[Jay]

I was wondering what a two or three hour study session after work is like for most people. How many questions do you answer or how many pages do you read. How often do you take breaks. Do you have the tv, radio or another71 going on at the same time.

REC

69, 71, 71 (11/18/14)

Giving up is not an option.

REG 82
FAR 76
Aud 8/31/2016
BEC 11/30/2016

[Anonymous]

I don't know what materials you are using, but I liked the Wiley books because they broke the material up to the point that you could stop in the middle of a chapter and not feel like you have to keep going. I usually studied from 6-11 three nights a week after work. I quizzed while I ate dinner. If I really needed a break I would jump over here and get in the study group to see where everyone else was at with their studies. I didn't watch t.v. or have the radio playing, but I have heard that listening to classical music helps with retention so you may want to try something like that. I got to the point where I deactivated my facebook account so I wouldn't be tempted to chat on there all night. I rarely had a set number of questions for myself. It was more like a goal to master a topic. “Tonight I will work on property transactions until I get it” sort of thing. If I was confused about something I would google it or ask on here for further explanation.

[Determined CPA]

I usually do 7-10 Monday thru Thursday. I can usually do 100 questions in that time. I take a ton of notes. I google. I look words up in the back of the Becker book. I YouTube! Whatever it takes! Friday is always date night! Sat and sun I put in about 15 hrs total. Then 2 weeks before the test its all day sat and sun! Takes a lot of work to pass these tests!

A - 75
B - 78 God is good.
F - 77 Answered prayers.
R - 84! Done!!

Paperwork sent - waiting for license!!
Still on a cloud and in shock. Through God, all things will happen.

[marti1nd]

I have a hard time studying for more than 3 hours at a time so I decided to study in the morning and at night. I would study 1.5 hours in the morning and then 2 hours after work M thru F. Saturdays I would sleep in till 8 or so and then study in three 1.25 hour increments. Sundays I would do a 2 hour study session in the morning and then give myself the rest if the day to relax. I'm a big believer in not studying for more than 2 hours at a time and I think breaking up study time can be a great tool for anyone struggling to stay focused. It was always much easier to leave work knowing I only had to study for 2 hours that night vesus having to go through 3.5 hours after work. Also after work your mind is tired so it's nice to get some good study time in the morning.

BEC: 10/2013 71
AUD: 12/2013 75
BEC: 02/2014 89
REG: 05/2014 86
FAR: 11/2014 81

[Anonymous]

eat dinner, go on the computer, open ninja book/cpa excel, study for 30 min, surf the web for 30 min, study another 30 min, watch tv for a while, take a shower, study some more/surf the web, go to bed, rinse repeat

[golfball7773]

I work from 7-3:30 at a non-profit. Then I go to the gym for a 30 minute workout. It really helps clear my brain. Then I go to the library and study usually from 4:30 to 7ish whenever my brain gets fried. Come home and eat supper while watching whatever tv show my wife and I are trying to catch up on. Weekends are a different story.

FAR: 63, 55, 62
REG: 65, 77*
AUD: Fail, 64, 71
BEC: 72, 74, 81

*expired

[Tripp11]

I worked from 7-5 at a CPA firm. I would go home, eat dinner, play with my daughter, and then I would start studying at 8 and end up around 11 – I did this M-TH. I took Fridays off. On Saturday and Sunday, I would typically study from 7-11 and then from 1-5 and then again from 8-10. I tried to do this every week, but sometimes, family commitments took priority.

AUD - 93
BEC - 80
REG - 86
FAR - 83

[Anonymous]

Usually home around 6, would study off and on for about 2-3 hours per night. I can fly through MCQs, a set of 100 would take me about 20 minutes. I always had the TV on while studying, the stuff was WAAAAY too boring for me to just focus on that and I'm the type who can't just sit and watch tv, I need to be on the ipad or playing video games at the same time. I also listened to ninja audio on my commute (which added 40-60 minutes of study time every day), would do MCQs if I was slow at work or on my lunch break.

[CPA soon]

Best way I found was to stay at work and study right after. I work 8 to 5, at 5 the office starts clearing up so it gets quite. There is no set time, I try to study till I can't do it anymore. On average I would say 5 to 8, I've stayed as late as 10:30 at time and sometimes leave at like 7-7:30. If I am hungry or for whatever reason I feel like I need to leave early let's say 6:30, I go home eat and change and go to the library like 9-11PM. I feel like staying at work helps avoiding the laziness and crash you get once getting home and eating and stuff. Just grind it out while you can. Also you can finish studying at 8 and go finish off your night smoothly rather than going home and wasting time then studying till like 11PM

FAR - 71, 68, 74, (8/31/14) 78 ✔
REG - 67, 71, 71, (10/18/14) 78 ✔
BEC - (11/29/14) 86 ✔
AUD - 73, (4/4/15) 86 ✔

I can't believe this is over! 2 years and 3 months..

