Ok, so you’re reading this cause you are slacking off and doing anything to avoid studying. Some of this will probably not apply or some people will disagree(maybe strongly), but this is what I learned/experienced from my experience taking the CPA exam. This is long, so strap in and lets go for a ride.
Background
I am an advisory associate at a Big 4 firm. I had Becker paid for since I signed my return offer after my internship. I have both a bachelors and masters degree in accounting. I started studying in Feb 2019 and just found out I passed my final part, with BEC the only one I had to take while working. I passed all parts on my first try. I love subjective qualitative questions (AUD) and despise quantitative calculation heavy questions (everything else). I had terrible study habits/motivation and typically I am a bad test taker. So anyways lets get started
1. Understand the concepts and underlying logic
a. You have heard this time and time again and just let it brush by you without a 2nd thought. You probably only want to just memorize and regurgitate material. If you want to get the most out of your studying, you should aim to truly understand why things are the way they are and from what point of view you need to look from. For example, why would an audit firm be cautious about taking on a new client (i.e. Enron)? What could make management want to “cheat” on their financials and how does the FASB curb those actions? Etc. I cannot emphasize this enough. Oh wait, hold on. AM I EMPHASIZING THIS ENOUGH??!!!!!!!! Do this and be able to teach the concepts to others. Being able to teach it helps reinforce it.
2. Be curious and listen/read about biz outside of studying
a. You should ask questions to yourself that go beyond the review course. “Why do I share memes on Facebook and avoid social interaction in real life?” “Do I really want to do public accounting?” “I wonder what it’ll be like not having to study for this stupid exam?” oh wait, not those questions. Lol, listen to podcasts like planet money, the Wall street journal, etc. Google questions you have that go beyond the scope of your review course. Try to make connections to your life (individual tax and how that might apply to you). Doing this will, hopefully, make you curious/interested and tie things to what you’re studying. Not making any connections to your personal life financial decisions or what is going around you or being curious can make the study process that much worse.
3. Practice and use excel
a. DO NOT USE A TI 84 when studying. Yes, I know you have an emotional connection to it since it was your ex girlfriend’s back in high school. Get in the habit of using excel. From what I understand, if you are really close, like a 74, the graders will take a special look at your exam and see if you really deserve a 75. Excel would help by allowing you to write notes for problems and show your thought process to the graders. It helps out in sims, when you are using the research tool and find a code that applies but you want to keep searching for a better citation. You can copy and paste that section and passages into excel for reference if you want to come back. You can format how you calculate stuff too, vs that crappy on screen calculator trying to figure out which step of the calculation you’re at. Plus getting in the habit of using the main program you’ll use at work also helps. Should also learn hot keys, show em what dem fingers do. Get your mind out of the gutter.
4. MCQs, MCQs, MCQs
a. Your eyes should be bleeding. After understanding and grasping the concepts, you should aim to get above 60% (75% if you’re competitive) correct on your first try on MCQs for each module. If you don’t, go back into the book and relearn. MCQs are great practice and honestly its probably the best way to prepare in a short amount of time. I aimed to get through the material about 45% of my time and the remaining being for reviewing mostly through doing MCQs. I aimed to do about 200-300 MCQs each day during my review period. Others have said that they did 1000 a day. Its not a contest. Heck, I’ve even seen some of the same MCQs (or very similar) between Becker and the actual exams. Doesn’t hurt to practice.
5. Still in undergrad? Take more finance classes
a. Something I found helpful was doing a dual accounting and finance bachelors degree. I got both perspectives from accounting and finance. Yes, I incurred more student loans, but at least I can talk the talk and understand obscure finance related topics (financial markets and institutions, risk management, forecasting, etc).
6. Need more education credits? Do a masters in accounting(MAcc), not an MBA or a masters in tax, etc
a. Ok, this is controversial and this probably only applies to juniors in college. Look, taking classes that interest you are great. But if you truly want those three letters after your name, you’ll have to put yourself in a position that truly sets you up for success. An MBA: you’ll have exposure to all sorts of classes and topics, but you probably won’t focus too much on auditing or tax and other accounting stuff as much. Plus, there’s a whole debate on if an MBA is even worth it anymore vs a specialized masters (MAcc, Master of supply chain,etc). Let me know if you want me to elaborate, but googling recent news articles/threads can show you. A masters in tax: yes, you’ll probably destroy REG. However, if you don’t like qualitative and subjective questions, AUD will kick you in the ass. FAR will probably be a little difficult since you mostly studied tax. A MAcc: you’ll get an overall selection of accounting courses (audit to cost accounting, etc). Overlapping your classes while studying for a CPA exam section is only gonna help (audit class while studying for AUD; killing 2 birds with one stone). Employers will be a little bit more at ease knowing you aren’t these “no brained MBA students that don’t know anything” -grad school prof. Look at schools that have flexibility and have high pass rates for the CPA exam. I’ve heard great things about BYU, Texas, and Michigan.
