Regulation – Jake Hollenbeck

Regulation:

My first exam. How I passed Regulation in 6 weeks: This was the scariest and most exciting of the four exams since it was my first exam. Once I got Becker purchased on May 1, 2019 and I had my books, I was very excited each day for the first couple of weeks to wake up and study as hard as I could and get that much closer to becoming a CPA. I was doing anywhere from two to four modules a day and got through all of the content in 3 weeks. Those three weeks went from being exciting to being overwhelming and stressful since I was trying to keep up on all of the content in the previous chapters (Regulation has 8 chapters). I was realizing it’s natural to feel overwhelmed when studying for these exams since there is so much content to know.

The way I kept up on my knowledge was by using a retrospective revision timetable (look at graphic below). Since it was basically impossible to brush up on all old knowledge every single day, this google sheet technique helped me keep track of modules I haven’t looked at in a few days and which ones I need to look at more frequently since they may have been difficult for me.

As you can see below, this is chapter 4 (R4) and what I did was start learning this chapter on 5/6/2019. On that day I would go through the lectures, fill in the book with the circling and underlining, do the skills practice and get to 100% on the MCQs. Then on 5/8/2019 when I revisited corporate formation, I would go through and read the section of the book and take note of any areas that were hard and would also do the MCQs for that section and get to 100% (or to a spot where I felt I understood as much as possible).

This is the retrospective revision timetable (color system) I used which went from red, to orange, yellow to green. Red means I really don’t know this, orange means I’m starting to learn this but it’s still very hard, yellow means I have a good grasp on it but I’m not perfect, and green means I can recite this content in my sleep and I’m getting above an 80% on the set of MCQs in that module. This color system helps you know what areas you need to go back and learn and which ones you don’t have to give as much attention to. I learned this technique from Ali Abdaal on YouTube which he talks about this technique and he has other great study technique videos.

Retrospective Revision Timetable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7o09a7t4RA&t=641s

How to Use Google Sheets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIyDJK_SAjs&t=5s

During the first three weeks when I was going through the content as stated above, I was also doing about 10 to 15, 10 to 20 question personalized review sessions (Becker feature for each chapter) each day. This was very helpful and with Becker’s machine learning, it knows where your weak spots are and will quiz you more on that than the content you already know.

I would also do the simulations for each chapter after I was done with the learning portion. As you can see in the screenshot above, I started the first simulation for chapter 4 on 5/13/2019 and would learn from where I went wrong and would write out on paper any equations they used or important information. I would review those notes I took on a regular basis but wouldn’t practice those very much because as long as you understand what a simulation looks like and how they are graded you should be good. Because the odds a similar simulation shows up on your exam is very slim. Still do your best to learn what each simulation has to offer though.

I would also use the digital flashcards that Becker offers for each chapter to master my understanding of vocab and formulas. I found these very helpful. I also borrowed the physical Becker flashcards (more in depth than the digital flashcards) and that was a game changer for me understanding the content. Becker does a phenomenal job putting these flashcards together.

After getting through the content in 3 weeks, I then had 3 more weeks to review until the exam.

At this point I went right into the final mock exam and started the final review. Do the final review! This thing helped me understand the content so much better than slowly going through the nitty gritty details in the main text book. Read my blog post on why the final review was so important to me!

Each day entailed going through 200+ MCQs from online.becker.com and the final review software. I would recommend using the personalized review sessions for the MCQs but I didn’t discover this feature until I started studying for audit 5 months later. I would also do a handful of simulations everyday, re-watch a lecture on hard topics, go through homemade flashcards and Becker flashcards, and would do a Becker mock exam every 3 days. Even though I started to remember the questions and answers of the mock exam, I thought it was simply good practice to get used to the size of the exam and the questions would always be a good overview of each chapter. Plus, after you go through a mock exam a couple of times, I would go through each one within an hour to two hours tops. It didn’t consume too much time.

Leading up to the days before the exam I would be still going through a bunch of MCQs, simulations and flashcards everyday but I also had a whiteboard that I filled up with all of my hard topics. If you don’t have a giant whiteboard you can simply put these concepts in a notebook if you’re trying to do what I did. This helped me a ton, and when I was in the exam and a question came up relating to something on that whiteboard, my mind would know where it was on the whiteboard like a photographic memory and it was so easy to jot down a formula or remember a rule. Below is a picture of my whiteboard.

I went on to take the exam on June 7, 2019 and passed the exam with a 78.

As you study and go through the process, you will know what works for you. Do what works for you and just keep doing more until you take the exam! Trust me, the process will go by fast and will be over before you know it. Enjoy the process 🙂