UWorld CPA Review + NINJA: How to Pass the CPA Exam in 5 Easy Steps
A step-by-step study plan for UWorld CPA Review students who want an edge on exam day.
UWorld is a trademark of its owner. NINJA CPA Review is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by UWorld.
You’ve got UWorld.
You’ve got the lectures, the QBank, and a mountain of answer explanations.
This page shows you where NINJA CPA Review fits around them: a second test bank with fresh wording, condensed notes, audio for your commute, and a final review aimed straight at your weakest topics.
This plan works for UWorld CPA Review and the review courses now under the UWorld umbrella.
Studied with Roger CPA Review or Wiley CPAexcel before they became part of UWorld? Same plan.
Studying with Surgent CPA Review, now also part of UWorld? The plan works the same way.
Run the five steps below once for each section, and you’ll never have to guess which tool comes next.
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Table of Contents
How NINJA Fits Around UWorld
Here’s the division of labor: UWorld teaches. NINJA reinforces, re-tests, and runs your final review.
That split is called the NINJA Supplement Path, and it follows the same five-step NINJA Study Framework every NINJA candidate uses:
Nail the Concepts (2.5 weeks)
Intense Notes (ongoing through Steps 1 and 3)
Non-Stop MCQ (2.5 weeks)
Just Rewrite Your Notes (1 week)
All Comes Together (1 week)
The order matters.
You watch the UWorld lectures and build your notes first.
The heavy question work waits until Step 3, when you know enough for each question to teach you something instead of just pointing out what you haven’t covered yet.
Your UWorld + NINJA Toolkit
Every study weapon has a job. Here’s who does what:
UWorld CPA Review lectures carry Step 1. On a first attempt, the UWorld QBank carries Step 3, and its answer explanations feed your notes.
NINJA MCQ is your second test bank. It runs your final review in Step 5, takes over Step 3 on retakes, and adds a second set of simulations.
NINJA Notes are condensed notes to read in your downtime from day one. If your own notes come up short, they’re your backup set for Step 4.
NINJA Audio keeps the material in your ears on the drive, at the gym, and while you fold laundry.
NINJA Sparring gives you a second teacher. If a UWorld lecture leaves you confused, bring your question to a live session or watch a replay on that topic.
NINJA Book covers the same ground in print, for readers and for anyone who wants one more worked example.
NINJA CRAM and NINJA Flashcards are your closers in Step 5.
NINJA Study Planner turns all of this into dates on a calendar.
UWorld + NINJA Study Timeline (7 Weeks per Section)
At 20 hours a week, each section runs about seven weeks from your first UWorld lecture to the Prometric parking lot.
| Step | Time at 20 Hours a Week | Tools | Goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nail the Concepts | 2.5 weeks | UWorld lectures (or NINJA Book), NINJA Sparring, NINJA Audio, NINJA Notes | Cover every topic once |
| Intense Notes | Runs alongside Steps 1 and 3 | A notebook and a pen | Build your own review material |
| Non-Stop MCQ | 2.5 weeks | UWorld QBank or NINJA MCQ | Learn from every question |
| Just Rewrite Your Notes | 1 week | Your notes or NINJA Notes | Lock it into memory |
| All Comes Together | 1 week | NINJA MCQ, NINJA CRAM, NINJA Flashcards, NINJA Audio | Get weak topics into the mid-70s |
Twenty hours a week is the minimum. Anything less and you’re dabbling, not studying.
Working full time? Here’s one way to get there:
- Two hours each weeknight, Monday through Thursday
- Friday off
- Six hours Saturday and six hours Sunday
- NINJA Audio on the commute counts toward the 20
Move the pieces around to fit your life.
Rather have Sunday free? Add an hour to each weeknight, squeeze in a morning session and a lunch session on Friday, and enjoy your weekend day.
UWorld lectures on your phone at lunch count. NINJA Audio in the car counts. Turn down time into study time.
UWorld QBank or NINJA MCQ?
UWorld users ask this more than anything else.
Here’s the short answer:
| Your Situation | Step 3: Non-Stop MCQ | Step 5: All Comes Together |
|---|---|---|
| First attempt | UWorld QBank | NINJA MCQ |
| First attempt, but you’re memorizing questions | NINJA MCQ | NINJA MCQ |
| Retake | NINJA MCQ | NINJA MCQ |
| Simulations (any attempt) | Alternate UWorld and NINJA | Alternate UWorld and NINJA |
Why bring in a second test bank at all?