7. Never waste a testing window, if you can afford it. Take it at the end too.
a. Now, I’m not too sure how this is gonna play out with the new testing rules upcoming in July. However, I would always try to aim to get through all my material a week before the testing window ended and aimed to take the exam on the last day of the testing window. If I failed, I’d find out the following week and I’d have all that material still fresh in my mind to grind for early next testing window. From what I’ve heard and experienced, you can typically be pleasantly surprised with the result, as long as you know enough basic stuff. Don’t quote me on that, but if you got the cash, might as well do it. If you plan it right, the first year bonus should be able to cover all the exam fees you incurred taking exams multiple times. Jk, plan to pass it the first time, it’ll save you some $$.
8. For the love of God, pass them all before working
a. My heart goes out to all those who haven’t taken a single part when they begin work. I was studying for BEC while working and Jesus, I legit could not find time or have energy to study while working (get home at 9, bed at 11, up at 5am, leave for client at 6am). If I were to redo it again, I would ask during your internship to get access to Becker early and start studying before grad school. I spent about 10+ hours a day during the bright blue skied summer in the library depressed that I had to learn about pension and lease accounting. I’ve heard that some places/firms are great at giving you time to study, but probably don’t pay as much. I’ve heard GCAS (GCASconnect.org) is a great option. Probably hard to break into Big 4 afterwards, but at least you’ll kinda get that work life balance. Get it done ASAP. If you are working FT and haven’t taken any or are currently taking it, its not the end of the world. I know plenty of people who passed all of em in Big 4 within their first 4 years.
9. Impatient and want to know if you passed/failed a little bit early? Eyeball trick
a. I think this applies mostly NASBA states, but yea google it. Your credit/fail status will pop up like half a day before the actual release date (typically).
10. Getting through the material is the hardest part
a. So what if you fail an exam, at least you did the hardest part, getting through and understanding the material. If you fail, you aren’t starting back at square 1. You’ll pretty much be at >=70%, depending on how diligent you were at studying the first time, if you find out if you failed. If you haven’t started work yet, just get through all the material. Learning obscure topics in FAR &BEC while working 60+ hours a week will drive you crazy. As mentioned below, write outlines, so that it’ll be easier and quicker to refresh on the material if you need to come back.
11. Find a friend, a study routine, and test ritual
a. If you’re like me, you have borderline ADHD and cannot concentrate or keep yourself accountable. I had a group in grad school that we all struggled together in the library and kept each other accountable. Cancel your Netflix, take Youtube out of your bookmarks, just make it difficult to find distractions. Your job is to study, not find an excuse to have a study break *points at you*. Finally, find a ritual. Mine was booking a hotel the night before my exam at a hotel across the street from Prometric (Since I was scared to death that my love for sleep would get the best of me). I would go to Red Robin and eat dinner, go to a movie the night before and take Z quil and go to bed early. Before my exam, I would wake up 3-4 hours before my exam to get myself awake, eat a very light breakfast, and take a 5 hour energy right before I walked into the exam room. I would carry gum, a granola bar, redbull, Advil, ear plugs, and a water bottle to the exam. I fidget a lot so I would chew gum, and while Prometric typically gave us headmuffs, I would carry in my ear plugs and squish them (fidgeting habit) while I read prompts or if my test taking neighbor was noisy, put in the earplugs underneath the headmuffs. After my exam, I would treat myself. Go play 9 holes, watch another movie, and go out drinking. Treat yourself, even if you failed it, you deserve some positivity in your life. Depending on how you feel, wait 2 days(recovery) before studying the same section or moving onto the next section.
