2015年9月24日 星期四

[分享] 美國會計師 AICPA通過 準備心得(1) 教材使用及時間規劃 Experience Sharing: Passing the AICPA Exam (Study Tips)

相關文章
 [分享] AICPA 考試報名經驗分享 CPA Exam Application Experience Sharing
 [分享] 美國會計師 AICPA通過 準備心得(2) 實用資訊
 [分享] 美國會計師 證書及執照申請經驗分享 AICPA Certificate/ License Application Experience Sharing (Guam)
 [分享] AICPA 美國會計師 抵免台灣會計師考試(部分科目減免) 經驗分享

        I used Becker as my study material and Wiley Focus Notes as supplementary. The preparation method for the four sections were similar. First, I went through the material by listening to the courses and taking few notes. By doing so, I could get a big picture of the exam and then I directly start doing the practice questions. After all, the courses included too much information and it was sometimes difficult to filter the main points. After finish doing the questions, I went through the reading materials to review the main points found when doing the practice questions. After reading through the materials, I did the practice questions again. I paid special attention to those questions done wrong in the first time so I could clarify the concepts I had misunderstood. By doing all the practice questions twice, I was familiar with all the materials. Then, I did the Becker final review and the final exams. In my opinion, Focus Notes were easy to carry around and they were more informative than Becker flash cards.

我用的是Becker,配合Wiley的Focus Notes,四科複習的大致規劃都差不多,都是先聽一遍教材,抓到大方向,但沒有特別放慢或是做筆記。聽完後有個印象,也算是複習大學學過的東西,直接開始做題目。做題目時就會非常清楚考點在哪。畢竟聽課時,總覺得資訊太多,不知道哪裡是重點,做過題目會發現考的概念就是那些。每個章節逐一寫完題目後,距離考試約莫兩周的時間,我會開始把課本上的內容再看一次,這個時候就能把之前做題目發現的重點快速瀏覽,順便加強記憶。接著再寫一次題目,特別要注意第一次寫錯的部分。寫完兩輪題目後,讀Becker Final Review,再寫模擬考,和做考前的總複習。Focus Notes很適合隨身攜帶,我個人認為比Becker的 Flash Card詳盡好用。

FAR 95
        FAR was the first section I took. I spent 1.5 months preparing while doing school at the same time. Since my major was accounting, the topics in FAR were relatively familiar. Note that government and NPO accounting accounts for up to 20% of the questions in the exam, but most students have not taken related courses. I took government and NPO accounting in my masters program which made my study for the CPA less stressful. Among the four sections of the exam, FAR is the section that Becker gets the best grasp of. The MCQs and SIMs in Becker were really similar to those in the real exam. However, the real exam has less complex calculations. Thus, if you can score a pass score in Becker, you will likely pass the real exam.

這是我最先開始準備的一科,也是不少人的第一科,我的準備時間大約一個半月,一邊上學校的課一邊準備。如果大學主修就是會計應該會相當熟悉,因為裡面涉及的內容就是我們熟知的初會中會和高會加上政府會計及非營利組織會計。其中政府會計和非營利組織會計要特別注意,因為我們過去沒有學過,而我在美國有特別規劃修課,因此比較容易上手。因此若之前完全沒有接觸過的,建議先從政府會計這邊開始念。FAR也是我認為Becker最有幫助的,因為不管是選擇題或是SIM都和真題非常像,而真題又比Becker簡單些,因此答題起來非常順手。

BEC 94
        BEC was the second section I took. This is the section that many say is easy. Some even say two week preparation would be enough. I studied for 27 days, half of which I studied full time. The BEC section includes topics that range from economics to IT. The nice part of BEC is that there were no SIMs. Instead, there was a 15% writing part. The economic part of BEC was basic and was not a problem since I had taken economics courses. The calculations were related to cost accounting and financial management. Compared to Becker, calculations in the real exam was also relatively easy. The formulas mentioned in Becker were sufficient to answer the questions in the real exam. The hard part was IT. IT included a wide range of topics that Becker couldn't even cover. I just memorized the points mentioned in Becker and simply guessed through the questions that I haven't seen before.

