UWorld CPA Review + NINJA: How To Pass The 2024 CPA Exam In 5 Easy Steps
Promo: Buy any UWorld CPA Review course and get a free month of NINJA CPA Review. Simply email your receipt within 90 days of purchase to support@ninjacpareview.com for instructions on how to claim your DOJO access.
“Why We Chose It (Runner-Up, Best Course): Even though UWorld CPA Review (i.e. Roger CPA Review + Wiley CPA Review) doesn't have as large of a question bank as some of the other courses on this list, the engaging lectures will give you fun ways to remember challenging topics. Roger CPA Review is great for students who typically have trouble focusing during lectures and are also looking for a more affordable option.”
“Why We Chose It (Best Price): NINJA CPA Review works nicely as an inexpensive supplement to an online course. This is an efficient studying tool that can be used as your main course but serves best as an auxiliary study aid with an excellent online support community.”
– Investopedia, Best CPA Prep Courses of 2024
Table of Contents
Step 1. Nail the Concepts
Nail the Concepts with your UWorld CPA videos. Time: 2.5 Weeks.
Start reading the NINJA Notes & listening to the NINJA Audio.
Don't have the NINJA Notes or Audio? Take them for a test drive with the NINJA CPA Free Trial.
Fire up your UWorld course and Nail the Concepts with your UWorld CPA Review video lectures or NINJA Sparring sessions. If self-study is more your thing, then read the NINJA Book instead. Time: 2.5 Weeks
If something isn't making sense in your UWorld CPA videos, attend a live NINJA Sparring session and ask questions, or watch a reply from a past sparring session on that topic.
Start listening to your NINJA Audio. Never drive to work without it on. You can listen to fun things when you're a CPA. Let that motivate you. 🙂
If your commute is a one-hour round trip, then that's one hour of NINJA Audio per day (and that's for the commute alone—if you can work and listen to the NINJA Audio, even better).
Start reading the NINJA Notes in your downtime, especially at work. It's OK if you haven't studied the section before. It will start clicking the third time through, regardless of where you are in your prep.
Step 2. Intense Notes
Take Intense Notes over your UWorld course lectures.
Take Intense Notes over your UWorld course lectures.
First Time?
Retake?
15th Retake?
It doesn't matter.
Use your NINJA Study Planner.
Take Intense Notes while watching your UWorld CPA Review lectures.
Struggling to take notes? That's OK. You can fall back on the NINJA Notes and rewrite those later.
Step 3. Non-Stop MCQ
Non-Stop NINJA MCQ & Take Notes. Time: 2.5 Weeks
Non-Stop MCQ – UWorld CPA Test Bank or NINJA MCQ. & Take Notes. Time: 2.5 Weeks
If this is your first time taking this exam, do Non-Stop MCQs with your UWorld Software. Then, in the review phase (A—All Comes Together), switch to NINJA MCQs and work backward, beginning with your weakest topic.
If this is a retake OR you've found yourself memorizing your UWorld CPA Review questions, switch 100% over to NINJA MCQ for this phase. When it comes time for the SIMS, switch back and forth according to which software you like better.
Again … if this is your first time taking this exam, use your UWorld CPA Test Bank questions for N (Non-Stop MCQ) and NINJA MCQ for A (All Comes Together) as you review.
If this is your first time taking this exam and you're memorizing the test bank questions (which is bad because it causes false confidence … you're scoring in the 90s, but on exam day, you score a 65 and can't figure out why), then switch over to NINJA MCQ 100% for both (N) and (A).
Simulations – First time or retake alike: switch back and forth between your UWorld CPA Review Test Bank and NINJA MCQ. Depending on which of the UWorld CPA Review courses you have (UWorld Pro Course or Premium), you may also have a supplemental UWorld CPA test bank.
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Step 4. Just Rewrite
Rewrite Your NINJA Notes. Time: 1 Week
Rewrite Your UWorld CPA Notes or NINJA Notes. Time: 1 Week
We know you took killer notes over your UWorld CPA lectures … re-write those 😀
If taking notes wasn't in the cards this time, and you did your best, we suggest you re-write the NINJA Notes.
(Listen, we get it – re-writing notes sounds incredibly boring. Do you know what else is boring? Re-studying for a failed exam. Just Do It.)
Rewriting your notes seems tedious (it is), but the investment is highly worth it.
Step 5. All Comes Together
All Comes Together in a Final Review. Time: 1 Week
Watch the NINJA CRAM.
If you're using your UWorld CPA Test Bank in the Non-Stop MCQ phase, this is where you switch over to NINJA MCQ (if you've already switched, then keep using it here as well).
Note: If you use NINJA for Nail the Concepts, then use the UWorld Final Review instead of the NINJA CRAM to benefit from two looks at the material.
If you have the UWorld Exam Solver Videos, then leverage that asset to solve a problem topic as well.
Start with your weakest topics first and work backward. You can let the software feed you questions, but since you're in a final review phase, I recommend doing topic-specific mini-testlets and really drill down.
Do a set of 20 over your weakest area. If you're weak in several areas, choose the one that keeps you awake at night the most.
Now is also a good time to hammer away at your NINJA Flashcards.
The one you DREAD seeing on exam day.
If you hit in the low 70s (70-75), move on to your next weakest area.
You don't go for mastery here because you have a lot of ground to cover quickly for your review. It's better to get all of the topics into the 70s and then come back and hit them again vs. getting a few into the 80s/90s and running out of time before you can get to the rest.
For instance, if you're taking Financial Accounting and Reporting and your weak area is Bonds, do 20-question mini-testlets until you score in the 70s (which may take 3 or 4 sets) and then move on to your next-weakest area, which might be Leases. Now would also be a good time to watch some of your UWorld Exam Solver Videos.
If there is a topic that's keeping you up at night, hit it extra hard with a NINJA Sparring session and put those fears to rest.
Repeat this with Leases, and then move on to the next one – which might be Inventory, etc.
If needed, read up on the topic in the NINJA Book and pay particular attention to the examples and application areas.
As you head into your exam – hammer MCQ and read the NINJA Notes every spare millisecond you have.
Everywhere you go – in the car, at the gym, sitting at your desk, it's NINJA Audio, NINJA Audio, and … you guessed it, NINJA Audio.
NINJA MCQ … NINJA Notes … NINJA Audio on repeat...even up to the minute you leave your vehicle and head into Prometric.
What if the extra 3 minutes of some nuance of Corporate Taxation was the difference between a 74 and a 75 on exam day?
Walk through those Prometric doors confidently and barf out all of that knowledge in your head.
THEN … sleep for 3 days.
You've earned it.
Next Step: Choose Your Study Path.