12. Do not redeem your Becker books until after you are done
a. Want a little extra cash? I wish I had thought of this earlier. But, one of my buddies only used the online textbook and online final review textbook. He never redeemed his becker books. After he finished, he put up a listing on ebay for his becker books. Since the books keep getting updated, he could say that these books were current. He also bundled all the books together on ebay and sold them for like $350, instead of selling one by one which would take longer. Plenty of people have their books go out of date fast and are in need of new fresh paper to massacre with their pencil and highlighter. If you don’t need the hardcopy, pass on it and get a little bit of extra cash after you pass the exams.
13. If Becker ever offers you a lifetime subscription, take it
a. Yes, while they do say that if you don’t pass a section they’ll let you keep using your account, you do have to demonstrate that you didn’t pass (salt in the wound). During grad school, a couple of my friends at another big 4 firm said they got an email about Becker giving them lifetime access until they passed. I reached out to Becker to see if I could opt in for that. It was free. That way it was one less thing on my mind knowing that my software would expire in 18 months unless I showed substantial progress in reviewing through Becker.
14. Becker really done screwed up by removing the desktop app
a. I might be in the minority here, but I highly doubt it. Starting Jan 2020, Becker will no longer support the desktop application for your laptop. I absolutely loved the native downloaded application. You didn’t need to be connected via internet and could pull up excel. I only needed the internet to update the contents. Having access to the internet was a slippery slope to a 7 hour youtube binge. By turning off my wifi and going to a spot in the library with no WIFI access, I ultimately only had the Becker app for entertainment. Sad yes, I know. Becker only now offers the online version and the app version for mobile devices. Sorry for all those who didn’t get to download the desktop app back in June 2019 for the last time.
15. Find a good prometric
a. I have been fortunate and not had problems. However, I have heard nightmare scenarios where a few of my friends had a prometric that couldn’t get their exam loaded and had to have them reschedule. If you’re working and take PTO that would be terrible. I had one friend who tried to take an exam at the end of a testing window before his other exam credit expired the next testing period and lost credit cause prometric had to keep rescheduling him. Put your mind at ease and don’t experience an emotional rollercoaster finding out you have to reschedule. Some Prometrics are control freaks and will lose their s*** if you do something minor like chewing gum or kick off your shoes while you are taking your exam. Just depends on who your proctor is. Ask your friends which locations are good. Heads up though, typically those are the ones that fill up the quickest.
16. You got 4 mins to write down everything
a. Don’t know if this is allowed by Prometric, can someone attest to this? Remember those 4 mins that are admin disclaimers before your actual exam begins? Good, use that free time to your advantage. Write down formulas fresh in your mind or concepts or acronyms that will help you or that you truly struggle with. I wish I had done this when I took it, but write down all the major amounts (i.e. 3k), concepts, rules, and formulas on that little crappy laminated sheet Prometric gives you during that 4 mins before your exam starts. Some people will say this is not necessary or bad for you, but if I were you, I’d live in comfort having that sheet of material.
17. Becker keeps repeating certain things over and over
a. If you haven’t gotten the hint yet, you should.*Don’t be like me when a girl laughs at your 2/10 dad joke and tell her she is a great friend* Topics that mysteriously keep popping up again and again, are typically the ones that will most likely show up on your exam. *cough*Basis*cough*gov &NFP*cough*Internal control*cough*IT*
18. The exam is “fair”, MCQs only adaptive
a. Yes, only the MCQ testlets are adaptive. If you find that a sim is easy, don’t worry your little mind about it. SIM difficulty is random, even though you’ll stare at your screen for 30 min wondering where it all went wrong. Look, the examiners only want you to know enough to keep the public safe (so basically AUD matters). Those really difficult sections you have in your review course typically won’t be big areas in the exam, unless you’ve got bad luck. If that’s the case, then I’m sorry dude. When I took FAR, I kept reviewing the sections that I could not grasp that well, in reality it consisted of most of the questions I was really strong in already. However, I hadn’t kept up in those areas and I thought I failed. It’s a fair exam, not too hard but not easy, the studying/review part is in my opinion the worst part of the whole process.
19. Watch out for absolutes
a. Use standard test taking strategies. If you see the words: only, all, none, never, always, etc. in answers, your eyes should pop and you should start reevaluating your life choices. That’s how I got through AUD, just looking for absolutes. If you see one, that’s typically one less answer choice you have to worry about. There is always the exception to the rule. That being said, you should also get in the habit of watching out for the question prompt saying except, none, only, etc. I can’t tell you how many questions I missed cause I was not careful reading the prompt correctly. Get in the habit of knowing what the question is truly asking.
