[lmillan08]

Got a 71 in AUD last quarter, now a 73. Don’t know what I am possibly doing wrong anymore. I studied a week and a half at most the first time due to personal issues and this time about a month. All I got out of it was 2 points.

I used Wiley first, this time I used Gleim and NINJA.

Any advice? Cause I’m pretty close to throwing in the towel. My BEC expires in August and it seems like I have to fail more than 3 times to pass anything at this point.

[RoseMarie]

Sorry to hear about your 73.

That seems like a very short time to study. Did you get through all the material? Did you do all the multiple choice questions at least once? What was your trending score? Did you take notes on the questions you missed? It seems like you might need to put in a little more time. Also if you describe your study methods maybe some of us might be able to give you some tips to help your study time be more effective next time.

Don't give up, the CPA exam takes a lot of time and commitment but its worth it.

[RaulB]

Rose Marie is celebrating with her 92 tonight. Congratulations! Considering you are going to Grad school and took BEC that is very impressive. May I ask what review course you took and how many months did you invest in studying? I haven't taken anything yet, but I think more often than not most people pass at the end of the day with the proper amount of studying. Lmillan08- You have to think positive to know that you didn't study that hard because it was just a month and you were only 2 points away. Have to plug away and I am sure Rose Marie and others can help you out with a good game plan to get this thing out of the way. Tough night, but be optimistic that you are not that far off. I know it's easy for me to say, but do know that if you really want to pass these exams you MUST persevere AND NOT GIVE UP!

[lmillan08]

Rose Marie – I did all the multiple choice, I do all the aicpa released questions, I do the aicpa sample test. I write down notes for everything I don’t understand. I study for 5 hours a day after work, I cannot study for a long period of time because I start forgetting everything. My long term memory sucks!

[ahugemistake]

You studied a month total? How many times would you say you went over the Sims and MCQ? if AUD is your last exam and you have until August to pass you can do it. During the exam did you try to keep gauge on how prepared you felt? Did you find yourself flagging and guessing? Were there topics that struck you as new or unfamiliar? I would reflect back on the exam as much as possible and go back to the course you feel the most comfortable with and stick with it. Take notes, review, drill the MCQs and SIMS. Goodluck!

FAR - 78*
AUD - 66, 79
REG - 73, 76
BEC - 79

[RaulB]

People who can't remember things after 1 month that sucks. Everyone is different. I personally remember things from way back. Have to plug away and on to the drawing board indeed. A 73 is at least better than a 71. With better luck next time a 75 should happen.

[ak_cpawannabe]

Hello! I’ll share my studying strategy. I planned about 2.5 months for audit. I have an active toddler and did not want to sacrifice any time with him. So most my studying was done after midnight every day and during his nap. I used Wiley cpa excel. So I did maybe 3 chapters per day (religiously read every sentence, took notes of what I want to remember, and did all questions). Took few days off every week. So this took me about 2 months. The last two weeks I re-read everything. Every word in study materials but very quickly. Did maybe 10 chapters a day. So these last two weeks refreshed everything I learned but maybe forgotten a bit in the two months before that. I also downloaded Wiley cpa excel app on iPhone and did quizzes of multiple choice questions whenever I had a second and always a bunch before bed.

Cpa exams are beasts but remember this is a test of determination. Do NOT give up! You will pass, you will see:) Also, you may get easier questions next time. There is always a bit of luck involved here. Best of luck to you!

[RoseMarie]

Raul, Thank you 🙂 I used a combination of resources. My primary resource was Rogers but I also used Ninja for my last two weeks of FAR and first two weeks of BEC. Rogers was great but the Bisk videos that come with Ninja really helped with a few certain FAR concepts (governmental, NFP, and pensions the most but also leases and consolidations to an extent). I also used both the Roger and Ninja test banks as well as the AICPA released practice questions and practice test. I would definitely say the key is to know your own learning style though. I am an auditory learner and spent a ton of time watching and rewatching videos to really get a firm grasp on the concepts. I only read the text once and only did maybe 75% of Rogers MCQ and less than 20% of NINJAs because I don't learn as much from questions as I do from videos (which is the opposite of most people). I technically started studying months over 5 months before I took FAR but some personal stuff came up and I basically restarted 8 weeks or so out and studied very focused for those 8 weeks including I think almost 2 weeks of review (Rogers cram course videos, another run through of the Bisk NFP and Governmental videos, and more questions).

Lmillan08, have you considered Rogers cram course? He compacted his 46 hours of FAR video into like 15 for the FAR cram and it really helped me freshen up on the topics I studied at the beginning, I actually watched most of it twice in the last two weeks before my test. I am sure the AUD one is similarly condensed.

[lmillan08]

Thank you everyone!

Congrats Rose Marie! I have FAR scheduled for Jan 26th, not too thrilled about it.

It took me 5 times to pass BEC, 71,72,69,72,77.

My AUD Trend so far – 71,73

I think I’m lacking in the luck department here. I am taking all your advise into consideration and hopefully I can find something that is useful to me. I’m a visual learner so sometimes lectures don’t work for me cause I feel all they do is talk talk talk instead of showing me the correct way to address questions.

[cpa1234]

I went through the same thing. I got a 71 after studying for 5 weeks. I re-scheduled and studied for probably another 4 weeks (but I think I got lazy and wasn't very committed) and got a 74. I took a break for tax season and then spent 3 very dedicated weeks studying audit everywhere I went. Listening to lectures in the car, reading notes any time I was in line somewhere, and I studied almost all day at work for a week when everyone took vacations right after tax season and there was nothing to do. Third time was the charm, cause I got an 83. You know what questions were on the exam, really try to focus on big topics you remember seeing. Avoid worrying about the 1 or 2 questions you missed because they asked some obscure topic that will probably not be on your re-take. Keep doing MCQ and take notes while you do it to keep reviewing over and over.

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