California Vacation: Wine, Cheese & REG ??

I recently went on an awesome vacation to San Francisco / Sonoma Valley. It was the most relaxing, most gorgeous vacation of my life thus far. (I plan on having many more!) We flew into San Fran on Saturday. We spent Saturday and Sunday being our own tour guides by giving ourselves a walking tour! What a great city! But sooooo many hills! We definitely got our workouts in. (Not to mention we did take advantage of the hotel gym a few times!)   Monday morning we woke up and headed up to Sonoma Valley.  It is about an hour and half drive. We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge. What a treat for this East Coast Girl! As soon as we crossed the bridge we could immediately tell we were out of the city.  Words can't even explain how gorgeous the scenery is out there! I had my head out the window snapping pictures every time we had to drive somewhere.  I just couldn't get enough! (My pictures are now my screen saver on my home computer!)

We could tell as soon as we reached Sonoma Valley. Grapes! As far as the eye could see! For the next three days we enjoyed the scenery and attended wine tastings.  Our tasting included Hanna Winery, Alder Brook Winery and Korbel Champagne Cellars. Hanna was just a wine tasting. It was relaxing to sit on the deck and look out over the vineyards while tasting some fabulous wine. We toured the grounds of Alder Brook and then were treated to a magnificent lunch! While we ate we enjoyed the beautiful views of the vineyards. I had an amazing time at both; however, I personally had the best time at Korbel! Again, we were treated to lunch. (Seriously, the lunches consisted of some of the best food I have ever tasted!) We were able to eat our lunch while enjoying the scenery. Then we were taken on a private VIP tour. The first part was the history of the Korbel Champagne Brand. Who knew the Korbel Brothers didn't set out to make Champagne. But we are sure glad they did! This part is available to the public. If you are ever in Sonoma County I highly suggest this tour and tasting! The second part, which is not open to the public, we were able to take a look at how the champagne is made from start to the finish product in boxes ready to be shipped to the retailer. I really enjoyed seeing how my champagne goes from grapes into that delicious bubbly! These three vineyards were beyond amazing and hospitable! We had a few other wineries that we were scheduled to visit but time did not allow anymore visits or tastings. I suggest any of the wine / champagne they produce!

We headed back to San Francisco. We hopped a train and went down to AT&T Park. Too bad the Giants were away that week. We walked around the outside of the ballpark. If we ever head back to San Francisco we will make sure we either get a tour of the ballpark or go when the Giants are home! After we were done seeing the sites the outside of the ballpark had to offer we went for a walk along the bay. We enjoyed exploring the different piers had to offer. On our last day we walked the Golden Gate Park. Neither of us wanted to come home. We had a wonderful vacation exploring as much as we could fit into our time on the West Coast!

The only thing that could have made our West Coast vacation more enjoyable would be if I didn't have that black cloud of studying for the CPA Exam hanging over my head.  I did bring my REG textbook with me. I had all intentions of studying on the flight. It is 6 hours from East to West! I decided to sleep as much as possible on the way there as I was gaining 3 hours to my day and if you know me at you know I LOVE my sleep.  At night when we were sitting around the hotel rooms watching TV I pulled out my book and started reviewing multiple choice questions. I think I studied about one hour probably every other night out there. I did study on our flight home, as I knew I needed to stay awake so I could get back to east coast time more easily.  Although, studying for REG could have easily put me to sleep! I completed unites 1-4 of my REG studies while on vacation. It might not be much, but I am proud of myself for studying when I much rather be spending time with my husband on vacation. He is so understanding. He left me alone while I was studying for those few hours at night at the hotel. I know he would have rather had been spending time with me then watching TV. But that's the life of a CPA Candidate and their family!

My vacation studying may not have been hardcore but I can promise you and myself that my studies have kicked up since arriving home. I will not let REG or any part of the CPA exam get the best of me. I will give it my all and never give up!

My Study Plan

Today I sat for FAR. I don't know how it went. I never know how it goes until I get the official score. 

One of my twudygroup friends (I will explain twudygroup in a later post) asked me how many times I "over'd and over'd and over'd." I wish I could give her a simple answer like I "over'd and over'd and over'd" each question 5 times. But it really isn't that easy. Some questions I might have actually only done once. Others I probably couldn't even count that high without my 10-key (lame accountant joke!).  She asked via Direct Message on Twitter.  There is no way I could answer her question in 140 characters.  So I am going to do it right here and everyone can get the benefit of my answer. 

First, I want to remind you while I have passed individual sections of the CPA exam, I have not passed all in the time frame allowed. Thus, I am not a CPA, YET! I am not an expert in studying and I am not claiming to be one.  So please realize my study habits may not be the ones that work best for you.

Second, I do believe everyone needs to over and over and over no matter what your study habits are. The information needs to stick in your brain. No better way then repetition.

I currently use CPAExcel as my study course.  It is broken down into topics, then subtopics then bite sized subtopics.  As you complete each bite sized subtopic the topic turns a color. Red - You don't know shit! Better do it again! Orange - You know more than shit but you should review it. Yellow - You are almost there! One more time! Green - You go it. Move on! (The explanations are courtesy of me!) Each topic has video lectures (these are extra - I did purchase them), the chapter out of the textbook, Proficiency Questions, Exam Questions, Flashcards, and if applicable, task based simulations. I also have used Wiley Online Test Bank for variety. My over and over and over works with both and just about every test you will ever have to take in your life.