20. For BEC WC, repeat the prompt
a. How does the AICPA keep up with grading the BEC exam with all those essays you gotta write? They (probably) don’t. It’s most likely a computer that uses a similar grammaspelling function to that of MSFT word and/or Grammarly with a few extra conditions like searching for key words. As long as you can write with decent grammar, you are set my friend. Just make sure you almost repeat exactly what the prompt says, so that the system sees you are on track. Even if you have no clue what the hell the answer is, repeat the prompt. You’ll get points for writing something and being on track. Just a little sneaky tip for ya.
21. Is the Elijah Watt Scholarship worth it?
a. Short answer: no, in my opinion. “Yes, we will definitely pay you $20,000 if you get 95.5 avg across all the exams and passing on your first try!”-accounting firm. From what I have heard, pretty much all the firms will try their best to back out of this promise and say, “ooof, ummm, how about no and we instead give you $5,500. Cool right?! Hey did you by chance get around to that one project we assigned you yesterday?” I think PWC has been the only one to honor the higher bonus, but even then, I haven’t heard too great of things from them lately from my friends who did get the Elijah Watt award. Your goal is to pass. A CPA is still a CPA no matter if you scored 99 on all the sections or if you got 75 on all sections. A really smart friend of mine once told me, “You’re a complete idiot if you get anything above a 75, a 75 says that you studied just the right amount, Idk why xyz has spent 5 months studying for BEC doing 10+ hours a day.” Probably study enough to aim for an 85, rather pass than have to retake.
22. This platform (another71, reddit,etc) will help keep your sanity
a. Yes, while some people here can be very brash and tell you to work harder and not really give you comfort. There are plenty of people here to give encouragement and support. Lots of people here are in the same boat as you and are trying to pass. After every exam I would rant about how little I studied and how I knew I had for sure failed and how others felt about their exams. Remember, for every rant you put, give two comments of support/advice to someone who is struggling. Also, while youtube reactions to CPA exams is nice, don’t dive too deep and waste precious study time. Breeze through them and see what is recommended and how to prepare, nothing more. Shoutout to those who actually make youtube videos on their journeys, yall helped me out.
23. Take FAR first, BEC=What the hell was that?
a. FAR is a B****. It’s a mile wide but an inch deep. When I studied for AUD, I honestly had fun studying for it. REG was not as fun, but was able to connect it to my life. FAR…. FAR is a beast. It is so freakin long that I was honest to God exhausted after it. If I had to redo things, I would take it first. It’s just the amount of material, the exam I found was quite fair. You’ll also realize that FAR is systemic and touches every other section. Taxes for Reg (M1&M3 schedules), ratios for Audit, and hedges for BEC. Trust me, it’ll be easier to transition vs hearing Olinto and Gearty say “remember in FAR..” when you actually hadn’t event studied for it yet. Ok, now lil ol’ BEC. At first glance its this little cute section that’s like “I’m just glad to be here” In reality, its this random hodgepodge of misc material that couldn’t make up separate exams. While the other sections build on each other, the BEC material is so different it is hard to transition your mindset. I woulda also tried to take this towards the beginning. Be comfortable with calculation and quantitative heavy problems. Its amazing how financy and quantitative it really is. I like qualitative subjective logic based questions, so AUD basically.
24. Use Becker Final Review and take mock exams. Make an outline as you go through
a. Final Review in my opinion is underrated. I’m one to be looking for pure efficiency and find out where my weakest areas are. At least you can still download the desktop version of final review and don’t need internet to access it. Another issue I had was I never did the progress tests. I would get through all the material and take a mock. Find out I got like a 30-50 on it and be depressed since I hadn’t kept up in the earlier parts of the material. Make sure to always constantly refresh on older parts of the material, it’ll save you so much time and effort. One thing I started in REG was making an outline. Did I ever come back and read my work? No, but the process of actually writing down concepts and material subconsciously internalizes in your brain. I did this in case I had to retake a section so I could breeze through and find the areas I was weak in. Thankfully, that never happened. Make sure to write examples that you can understand and to put jokes/big4accountant memes in it to prevent your eyes glazing over.
