[Broag]

Two years. Eight failed exams. Two passes (FAR and REG with REG expiring 1/31/17). A long, rocky journey that screams inconsistency. I do thousands of MCQ, constantly review and write notes, read the textbook, read and understand why each questions is wrong/right, etc. Pretty much everything you’re supposed to do to pass, yet I fail. I’m getting really good at it actually. Almost impressive.

All right. Enough with the sarcasm. Clearly, I’m doing something wrong with my studying. I’ve tried tweaking hundreds of times by researching study methods on this site. I put in the necessary studying time. At this point, I’m fully accepting the fact that I will lose REG. I’m in the middle of studying BEC (which is definitely the hardest section by the way) and still have AUD (which I thought I passed) hanging over my head. Really…just clueless as to where to go now. Going to be embarrassing to let everyone at the office know that I failed again.

REG - 79
FAR - ?
AUD - ?
BEC - ?

[Carli]

Hi! I failed AUD twice. For the third time try I changed my study strategy a little bit. First I did a lot of MCQs (4000+ attempts Ninja mcq),and I read Becker very carefully. I also asked my coworkers in Audit show me all kinds of audit /review/com/A-U-P reports so that i understand each type of report better.

My coworker passed all four exams two months earlier, and the entire office was celebrating for him… I know how you feel at this point. But never be discouraged!! Give yourself one more shot!!

FAR 08/08/2015 passed
BEC 08/27/2015 passed
AUD 10/10/2015
REG ?

[tman102938]

I failed audit 3x and just passed (after retaking 2 weeks later). I was in your exact same boat (re-reading, writing notes, thousands of mcq's etc.)..I think the thing that helped me the most (especially if you are failing in the 70's) was to slow down..like realllly slow down and skip the question if i don't IMMEDIATELY know the answer or more than 90% sure its right. Not sure if you've been doing that, but that along with perseverance put me over the edge.

BEC:69,79 PASS
FAR:77 PASS
REG: 7/30
AUD:68,64

"If you want something, go get it. Period."

[cwlanders]

I have failed audit with a 74 twice now and will be retaking it the first week of December. I just got a 74 on FAR last night and there is no way I can make myself go back through that again right now. Good luck! Just wanted you to know you aren't alone.

BEC - 91 (2/29/16)
AUD- 74, 74

[Accountant183748]

Hello, have you tried teaching someone else the material? My boyfriend helped me study flashcards so when he quizzed me I had to say it in a way that he would understand because he has no accounting experience so some of those definitions/concepts were way over his head. I think this helped me understand it a lot because I basically had to say it in a simple, easy way. Not that my boyfriend isn't smart, but he doesn't know anything about accounting – he is in an IT person and he basically “dumbed down” the IT concepts to help me understand.

I think “dumbing down” down these concepts really helps – like you are teaching accounting to a 10 year old. The best way to know whether you fully understand the material is so try to teach it to someone else. If you can't explain it to a 10 year old, then you don't fully understand the material. I know not everyone has someone to help them study or to teach accounting to, but just try the concept of putting it in simpler, easy to understand terms.

Hope this helps!

P.S. Don't give up on losing Reg just yet. When do you take BEC? You can retake AUD beginning of January!

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.
~Albert Einstein

[Earla Riopel (NYCARE)]

For all of you candidates who passed, congratulations! For all of you who didn't make it, keep trying. Just think of it, like we're still way ahead by just being motivated to re-take the exam. I rather be retaking the exam than spend my next 4 years changing career, paying 75K for tuition fees.

To @Broag, I know how it felt to lose credits. My AUD and REG expired on me in 2010. Just keep at it, you'll pass.

I thought I actually pass. I was too fast with my Oct 2016 exam. I finished 3 testlets of MCQs in 2hrs. Done with seven SIMs/TBS in an hour. Lots of time to review SIMS. I think I got caught with the 6 points in MCQs. I did't review them enough.

