Becker Random vs Personalized Practice: Which Should You Use?
Use both, but for different jobs. Personalized practice can repair a specific weakness. Random practice is better for proving that the repair survives when the topic is not announced in advance.
When Personalized practice helps
If you repeatedly miss a topic, you need more exposure to the weakness. Personalized practice can help concentrate attention where performance is poor.
The danger of staying personalized forever
If a study tool keeps feeding you very similar questions, you can begin recognizing wording, numbers, answer patterns, or the correct option instead of solving the underlying rule.
When Random practice helps
The real CPA Exam does not announce that your next five questions come from the chapter you just reviewed. Random mixed practice forces your brain to identify the topic and switch between unrelated concepts.
A simple Summit pattern
Weak topic found → targeted practice → explain misses → reattempt later → return to a random mixed set.
If Random feels harder
That is not automatically bad. If performance drops sharply without chapter labels, you may have learned the material only in a narrow context.
The takeaway
Personalized practice repairs weaknesses. Random practice tests whether the repair survived outside the chapter.
Related Summit guides
FAQ
Should I use only Random questions?
Not if you have specific unresolved weaknesses. Targeted practice still has a job.
Should final review be Random?
A significant portion should be cumulative and mixed.
What if I keep seeing repeated questions?
Confirm you can explain the rule before counting the question as mastered.