25. Why on earth are you still reading this slacker? Get to work
a. In all honesty, the CPA exam in my opinion isn’t that bad. It’s just getting through the material. Only you have the power to stop wildfires, wait, I mean pass the CPA exam. Life will throw crazy things at you. You might be in a relationship and need to sit your significant other down and have them understand the time commitment this really is. You just need to put yourself in a situation that will set you up for success. Stay late at work/library, put in earplugs/headmuffs (the ones you use for mowing lawns), sit in isolation away from any windows (the casino effect), drink coffee, take Adderall, exercise, move across the country, quit public accounting, start a multi tiered marketing business, marry a model, live your best life. IDK im not your mother, just do it.

Hey StardewValley! Given the influx of new players here, I thought I'd share a list of the tips & tricks I've discovered myself or gathered over time to help players both old & new. This sub's been great for inspiration, & I wanted to give back to you guys. Even experienced players can play dozens of hours without ever discovering the things here. It's not a guide on how-to basics (e.g. watch TV); that's beyond the scope of this list. For that, I recommend checking out the FAQ & Wiki.
If you're looking for a way to take full screenshots of your farm (& any other area), check out my guide here. Also, check out this site by u/kihashi for a great way to track bundles (sub), and this site for fish (link is dead - if this tool was moved rather than closed, please let me know if you have any info about it!)
Last Updated: 15 October 2020. Total number of tips so far: 133!
Added/revised in latest update: updated formatting for spoilers (thanks u/Blixtmen).
Check back from time to time to see what's new!

• This list is spoiler-free. They're marked like this & can be safely ignored, with enough visible for you to decide if you want to see it. However, things widely discussed here (such as Junimos) are unmarked.
  
• I'm on PC, so I've written these tips from that perspective. Please account for minor differences (such as controls) for your platform.
  
• For unique tips I've read here, I've done my best to credit you! Forgive me if I've missed you, & please let me know. I'll link your original post.
  
• I try to ensure that the list's always accurate & up to date, with multiple sources or testing myself. This post is now archived but I continue to maintain it - if you have any input, you won't be able to comment, but please PM me! I'll mark an edit next to my tip & credit you.
  
• I love feedback! If this helped you, please link back to it when you share so that others may read it too. Thanks!
  

Farm & Buildings

1. Place scarecrows, sprinklers or lights on flooring/paths to prevent the hoe from digging them up.
2. Left-click to drop a sellable item you're holding into the shipping box directly without opening the inventory.
3. Retrieve the last shipped item from the box by right-clicking on the shipping box & clicking on the shipped item.
4. With upgraded tools, hold down the button to increase the area of effect. This seems obvious, but a surprising number of people miss it (e.g. watering cans not only have better capacity, but water more tiles & in different patterns if held down). Bonus: tool sparkle colour corresponds to the upgrade level.
5. The pickaxe can undo tilled soil.
6. All tiles above tilled dirt that uncovered an item (always clay except winter) will also contain that item. Video. (Patched, thanks u/greymeta).
7. Shake trees for seeds. Edit: during the last 2 weeks of fall, maple trees drop hazelnuts instead of maple seeds (thanks u/rabidcow).
8. If you don't get giant crops on harvest day, leave mature crops unharvested for a few days (ensure continued watering) & they'll form. The number of days needed varies; personal experience has been 4-12 days for fusion.
9. You can plant fruit trees inside the greenhouse, both in the plot & on the floor outside the plot border. Planting behaviour differs slightly normal; you can plant trees in tilled & untilled soil here (unlike only untilled on farmland). The most efficient is my layout. You can plant more trees along the bottom edge, I chose not to as they obscure the view of the plot.
10. There's a 0.5% chance that you can get ancient seeds from the seed maker instead of the same variety as the input crop. Blueberries & cranberries are great choices for farming ancient seeds.
11. It's faster & easier to hold right-click while harvesting crops rather than clicking individually on every tile. Hold seed bags to replant the tiles simultaneously, saving time.
12. Junimos can phase through trellis crops to harvest, so you can plant them without gaps. Remember they don't harvest when it's raining.
13. The star quality of crops that you put into machines such as kegs has no effect on the end-product quality. To maximise profits, process the lowest star goods & sell the leftover higher star goods (unless you can afford to wait & process everything). However, note that cheese in casks is an exception. Cheese ages from base quality to silver (3d), to gold (4d), to iridium (7d). Putting in cheese that already has a star quality begins its processing at that stage, cutting down the days taken to reach the next higher quality, giving you quicker turnaround/profit. Therefore, star quality does have an impact on the end product here.
