Retain

To dive deeper into your studies, create your own summaries of accounting topics. Review each subunit in the Gleim CPA Review outline, then write a few sentences outlining the concept in your own words—as if you were explaining it to a fellow candidate.

This will help you identify any areas where you don’t feel comfortable—maybe you remembered the right answers and were able to achieve a passing score on a topic, but you’re not confident you’d be able to defend your answer choices if asked to explain them. Being able to clearly communicate the reasoning behind your decisions is a skill that can elevate your career.

Drill MCQs & SIMs

We suggest scheduling three or four study sessions per week, and we’ve created a resource to help you remain productive while you’re at home. Each study session should include two 20-question Multiple-Choice Question quizzes and one batch of 5 Simulations.

First, read through the summaries you wrote in Step 2. Then, use the Multiple-Choice Question Test Bank to create randomized Practice Exams that pull 20 questions from various subunits. Completing these quizzes will refresh your knowledge on all of the subjects and allow you to practice your time-management strategy for the exam (our recommendation is on page 34 of our free CPA Exam Guide).

If at any point you need a break from completing Practice Exams and reviewing the answers, add a step between taking the quiz and going to the review session by writing your own answer explanations for each question’s answer choices. Then, when you do your review session, compare your answer explanations with the Gleim ones to see how you did! We recommend you write both the correct and incorrect answer explanations. In your career, you’ll find the ability to explain why a given course of action is wrong is often just as valuable as being able to explain why another is right.

After your MCQ quizzes, build an Adaptive Simulation quiz from any study unit. Simulations evaluate you at a higher level than Multiple-Choice Questions and are much harder to effectively manage your time on. Building familiarity with Sims is a surefire way to gain confidence.

Rehearse

If you haven’t already completed your Exam Rehearsal, we suggest you complete one when you have approximately 20 hours of study time remaining before your actual exam. If you have already completed your Exam Rehearsal, we will gladly reset it for you so you can do it again; simply reach out to our Personal Counselors at 800.874.5346, ext. 498.

The Exam Rehearsal will help you prepare for your actual Prometric test center experience. It reproduces the computer-testing environment almost exactly. To make your Exam Rehearsal authentic, we recommend conducting yourself as you will on test day. Wear the same kind of clothes you intend to wear, and if you’re going to bring a snack, only reach for it when you’re on break.

Review

After your Exam Rehearsal, follow your course’s Final Review recommendations as you wait for your testing date. You may also want to revisit your summaries of accounting topics and consider what is still causing you issues. Gleim Instruct video lectures are a convenient way to review key material from the outlines. Finally, consider whether you’re having difficulty completing MCQ or Sim quizzes within your time budget and spend more time drilling them if you are.

If at any point you need assistance, please reach out to a Personal Counselor. We’re happy to help, now more than ever.

Gleim has the largest test bank of Multiple-Choice Questions and Task-Based Simulations on the market, so you can practice as much as you need in order to be prepared come exam day.