[William_777]

Well, I just got my Regs score back – the first section I ever took – and I pulled a 62…

I guess I don’t feel too bad about it… I knew I wasn’t ready, and, while I did study hard, I know from hindsight I could have done a lot of things differently to make my study time more productive… The other thing is I am studying for Financial right now, and, if I passed Regs, then I’d be more at risk of having to deal with a potential expiration depending on how long it takes to get through Financial… The only reason I took the test was because the seat was going to expire if I let it go any longer…

Still… I’m not used to this… I pulled a 3.6 in school, and anything less than a “B” was always unacceptable… Now I know I need to find a ways to bring up the score by like 30%…

So what can I do? Here’s what I propose. Please let me know what you think.

First, I think I am going to stop watching the videos and start reading the chapters. I get lost in those lectures, but I tried reading the book tonight, and it seems to pull everything together better.

Second, I’m going to push calculations more, as they seem to unify all the other stuff. They’ll probably help out with the sims. And, of course, there are plenty of calcs in the FAR MCQ’s as well, so laboring an understanding of calculations seems a reasonable bet.

Third – I am going to keep a study journal, so I can maintain a sort of “version control” in my studies. If I study everything, and then just repeat it all a month later, then I may end up just repeating a lot of what I already know. But, if I can run a study session to isolate pockets of ignorance, then I can begin to correct the weaknesses. A journal would help maintain a sort of version control of those sessions, so I can keep track of where I was weak, and what I did to overcome the weakness.

Fourth – I am tossing out Becker’s “Study Roadmap” – as I think the “4-6 hours” they delegate to MCQ’s per section is terribly understated. It seems more like 3x-4x that amount is actually more reasonable. And that on top of reading, flash cards, progress tests, and sims.

And, fifth and finally – without abandoning truth and reality – I think I need to follow my interests more. One thing that seems to have stood out in the comments that accompanied the grade was I did above average (“stronger”, they said) in property transactions. I kind of know why that might have been. I kind of got obsessed with property transactions, as I thought they were cool, and I think my selective perception must have just lead me to take greater initiative in that area. What’s weird is, we never really studied property transactions all that much in school or at work, but I did better than average in that area. Not sure why, but I think it has something to do with taking initiative?

Any thought here?

wm

BTW, Thank you for all the help I have received from those in this forum over the past months.

[sdgh1826]

@William_777

I’m getting back to BEC after my 70. Also ditching the videos. This time though, I’ll add more info to my notes, re-write them. Will start though with the chapters that hardly have any calculations first. The Wiley TB will serve as my “progress test” & the Audio (w/c I’ll get real soon) as another form of refresher.

Have you already scheduled FAR, why not go back to REG? I was tempted to move to another section but decided to stick this one out first. Did you take good notes? They’re very helpful when you need to get back; I then refer to the NINJA notes after as reinforcement.

Becker 2012, NINJA notes

[runhomejack]

I bought a review with videos and within the first 2 hours, realized I had made a mistake. Then I decided to read the textbooks and then do MCQ's but soon realized I was wasting my time.

Here's what I ended up doing:

1. Get Wiley books and Ninja notes

2. MCQ's front to back

3. MCQ's front to back

4. MCQ's front to back

5. MCQ's front to back

6. MCQ's front to back

7. Pass the test

I was 4/4 with this strategy. Never did a single practice SIM and got Stronger on SIMs for all sections of the CPA exam.

I would do one MCQ, answer it, read the solution, and if I didn't get it, read the section in the textbook. I never read the entire chapter. Then I moved on to the next MCQ. I also skimmed Ninja notes for maybe 20-30 minutes on a daily basis.

I took my last accounting course 1 year before deciding to sit for the CPA exam. I work full-time and spent on average 3-4 weeks per section.

BEC - Pass
FAR - Pass
REG - Pass
AUD - Pass

[Author]

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