So without further ado here is my study plan for every section of the exam without me even looking at how much there is and how much time I have. This is what I do.

I go straight to the Exam Questions. In CPAExcel there can be anywhere from 1 question to 30 questions in this part depending on the material. I complete all these questions on exam mode. Exam mode is just as it sounds. You are timed and don't see the correct answers until you complete that section. This is the mode that the color indicators happen. I get my percentage correct for that topic. Then I go back and redo all the questions in study mode. Study mode tells you right away if your answer if the correct or incorrect. It gives you an explanation of why it is the correct / incorrect answer. It doesn't matter if I got it correct or incorrect I read ALL the wrong answers and then the correct one. Then reread the question with the correct answer. If there is a section I really don't understand I will watch the lecture. If I still don't understand I will read that section of the textbook. I make study cards for not only the topics I don't know at all but also for the topics that I semi know. The only study cards I don't make are the ones that I ABSOLUTELY know. I sometimes create my own and sometimes just copy what the ones that are included in the software. I do this from top to bottom for ALL the lessons.

After the first review is done I go over the topics that are red and redo those questions. I want them to be at least orange!

Depending on my time I will keep doing this. I would ideally love everything to be yellow. But that isn't practicable most of the time.

When it comes down to two or three weeks remaining I start the main point in my over and over and over process. I do practice tests, all questions review over and over and over. With CPAExcel you can chose to have questions randomly from all the material, from the questions you haven't seen yet, or the questions you haven't answered correct yet. With Wiley you can chose to do ones that you have gotten correct or you can chose to do all the questions. You can also add in TBS, which I do at this point (more on TBS below). Wiley also has a feature that you can chose what topics you want the questions from. So if you are weak in a few topics, you can review them in testlet. Some days I do just the ones I haven't answered correct yet (this includes the ones I haven't seen yet). Some days I do all the questions so I can review what I already know. I keep going until multiple choice questions are coming out of my ears!

Now for the Task Based Simulations.  I take a few days and I review and WRITE out every single TBS on my yellow legal pad. (Accountants LOVE yellow legal pads!)  You know they aren't as hard as they sound if you write them out and realize what the question is asking. I review the ones I really don't understand. A few days before the test I try to take a day or more to just focus on TBS.  For me, they cover a lot of material in one problem. I feel like I get more bang for my time by doing them. I review more concepts at once and how they fit together than if I did MCQ for that time. But don't forget to go back and over and over and over your MCQ!

On weekends I do a practice test a day. It is normally on the weekends only because I have more time and you will need a lot of time to complete and review a test. Again, during the review I read the answer explanation.

During my over and over and over process I will complete mini testlets of 20 MCQ at a time. I don't have a long attention span so this is good for me. I just keep doing these over and over and over until I have to leave for the test!

I am sorry friend, I don't have an answer of how many times I over and over and over. How do you feel? Should you do one topic more times than another topic? Are you stuck on some questions? Use your gut. I know you are smart or you never would have made it this far! I know that's a longer answer then you were expecting but that's my answer! Good Luck Studying! I will be right there with you!

Over and Over and Over Again!

When I think about how I already passed FAR and REG but I lost them while trying my hardest to pass BEC it makes me beyond frustrated.  It's not that I gave up trying. I was sitting for BEC every window! But I know I can pass FAR and REG! I did it once. I will do it again. Not my choice. But my motivation will carry me on.

I did sit for FAR last window and did not pass.  I know I didn't give myself enough time to study and relearn the concepts. I didn't want to lose REG in the process. However, I did. Again, not my choice! How did I pass FAR before but not during the retake. My strategy is simple: over and over and over again!

Before I received any of my passing scores, I had a conversation with one of the managers from one of our other offices.  (Apparently I am the "shared" staff member so I office hop A LOT!)  It was the first day I went to meet her to help out with a job.  She took me to lunch.  We didn't talk about the job I was going to be completing for her. Instead we talked about my career goals. She knew at that time I was studying for the exam.  She told me to do the questions over and over again until they become second nature to me. At this point I was watching the lectures, reading the textbook, taking notes, and studying notes.  But as we know with FAR there was so much material and my time was running out. I needed a way to cover the material and fast as my scheduled appointment was quickly approaching. (I am not a believer of rescheduling. I am a procrastinator. The longer I have to study, the longer I will take to study. It won't be more studying for me.) So I took her advice. I did the questions over and over and over and over. I read the reasoning why I answered it right or why I answered it wrong. This was my strategy until exam day.

I will never forget the feeling I felt when I opened the envelope from NASBA that Friday afternoon in December. 76! I PASSED! What I learned was how to read the questions, figure out what they are asking, and how to narrow the choices down. I might not have known the right answer but by process of elimination I was able to guess and my guesses paid off. I "over'd and over'd" this process two more times. Once for REG the following window. Then once for AUD two windows later. (I took the next window off for tax season.) It didn't work for me with BEC. But I don't have to worry about BEC.  Right now I have to worry about FAR and REG. And over and over and over and over works!