[mintz25]

M-T Get out of work at 4. Drive to gym. Put Ipad on treadmill and walk and read or do MCQ for an hour. Listen to audio while doing weights for half hour. Get home around 6, eat dinner with the husband and back to reading or MCQ/SIMS till from 7-8 about 11. I'm also multitasking while studying so I'm not totally productive (watching tv, surfing the net, FB) as my brain can't focus too long. Listen to audio till I fall asleep (1-2mins). I don't work Fridays so study all day on and off, then happy hour 5-8. Sat study all day off and on depending on what's going on but we usually go to a party of some sort at night. Sunday study all day while the husband watches football (I'm half watching too). Good thing my he works 80+ hours a week and is very supportive of the time committment this involves.

CMA, EA

BEC - 78 8/2014 1x
REG - 82 11/2014 1x
AUD - 76 2/2015 1x
FAR - ???

[mla1169]

Home from work by 5:30, had <30 minutes to eat. 6pm depending on the day of the week was either Girl Scouts or Cheerleading, home by 8pm, did homework for grad school from 8-9:30, spent 9:30-10:30 doing housework or prepping lunches and dinners, studied for CPA from 10:30-12:30 usually did about 50 MCQs and read for an hour then when I couldn't keep my eyes open I'd listen to Wiley Audio for another hour or so. Listened to audio at work as well.

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

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Peterman25]

Home from work..Family time until 8pm. Study time from 8-10:30ish. M-F. I'm currently working through Roger Video lectures for AUD. I typically get through about 1-1.5 hours of actual video lecture in that time frame while taking tons of notes. TV isn't on, but TV is setup in my house to where I can watch it on my computer if I want. I'll take a few breaks during study sessions to watch TV for a few mins or surf the internet for something. When I get done with all the lectures it is on to NINJA MCQ. I don't take breaks when I am in those sessions. They seem to really grab my attention and I am making note cards on trouble questions. I work through a couple of 30 question sets and look at the clock and it will be after 11pm.

Weekends are 4-5 hours in the morning of the same so that I have the rest of the day with family.

BEC 7/14 - PASS
FAR 10/14 - PASS
AUD 1/15 - PASS
REG 4/15 - PASS

AZ license - Official 8/20/2015

[Pattar54]

I had the most luck by saying to myself each day that I was going to do 100 questions. However I got there, that was enough. It usually came out to 3 hours or so and I would do simulations and other topics on Saturdays and Sunday's. I made sure to study everyday because I noticed if I took a day or 2 off, I got rusty on some things. You have to be relentless with these tests in my opinion.

***I also think that trying to do a 4 hour straight study session on Saturdays is beneficial because it helps simulate the length of exam and gets your mind in shape for being able to critically think for that 4 hour exam slot.

BEC: 77
REG: 54, 76
FAR: 54, 84
AUD: 64, 70, 90!
I'm done!!

[greg422]

Personally, studying for 1.5-2 hours before work, 45 minutes at lunch and another 2 hours after work has been working for me. I usually go to a coffee shop to study after work because I find if I go home there is 0 chance I get anything done.

Also, I do not do much heavy studying on the weekends until I am about 4 weeks out. I am a big believer in going to the gym, going out on the weekends and doing other things to stay sane during this process. There is a time to buckle down but also should be enough time to enjoy your life.

REG - 82
AUD - 97
BEC - 81
FAR - 84
DONE!

[juuustin]

I found following the Becker study plan of two sections per week was perfect for me. As I knew I needed to finish the two sections in a week, I didn't have rigid study sessions of a certain amount of time. I simply did as much as I could handle at the time and then stopped when I had had enough. My wife is a night shift nurse so I definitely studied more on those days, but I really just let my progress in the units guide me.

I know that is vague but I am a huge proponent of the quality over quantity mantra. The majority of the “I failed and I don't know why” posts are from people who think just because they studied for 200 hours or 10 weeks or 5000 MCQs that they should have automatically passed. There is no magic amount of study time that will yield success. Some of my best “sessions” were 30 minutes or less when I really drilled down on a concept and perfected my understanding.

MD Candidate: 10/1/14

FAR - 87 (11/23/14)
REG - 87 (1/30/15)
BEC - 89 (4/19/15)
AUD - 98 (5/30/15)

Ethics - 100

Experience - In Progress!

[EverybodyswaitingfortheCPA]

I agree @juuustin. Quality > quantity. It's not an absolute value as if a person studies 1,000 hours or does 10,000 MCQs, he/ she will pass. I kind of had this mindset for my first go-around with the tests, and I can say with 100% truth, being half committed does not work.

With that said, regarding after work routines and studying, I’ll start from the beginning. Instead of being lazy and rolling out of bed 10 minutes before work, I decided to commit myself to the exam and began getting up in enough time so I could sneak in at least 30-60 minutes in the morning. During lunch, I took Jeff’s advice and ate lunch in 15 minutes, and studied for the remaining 45. After work I studied for an hour from 5-6, then went home to eat dinner with my wife and relax. I would force myself to sneak in another hour atleast, from 8-9 or so. With all that said, it’s very easy to get in at minimum 3.25 hours of study in/ day consistently. There were no excuses I could make to get out of it otherwise.

Of course I studied more or less during certain sessions, but the main thing I can tell people is: find what works for you, be consistent, and work hard; when it’s all said and done, if you are honest with yourself and commit to studying, then enjoy the benefits! If not, you’ll know otherwise.

BEC - ✔ REG - ✔ AUD - ✔ FAR - ✔

Becker + NINJA MQCs for FAR

Licensed January 2015

[Author]

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