Recently, I took Another71.com MCQs app seriously. I wasn't supposed to take AUD until next year. But with all these extra work related events around me, I thought I'll get away of sneaking in AUD the last minute, putting 36 hrs doing MCQs, redid 68% of them.

Didn't do any SIMs/TBS, practice exams, and didn't even hit the ‘review' phase of my AUD MCQ app. With all that, I still received a 69% for my last minute effort. A jump of 8 points, sort of happy with that, meaning that Another.com MCQs app actually work if you put the time and effort on it.

I am a Canadian candidate, who doesn't like studying very much, but ambitious enough to have that ‘CPA' credential after my name. So, every 18 month I try to cross the border and write. Either ready or not, I must write to keep my NASBA/AICPA membership active, always trying my luck.

Right now, I am reviewing for FAR, that was postponed, replaced it with AUD the very last minute. My FAR must be taken in Dec 2016, my NTS is expiring in Dec 2016.

Likely, I'll repeat my AUD, as soon as the next exam window, maybe pair it with REG, so my related cost in crossing the border is minimized.

I think, if I did all the MCQs, SIMS/TBS, practice exams, and redid missed MCQs, I could have been celebrating today with my son's 18th birthday, with an AUD passing mark.

Now back to the grind. Good luck to you all.

[hasy]

It's so interesting because I find FAR and REG a lot harder to study for than AUD. I do agree with vanche, that you should try to learn as if you're going to teach someone. For FAR and AUD, how I was able to do well in MCQ is that for each choice, I was able to counter why it was wrong and why it was right. I did try to teach someone as well (that helped a lot). If you're able to study it to the point where you can explain it to others, then you're pretty golden.

Don't despair, you GOT DOWN the 2 HARDEST exams. If you passed REG once, you will pass it again. For audit, I can only say that it's easy to rush through it since there's not much material and it's not very interesting. Again, this is just a message of support. Don't give up.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved - Helen Keller

-

BEC 80 (10/23/15)
FAR 72 (4/2/15); 83 (7/11/16)
REG 52 (4/28/15)
AUD (9/9/16)

Roger + NINJA MCQ + WTB

[Wu]

@Broag I'm a recent Ninja participant who started the CPA process a long long long time ago, gave up on it and recently picked it back up aiming to pass all 4 parts before the exams change. Took AUD last month and were using Ninja for studying material since September. One thing I've noticed during my studying process is that when I was doing the non-practice exam MCQ's, my mind was so used to the pattern of immediately knowing the answer after I made my selection. When I did the practice exam, even during my real exam, I noticed myself second guessing my answers even though I know my answer is/should be right. That “habit” of seeing answers immediately somehow served me negatively towards the final phase of my studying. Instead of doing MCQ's during my final week, I started to taking practice exams to train my brain to get ready for the exam format & review the questions I got wrong after I finish the entire exam.

Hope this helps & don't give up!

[CA-CPAcandidate]

I failed audit with a 74 two months ago, then this time I passed it. Suggestions: Go to see the different types of audit reports, and try to remember what is on them. Good luck! You can do it!

California.
FAR (5/23/2016) - 82
AUD (8/29/2016) - God bless me
-------------------------------------------------------------
CPAExcel + Ninja Notes + Ninja MCQ

[Broag]

I really appreciate all the suggestions and support. I will try to teach my wife about management assertions and the different audit reports. I know a big thing that I haven't been able to cure is my overthinking of EVERYTHING. It's something I've done since I was a kid and just can't help it at times.

I also really like Wu's suggestion. I really, truly, think that you can do too many MCQ and start to have diminishing returns after awhile. Dang. I wish I could retake Audit in a week, because I know I have a chance at passing. I feel like my knowledge is good enough for a passing score.

@Tank – This book looks good and all, but how did you use it for your passing scores if it only went on sale three days ago? Or am I missing something?

REG - 79
FAR - ?
AUD - ?
BEC - ?

[Author]

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