Long time, No study...

BEC: 58.5 hours/??, FAR: 3 hours/??, AUD:0 hours/??, REG: 0 hours/??

I haven't posted in well over a week (almost 2) and I have only managed to get in 16 hours of studying in that time...there are many reasons for this, but I am back on track and need to just focus on staying on track...this certainly isn't easy and trying to stay motivated has been a little bit of a challenge...

I did decide to move my test date back a week, so now I will take it at 12:30 Monday April 11th. The fee for changing the test date was $35 and well worth it since I have more time to prepare...

I have mentioned this forum before, but the people over at http://www.another71.com/cpa-exam-forum/ are really informative and have indicated that Becker does not do a great job with the BEC IT section. That is the section I am finishing right now and don't like the idea that all this time spent on IT won't really be helpful...I now have to research what I may need to know in addition to what Becker has taught...I also think it is a little frustrating that their course is lacking in this key area...(if the rumors are true...)

Ok, back to studying the rest of the afternoon today and all of tomorrow. My goal is to finish the IT section and about half of BEC-5. I hope to get in about 15 hours of studying in that time frame.

Seriously?!

BEC: 42.5 hours/??, FAR: 3 hours/??, AUD:0 hours/??, REG: 0 hours/??

OMG I just can't win! I feel like I should have a started a blog about my problems rather than my CPA experience...I think the world is against me actually passing this thing...

To explain, my husband was just laidoff. The economy is supposed to be getting better right? He has been out of college for 8 years and had a decent job and now he has to start the job search all over again...meanwhile I am supposed to focus on studying?! Seriously?!

Well, anyway...that April 4th deadline is not going to be reasoned with, so I still have to try and be prepared...I studied the first section of BEC-3 carefully and felt like I knew it well and then the stinkin homework questions kicked my butt! I scored 73%, but was expecting 90% based on my review of the chapter...goes to show how tricky some of these questions can be... 

My goal for the rest of today is to get through as much of the BEC-3 homework as possbile. I have a lot of homework for my online classes this weekend as well as midterms for both, so I am going to lose a lot of time to that...oh and Happy St. Patrick's Day! Send some luck my way please!

More Blah...

BEC: 39 hours/??, FAR: 3 hours/??, AUD:0 hours/??, REG: 0 hours/??
WOW...how do people actually do this more than once? I mean, I am loathing this entire process and everything about it that I am incredibly motivated to PASS on my first try! Having said that, I don't doubt many people have felt that way and then didn't pass...I feel for ya because that would suck suck suck!

Ok, as for my weekend...again I lost Saturday because of work and online classes and I lost an hour because of stinkin daylight saving time...I still managed 7.5 hours today:

I finished the Supplemental questions that I gave up on for BEC-2 and felt much much better about them. I was thinking more clearly and was able to work through them, only missing 5 of 36. I am happy with that! A few I missed because I didn't TiT (Think it Through) or RTCDQ (Read the Cocka-Doody Question). I love these acronyms btw!! Many fellow CPAs and Candidates over at http://www.another71.com/cpa-exam-forum/ mention these all the time. (I am totally a stalker of this great great forum!)

Then I watched the lectures for BEC-3. BLAH is all I can say! The information was overwhelming and I am hoping I am able to sort through it all and get through the questions earlier this week so I can get through BEC-4 lectures and questions by Sunday. I do like Becker lectures with Peter better than Mike. I think he does a much better job going through the material and keeping my interest...

I am also really feeling the pressure of the deadline rapidly approaching! I have 3 weeks from tomorrow to get fully prepared. I am scared that just isn't enough time, but I may never feel like I've had enough time to prepare...at some point I just have to face this thing (April 4th to be exact!).

Blah...

BEC: 31.5 hours/??, FAR: 3 hours/??, AUD:0 hours/??, REG: 0 hours/??
I was trying so so hard to finish up BEC-2 today and the last part about hedging was making me want to stab my eyes out! More than 2/3rds of the chapter was marked "Independent Study", yet most of the questions were about those topics. I really think the lecture should have covered a little more of this section and Mr. Mike Potenza said we didn't need to focus on the material he didn't go over...HUH?!

