[Starwing6]

Hello everyone, I have just graduated college with my Accounting degree, and I am

looking to pass the CPA exam, preferrably before next year’s changes come about. I will

be free all summer, so I will have lots of time to study.

I plan to take BEC, REG, and AUD starting near July 16th for BEC, spacing each one two

weeks after the last one. So REG or AUD would be July 30th, and the last one would be on

August 13th. I would take FAR and any needed retakes in November, and any retakes needed

again in February.

I have a couple of questions:

1. Is a 2 hour study session followed by a 1 hour break be a good idea? I would have 4 or 5 of these three hour cycles per day, with the first three being dedicated to a separate section and the next cycle or two being used to review a section.

I’ve also considered 90-minute sessions followed by 30-minute breaks based on what I’ve read about a study that said that elite violinists and top performers in other professions use that cycle to achieve maximum productivity. Either one would give me about 60-70 hours of studying per week.

2. I’m a self-studier, and so I’m down to Wiley CPAExcel Platinum versus Gleim for my

review course. I’ve demoed both and like them both. On one hand, I like Gleim because of

the large amount of MCQs and simulations without having to purchase an additional test

bank. I also like that it goes into more depth on the material. However, I like Wiley’s no-questions asked, no hoops partner until you pass policy, whereas with Gleim you have to jump through some hoops if you need to go past 18

months. Unfortunately Wiley’s guarantee does not extend to the WTB in the platinum package. This being said, should I go with Wiley or Gleim?

All assistance is greatly appreciated.

BEC- 94
AUD- 8/9/16
REG- 10/15/16
FAR- 12/3/16

[Yolonge]

I would have hard time focusing straight for 2 hours, especially doing MCQ (imagine doing 1 mcq @ 1 min, that is 120 MCQ in one sitting..)

I personally prefer to take break every testlet (30 mcq). I do not have fixed time, but it can be as low as couple minutes or much higher depending on the situation. I think most people focus better on shorter studies.

I would personally take AUD before BEC/REG. 1 module from BEC/REG is from Audit so you get a bonus. (I suppose you could argue both way) and better yet take FAR first. Any reason why you are not taking FAR first?

If you do not work, I would aim to pass all 4 parts in the summer. I think it is very attainable after the summer you do not have to worry about it.

I am using Wiley study guide with ninja mcq and I think they cover you reasonable for the test. I would recommend getting a review course and supplement it with ninja mcq.

I do not use review course so I cannot say much but I doubt they are very different; after they all teach same material.

Materials: Wiley book + Ninja MCQ

FAR - 83 (Jan 2016)
Study time: 6 weeks
BEC - 87 (April 2016)
Study time: 2 weeks
AUD - 92 (July 2016), (74 Feb 2016), (72 May 2016)
Study time: 4 (Feb) + 2 (May) + 3 (July) = 9 weeks total
REG - (70 April 2016)
Study time: 3 weeks

[Anonymous]

I used CPAexcel and passed three sections on my first attempt…waiting on FAR results to see if I did all four on my first attempt. I also supplemented the CPAexcel material with Ninja MCQs for BEC and FAR. I would definitely suggest CPAexcel and add Ninja MCQs to it. I would basically just go through all of the CPAexcel material and then focus on the Ninja MCQs in the last few weeks leading up to your exams. I think it's a great combo! Good luck to you!

[Starwing6]

Thanks everyone. Ultimately I went with Gleim.

Newbie question, but when I do the MC's I get questions over things that aren't really spelled out in the chapters. For example, I did some MCQs for AUD chapter 1 and got detailed questions on ElderCare (PrimePlus) about details on it that wasn't in the Knowledge Transfer Outline. Is that something that will continue throughout the book, and should that concern me?

BEC- 94
AUD- 8/9/16
REG- 10/15/16
FAR- 12/3/16

[monikernc]

i think all materials in all sections have some outlier topics that are not worth going into any detail in the book but may be a rare exam question topic. if you see it on exam day and remember it they are easy points. don't fret. you will start to get a sense of what you really need to know as you continue.

FAR 7/25/15 76!
AUD 10/30/15 93
BEC 2/27/16 82
REG 5/23/16 88!
Ninja Book and MCQ and the forum - all the way!!!
and a little thing i like to call, time and effort!
if you want things to change, you have to do something different

[Starwing6]

Cool. I'm considering following the NINJA method for my exam and maybe even getting the NINJA MCQs in June.

So my plan for May (seeing I want to take all 4 exams in the summer) is to watch the lectures for all 80 SUs, type up the notes in my own words in a Word Document, then to read the chapter outlines and take more notes in my Word documents.

After I'm done with all that note taking, hit MCQs and simulations hard in June, and add the nuggets of information I pick up to my notes.

Eventually I aim to retype those notes again into my own, more condensed words.

Is that a good understanding of the NINJA method?

BEC- 94
AUD- 8/9/16
REG- 10/15/16
FAR- 12/3/16

[Author]

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