Errors in Ratios - 'Analysis'

Revising an old topic is really hard, it just feels like reopening the books when you failed. I faced this situation while revising Ratios. It is a topic which peeks into every exam.Well we have some new ratios to cheer up. But still, I was resisting a lot inside, to do it again. Surprisingly I dragged myself to do the past exam problems and the truth gave me a wake up call. I did nearly 40% problems wrong. Its not the kind of questions that were unique but my mind set didn't helped me to give my very best.

First thing, I didn't read the questions right and for some questions I calculated wrong. Silly mathematical errors. In a question they gave balances of 2004 but the next line was not a balance but an Increase over 2003, but I didn't read the question correctly. And the psychometric thing caught me really bad, because they had that wrong answer right there.

Glad that this is not the real exam. I would die for the rest of my life. And in another question they asked Average collection period and I did till DTO and chose the answer that was just DTO and what a it !! they gave that answer too.


Friends mindset is very important while doing problems. Be alert, Love your work, otherwise your dislike reflects in your performance and our psychos are right there to catch us..

My Yeager preparation

I bought Yaeger CPA Review Videos for REG and FAR Exam preparation. Well I already have Becker study material and downloaded Gleim test preparation software. Going with Yeager was a last minute decision. I must say Phil Yeager doesn't disappointed me nor does Cindy.


A good convenience with Yeager DVDs is, you can play them on your DVD player, relax on your couch and scribble all the notes. I used Wiley text books before but they never were my favorite. But surprisingly they sounded better when some one else is pointing out, what's in the material, what to read and which questions to do? Well it's not about reducing the burden but it's about the ease of preparation. By the way I love the jokes and smiles of Cindy and Yeager. They sound some how genuine.


The quality of paper in Wiley's CPA Review books is not impressive and their print ink even dissolves in the highlighter wetness. Make sure you buy good quality high lighters which don't bleed ink, otherwise that ink can soak and bloat on the other side. Keep away from those four color pens for one dollar stuff. Wiley's got great authors and also good cost accountants.  Though I am not impressed with the quality of their print ink and paper, I appreciate the quality of their content a lot and also the cost of their books.

I would like to give some advice on how to get little organized in your Yeager CPA Review preparation. First buy good files and file all those handouts along with the printouts of the contents of DVD and the important problems. Yeager CPA Review gives web links to their students for printing out those handouts.

    * Contents of DVD s showing the number of parts in each module, Hrs..Etc..
    * The minimum number of problems we should do...

It is important to take printouts of these files too. File them in the end and highlight each question when it is completed when you are watching videos. And do the rest of the problems and highlight them too as you complete them.


Take printouts of all the latest forms (those required not all of them) from IRS website and file them in a separate file. And finally file the notes and worked out problems in another file. If you buy a bigger file then you can file them all in one.


If possible Index your Wiley book before you start your study so that each time they want us to turn pages you don't have to search every time. Of course you can use book marks but from my experience, Indexing was helpful.


While you are watching those DVDs,  pause the video where ever you find it confusing, rewind it and go through it again. Pause it to read the text from the text book and do the problems or to note down a point. I took two hours for a one hour lecture to clearly understand what he is teaching. It's my way to follow and understand a lecture. What I am saying is it's just not watching, it is understanding and also properly noting down and working out the questions. Don't rush to feed on Phil Yeager's time before you brain storm.

Last but not the least PLAN AHEAD. Allot time and understand how much time is required for your preparation. They have more than 30 hours of videos and also decide yourself  how much extra time you need for each hour of lecture. Write a plan and stick to your plan. I am saying it again. Put this on paper. I repeat  PLAN ON PAPER. and  EXECUTE YOUR PLAN.


I also downloaded Wiley's audio review. Anita Fellar is a good reader and her voice is also good. But all she does is reading text from Wiley's text book. She continued reading even when her voice cracked at times. And I don't understand why Wiley sells an outdated audio? And why audible.com thinks a CPA Audio Review as 'Pride and Prejudice'. Guys you need to trash them every 6 months. It's not a classic. There is no comparison between other CPA Review's audios and Wiley's. Wiley thinks reading text from its text book is Audio review!! I would call it an abridged audio book and nothing else. If this is what you are expecting, you can buy the audio. I am not saying it doesn't help at all. It is helpful to revise in certain way. And they don't need a CPA to do the reading. Please Wiley wake up!!. I used Kaplan Audio for Auditing and BEC and I have Gleim Audio for REG now. And their approach is they revise the topics and ask questions which I feel is far better than reading from a text book.

Hope this helps ...
My best wishes for your preparation..

Head in Sand..

I want to write today about a very common thing that happens with me. I am not ashamed to accept it, I freak out / panic / get anxious / get scared... I want to admit my weak points and I want to work on them. Why I choose to picture myself as a Ostrich in Sand is, this weak point of me is the central theme behind my failures. If a thought comes to my mind that some chapter or subject is difficult or If I started to think myself as weak.. It starts. Though right now I could analyze myself and observe me consciously as a second person and try to reason, for many months I suffered. I am not saying , I am the queen now and I conquered it but I am aware of it now.

As  I got conscious of my behavior, I observed that I tend to avoid confronting things, I fear. As and when I start to prepare or start doing MCQ's or any topic which I am afraid of, for any strange reason, I procrastinate , I spend hours browsing, watching videos, worrying about my family members, cry or do anything to avoid facing books. I am not saying each one of  you can behave like me. But those of you who procrastinate may need to look deeper into your behavior on why you behave like that. Whether it is fear or disinterest or any other problem. You must try to understand why you are wasting your time and why you are not concentrating.

Though studying and analyzing yourself may also seem easy to you but the real effort lies in accepting your problem and not to consider your weaknesses as Himalayas and If they really are, then knowing how to tackle your problem and diverting your monkey mind to enjoy your goals is important. If you don't know how to tackle your problems, please consider taking help of your friends, family members, relatives or some professionals. Don't feel bad about it. What's important is helping ourselves to reach our goals. Everything follows.

Don't Read ! Ask !

Earlier in my preparation I used to sit and read and read and read...
When I am trying to answer the questions now , I find some questions confusing . It only means I didn't grasp that particular point. Memorizing is all together different , but if we don't understand what we are reading it will not give any kind of remembrance and it will not help us to answer the questions.

I find it useful to ask questions about each and every topic I am reading. For example if I am reading internal control, Instead of reading traditionally I ask myself what is internal control? Take the title and make it a question and ask your self what is it? And if you cannot answer it properly then read the topic and then ask your self the same question.
When you are reading for the first time this increases your enthusiasm and if it is second time it helps to revise.

Too many cooks

In my last attempt for Auditing exam , I used ebay bought Kaplan study manual, Kaplan audio and flash cards,  Borders bought Wiley study manual, Audible bought Wiley audio, Online ordered Bisk's Self-Directed - CPA Review Software, and handed down Becker books. I balanced one leg on Kaplan and one leg on Bisk and kept my fingers on Becker and Wiley. And finally my result came with a whopping 67 . And I understood the meaning of the idiom ' Too many cooks spoil the broth' .Lets re-frame it as

Too many CPA Reviews will make you fail

So the morale behind my own story is - Don't ever do this. Ask for opinions, read those free materials they provide, test their free software and then decide one material and stick to that.Too many Study materials

• Waste your time 
• Create confusion on how they cover the topics
• They will make a hole in your purse 
• And finally you won't finish a single material

I already tried all these brilliant approaches and made myself a sacrificial lamb , So save yourself from this kind of stupidity.