How To Pass Any CPA Exam Section Using Any Course + NINJA in 5 Easy Steps
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1. Nail the Concepts
Nail the Concepts with your course lectures.
If something is confusing in your course materials, look it up in the NINJA Book or NINJA Notes.
Start listening to your NINJA Audio. Never drive to work without it on. You can listen to fun things when you're a CPA. Let that motivate you. 🙂
If your commute is 1 hour round trip, then that's 1 hour of NINJA Audio per day (and that's for the commute alone … if you can work and listen to the NINJA Audio: even better.)
Start reading the NINJA Notes in your downtime, especially at work. It's ok if you haven't studied the section before. It will all start clicking the third time through, regardless of where you are in your prep.
2. Intense Notes
Take Intense Notes over your course lectures.
First Time? Retake? 15th Retake? It doesn't matter. Take Intense Notes.
Used the proven method provided in the NINJA Study Framework.
3. Non-Stop MCQ
Non-Stop MCQ (Course or NINJA MCQ).
If this is your first time taking this exam, then do Non-Stop MCQ with your course Test Bank and then in the review phase (A – All Comes Together), then you switch to NINJA and work backward, beginning with your weakest topic.
If this is a retake OR you've found yourself memorizing your course MCQ, then switch 100% over to NINJA MCQ for this phase. When it comes time to do the SIMS, switch back and forth, according to which software you like better.
Again … if this is your first time taking this exam, use your course questions for N (Non-Stop MCQ) and use NINJA MCQ for A (All Comes Together) as you review.
If this is your first time taking this exam and you're memorizing the test bank questions (which is really bad because it causes false confidence … you're scoring in the 90s, but on exam day, you score a 65 and can't figure out why), then switch over to NINJA MCQ 100% for both (N) and (A).
SIMS – First time or retake alike: switch back and forth between the two platforms.
4. Just Rewrite
Just Rewrite Your Course Notes.
We know you took killer notes now… re-write those 😀
If taking notes just wasn't in the cards this time around and you did the best you could do, then we suggested re-write the NINJA Notes.
5. All Comes Together
It All Comes Together in a Final Review.
If you're using your course MCQ in the Non-Stop MCQ phase, this is where you switch over to NINJA MCQ (if you've already switched, then keep using it here as well).
Start with your weakest topics first and work backward. You can let the software feed you questions, but since you're in a final review phase, I recommend doing topic-specific mini testlets and really drill-down.
Do a set of 20 over your weakest area. If you're weak in several areas, then choose the one that keeps you awake at night first.
The one you DREAD seeing on exam day.
If you are hitting in the low-70s (70-75), then move on to your next weakest area.
The reason why you don't go for mastery here is that you have a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time for your review. It's better to get all of the topics into the 70s and then come back and hit them again vs get a few into the 80s/90s and run out of time before you can get to the rest.
For instance, if you're taking Financial Accounting and Reporting and your weak area is Bonds, then do 20 question mini-testlets until you're scoring in the 70s (which may take 3 or 4 sets) and then moe onto your next-weakest area, which might be Leases. Repeat this with Leases, and then move onto the next one – which might be Governmental Accounting etc.
As you head into your exam – hammer MCQ, and read the NINJA Notes every spare millisecond you have.
(Note – if you have 5 minutes to spare – DON'T spend it on Facebook…knock out two pages of NINJA Notes instead).
Everywhere you go – car, gym, sitting at your desk at work, it's NINJA Audio, NINJA Audio, and … you guessed it NINJA Audio.
(I get it – the content is boring, and my voice won't be confused with Morgan Freeman anytime soon, but hit Play anyway. You can listen to your Spotify Playlist of 90s Pop Hits AFTER your exam).
NINJA MCQ … NINJA Notes … NINJA Audio on repeat…even up to the minute you leave your vehicle and head into Prometric (what if the extra 3 minutes of some nuance of Corporate Taxation was the difference between a 74 and a 75 on exam day?).
THEN … walk through those Prometric doors with confidence, barf out all of that knowledge in your head, and go sleep for 3 days.
You've earned it.
“Thank you Jeff!! It definitely would've not happened without your MCQs… Thank you!! NINJA MCQ – A must! Solving through all of the MCQ, understanding solutions, and adding new information nuggets to your notes — absolutely critical.
With the NINJA Notes, I printed out the notes and used them as a knowledge check closer to the exam. Information is high-level, so you can quickly run through and get a comfort level on what you should go back to review in detail.
NINJA Audio is nice to use during the commute or if you are an auditory learner. The Audio MCQ is nice to keep you engaged.”
– Olga Timirgalieva, Elijah Watt Sells Award Winner
“After taking three exams I was in reach of the EWS award. I knew that I needed a high score on my last exam to get it, so I decided to use NINJA MCQ and practice tests to supplement my Becker materials.
The questions and practice tests were extremely useful, they helped me find some weak spots I didn’t even know I had and gave me the extra practice I needed to get my best score of any of the exams.”
I thought it was set up really well and had a different approach which definitely helped.”
– Brian Wright, Elijah Watt Sells Award Winner (Becker + NINJA)
Have a Question? Message Me.
Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS)
NINJA CPA Review
PS – Check out our Free Downloads.