Because every question bank, no matter how big, eventually gets familiar.
Rework the same topic sets enough times and you stop solving questions and start recognizing them. Your practice scores drift into the 90s. Then exam day asks the same concept a different way, and you walk out with a 65 and no idea what happened.
New wording from NINJA MCQ separates what you understand from what you remember. That’s why it owns your final review.
The recognition test: if you know the answer before you finish reading the question, it’s time to switch.
5 Steps to Pass the CPA Exam with UWorld + NINJA
Step 1. Nail the Concepts (2.5 Weeks)
Work through your UWorld lectures and cover every topic in the section once.
Coverage now. Mastery later.
More of a reader? Swap the lectures for the NINJA Book.
Set a two-and-a-half-week limit, and when it’s up, move to Step 3 whether you feel ready or not.
Why the hard stop?
- Ready is a feeling that never shows up on its own. The calendar has to decide for you.
- Without a limit, one more lecture turns into one more week.
- The questions in Step 3 fill the gaps the lectures leave. You don’t have to catch everything now.
Hit a lecture that doesn’t make sense? Don’t loop it three times. Take the question to a live NINJA Sparring session or find a replay on that topic, then keep moving.
Meanwhile, keep your background tools going:
NINJA Audio on every drive. Thirty minutes each way adds up to five hours a week.
NINJA Notes in your spare minutes at work or lunch. Brand-new topics are fine. Seeing them early makes the lectures land faster.
Step 2. Intense Notes
There’s no separate week for notes. You take them through all of Step 1 and all of Step 3.
While the UWorld lectures play, write by hand.
Capture the stuff that slips away:
- Every formula, worked out step by step.
- Dollar thresholds, dates, and deadlines.
- The rule, then the exceptions to the rule.
- Anything that made you hit pause.
First time through or fifth retake, you take the notes.
Can’t keep up? Slow the lecture down, or start from the NINJA Notes and add your own comments in the margins.
Step 3. Non-Stop MCQ (2.5 Weeks)
Time for questions. Lots of them.
Two and a half weeks at 20 hours is roughly 50 hours of MCQ. At two minutes a question, that’s about 1,500 questions.
First attempt and the questions still feel fresh? Stay in the UWorld QBank. Retaking, or answering from memory? Switch to NINJA MCQ now.
If you’re in UWorld, make the most of the answer explanations. They’re detailed, and they’re wasted if you just click to the next question.
Whichever test bank you’re in, your notebook stays open:
- Miss one? Write the reason in your own words: a concept you didn’t know, a word you misread, or math that went sideways.
- Got it right on a guess? It counts as a miss. Write it down.
- Read the explanation on the ones you got right, too. The wrong answers are often testing a neighboring rule.
Skip the Mock Exams
Full-length practice exams come with most review courses, NINJA MCQ included. We still say skip them.
Three reasons:
The number lies. The CPA Exam scores on a scale. A 75 isn’t 75% correct, so a mock percentage doesn’t predict much.
The feedback is late. You learn you missed an early question hours after you’ve forgotten why you picked that answer.
The cost is high. One mock burns three to four hours. That’s six to eight focused 20-question sets on the topics that are actually hurting you.
Spend the time in study mode. Better ROI.
Step 4. Just Rewrite Your Notes (1 Week)
One week. Every note you took in Steps 1 through 3, rewritten by hand.
That includes everything you pulled from the UWorld lectures and answer explanations.
Notes came up thin this round? Rewrite the NINJA Notes instead.
Writing forces your brain to process the material a second time. A well-known 2014 study in Psychological Science found that students who took notes by hand understood concepts better than students who typed.
Shrink as you go. If the first draft ran 60 pages, aim for about 30. Deciding what to leave out is its own kind of review.
Boring? Absolutely. Less boring than retaking the section? Also absolutely.
Step 5. All Comes Together (1 Week)
Last week before the exam. If Step 3 happened in the UWorld QBank, you switch to NINJA MCQ now. Already there? Stay put.
Pick your worst topic, the one you’d pay to skip on exam day, and build 20-question sets on it. Keep going until you’re scoring in the mid-70s. Then move to the next worst.
Forget about 90s this week. Getting every weak area to passable beats perfecting a few and running out of days.
Here’s how that looks in REG. Partnership basis is your weakest area, so you work basis sets until you’re in the mid-70s, which might take three or four rounds. Next comes S corporations, then property transactions, and on down the list.
Stuck on a topic that won’t move?
