- The following is general advice only,

and should not be construed as accounting,

legal, or any other professional advice.

The details of your situation are

fact dependent, and you are biased to

seek the help of a competent professional.

(rock music)

(audience cheering)

- Yes, yes, yes, thank you, thank you, thank you.

You are all way too kind, I appreciate that.

Thank you, thank you.

Welcome back to another action

packed edition of CPA Reviewed.

The official podcast of another71.com,

where we make the CPA exam far, far, far, far, far,

more exciting than anyone's have ever intended it to be.

Happy Tuesday to you.

Today is Tuesday, July 30, 2013.

Well, normally on the CPA Reviewed podcast,

and this is episode 45, and, the only reason I know that

is because the previous one was number 44.

And, I just thought I'd switch it up,

I decided to give people the opportunity,

instead of reading emails, when I'm listening to

talk radio, and I have some favorite shows

that I listen to, it's always more interesting to

have people call in and give their take.

I don't know, just something different than

just listening to the host ramble on.

So, instead of reading people's emails,

and then answering them, I thought I would have,

I would just take live calls.

And so, that's what I did.

So, in today's podcast, we have three

calls that we're going to get to.

We have Natasha, Carmela, and Shelly on tap.

If you like it, let me know.

If you like the new format, you can comment below,

or give the post a like, or high five it.

Whatever you want to do.

Alright, starting up first with Natasha.

- I was suppose to call in last week to

tell you that I was half-way through, I think...

- Okay.

- With my Becker videos,

I'm actually behind,

and I'm only half-way through now,

so, that's probably really bad.

But I got really stuck with tax history,

which is corporate tax, and I felt like I was just

watching it over and over and not getting it.

I was right in the middle, which I also feel

is slowing me down, but I still feel like I

have a lot of trouble with corporate tax,

I'm just not getting it for some reason.

So I don't know if I should just move on and just keep

going through, or actually try and understand the material.

- So, you're using Ninja, the Wiley test

bank in Becker, is that correct?

- Yeah.

- Okay, and you're going on vacation

August 2nd through 12th?

- Yeah, so on Friday night I'm leaving

at like 10:00, so,

yeah, so I was reviewing,

watching the videos through Becker.

I didn't do any multiple choice questions, except for

the class ones that they do in the video.

And, in the video, you know, you can do it yourself.

You do the questions, so it's probably

like 15 questions in each lecture.

And I was actually doing really well on those, but,

on some of the corporate ones, I wasn't doing as great.

So, right now I'm in chapter four, I'm in the middle

of chapter four, and there's eight chapters.

Which, I'm up to estate taxation.

- Okay, so you're half-way through, and you leave Friday?

- Yeah, which you told me that I should finish all

eight chapters by Friday, so that I can

feel rest assured and all that.

- Well, when you...

An integral part of the learning process

is working the multiple choice questions.

So, it's normal to watch all the videos and kind of

bomb the questions the first time through,

because, the videos teach you theory,

the questions teach you exam application.

So, when you say that you're struggling

with corporate tax, what aspect

of it are you struggling with?

Are you working multiple choice questions?

Or, why do you say that you're struggling with the material?

- Because I feel that I'm not grasping

the different components of the basis.

I feel like there's...

It's you know, the property basis.

That is really confusing for me for some reason.

And, I feel like they go over it a lot,

and different things, like they go over property basis,

and then they do shareholder basis,

but I feel like those are really confusing,

and I'm not sure how to understand that.

- Okay, well in the Ninja notes,

there's the various rules, so, the shareholder

contributes property to the corporation,

that's the shareholder's basis.

What's the corporation's basis, et cetera.

And so, when you watch the videos,

are you taking notes over the rules?

- Yeah, but I'm watching the Becker

videos and I'm taking the notes.

- Okay, I think honestly if you have notes...

(cough)

Excuse me.

Are you reading the Ninja notes

before you watch your videos?

- No, I was doing that, and then

you told me, "Just do the video."

'Cause at first I was doing the Blitz video

with the Ninja notes, and then you told me

if I have the full course Becker, to just do that.

- Sure, yes, and you should, for corporate tax

for instances, you should read the Ninja notes

over corporate tax, it's maybe 10 pages, or whatever,

and then watch your Becker videos.

- Yeah.

Okay.

- That will help,

it should help.

