It's truly been a journey. Full of frustration, disappointment and worry. Expired credits (AUD & BEC twice each!!). Everyone around me pushed Becker down my throat…Gleim as well every so often. But one day I stumbled onto Ninja and studying became less of a grueling task. Admittedly, there were lots of times where I wasn't entirely committed to the process – I didn't want to completely give up my life “just for these exams”…and you really don't have to; there just needs to be a balance.
For my final go of the four, I started again with AUD, then REG. BEC expired while I waited on REG results (ughh). Hadn't even made it to FAR. Disappointment set in again. After I dragged myself out of the most recent funk, I set out to take BEC once again. Purchased Ninja MCQs. BEC passed. Next on to the feared beasts. Tax busy season began + REG studying = miserable life. I tried to get into Becker again. It was a non-starter. Went back to ninja and purchased the all access monthly subscription…can I say “best study tool ever!!!”. I cranked out MCQs throughout busy season, with a little reading here and there. REG down. One monster left. The biggie. It is both exciting and terrifying knowing that there's only one left. I've read so many stories where people had 3 exams but couldn't pass the 4th before credit expired. I was terrified. Since my office had already paid for the Becker materials, I tried once again to make use of them. It was a drag. I decided on a date for FAR – July 10 (a public holiday in The Bahamas). I went back to ninja reading various articles Jeff posted about studying. Then I came across the one about how to pass an exam in 20 days. I had more than 20 days but I figured that if I could manage to complete the 20 day prep, then I would be ‘extra' prepared with the additional time I had. Good idea because there were definitely days where I slipped, was traveling, working, or just trying to stay sane. Two of the things Jeff mentioned in the article were nonstop MCQs and the audio. He said that if you have 10 minutes to drive (or whatever) then you have 10 minutes to study. I took this to heart. I downloaded all the audio to my phone and made a playlist. Swapped out my daily commute music to ninja audio. Listened behind the wheel, working at my desk, as I got dressed in the morning, while I was getting ready for bed at night. Everywhere! Before I knew it, I was reciting whole sections of the audio. It was easy to digest, and paired with my practice of the bond amortisation schedules and the lease JEs, it was perfect. Spare time at work turned to MCQ sessions, and evenings in front of the TV (on but now muted) also became MCQ sessions. The plan was working. I was happy. I felt good. I understood what I was studying. In my drawer at work, I had a notebook full of random amortisation tables and lease questions I made up. It was the best I've ever felt about FAR. Exam day – nervous of course, but not the normal i-havent-finished-studying-yet nervousness. I walked out of the exam kind of smiling. I didnt know whether I had passed, but I felt great just knowing that I felt confident about my own abilities.
The days before score release day, everyone at work was hounding me asking how I did and reminding me of the thing I didn't want to think about. The night before, I was exceptionally nervous. Naturally I couldn't sleep. I tried convincing myself to wait until my normal waking time (6am) to check. Did that work? Obviously not. So there I sat in bed at 11.55pm with the lights out staring at the login page (already filled out btw) just waiting to hit ‘enter'. 12.01am and I hadn't logged in. 12.02 I hit enter and waited for what seemed like an eternity for the page to load (as i'm sure many others were). And there it was a 78. I could finally get to sleep
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