[Anonymous]

I see a LOT of people talking about hours… ” how many hours of study can I get in this week? How many hours of studying does it take to pass? Can I just do this many hours?” — In my experience, it REALLY DOES NOT MATTER how many hours you put into studying. What matters is the QUALITY of your studying.

I have had nights where I spent 3 hours doing problems, and didn’t learn a freaking thing. Other times, I have spent 45 minutes in my Becker book and had a light bulb go off; bing! I got it!

I’m afraid that people are seeking a false sense of comfort in their “hours” of study. They say, “Joe Blow studied 40 hours a week for 3 weeks and got an 80, I need study at LEAST 40 hours a week!”. That’s simply not true. If Joe is just not as comfortable with accounting as you are, you may be able to far exceed his score with just a fraction of that time to study. I have a feeling that this is a serious reason why many people get a failing score in the mail and say, “but how?? I studied for so many hours!”.

Just a thought…I’m not trying to scare anything, but rather EMPOWER you. If you didn’t get your 25 hours a week in this week, don’t beat yourself up over it. But rather, ask yourself this; Do I understand this? Can I get 6 or 7 out of 10 MC’s correct on this topic? Because during test time, it frankly doesn’t matter if you studied 15 hours a week or 30 hours a week, it only matters if you know what you’re doing!

[FARbehind]

I think when people talk about hours they mean “high quality” study time. It is a fact that we all can waste a lot of time “studying” or just staring at the book/computer. I don't think people count that as “study” and if they do, you are absolutely correct, they are deceiving themselves. Looking at your scores, you already know what you are doing. Good luck with you last score…

aud,bec,reg-passed
far-->75 Done!!!!!
ethics-100

[HazeEastwood]

I agree. I have never focused on hours. I have taken 3 test and I can't tell you how long I studied for either. I study until I feel comfortable with the material. Once I feel comfortable I take the test. Hours don't mean anything. One person make pick up a topic in 30 min while another my pick it up in 2 hours. It all depends on the individual and often time there knowledge base that dictates how long you need to study.

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

[Accounting Pilot]

I think you are right CPA2011plz. When I was studying for FAR and BEC I usually tried to take the material chapter by chapter in my Bisk book. Some chapters would take an evening of study (for example, I am very comfortable with depreciation and moderately so with bonds) while others would take 2 or 3 days (governmental accounting and pensions…yuck). You bring up an interesting point regarding hours vs understanding. It is very easy to not understand something but get lulled into a sense of security because “I studied 3 nights / 20 hours of governmental accounting so I must know it.”

Wisconsin Candidate. NTS 450
BEC - 82 AUD - 85
FAR - 83 REG - 71, 86

[Author]

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