Wiley CPA Review + NINJA: 5 Easy Steps to Smash Any CPA Exam in 7 Days
“Wiley CPA Review is a CPA review course that has been on the market for a long time and has lots of practice questions and plenty of video lectures. It’s also a good value.”
“NINJA CPA Review can be a stand-alone CPA Exam study course. However, its price is so reasonable that you can easily use it as a supplement as well. Pricing and access are monthly, so you can use it as long as you need it and cancel anytime.”
– iPassTheCPAExam
Step 1. Nail the Concepts
Fire up your Wiley CPA login and Nail the Concepts with your Wiley video lectures (or Wiley CPA books) & NINJA Audio. Time: 2.5 Weeks
If something is confusing in your Wiley CPA Review materials, look it up in the NINJA Book or NINJA Notes.
Start listening to your NINJA Audio. Never drive to work without it on. You can listen to fun things when you're a CPA. Let that motivate you. 🙂
If your commute is 1 hour round trip, then that's 1 hour of NINJA Audio per day (and that's for the commute alone … if you can work and listen to the NINJA Audio: even better.)
Start reading the NINJA Notes in your downtime, especially at work. It's ok if you haven't studied the section before. It will start clicking the third time through, regardless of where you are in your prep.
Step 2. Intense Notes
Take Intense Notes over your Wiley CPA Review lectures or NINJA Book.
First Time?
Retake?
15th Retake?
It doesn't matter.
Take Intense Notes while watching your Wiley CPA lectures.
Step 3. Non-Stop MCQ
Non-Stop MCQ – Wiley CPA Test Bank or NINJA MCQ. & Take Notes. Time: 2.5 Weeks
If this is your first time taking this exam, then do Non-Stop MCQ with your Wiley CPA Test Bank, and then in the review phase (A – All Comes Together), then you switch to NINJA MCQ and work backward, beginning with your weakest topic.
If this is a retake OR you've found yourself memorizing your Wiley questions, then switch 100% over to NINJA MCQ for this phase. When it comes time to do the SIMS, switch back and forth according to which software you like better.
Again … if this is your first time taking this exam, use your Wiley CPA questions for N (Non-Stop MCQ) and use NINJA MCQ for A (All Comes Together) as you review.
If this is your first time taking this exam and you're memorizing the test bank questions (which is bad because it causes false confidence … you're scoring in the 90s, but on exam day, you score a 65 and can't figure out why), then switch over to NINJA MCQ 100% for both (N) and (A).
SIMS – First time or retake alike: switch back and forth between your Wiley test bank and NINJA MCQ. Depending on which of the Wiley CPA Review courses you have (Pro or Premium), you may have a supplemental Wiley CPA test bank as well.
Step 4. Just Rewrite
Rewrite Your Wiley CPA Review notes or NINJA Notes. Time: 1 Week
We know you took killer notes over your Wiley lectures … re-write those 😀
If taking notes just wasn't in the cards this time around, and you did the best you could do, then I suggest that you re-write the NINJA Notes.
(Listen, I get it – re-writing notes sounds sooo boring. You know what else is sooo boring? Re-studying for a failed exam. Just Do It.)
Step 5. All Comes Together
All Comes Together in a Final Review. Watch NINJA CRAM and the Wiley CPA 11th Hour Final Review. Time: 1 Week
If you're using your Wiley Test Bank in the Non-Stop MCQ phase, this is where you switch over to NINJA MCQ (if you've already switched, then keep using it here as well).
Start with your weakest topics first and work backward. You can let the software feed you questions, but since you're in a final review phase, I recommend doing topic-specific mini-testlets and really drilling down
Do a set of 20 over your weakest area. If you're weak in several areas, choose the one that keeps you awake at night first.
The one you DREAD seeing on exam day.
If you are hitting in the low-70s (70-75), then move on to your next weakest area.
The reason why you don't go for mastery here is that you have a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time for your review. It's better to get all of the topics into the 70s and then come back and hit them again vs. getting a few into the 80s/90s and running out of time before you can get to the rest.
For instance, if you're taking Financial Accounting and Reporting and your weak area is Bonds, then do 20-question mini-testlets until you're scoring in the 70s (which may take 3 or 4 sets) and then move on to your next-weakest area, which might be Leases. Repeat this with Leases, and then move on to the next one – which might be Governmental Accounting, etc.
As you head into your exam – hammer MCQ and read the NINJA Notes every spare millisecond you have.
(Note – if you have 5 minutes to spare – DON'T spend it on Facebook…knock out two pages of NINJA Notes instead).
Everywhere you go – car, gym, sitting at your desk at work, it's NINJA Audio, NINJA Audio, and … you guessed it NINJA Audio.
(I get it – the content is boring, and my voice won't be confused with Morgan Freeman anytime soon but hit Play anyway. You can listen to your Spotify Playlist of 90s Pop Hits AFTER your exam).
NINJA MCQ … NINJA Notes … NINJA Audio on repeat...even up to the minute you leave your vehicle and head into Prometric (what if the extra 3 minutes of some nuance of Corporate Taxation was the difference between a 74 and a 75 on exam day?).
THEN … walk through those Prometric doors with confidence, barf out all of that knowledge in your head, and go sleep for 3 days.
You've earned it.
Total Study Time: 4 or 7 weeks.
Shulem Rosenbaum (Wiley + NINJA)
Elijah Watt Sells Award Winner
“I used the NINJA Notes to summarize my notes and eliminate topics that aren’t tested heavily. I owe it to the NINJA Community. You have been my rock, and I hope to contribute the way you contributed to my success.”
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To Your Success,
Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS)
Founder, NINJA CPA & Another71