- Watch the NINJA CRAM. It fits in a weekend, which makes the days right before your exam the perfect time for it.
- Bring it to a NINJA Sparring session and get it answered live.
- Read that chapter of the NINJA Book and work the examples.
- Run NINJA Flashcards between question sets.
Every minute outside of MCQ belongs to NINJA Notes and NINJA Audio. Driving, lifting, cooking, all of it.
Olga Timirgalieva (UWorld/Roger + NINJA)
Elijah Watt Sells Award Winner
“NINJA MCQ – A must! With the NINJA Notes, I printed out the notes and used as a knowledge check closer to the exam. NINJA Audio is nice to use during the commute or if you are an auditory learner.”
(Results not typical. Only 1 in 1,000 CPA Candidates win the Elijah Watt Sells Award.)
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Exam Week and Exam Day
Book your exam for Monday at 1:00 p.m.
That gives you one last weekend with nothing on your plate but the exam, plus Monday morning to top off the tank.
Use part of that weekend for simulations. Go back and forth between UWorld and NINJA Simulations so no format surprises you.
Monday morning, keep studying. NINJA MCQ, NINJA Notes, and NINJA Audio right up until you turn off the car at Prometric.
Those last few minutes on some obscure tax rule might be the difference between a 74 and a 75.
Then go in, empty your brain onto the screen, and head home to sleep (for three days).
When you wake up, crank the playlist you’ve been ignoring for seven weeks.
After that, all that’s left is checking the CPA Exam score release dates more often than you’d like to admit. 😀
Not Using UWorld?
The NINJA Study Framework works with any CPA review course.
Use your course lectures in Steps 1 and 2, then add NINJA Notes, NINJA Audio, and NINJA MCQ on top.
Find the study plan for your course:
- Becker CPA Review + NINJA
- UWorld CPA Review + NINJA (including former Roger CPA Review students)
- NINJA Only (no other course)
Don’t see your course? The Supplement Path works the same way with any of them.
Compare the two NINJA subscriptions and choose the one that’s best for you.
To Your Success,
Founder, NINJA CPA Review
UWorld + NINJA FAQ
Can I use NINJA CPA Review with UWorld?
Yes. Keep your UWorld lectures and QBank, and add NINJA Notes, NINJA Audio, and NINJA MCQ around them. UWorld handles the teaching, and NINJA handles reinforcement, a second set of questions, and your final review.
Should I use the UWorld QBank or NINJA MCQ?
Both, at different times. On a first attempt, work the UWorld QBank in Step 3 and move to NINJA MCQ for final review in Step 5. On a retake, or once you catch yourself answering from memory, use NINJA MCQ for both steps. Alternate the two for simulations.
I studied with Roger, Wiley, or Surgent. Does this UWorld plan still apply?
Yes. Roger CPA Review and Wiley’s CPA Review are now part of UWorld, so use your UWorld lectures and QBank as described on this page. Surgent is also a UWorld company, and the plan works the same way with Surgent’s lectures and test bank.
Isn’t the UWorld QBank big enough on its own?
Size helps, but it doesn’t stop memorization. Work the same topics enough times and any question bank starts to feel familiar. A second test bank with different wording shows whether you understand the concept or just remember the question, and that matters most in the final week.
How long does the UWorld + NINJA plan take per section?
About seven weeks at 20 hours a week: two and a half weeks of lectures, two and a half weeks of Non-Stop MCQ, one week rewriting notes, and one week of final review. Note-taking runs through the lectures and the question work.
Should I take full-length practice exams?
We recommend skipping them in any course. A mock score doesn’t predict the CPA Exam’s scaled score, the feedback arrives hours late, and each one costs three to four hours. Put that time into 20-question sets on your weakest topics instead.
How should I practice simulations with UWorld and NINJA?
Go back and forth between UWorld simulations and NINJA Simulations on every attempt. Seeing two sets of simulation styles makes the real ones feel less foreign on exam day.
What if I’m retaking a section with UWorld?
Run all five steps again, notes included. Use NINJA MCQ in both Step 3 and Step 5, and start your final review with the weakest content areas on your score report.
How much does NINJA cost as a UWorld supplement?
The NINJA supplement subscription is $67 per month, and there’s a free trial so you can try it alongside UWorld first. If your UWorld access runs out and you want NINJA as your full course, the Course subscription is $87 per month.
Is NINJA CPA Review affiliated with UWorld?
No. NINJA CPA Review is independent and isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by UWorld. This page explains how candidates use the two together.