Intro – How to Survive CPA Exam Score Release

Larry – Jeff, I took the AUD exam and am currently waiting for the results. I wanted to seek advice on how to use the NINJA system along with Becker to greatly improve my potential pass rate. I have invested countless amounts of time and energy into the CPA exam and I would like nothing more than to complete FAR this year.

Parth – Thanks for the videos! I am interested in subscribing to NINJA for the monthly. But, before I do, I wanted to ask you something. I am currently taking my review courses with Becker. I have been studying for FAR and should be done with the material by next week. I mainly want to use Ninja as more of a supplemental option to review what I have learned so far. How do you think Ninja can help me with that? I read the study planning strategy, but I don't know how that would apply to me because I have already gone through much of the material with Becker. If you could please give me some guidance when you get a chance, I would appreciate that. Thanks! 

Elisa – If my AUD score expires on 4/30, can I take FAR on 4/30 and keep the credit or does it have to be by 4/29? I'm really pushing it, I know, but living abroad doesn't provide much flexibility. 

Also – I’ve listened to the ninja audios so many times that in my brain I was like “oh yeah, let me just throw this question over to Jeff because we’ve talked about all this accounting stuff so many times now.” 

Anyways, thanks for the response, and a big thanks for ninja! I recommend it to all my friends who are still torturing themselves paying for Becker and watching their videos. Ninja audio and ninja plus have been a delight to listen to and watch. Like really, who doesn't love Bob Monet? I’ve listened to him so many times I feel like y’all are my two accounting pals, well Bob is more like a quirky accounting uncle you want to make proud.

Antony – Hi Jeff! I'm going to start studying for my FAR exam using your NINJA monthly plan and I saw your post that it'll take about 6-7 weeks (20 hours each week) to have a good chance to pass the FAR exam using the NINJA Framework.

I made my 6-week schedule and I was wondering if you could let me know what you think of it. –

Week 1: read the Ninja book
Week 2: MCQs and SIMS
Week 3: Review the wrong questions
Week 4: rewrite Ninja Notes
Week 5: re-do MCQs and Sims
Week 6: final review

I'm sorry if my question is all over the place, but I hope that I can get your opinion on it. It'll be very helpful. 

Rachael – Maybe a secret question, but will you be offering any trial period memberships or sneak peaks to the new ninja monthly plan. Honestly I am not studying right now, but will be again soon. I am starting from no passed tests yet (within 7 pts) and had a concussion and two babies to recover from since my last test. Crossing fingers to study again in the fall! 

I have used ninja notes and a ninja book & test bank but always wanted to try the audio and other products.

Keep up the good work and the awesome products. You rock!!! And one day, I will Rock the CPA exam too!!

Lucy – My name is Lucy and I’m new to Ninja. I just looked through the NINJA Materials and the NINJA framework (in the notes) states that I should watch my CPA review videos first before anything.

By ”videos”, is it the ones from NINJA BLITZ or my Becker lecture videos? I relied on Becker to study for AUD but unfortunately did not pass, so now I’m confused regarding which studying method I should use for my retake, which is in 4 weeks.

Since my time is limited, would it be a bad idea to study solely Ninjia materials for my retake? Would you recommend me to rewatch Becker lectures and redo Becker MCQs + NINJA materials?


Additionally, in terms of NINJA study, would it be a good plan to first listen to the audios (without taking notes), then watch the BLITZ (while taking notes)?

Or visa-versa?

Sorry for shooting you with a bunch of questions at once, and thank you in advance!

Taylor – Hi Jeff! The score release yesterday left me on the “not happy” end of the spectrum. I got a 72 on my re-take for AUD.

The first time I took it I got a 63, which was in December 2017. At that point, I had just been using Gleim, but a friend recommended Ninja as a supplement.

So, I got the most basic Ninja package for AUD, where I used mostly the MCQ (and SIMS), notes, and flashcards. I studied for about 3 weeks, took the re-take in January, and fell short with the 72.

I have been studying for BEC and was planning on taking that one tomorrow, but decided to push it back until the first week of April. If I couldn't pass AUD studying full time for about 6 weeks altogether, then I shouldn't expect to pass BEC after only studying for about a month. 

Do you have any suggestions on how to “study better” when you've failed an exam twice? In summary, I mostly focused on re-reading my own handwritten notes, TONS of MCQ, and re-writing lots of my notes into more condensed blurbs, so to speak, to make it easier to memorize.

Talking with other CPA candidates, it seems like we all used a relatively similar studying strategy. However, they passed and I didn't. 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! –(Although I wouldn't go back to studying for AUD again until after I take BEC)

Yazan – I received my CPA exams scores ( FAR & REG ) & I failed in them for the third time, I passed my first two sections ( AUD & BEC ) in 12/2016, the time is very close to losing everything. 

The sections that I have passed, my money & everything, there will be a delay in score in the next window as usual , and my credit end in 22/05/2018, I affected in score delay in two times in 2017 ( April & May window ) & 2018 Feb window now I want to ask you some questions & I hope that you answer me clearly: What I should do ? and will I have another chance or not ?

Why does the CPA designation seem impossible at times?

If I fail – will I lose everything?

Aastha – Here is my situation:

BEC – Passed, due for expiration 17th April 2018,
REG – 55, 60 (60 in Q1 2018),
AUDIT – Appeared in Q2 2018, 
FAR – NTS is pending

With this I would request you to help my 2 things:-

Firstly, how should I improve my REG score? I desperately need to clear all the exams in single go each time I sit. I know that sounds weird, but any suggestions would be appreciated. Since my BEC section is expiring in a month now, ill have one more exam to sit for. And even with BEC, I had to struggle. I got stuck at 72, 74 and then 75!
Really do not wish to see a similar pattern in future.

