Create a 3-Month CPA Study Plan
Once you create your 3-month plan, stick to it! To successfully prepare for the CPA exam, you need to stay on track.
An important thing to consider is exactly how you’re going to study. While it isn’t the end of the world if you have to retake a section, we want to provide study tips that will ensure a good exam score.
Here are 6 tips to help you study successfully:
1. Create a study plan
Wiley CPA Review offers a personalized exam planner, which is the industry’s best CPA study tool. You simply put in your exam date and it tells you which lessons you need to get through each day.
2. Go through as many CPA multiple-choice questions as possible
Practice questions are potentially the most effective tool you can use to prepare yourself for exam day. Wiley CPA Review Courses explain answers for every question, which is most helpful to you in learning why each answer is correct and why each of the other answers is incorrect.
For any topics you may struggle wrapping your head around, you can go back to watch lectures and read lessons. For these more difficult topics, you may need the additional detail provided by the lectures and readings.
It’s also important to be completing practice exams that imitate the real thing. These mock exams will give you an idea of what to expect on exam day, and you can practice getting your timing down (i.e., figuring out how much time to allocate to each testlet).
3. Use CPA flashcards
When you review your answers to the practice questions, use flashcards for the ones you missed. Writing flashcards in your own words can help you to better comprehend the material and commit it to memory, and you can also get premade sets of CPA exam flashcards.
Use the information from the answer explanations to write your flashcards. Once you’ve reviewed the day’s material through answer explanations and flashcards, it’s time to move on to the final part of your daily preparation.
4. Complete a set of 30 cumulative multiple-choice questions daily
End your study session each day with a set of cumulative, multiple-choice questions. It’s a great way to really cement the information into your brain. Wiley’s CPA test builder generates comprehensive practice sets of 30 questions at a time, and you can do them over and over.
This is a vital part of knowing where you stand in your preparation. It allows you to adjust your study plan if needed. Another value of Wiley’s CPA Review Course is its mobile app, which brings us to our last major piece of advice.
5. Download a mobile app to do practice questions in your downtime
Whether you use Wiley’s CPA course or another company’s, download a mobile app that gives you access to practice questions as a vital part of preparing effectively. Use the “Quick Quiz” feature by setting the number of questions you want to do and choose which exam section to pull questions from in the app settings.
Having access to questions on your phone allows you to practice any time that you have a couple of minutes, such as in the elevator, waiting for a coffee, or before bed.
6. Use the final week before your exam to practice, practice, practice
Finally, use the last week before your exam to really focus your time on the topics you’ve found difficult once you’ve completed your study plan.
Try to complete as many practice questions and exams as possible, and faithfully review your flashcards—repetition is key!
