please help.  i barely passed bec and just recently found out i failed audit (score was 66). 

what is your study method?  mine is to read the book front to back once, skim it front to back once, then work MPC questions and get some simulation practice in. 

my other question is for the people who have done self study for one exam, and then becker for another exam.  Or another scenario would be did you self study for a section, fail and take becker and pass or vice versa.  What is the difference?  Is becker able to help you pass?  Does it have that extra edge?  Please respond.  thanks.  good luck to everyone.

1st I would like to start by saying... there is NO barley passing this test! You either passed or failed. With that being said, you PASSED BEC so don't be worried about what percentage you received because it makes no difference in the grand scheme of things. Additionally, it does no have any influence on the other scores either because they are all seperate and exclusive. When I studied my butt off for REG. and thought I killed it, I finally recieved my grade and it was "barley" passing... I was worried just like you, but I am now moving on to my 4th test and I have still yet to fail one, and I knew REG. better then any other... SO DONT WORRY ABOUT THAT! :)

As for the study method... this is probably the most important part of successfully passing this test. It's all about your approach. Therefore if I was you I would think about taking a new and more refined approach.

Here is what worked for me thus far:

Read the chapter once on your own. Then watch the Becker lecture or whatever you are using (if you are using one). If not then just move on to the next step. Next, do MCQ. Mark the ones you get wrong and the ones you just guessed and got correct. Re-read notes, but this time only the important stuff. During this read, you will notice the stuff that is important because you will see it from the MCQ questions. Then make flash cards (although this step may be more useful in some parts morse so then others, for an example reg. and aud. flash cards are VERY useful, as apposed to fare and bec which they are not as helpful, or so i find). Now do simulations.

Move on to next chapter, and do the same exact steps. 

IMPORTANT: after 1 or 2 chapters go back to the MCQ and do the ones you got wrong, or take a "becker progress test on those chapters" to refresh your memory. Remember reptition is key.

Finally when all is said and done. Redo all the MCQ questions again, and mark down the ones you get wrong AGAIN, and write an explanation as to why. Re-do sims if you have time. And re-read only important parts of chpts if you have time.

Yes, I know this sounds like a lot, but IF you do this... YOU WILL PASS the CPA!

Finally, my last point before I stop babbling... The best way to approach this method is to write our a clear and defined schedule for the entire weeks/months you are planning to study. DETAILED SCHEDULE. If you know what you need to get done in a week, you will do it. If you just dabble, you will not get everything you need to do, done!

GOOD LUCK, and hope this was helpful! 

Mini is right on the money.  You must develop a study plan and keep detailed track of your progress with spreadsheets or other things.  This is more important then the actual studying part!  Below is what I did, hope it helps. 

FIRST REVIEW

Step 1.  Read the chapter and type it into an outline format in Microsoft Word.  These are your goals:

-         -  Condense the material (try restating in your own words)

-         -  Try to understand some of the material as you are converting it to an outline (you do not have to understand it all, do not get discouraged)

-         -  Make the outline organized and easy to reference in the future, your goal is to get the outline to a point where you can reference the outline instead of the book if you have a question later on

Step 2.  Do the multiple choice questions and simulations at the end of each chapter (concentrate on the MCQs).  Put your results in a spreadsheet so you can indicate your strong, weak, and shaky areas.  Don’t get discouraged if you get a lot of them wrong.  If you see what you think is an important point, make it into a flash card (or just type a bunch of questions and answers into a list in Word like I did.)  Quiz yourself on these every day. 

Step 3.  Go through your outline and make flashcards out of any important points (or add them to question and answer list).  

Step 4.  Move on to the next chapter and repeat until done with all chapters

SECOND REVIEW

Step 1.  Go through all multiple choice questions again.  The objective is not just to answer the question correctly, but to understand the concepts behind the questions.  For concepts you are strong on that you will not forget before the exam, mark on your spreadsheet you are done with them so you don’t do them again.  Keep adding material you need to know to the list of questions and answers that you have been quizzing yourself on. 

Step 2.  Go through all your typed outlines and remove information you definitely know.  Try to condense the outline for each chapter down to about 1-2 pages. 

Step 3.  By now your list of questions and answers is probably pretty big, start to remove the questions you know the answers to by heart. 

THIRD REVIEW

Just keep doing the steps in the second review over and over until you have absorbed most of the info.  My goal was to really know 90% of the material on the exam.  There are some EXTREMELY difficult concepts in each section that are such a small part of the exam it was not worth studying in detail.  If you decide to skip something I would try to at least learn some basic stuff about it.  But if you really know through and through 85-90% of the material on the exam, you should be fine unless you get really unlucky and get a graded simulation on the 10-15% you don’t know.  Even then you may be ok and end up passing.  Just remember to use the research tab for the stuff you don’t know!

The steps I use in preparing go as follow:

First, I take the Becker lecture and watch the first section - Becker breaks down each lecture into like 3-7 sections.  I watch the first section - after finishing viewing the lecture, I go through the book and take notes in Word of everything, especially stuff they tell you to memorize etc. - after I take my notes, I then do the MCQ for that section of the lecture.  Rinse and repeat until done with all lectures and MCQ.  I then go back and do the sims one at a time (in my opinion, the sims aren't that important to practice as you either know the material or you don't) - after the sims, I start the final review program and after finishing that, I just start doing MCQ by the dozens until test time, zoning in on what I know are problem areas.