[NoName]

Which study system did you use and/or what was your strategy? EG Gleim, Ninja, Becker, Roger, etc

If you used multiple systems (in the case of any exam) please specify that was well.

[Matt]

I'd love to hear different people's strategy for subject retention…

[chandler]

Hi Phil,

As I look back, it was almost a year ago, I started studying for these exams. I was finishing grad school, and working FT my first real busy season. I used Becker alone on all 4 parts. I structured the exams to do roughly 4 weeks on REG, 5 weeks on BEC and AUD each, and 7 weeks for FAR. I quickly realized there was no way I could get through all of the material in this time frame while also working 60+ hours a week. I ditched the lectures and starting reading them in the book (I could do it that in the half the time or less). I would go through one module at a time the MCQ, and pay special attention to areas I was missing. If I kept missing them, I would go back and re-read or look up answers. My typical gauge of how well I understand something is if I could explain WHY the answer was right vs. which answer was right. I didn't really do any of the skills practices or the simulations the further I went along. Becker grades you on “completeness” of section. On REG, I got “53%”, BEC- 38%, AUD – 27%, FAR- 23%. But in each of them, I completed all of the MC. I stayed within my time frame on all of the exams except FAR (took an extra week, just because I got lazy). I would say in general, I averaged about 15-20 hours of studying a week. Usually 1.5-2 hours M-F, 4-6 on Saturday and 10-12 on Sundays.

[Brian]

I didn't do 85+ (83+ on all 4), but I used Wiley and it took me until the last exam to come up with a strategy that I wish I used for all 4. I know a lot of people tend to boast that they studied for some ridiculous amount of time each week, on weekends, while working, yadda yadda, but with each exam I took I tried to find a strategy that made best use of time. By the time I got to my last one, I only did a 1-2 hours/ day, only on weekdays, for about a month, and then crammed for the 2 nights before. I only took 1 exam per quarter, so it took 1 year, but I never felt stressed or rushed. I found that a 1.5-2 month window from start-finish of studying is the best, so you don't fully forget anything. I think people severely over-estimate the difficulty of these tests.

Basically, Wiley will split, for example, AUD into the 4 main sections, but within each section there would be like 10-15 videos that are bookended by both a set of diagnostic questions AND review questions/TBS's. I refer to these as “chunks” of lessons/lectures. My process:

1) Take handwritten notes on all lecture videos in a given chunk, watching at 2X speed. Yes, there are several legitimate studies that prove benefits of writing stuff vs. typing. 2X speed is mostly because some lectures have fluffy parts.
2) After watching videos in a given chunk, I'd work on diagnostic and review questions. I would review notes before and after these diagnostic/review sessions, and I would tend to flag all questions unless they were extremely obvious or duplicate. I find that paying attention to WHY an answer is right/wrong here, is more important than the lectures, and I'd add stuff to notes when appropriate.
3) Do steps 1 and 2 for all lecture chunks
4) Retake all diagnostic/review questions, and only the flagged questions. Un-flag questions which again appear obvious now.
5) If time permits, repeat step 4, but focus specifically on areas of weakness. The BIGGEST key is to understand why an answer is right AND other answers are wrong, and the other big key is to pay special attention to stuff you don't understand.
6) also if time permits (i only did this for AUD and BEC), create a one-pager of questions to memorize (like formulas for BEC), and play the memory game for like half an hour a few times.

I know the lectures provide a good structure, but I found them to be far less important than the study/practice of questions. I view the lectures as more of an “intro” to a given topic, and then the questions are super crucial to forming understanding. Regarding TBS practice, I'm not sure the cost/benefit is there for justifying spending time on this, but I would recommend for AUD and BEC.

[Recked]

Roger with a side of Gleim testbank and books.
I started off with FAR doing the status quo. Watch the videos, read the book, do all the MCQs. Move on to the next section, rinse and repeat.
AUD was a hail mary rushed attempt, watched all the videos and attempted all the MCQs but only got to 1000.
By the time I got to the end with REG and BEC I was just watching the lectures and doing the MCQs, and using the textbooks as reference materials.
The AUD hail mary success really made me rethink how I was tackling the exams.
As you work through you'll figure out your best learning method, and what works and doesn't work for you.
I found great value in the videos and MCQs, but you have to try and learn from the questions, not just skim through them.
I could never sit down and read the books, it was just words going in and out, nothing was sticking. Everyone is different.

[dojiboy]

I used NINJA only. I started about 4 weeks from the test date and spent a week reading/skimming the book. For FAR and AUD I also watched some of the Bob Monette Plus videos that first week, these were a HUGE help! After the first week I would start MCQs – random sets of 30 questions. My goal was 300 per day with a minimum of 100 per day up to the test date. I measured my progress not by hours spent studying or material covered, but by # of MCQs answered and trending score. Once I hit 2,000 or so I would start mixing in sets of 10-20 of my trouble areas. I usually ended up doing around 3,500 questions by test time, with a goal of trending around 90%. Never made it to the Review Phase. The last week I would read the book for any areas I was still struggling with and do sims. I also used the audio notes on my commute the last couple of weeks. With around a week to go I would start to panic thinking I didn't know the material, so I would really try to always be doing something in any free time I had. I kept a list of topics I feared. I also did the AICPA practice exams a couple times during the last week. I probably averaged 15-20 hours per week, more during the last week.

Taking notes didn't work for me. I tried it for my first test, and after 2 days I realized I'd written tons of notes and hadn't made it that far in the material.

I know it's been said many times, but I can't overemphasize the importance of mass amounts of MCQs. For me MCQs are great for several reasons:
1. They help learn the material.
2. They help identify weak areas.
3. They help keep things fresh during the cram/immersion phase.
4. It's easy to have the MCQ software up at work. I would do a few questions here and there when I was waiting for something to print, on hold with IRS, etc. Every little bit helped, and this saved TONS of time.
I know it's almost taboo to say, but it's ok if you end up memorizing some of the answers. MANY questions on my exams seemed identical to Ninja MCQs. I truly believe there are few things you couldn't learn by doing tons of MCQs.

I know everyone is different, but I don't understand how some people can spend 3-4 months studying for 1 exam. I would never be able to maintain the intensity for that long. Also Parkinson's Law comes to mind.

[Tncincy]

I hope this will work for a 75 guys. 🙂

It begins with a 75
Been here too long as a cheerleader....ready to pass

[Author]

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