[mjbey1s]

Hello all,

Last night I received a passing score of 80 on FAR, and I am officially DONE with the CPA Exam! I promised last night that I would post my method on here because in October of 2016, I scored a 68. I was able to raise my score 12 points!!!!

If you aren’t willing to put in a RIDICULOUS amount of time and effort into this, then stop reading now……I hate to put it that bluntly, but that is how people were with me, and that is what each and every one of you need in order to pass this exam.

When I took FAR in October and failed with a 68, I was devastated. In my mind, I had studied my ass off and done everything I possibly could to pass the exam (I was dead wrong). By the way, I used Becker review and Ninja MC. I watched all of the Becker lectures, did every multiple choice question, every sim, and all of the practice exams. I bought the Ninja notes but never actually read them. I then moved to doing every single Ninja multiple choice and Sim. In the two weeks of review, I went back and forth doing practice exams from Becker and Ninja MC. I FAILED………….

After I got done pouting, I got right back to work. I scheduled my exam 60 days from the date I failed, and decided I was going to study more than I ever had in my entire life. Instead of watching the becker lectures, I read every stinking word of the becker book and took over 100 pages of my own personal notes. As i read each section, I took my notes, then I did the sets of multiple choice. Then I did the SIMS for each chapter. After this, I went straight into doing Ninja MC. I completed every single multiple choice that the software had to offer once again, and did not do the SIMS. (They are a waste of time. The ninja sims are nothing like the exam. Becker has very close examples).

After I finished the Ninja MC, i went and got graph paper, and using the 100 pages of notes I took, I made 1-3 pages per chapter of graph paper notes detailing out the most important things from each chapter (Ex: J/E’s, definitions, different phnemonics, etc). I split the page into three columns and wrote my notes. After I did this for all 10 chapters of Becker, I read over these notes every other day (it was about 21 pages, front side only, of notes total). During my review time, probably about 14 days, I read over my graph paper notes, read over ninja notes 3-4 times total, and did constant progress tests of Becker and Ninja MC.

The last week leading up to the exam, I took off work the entire week. I read my graph paper notes every day, did MC from both softwares, and actually went back and reviewed every single SIM from the becker software from all 10 chapters. I probably spent between 30 and 45 hours per week studying during these 60 days.

This study method may sound ridiculous, but it took me from a 68 to an 80 on FAR. You may be thinking to yourself, “There is no way I can do that…i don’t have the time. I want to hang out with friends….I have to take care of my dogs….I work too many hours”. Those are all just excuses. We all have other time consuming things in our lives, but you know what? No one cares, and that includes the AICPA. They are trying to weed out the individuals that don’t want it enough. I hate to be blunt again, but it’s just the honest to God truth.

I am going to end this post with a quote from Will Smith that I would listen to every single day during my workouts over the 60 days I studied for this exam.

“I have never really viewed myself as particularly talented. Where I excel is ridiculous, sickening work ethic. While the other guy’s sleeping, I’m working. While the other guy’s eating, I’m working.”

“The only thing that I see that is different from me is that I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill. You may have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, but if we get on the treadmill together, there are two things that are going to happen. Either you’re getting off first, or I’m going to die”.

If anyone has any other questions about my method, I will be getting notifications on my phone and will respond ASAP. After this post, I will no longer be around on this forum! Willing to respond today to anyone who needs any advice!

[mjbey1s]

@jeff, can you make it to where I can edit this post? If not, can you delete?

Thanks

[jeff]

Edited…it's a common mistake, no worries.

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS) | Another71 | NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE

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