[Za Williams]

Hello everyone,

I bought Roger CPA Review today after reading a bunch of reviews. I spent the last 4-5ish hours going through Ch. 1 and I’m feeling pretty discouraged at this point.

Ch. 1 is split into multiple lectures. I watched all of the lectures and read the book while taking notes.

I’ve taken two quizzes and got a 60, and then a 58. The vast majority of the questions I got incorrect cover topics that are very very briefly mentioned in the book. I feel as if the book is not nearly as comprehensive enough; even if I click the link that brings me to the section that the question pertains to, I still cannot find the answer. The MCQ take the briefly mentioned topic and builds on it….which would be great if there was some guidance in the book!

Now that I’ve done all 70 of the multiple choice questions, I almost feel like I’ve wasted the past 5 hours due to my poor scores. Its not like I can look at more questions I have not already seen without purchasing a supplement.

Am I being too quick to judge the program or is repetition the key here?

Thanks.

 

 

[Anonymous]

My advice is to do all the MCQ first, read the explanations to the right and wrong answers. Take notes and then go back and use the book and lecture videos as supplement for the more difficult areas. Completing as many MCQs (100% completion if possible) is key.

[oldercandidate21]

I strictly used Roger, and this was my approach.

1) Take rough hand written notes while watching the lecture. Anything Roger wrote on the board, I wrote too.
2) Read the chapter.
3) Do the MCQs in the book using my notes and the book as kind of an open book test.
4) Anything in the MCQs that were not covered in the lecture, I added to my hand written notes.
5) Retype my notes in a format that was easy for me to understand.
6) Study my notes and commit the concepts to memory.
7) Retake the book MCQs again without the help of my notes. This gave me a good idea as to if I was understanding/retaining the info.
8) Hand write in my typed notes if the note pertains to a specific MCQ. That way in my final review I know whether a note is simply conceptual or pertains to an actual MCQ.
9) Move on to the next chapter.

FAR - 75 November 2015
REG - 69 April 2016 (WTH? Test I got isn't what I studied for)
BEC - 81 June 2016
AUD - TBD

[oldercandidate21]

I should have added that I also did the Sims twice before moving on to the next chapter. Then once I got thru all the material I went thru the entire book MCQ & Sims one more time. Then spent about 10 days doing software MCQs.

FAR - 75 November 2015
REG - 69 April 2016 (WTH? Test I got isn't what I studied for)
BEC - 81 June 2016
AUD - TBD

[ultrarunner]

I used Roger for my review course. It may be overwhelmed when you start studying a new chapter. I usually got around 50s for my first quiz. So you are actually doing fine. Repetition (or completing many MCs) is the key. Good luck.

FAR 72,67,79 (Roger+Wiley test bank)11/15
AUD 80 (Roger)10/15
BEC 80 (Roger)4/16
REG 63,78 (Roger+Ninja MCQs)5/16

[Finally_a_CPA]

I think it really comes down to personal preference. I passed all section using strictly Roger CPA. Different things work for different people. I can tell you that I took zero notes mostly because I knew I would never go back and review them. I would only skim through the text book but wouldn't necessarily read unless I was really struggling with the section.

I watched lecture, did a minimum of 75 ms question per chapter and then moved on. There were some chapters were I would continuously score in the low 60s but I would still move on to the next chapter. When I was done with every chapter, I tried have two weeks for review where I would do nothing but ms questions. I'm not sure what section you're studying for but maybe that could also be why. I really struggled with BEC and AUD and even when reviewing right before my exam, I was still scoring in the 60s or low 70s. I honestly spent over two months studying for AUD (and barely passed with a 75) and it just didn't make sense to me even though people swear Roger is the best for AUD. Maybe that is true but when you don't like a certain topic, there's nothing you can do.
In comparison, I studied for REG for about 4 weeks during busy season and scored in the mid 90s mostly because I actually enjoyed the material.

[Anonymous]

Repetition. Is this far? I just bought far and read chapter one while highlighting it. Then I went back and typed out notes in questions instead of outline format. Then I quizzes myself over and over on my own questions. Then I watched a partial video without taking notes. I just sat back and listened. I just finished up doing mcqs and scored 80s. Maybe try that?
I need to point out though this isnt new to me. I took far and failed but still retained alot

[ipadminihalf]

Welcome to studying for the CPA exam. Know that you will understand some chapters better than others, and it may take 2 or 3 rounds through the MCQ to understand the material, depending on the chapter. The more practice you do, the better you will understand it. Just continue on with the next chapter, because there is a lot of material to go through. I only used Roger and I studied as follows:

1) Watch Lecture and take notes
2) Read the Chapter
3) Half MCQ for that chapter (no sims)
Did this until I went through all the lectures
4) Re-read chapter
5) Did second half of questions for that chapter and sims
6) Reviewed my scores and started working on all the chapters I did poorest on
7) Continued practicing questions and sims until the exam

I failed one exam, FAR, so the second time studying, I also made another set of notes flash cards while re-reading the chapters, which helped.

This is what worked for me, so you may have another way that worked for you, but I thought was Roger said was pretty good (Watch Lecture, Read Chapter, do questions 2 or 3 times). It is a long tough process, that requires you to persevere and push through. You will have good study days and bad study days, so just set your expectations and give it your best.

REG - 2/19/16 - 77!
BEC - 4/16/16 - 79!!
AUD - 6/04/16 - 84!!!
FAR - 8/31/16

[Za Williams]

Thank you for the feedback. My problem is that after I go through the MCQ once for a section, I have most of the answers memorized. I did just buy ninja mcq so hopefully that'll help.

[MasterOfTaxation]

I just started too, but with Becker. Even thought they are clearly completely different formats, I feel the same exact way. I think everyone gets discouraged when they first start preparing. It's pretty terrifying. Just take your time and accept that learning how to learn is sometimes the most time consuming part. I just spent like 20 minutes trying to figure out how to move forward from the Becker practice section to the MCQ section. You had to watch the “explain” videos even if you got the questions right.

You'll get it. Just take your time.

[ipadminihalf]

Regarding having the answers memorized, I think you will forget some as you do more chapters and go through the course further because there is a lot of material and a lot of questions. I was also worried about this, but going back and redoing the questions after finishing the first round of questions confirmed that I did not have the answers memorized. Regardless, some of the material needs to be memorized anyways, and working through it multiple times will help with the concepts. Are you studying FAR? Which chapter are you on now?

REG - 2/19/16 - 77!
BEC - 4/16/16 - 79!!
AUD - 6/04/16 - 84!!!
FAR - 8/31/16

[Za Williams]

Yes I am studying for FAR. I am wrapping up Chapter 4 on Marketable Securities.

[Author]

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