I had been doing well on the multiple choice for BEC-2 before today and then I missed 8 out of 20 of this last group of questions! That is horrible and my confidence has gone way way down...I started the supplemental questions and was instantly overwhelmed and had to stop because I was missing ones that I knew and was just confusing myself. I am going to walk away for tonight and work on my homework for Fund Accounting and hope that tomorrow will be a better day. This weekend will be devoted to lectures and homework for BEC-3.

Can I really Survive 6 MONTHS of this?!

BEC: 21 hours/??, FAR: 3 hours/??, AUD: 0 hours/??, REG: 0 hours/??

Ok, So I got home from work with a bad headache...my stinkin brain was not wanting to cooperate with my study plans, so I napped with my dogs for a few hours. It was kind of nice :) I thought I'd share a picture of one of my Boston Terriers Lilo doing what she does best...

After my short nap, I got up and started the lectures for BEC-2 with a dull headache still looming. I finished the rest of the lectures, which took about 3 hours. After I post this, I am going to go over the flash cards for BEC-1 at least once before bed. Then tomorrow I plan to review them again and start reading through BEC-2 and doing the homework. The topics for this section didn't seem too hard, so I am hoping my passing rates are better this time. I am already getting tired of working and coming home and studying every single day. And then spending my entire days off studying and this is pretty much the first week of it...I am starting to doubt that I can actually do this for the next 6 months...

Study Study Study

BEC: 18 hours/??, FAR: 3 hours/??, AUD: 0 hours/??, REG: 0 hours/??

WOW! I spent my entire Sunday studying! Of course there was the occasional distraction like the phone ringing, my animals fighting and Tap Zoo on my iPhone, but all in all I am impressed with myself! My weekend went like this:
Friday:
3 hours working on homework problems for BEC-1 and not doing so hot on them. My pass rates were about 70% (or worse!)
Saturday:
I wasn't able to study after work because I had homework for my online classes due...Fund accounting is frustrating!!
Sunday:
9 hours working on the rest of the homework for BEC-1 and going over all problems I had gotten wrong. My pass rates were much improved, expecially with the cost accounting problems. I like cost accounting!
1 hour (so far) watching lectures for BEC-2. I WILL finish the lectures tonight and tomorrow while studying the flashcards for BEC-1.

Forgot to mention that I scheduled this section of the exam! I thought it would force me to stay on track, so I am officially taking BEC on April 4th! I have to be fully prepared 4 weeks from tomorrow!!!!!! That seems like plenty of time, but there is a lot of little things to know...

Ok back to Becker and Mr. Mike Potenza!

Life happens...

BEC: 5 hours/??, FAR: 3 hours/??, AUD:0 hours/??, REG: 0 hours/??

WOW! I think that I said it best in my last post and quite possibly had fortune telling skills when I said this was the "first of many bumps in the road..." I have not blogged nor studied in more than a month. This was not my plan by any means, but life has this funny way of changing your plans without even bothering to notify you in advance.

The weekend before I was to start my Becker Online courses for the BEC section, I had a very serious personal family emergency happen. What was going on not only consumed my time and energy, but I was in no state to even think about studying. At the time I am writing this, things are slowly getting back to normal...it will certainly take some time, but I finally felt like getting back to studying yesterday.

I am WAY behind now with my online course and am afraid to login to see what the consequences may be for this. I did contact the teacher, but I am not sure that did me too much good as he wasn't really able to help me very much. I didn't feel like following through with calling the 1-800 number, so I am studying with the CDs and will then upload my progress once I catch up. Yesterday I watched all the lectures for Becker BEC-1, which took about 5 hours. Today I am going to go back through the book and start working on the homework questions. There are 207 for this first section of the BEC book. My goal is to get through all of those at least once and the lectures for BEC-2 before the weekend is over. I am going to try my best to stay on task, but that doesn't seem to be in my control at the moment...