4-10's to have a extra weekday off to study. That has helped tremendously.

    @ insiyah I understand the husband thing! It was sooo much easier to study when he is not home. But with the timer, he knows to ask for my help during my break, so he is not disturbing my study time.

    #435435
    nbad311
    Member

    6 hours, on a weekend day of course. When I do manage to do this, its usually broken into 3x 2hour blocks. I cant study more than 2 hours of a time… just cant.

    REG - 65, 70, 80!
    BEC - 35, 62, 79!
    AUD - 73, 75!
    FAR - 65, 73, 70, 75! DONE.

    #435436
    sonygal57
    Member

    I was more like Iwantmyifeback

    I budgeted for 2.5 on weekdays and 8 hrs on weekends but ended up spending 3-4 on 3-4 weekdays and budgeted 8 hours a day and spent 12-13 on weekends. I took a few small breaks here and there but I think the “your brain shuts off after 2 hours” doesn't pertain to me. Don't get me wrong there were times where I was just done…but a lot of times I found myself pushing myself beyond my barriers because I was “in the mode.”

    Good old Gandalf, "All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is give to us."
    "Not all those who wander are lost."

    FAR: I slayed the Dragon!
    BEC: I defeated the Siren!
    AUD: I eliminated Medusa!
    REG: ?????

    #435437
    sbarkerACPA
    Participant

    Depends on what stage of studying I am in. Anytime before final review then about 4 hours weekday and weekends.During final review 6-7 hours.

    BEC: 74;81
    AUD: 77
    REG: 71; 80
    FAR: 78
    License for CPA----APPROVED
    CPA Class of 2013

    #435438
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    2-3 hours daily Mon-Th

    6-8 hours daily Sat-Sun

    Near the end, took Friday nights off to prevent complete burnout and that worked pretty well for my sanity and my marriage. 🙂

    GL!

Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
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