Almost Exam Day Again

54 days remaining
Mood - Ok
Study Time – 2.0 hours (280.0 total - BEC - 73.5 - REG: 118.0 - AUD: 89.5)
Scores:  AUD-94, REG-??

I did a general overview of the material tonight.  I also made it through the rest of the IT addendum that I had been ignoring for a couple of weeks.  There wasn't much in it that was unfamiliar to me though (finally a benefit to being a computer nerd!).  I have two pages of basic notes (mostly formulas).  I plan on narrowing it down to just a couple that I want to put on my scratch paper for reference.  It will also serve as a good thing to read right before going into the testing center.

I would also like to take a moment to say something about Jeff's Another71.com site and specifically about his premium service Club 75.  Anyone that needs to take REG and/or FAR should sign up for a month of his premium service.  Part of his premium thing is he sends you his hand-written notes for REG and typed notes for FAR.  These things alone easily justify the $20 for 1 month.  I can't believe I didn't have the REG notes for studying (just signed up this past weekend well after I sat for the REG exam).  The only thing I noticed is you would need to update the casualty loss item from $100 to $500 to reflect the change that became testable this year.  There are other benefits to it as well, but getting your hands on those notes are the big benefit that I see.

On a more frustrating note, the AICPA has still not released any REG Wave 1 scores to the state boards.  All other sections have been released (last week or Monday).  Murphy's Law is alive and well for me on that.

The Test Giveth & The Test Taketh Away

55 days remaining
Mood - bleh
Study Time – 3.0 hours (278.0 total - BEC - 71.5 - REG: 118.0 - AUD: 89.5)
Scores:  AUD-94, REG-??

Yesterday's 81% on the practice final exam #1 was too good to be true.  I got 73% on practice final exam #2 today.  The good news is I did really well on the calculation problems.  I think I missed 4 calculation problems and 1 of those was a stupid issue that should reoccur.  The down side is the twisted theory questions have me running in circles.  Half of the questions I missed were minor issues that I took some notes on and should be good on.  The other half were things I knew but couldn't figure out what the question or answer was saying.  Those are going to be the luck of the draw.  Overall I think I have a decent shot at passing this section.  It is way closer than I'd like it to be, but I think I've still got it.  I did find one error in the Becker software.  The answer I had was right even though it marked it wrong.  The answer itself referenced back to the answer I selected as the correct answer.

BEC Practice Final Exam #1

56 days remaining
Mood - nervous but not manic
Study Time – 3.0 hours (275.0 total - BEC - 68.5 - REG: 118.0 - AUD: 89.5)
Scores:  AUD-94, REG-??

I took the first practice final in the Becker software tonight.  I got 73 out of 90 for 81%.  This is below my margin of comfort, but would have been enough to pass.  The Becker final exams are also trickier than what I should actually see on the exam.  I actually did pretty well on the calculation problems.  Four of my  seventeen misses were RTCDQ problems.  Three more mistakes were missing an item in the description that figured into my calculation (basically another 3 RTCDQ issues).  While I still am not confident in this section the feelings of panic are subsiding.  I only had 2 questions where I really went "how in the hell am I suppose to figure that one out?"  On the timing side of things I am a lot closer than I'd like to be.  I finished with 6 minutes remaining.  I didn't feel like the practice test was very calculation intensive though.  Sadly, it really is going to come down to the luck of the draw on exam day.

On a side note, the AICPA still has not released the REG scores to the states.  This means I'm probably looking at a Thursday (if lucky) or Friday release.  This opens the debate of should I even consider looking at the score Friday morning before my test (if it is even available then)?  I'm still figuring on my test being bumped into Wave 2 just because that is how my luck rolls.  That doesn't stop me from being a bit obsessive over the score though.

Good News / Bad News

57 days remaining
Mood - a bit better
Study Time – 3.0 hours (272.0 total - BEC - 65.5 - REG: 118.0 - AUD: 89.5)
Scores:  AUD-94, REG-??

The good news is I got right at 90% on the progress test today.  The bad news is twofold.  One, the problems I'm having issues with are the calculation-intensive questions.  Two, this section of the exam now scares me.  Initially this was going to be one of my easy sections, especially since there is no written part.   Now I am a bit scared of this test.  I can write out the formulas for the areas I'm having issues with easily now.  I will write it down on my scratch paper before I start the exam.  Calculating what to plug into the formula given the questions' messed up way of giving you the data is the issue. 

Tomorrow I'll take a crack at the first of the practice final exams.  I've heard the practice finals are harder than the actual exams.  If I can get 85% on it I'll feel pretty good.

A Better Day

58 days remaining
Mood - a bit better
Study Time – 4.5 hours (269.0 total - BEC - 62.5 - REG: 118.0 - AUD: 89.5)
Scores:  AUD-94, REG-??

Today was better than yesterday's nightmare.  I spent some time focusing in on the variance stuff I was having issues with before.  I thought I had it down pat but the questions proved otherwise.  I redid all the sections I was below 85% in.  I got right at 90% on all the questions I worked.  The big variance stuff was still problematic as I only got 78% on those.  The good news is that is almost a 10% improvement over yesterday's performance.  All in I felt like I was going to do good on them and then the way the questions twisted everything around got me flustered.  The good news is that the time I took on each question was a lot less today than yesterday.  

I've got to get going on my overall review tomorrow.  I can't really afford to spend another 5-6 hours working on this material if it means I'll blow it on the other material.  I'll do a progress test tomorrow to see how my timing and overall score comes out.