[Anonymous]

I got the dreaded 74 on AUD Wednesday night. I passed REG and BEC on the first attempt, and AUD has proven to be tricky as I previously scored a 68 in December. The 74 pissed me off and I am ready to get after it and knock this one out. I already registered and am waiting on my NTS and plan on studying during tax season and retaking AUD at the end of April. I lose REG in August so I have two windows to pass AUD and FAR.
I want to make the most efficient use of my time for the retake, and hopefully some of you can help me as I am quite frustrated studying this material for the 3rd time.

I use Roger, and my typical study plan is:
– Watch lectures and take notes – get through all sections
– Do blocks of 20 MCQ on each previous section to keep it fresh as I work through the material
– After all videos have been viewed, re-write ALL of my notes
– Start working MCQ’s and determine weak areas, revisit those lectures
– Work through SIMs, and continue doing blocks of MCQ on each section
– Make a final review cheat sheet with topics or concepts crucial to the exam or trouble areas

I have used only Roger to this point, and I am concerned with seeing the MCQ and SIMs for the 3rd time. I am thinking about supplementing with NINJA. I would watch the videos again and re-write my notes, but then use the NINJA products for MCQ and SIM practice, and maybe even watch lectures on the trouble areas to get a difference point of view from what Roger takes.
Am I missing anything in my plan? Anything you guys would tweak? I think knocking AUD out and feeling confident will go a long way towards me tackling FAR. Hopefully I can get both of these done by August.

[alloverit]

Two things: 1) Make sure you work through the SIMS and research questions on the sample AICPA test about 5-6 times.

Highlight MCQs that could be twisted into a SIM or a part of a SIM. I went through all 2000 something MCQs then found 500 key ones and reviewed them again.

Try to understand the THEORY behind AUD ie. “management is responsible for the financial statements” “materiality”, etc. AUD has a handful of basics that you can fall back on when doing the MCQs. Take FAR for example. “conservatism” is a key concept…use it to determine the answer whenever in doubt. Doing so will net you 2-3 extra points during an exam…I promise.

Hope this helps

[Anonymous]

I would recommend reading the books instead of watching the videos again. His videos are excellent, especially for the audit exam, but they don't replace reading the book.

[Anonymous]

I did not look at the AICPA examples last time, I will certainly do that this time around. I have read the book on my trouble areas, but I will incorporate that again as well.

Wednesday was devastating, I keep telling myself that if I can get a 74, I can get a 75+ with more hard work. And if I can pass 3 sections of this exam, I can pass the last one (FAR).

[Author]

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