這是我考的第二科,許多人說這科是最簡單的,兩周就夠了,我準備了27天,其中大概有一半的時間是全職準備。BEC考的可說是大雜燴,從成管會、經濟、財務、AIS通通都包含,簡單的部分就是沒有SIM,取而代之的是佔15%的寫作。而內容中經濟那邊若大一有好好上經濟學,應該會覺得很容易。成會和財務部分都是考計算,只要把公式記熟小心陷阱應該沒有太大問題。最麻煩的大概是IT,內容涉及之廣泛,非常難準備,只能說把書上的東西學好,考試時遇到不會的就直接猜了,畢竟不會佔太多分數。

REG 91
        I went to Europe for summer school while studying REG so it took me 2 whole months to prepare. According to many who have gone through the four sections, REG is the hardest one. REG covers tax law, business law and ethics. Since I took all three courses in my masters program, I originally thought REG was fine. However, after taking the exam, I found myself totally wrong. The uncertainty of whether I would pass made me anxious for the whole week before score release. Do not underestimate REG! The exam went to every detail in the regulations. At first glance of the questions, I knew what topic it was trying to test me. However, there were many twists in the concepts which made it difficult to choose an answer. The SIMs were super detail orientated and much harder than those in Becker. I was looking up the authoritative literature til the last minute. I recommend that candidates go through Internal Revenue Code and AICPA Professional Standards while studying so that you won't spend a lot of time looking up information during the exam. Also, pay special attention to ethics since it consists of a significant proportion of the exam and the ethics MCQ choices could be really misleading.

我在準備時恰巧逢出國修summer school,因此整整準備了兩個月,不過都是一邊應付學校課業一邊準備。REG應該是大家公認最難的一科,內容涵蓋稅法、商事法和Ethics。由於我在美國碩士班三種內容的課都有修,原以為不會太難,但我真的大大的錯了!REG一直到公布成績的前幾天我都非常非常的忐忑,因為覺得自己好像要Fail了!不要小看REG,他真的非常難,畢竟是法律的東西,規定總是多如牛毛,很多時候看到題目你知道他要問你什麼,但是轉了個彎你就不知道答案了,我考試寫得非常非常心虛。尤其時SIM的部分,幾乎都是很細的稅法,要去翻法條,只能說念書準備時沒事就要熟悉法條怎麼查找,以免考試時亂了手腳。Ethics很多都是考情境題,四個選項代下去都像是對的,當下真的很慌亂,因此念書時一定要把Ethics部分看熟,考得真的很多。

AUD 92
        Audit was the last section I took and my preparation time was one month, half of which I studied full time. Since I took AUD after REG, preparation was less stressful. I originally thought I have forgotten those audit concepts learned in my junior year in college. After studying for the CPA exam, I found out that I still had some impression of what audit was about. Compared to some portion of business law, which I studied for the first time, AUD was much easy to comprehend. Studying Becker would be sufficient to pass AUD. Note that AUD is based on FAR, so it is highly recommended to take AUD after FAR.

這是我最後考的一科,時間為一個月,其中一半時間全職準備。受過REG的洗禮,AUD反而讓我輕鬆不少,原以為自己大三學的審計都忘光了,聽了課程才發現有學過和沒學過還是有差,只能說底子真的滿重要的。像是REG的Business Law有很大一部份我上課沒學到,第一次聽真的有聽沒有懂。AUD的東西比起那些深奧的法條平易近人多了,只要穩紮穩打的把Becker念熟,應該就沒有問題。不過AUD的確非常仰賴FAR的基礎,畢竟要會查帳一定先得知道人家怎麼作帳,也有許多人推薦FAR考完直接考AUD。



沒有留言:

張貼留言