As one of those MSA students graduating soon and has started the CPA exam prep, I would like to add some comments to Susan's recent blog about CPA exam prep. I think what Susan said about the CPA exam prep in her blog is really true. The prep requires a lot of commitment. I would say that the degree of commitment is as large as accomplishing the MSA program, in terms of time commitment, the amount of effort to put in, sacrifices, etc..
I chose Becker CPA Review and Final Review (these are two separate materials) as my primary study source, and I am currently working on the auditing section. I like Becker's CPA Review Course, because their lectures are just great (I picked DVDs for lectures, but a choice of online or in-class lectures is available too). They tell you little tricks how to memorize important concepts in easy-and-quick ways, they tell you what you should take notes on in the review course textbook, which paragraphs you should highlight, etc (you may think "I am not a 8th grader", but those notes and highlights help a lot when you review the book later). The lectures are well condensed, and are an extract of the textbook. The lecturer also tells you which area you really need to focus on for the exam. Knowing what are more likely on the exam help me put more time in those areas. So overall, I am happy with using these materials as my primary source.
At the same time, while studying Becker materials, I go back to my class notes and A514 textbook quite often. My class notes and A514 textbook help me better understand what are explained in the CPA Review materials. Because CPA prep materials contain a lot of information in such a condensed manner, they sometimes just jump to the points without explaining well the process to get there. Of course, these CPA prep materials are for a CPA exam preparation, and not for teaching us from scratch, so from that viewpoint, they do excellent job. But occasionally, I simply don't get a good picture by just reading these materials, and then, my class notes and A514 textbook help fill the gaps. Sometimes, a little more explanation helps understand (or refresh my memory -- I should have known this stuff already, right?) the ideas/concepts behind the answers. While studying CPA prep materials for auditing, I realized how well A514 class (which I took last fall) prepared me for another round of study. The way we learned in class, the way Prof. Johnson explained, and the way we were tested on the exams (A514 exams covered, in a greater portion, questions that were actually on the CPA exams -- taken mainly from Gleim's EQE and CPA Review)... those were richer and more in-depth than the ones I can get from typical CPA prep materials. Also the class textbook takes good amount of time to explain the engagements other than auditing (ex. attestation), which was the area I went back to my notes the most. So my suggestion, take good class notes and don't sell the textbook!
And yes, I do have notebooks, folders, and binders full of pages and pages of notes, too...
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