Monday, April 5, 2010

Passing the 100 Hour Mark

9 days remaining (adjusted to final test date - saved 9 days over October 2009 estimate)
Mood - Good
Study Time – 3.5 hours (382.5 total - FAR: 102.5 - BEC: 74.5 - REG: 118.0 - AUD: 89.5)
Scores:  AUD-94, REG-97, BEC-93

I made it through my review of FAR-5.  Reading through this one worried me a bit as there are lots of complex details in it.  It took me longer to read through that section and follow the examples than the previous sections did.  I took a short 10 question 'quiz' out of the Becker software and was a tad worried that I got 7 out of the 10 correct.  Looking at it though 2 of my 3 misses were something simple.  I then did my planned progress test covering sections FAR-1 through FAR-5 & FAR-8 through FAR-9.  This gave me 76 questions, so getting close to the magic 90 I'll actually see on the exam.  It took me about an hour and 20 minutes to get through them.  This is well within my time goals.  I really want to finish the MC section in under 2 hours so I can have a full hour for each simulation.  I got 88% correct on this progress test.  Out of my 9 misses, only 2 were just plain 'wow you blew that one badly' misses.  Most were minor RTCDQ or other minor detailed misses that will be easily avoidable (ie missing the mid-year purchase and giving credit for a full year's income).  It feels good to be scoring in the mid-80s.  That is where I was close to my other exam reviews at this point.  I was worried due to my 70s scoring last week, but it is coming together finally.

 Tomorrow's review will cover pensions.  This was a topic I was slightly below 80% during the normal homework for it.  I've since gone back and written out a couple of notes that I'll review during my reading.  I am hopeful (especially after the last couple of days) that I'll do well on it.  I plan on yet another progress test.  I should be up close to 90 questions tomorrow since I'll have all but one lecture included. 

I can probably get through the rest of my preparation without taking any more time off of work.  I am even debating moving my review of all the simulation problems up one day.  This would have me finishing all my planned review on Sunday (test that next Wednesday).  I might take the day off work anyhow and get some studying done early that day and take the afternoon to relax so I don't burn myself out right before the test.

4 comments:

  1. Do the progress tests have different questions from the sub topic & supplemental ones? Did you do all the supplemental questions for FAR? What level of difficulty were they?
    You seem to be doing well- good luck!

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  2. The progress tests pull questions randomly from the regular and supplemental homework questions. I know this as I recall some of the very annoying supplemental questions that keep getting thrown at me in the last couple of days. I have typically done all of the supplemental questions for all sections. I didn't get to two sections of supplementals in BEC. With FAR I've had a bad case of burn-out. I've only done about 2/3rds of the supplemental questions in FAR. The supplemental questions are typically harder than what I've seen on the actual exam. They are great preparation for the exam though and I strongly recommend people do them as a general rule.

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  3. I cam completely understand the burnout part...you are trying to be done with the cpa exam in 6 months (or is it a little less than that), that's definitely a steep pace. I know I could never do it especially working full time..

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  4. 6 months calendar time. 5 months actual class/study time. I wouldn't do it any other way.

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