So you have two days, three days,

you have three steady days until you leave.

And realistically two, because we know that you're

going to pack and everything on Thursday.

- Yeah, probably will.

- So, can you get through two chapters

tonight and two chapters tomorrow?

- Yes.

'Cause the last chapter is like four hours

for one chapter, and I would say that it probably

takes me more than that 'cause I'm writing, so...

- Okay, well, so maybe your goal is to do

one chapter before you leave.

You know, I'm guessing that you

didn't study much over the weekend?

- No, I didn't study at all over the weekend.

- Ah-Ha!

Busted!

I could tell, I could tell.

- Yeah, I should've, I was like, "Okay, I'm gonna make sure

I study over the weekend and get through these chapters."

And then I didn't, so, I'm still stuck here.

But I have my flashcards on my phone.

- Well, that's somethin'.

Alright, get through one chapter before you leave,

and take the Ninja notes with you on your iPad or whatever.

- Okay, I have that and I'm gonna hopefully have wi-fi,

so every morning I wanted to watch for a half an hour,

watch videos and go through the notes,

and also read my notes that I wrote, right?

That would help?

- Now, when you get back on the 13th,

there's no more days off, okay?

- Okay.

(laughter)

- Alright, well, thanks Natasha, enjoy your vacation,

and call me back when you get back, alright?

- Okay, great, thanks so much.

- Alright, see ya.

Okay, up next is Carmela, and for the life of me,

I cannot understand her name,

that's my fault, 'cause I am from Kansas.

- Hello Jeff.

- Hey, good morning.

- Hi, it's me, Carmela.

- I think you had me...

I think you spelled your...

Well, have we spoken before?

- Yes.

- Okay, yeah, and you spelled it...

No, that was...

No, sorry, that was Euchena.

(laughter)

How do you spell your name?

- C-A-R-M-E-L-A.

- Oh, Carmela.

- Yes.

- See, I just don't pronounce it right.

- Ohhhh!

- Alright, that's just 'cause I'm

from Kansas, I'm from the sticks.

I'm from the farm.

- Oh, I see.

(laughter)

- Okay, so you're studying for FAR.

You're taking it August 19th?

- No, I changed the date.

- You changed it.

- I changed the date again to August 27th.

I gave myself an extra week.

- Okay.

- I think what I'm doing is I'm just stressing out

because of the massive amount of information

and I wanna be the best prepared.

So, I changed the date from the 19th to the 27th.

And, what I've been doing so far is

I've been watching the videos in the evening,

and I've been taking notes.

Also, reading the Ninja materials,

because I have the Ninja notes,

and everything else, and I have the

Wiley test book and the test bank.

And I've been noticing since my exam is

approaching in the end of the month,

I've been focusing on just doing the Wiley test bank

questions for now, because I would like

to finish that up, and also finish the videos.

I'm half-way through the videos.

So what do you think my focus should be for the...

How much time for review, and then how much

time to be focusing for the next two weeks?

- Well, okay, essentially your exam is in a month.

- Right.

- And so, you need to leave two weeks for a review.

- Okay.

(chime)

- Entry and exit chimes are off.

- The remainder two weeks, 'cause I notice

I spend a lot of time on the Wiley book questions,

and, so, what I've been doing now is focusing,

just finishing up Wiley test bank questions.

Is that a wise thing to do?

- Yeah, I think the book and the test

bank questions are equally good.

I mean, the book questions are just fine

when you're in study mode, but the test bank questions,

I think, are really good because it's a better

representation of what the exam looks like.

You've been through all of your videos?

- Mm, half-way through, what I've been doing,

is, I study, 'cause I'm in between jobs right now,

so what I do is I study the multiple choices

during the day for five hours,

and then in the evening time, I take a break,

and then in the evening time, I do the videos.

- Okay, now...

- I watch either one or two videos a night.

- So, you're not following the Ninja plan, then.

- Well, I read while I...

Well, after I watch the Ninja videos,

I read the Ninja notes and take my notes.

- Okay, so, are you using a full

video course besides the Ninja materials?

- Yes.

- And what is that?

- Oh, I have Rogers CPA.

So I watch his videos, and I take notes from,

I do two things, I take notes from his study lectures,

and I also write your Ninja notes on my flashcards.

- Well, when I said that you weren't doing the