Erica – I find that it is taking me a really long time to go through each chapter and I don't feel as if I'm studying efficiently. I'm using Becker materials and am going through the steps of watching each lecture, doing the skills practice, reviewing the module and notecards, and then do multiple choice questions. I repeat this for every module in each chapter.

I was wondering if you had any suggestions on how to speed up my study time. I was considering going through all the lectures of a chapter in one go, and then going back and doing the skills practices and multiple choice questions for each one after.

I got the idea from the live online classes and thought maybe I should apply it to my independent study schedule. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Daniel – I would like to know if you have a plan on how I can study with Ninja and Becker. I have Becker ( Studying for REG) now but I feel that some of the explanations they give are confusing. I would like to try another course so this monthly plan would be fantastic. I'm just afraid that it would confuse me more than it would help. Do you have any suggestions? I'm sure I'm not the first person that feels this way. In advance, Thank you for your time.

Emily – I have CPA Excel from a few years ago, and it's still active as I haven't really had time to hunker down and take the exams since I purchased it. 

Would I be adequately prepared if I were to switch exclusively to the NINJA plan? Or should I still try to continue to supplement with CPA Excel?

Michael – Jeff, when you and the ninjas talk about re-writing notes; do you mean “re-typing” or actually handwriting?

Psychological Science – writing by hand causes you to “think” about the material when you’re taking notes live during a lecture. Writing takes longer and gives you time to soak the information in as you write it – particularly if you’re taking long-hand notes and writing your “fact-nuggets”

Kevin – I might become a ninja. Are you truly a black belt? lol.

Sona – I am using Roger CPA Review and except 2 chapters I have done all chapters and MCQs of Roger. Now FAR is on 9th March, but I am really worried and losing my confidence because I think I will not be able to do the review in 7 days.

By tomorrow I will be finishing rest of my 2 chapters – Business combination and Governmental. I bought Ninja monthly for FAR it and it has around 1500+67 Sims. Would you please suggest me how to wrap up the material in 7 days and finally be confident on the exam day? 


My REG score is expiring on 14/4/18, before that, I have to pass FAR (74- 5/2016) and AUD (59 – 12/2017, 72 – 01/2018)

Please give me some tips and advice on what area to focus, exactly what to do in this situation. I don’t work, study every day from 9 in the morning to 10 pm (with hour breaks).

Sony – I am ninja student who has now passed all the 4 sections and is in the process of obtaining my license. I am short of 30 credits to the 150 rule and was wondering if you would know if I can use my recently completed CIA qualification towards obtaining this remaining 30 credits. Please do help if you have any idea around this. Thanks in advance

Boruch – Would you know what I need to know about measurement methods generally and fair value specifically on the exam?

Joe – Ok, so Jeff – for FAR – I went through a Wiley book, and did all the MCQs and Simulations. It took forever. But I think I really learned the materials and I actually don't know if I passed or not, but I'm presuming I did. We'll see, knock on wood.

Now I just want to bang out the rest in an efficient way. Taking AUD now. I've seen your article and video on how to use just NINJA materials. I've subscribed to your NINJA product. I have a couple of questions – 

1. Should I go through the NINJA books (500 pages each!), or can I get away w/ just rewriting NINJA notes (and maybe supplementing w/ Audio) and moving on to MCQs?

2. If your answer is “yes, you should go through NINJA books, should I take my own notes for each section, or read a section, then copy down the NINJA notes, or some combination thereof where I take my own notes and reconcile it w/ the NINJA notes?

3. Sounds like the videos are something extra that some folks like, but not necessary if you're using books/audio/notes?

Again, the goal is to be as efficient as possible and pass. I wanted to take my time w/ FAR, not so much w/ the rest.

Natalya – I’m about to begin studying for the CPA exam. I graduated from college in 2015 and feel like I’ve forgotten everything I’ve learned.

I’ve watched countless videos on CPA exam tips, joined study groups, and even received Wiley 2016 FAR book from a coworker for free. I’m lost as far as where to even begin. How to break down the book to study the sections and etc.

I have to say that it all seems quite intimidating but I want to get it all behind me. Sure, I would love to buy all possible material to help me study, but on a finance intern budget, obviously, that’s unrealistic.

I’ve considered just buying one book at a time and MCQs that way I don’t put myself in debt but in the long run, I would end up spending more money. Any advice/help would be highly appreciated!

Praise – Hi Jeff, Glad to see that there is a Christian gentleman behind this website.

I feel blessed and grateful! Just to give you a brief background about myself. I'm currently a stay-at-home mom with a busy household studying full time for the CPA exam and trying to figure out whether this is truly my calling. I sat for my very first exam, AUD, on Jan 25th and waiting for the results on March 8th.

I can honestly say that I don't know how I did in the exam. All I know is that halfway through the exam I started to panic because I realized I was running out of time. To say the least, I was shell-shocked after. Shaking uncontrollably when I got to the car not knowing whether to scream or cry.

That night when I got home and after crying it off and isolating myself from my loving and supportive family, I found your site. I was immediately comforted by the comments I found in the aftermath of an exam. Two weeks have passed since AUD and I'm back to studying FAR. I am feeling overwhelmed again and I just got started. I am stumbling a lot in Accrual Accounting and I understand I need to know this by heart to help me in the exam as well as when I start working in the profession.

I have Wiley CPAExcel Platinum and can't afford another review course : (. The mentor has not been very helpful, unfortunately. Can you please advise me on Accrual Income Accounting and how to easily grasp the concept without being overwhelmed? I feel discouraged at the rate I'm going. Please help.

Bonus. Michelle – No question – just THANK YOU for NINJA monthly! This is an amazing way to utilize the ninja program!