soontobecpa wrote: Can you give an example...I didnt quite understand what you meant by wording of the question... Thank you so much!

I have come across a few questions in Becker where I mark the answer wrong and when I look at the answers I go-- Ohhh, so this is what they were as asking for.

Right Now, I cannot come up with any question but once I come across I will make sure to put it here.

Thanks

My plan:

Starting Sunday (04/09/2009) I will have about 7 weeks to study for the BEC exam. My plan is to watch the lecture for each chapter on Sundays and spend the following week working on the MC questions and doing other studying from the Becker materials. That will give me 4 hours on Sunday and then I’m planning on spending around 2-3 hours a day during the week doing the MC questions and going over material from the book for that chapter. I do not have class Thursday or Friday so I basically have a four day weekend ever week that affords me plenty of studying time. After 5 weeks I will have gone through the BEC material. I graduate on May 16^th which leaves be roughly 2-3 weeks to study “full time” before I take the exam. My plan is to go over all the material (lectures and MC questions) again for each chapter prior to taking the exam. I actually have not received my notice to schedule but it should be coming soon and I anticipate being able to take the exam during the last week of May.

So, how does my plan sound? I’m really not sure how to approach studying for the exam. I haven’t really looked at the material since my firm paid for the course and I received my material. I noticed that each book has a sample study plan but I wasn’t sure how good they were or if they were the best way to formulate a study plan. I know the exam(s) will be challenging and that I will need to be really disciplined in my studying. My friends who are taking the exam or who have passed all four sections have said that if I put in the right amount of time and dedication to studying that I’ll pass the first time through no problem. They’ve all said that Becker is great and that 20 hours a week of studying for several weeks would prepare me for each section. What should I do differently? How have you approached studying for the BEC section or any other section of the exam?

Thanks for any advice you can offer!!!

First, if the AICPA says 60 hrs is the recommended time, I think they're in lala land.  I highly doubt 60 hrs is enough to master the material.  When you get to the cost accounting and budgeting and planning chapters they're going to stump you, unless you're a CMA already.

As for my study plan...here's what I did.

I used Gleim, took a practice exam to determine by base knowledge.  Read the chapter, took the questions at the midpoints and end of the chapter, then moved onto the next chapter.

I did that until I did all 20 chapters in BEC.  Then I went through the software and sorted out only past CPA questions and drilled them non-stop.  If I had difficult sections, I would review them in the chapters but I found Gleim to be a bit lacking in their material so I had to refer to my old textbooks.  Fortunately, I still have my textbooks so it wasn't too bad.

Do I think my plan worked?  Honestly, I don't know.  I'll let you know when I get my score.  Based on my experience from the exam however, I feel looking back I could be better prepared.  Of course, I felt fully prepared and confident going into the exam - coming out was a different story.

What I would do differently...

Study ALL Gleim questions - publisher, cma, cpa, cia, everything! If not for anything except that they will teach you and drill the core concepts.  By core concepts I mean further then just facts or how to calculate variance, but why variance is calculated the way it is or why specific things are done the way they are.

I think if you know the core concepts beyond carrying out calculations or basic facts, then you're good.

I would also leave myself much more time between when I "finish" studying and actually take the exam.  I finished chapter 20 about a week before the exam and had a week for final review.   I felt it wasn't enough.  It put too much stress on me in that I "must study today" even when life interfered and due to work I just couldn't fit in study time.

For FAR, my next part, I honestly have no idea how I'm going to approach it.  I'm taking it easy the next few days and going to regroup and relax before thinking about studying again.

Good luck to everyone in their studying!

Christine