CPA ZONE

Eating a healthy breakfast, getting a good nights sleep, and finding directions to the test center are the typical kinds of advice you will find online. Yes I agree they are important, but these should be a given! Below are 5 unique tips that will give you an edge on everybody else come exam day. As many know, adding 2 or 3 points to your score could mean all the difference.  Read up on these quick tips to increase your test scores.

#1    Monday = Game Day 
If at all possible take your exam on Monday. This gives you three full days to do your final review and cram as much information as possible. Many of the exam questions have a short-term memory aspect to them and having a fresh 25-30 hours of studying in your brain is a HUGE advantage. This is especially true for BEC and AUD where much of the exam is about memorization rather than concepts.

#2    Cheat Sheets ARE Allowed
As soon as you get your ”noteboards” and the clock starts, write down as much important information and mnemonics you may have created before you answer any questions.  Also be sure to jot down any of the basic formulas or ratios you may need (notice how I said basic, you do not need to remember all 30 ratios given in your textbook!) This ensures that you do not forget any of them later on and gives you a whole resource guide of information to refer back to. If you’re not currently using mnemonics then I would highly recommend creating some as this is an easy way to boost your test score.  

#3    Short Term Memory Boost
Bring your notes to the exam site and arrive 30 minutes early to review them. This is also a great way to refresh any information you want to write down as discussed in tip #2. If it’s not in your mind at the last minute, you may not remember it in the exam room.

#4    Find the Odd Man Out
When doing the multiple-choice questions, usually three of the answers will all have something in common. The fourth is the odd man out, always pick this one if you come across a question that you are unsure of.

#5    Don't Jump the Gun
Completely read through each of the A,B,C, and D answers before selecting one. Often times you will come across a question where there seem to be multiple correct answers so do not just pick the first one that sounds right and move on. There are questions that actually DO have multiple correct answers, an example of this would be an answer like “D: Both A and B are correct”. Tricky, tricky.

One last piece of advice I don’t want to leave out is to be sure and budget your time beforehand for all 3 MCQ sections and the SIMS. Write down how much time you have planned for each on your scratch paper and stick to your schedule!

I hope you have found this information useful and implement at least some of these tips, if not all, into your exam day plan. These tactics and tips had a huge impact on my exam day experience and helped me tremendously on all 4 sections I passed.  

Cheers!
Bryce
Crush the CPA Exam