14. You can place torches on fences, the floor, & behind objects/furniture.
15. You can make oil from sunflower seeds, sunflowers, & corn in the oil maker (corn's usually overlooked).
16. You can make wider fence gates by having a different kind of fence on either side of the gate. For instance, (HW) = hardwood fence, (W) = wood fence, & (G) = gate. Normally, you'd make (HW)(HW)(G)(HW)(HW). Instead, make (HW)(W)(G)(W)(HW). The stumps to which the gate is attached must be a different material than the main fence (it doesn't matter which), so another example: (W)(HW)(G)(HW)(W). Screenshot. This makes it easier for a horse to go through. Source. Edit: it doesn't necessarily need to be fences, as long as you disconnect the gate's stumps. The rest is cosmetic: other path blocking items (such as tub o' flowers) also work (thanks u/greymeta).
17. Self-sustaining grass feeders can regenerate grass to keep fields green & animals fed. Grass spreads on its own (including from under fences), provided it isn't eaten first. Animals will only eat grass they can stand on; a feeder's a patch that we prevent them from eating. Lay down grass starters & put fences on top of it (suggested: 2x2, but any config's okay). After a few days, you get new grass around it that animals eat, while the grass underneath remains unharmed, making new grass around it. Screenshots w/ spread. Source. Guide w/ math. Edit: lightning rods work too (thanks u/Raichu7).
18. To get flower honey, it doesn't matter if there are flowers around a bee house when the honey starts forming. They only need to be there when you collect it. Similarly, if you harvest a flower around a bee house that had flower honey ready for collection, it will become wild honey. Bonus: to get just "honey" (not wild honey), use the pickaxe on a bee house that's ready for collection to pick both up. This unlabelled honey doesn't serve any different purpose & sells for the same amount as wild honey. Just a little quirk.
19. Use "indicator kegs" outside barns/sheds to signal when the kegs inside are ready for collection. Load all the kegs inside with fruit & load one outside (e.g. next to the door) just after. You don't need to go inside the barn to check whether the wine's ready - once you see the indicator keg's ready, the rest are too. Edit: currently, a known issue (as of 1.11) causes indoor & outdoor keg timers to go out of sync during festival days. Time elapsed when you come back to your farm (after the event) is only applied to the indicator, making them finish processing faster, yielding a false positive. Source (thanks u/GlassDeviant).
20. If you're not carrying an axe/bomb, don't get boxed inside fencing/trellis crops. You won't be able to chop your way out. You'll have to sit there until you pass out. That is your life now. If you're carrying/able to craft a gate though, you can "overwrite" the fence with it and let yourself out (thanks u/idonteven93).
21. Underrated side effect of the botanist perk: all foraged items use less inventory space (the same quality will stack). Very useful when collecting truffles.
22. Farming in winter is not only possible, but potentially lucrative.
23. You can axe away unwanted bushes in the forest farm, but note they won't grow back.
24. Remember that Sandy sells unique seeds that you can't buy anywhere else.
25. Plant grass starters on the 28th for batshit growth the next day. It's a good way to keep animals happy in a small space (thanks u/owlrecluse). Remember that grass dies in winter, so cut everything by fall 28 into hay; new grass will spawn in spring (thanks u/aznanywayz).
26. A pickaxe isn't strictly necessary to pick up an object that usually needs it. Click on it repeatedly with an empty hand, & it will eventually pop up for collection (thanks u/owlrecluse). Edit: I tested it with sprinklers, kegs, oil makers, seed makers, recycling machines & cheese presses (gates too, thanks u/MuphynManOG).
27. You don't need to remove broken fences before mending them. Just place a replacement on top of it even if the tile is red (thanks u/AlfLives).
28. In the forest farm, tall grass can be planted on short grass, but will not spread there (thanks u/EndlessArgument).
29. Remember that you can process coconuts & cacti in machines (e.g. preserves jar) (thanks u/blasek0). Buying coconuts from Sandy just to process them isn't worth it (math here), but if you have idle jars, throw in coconuts you find in (spoiler, unlockable area:) the desert for profit (thanks u/Psylisa).
30. Fences decay over time unless you get the golden clock. Instead of making traditional fences you have to fix, you can make indestructible, functional fences by using objects such as preserves jars instead. See my farm for an example. Others include tub o' flowers, lightning rods, kegs, etc.
31. Giant crops can survive indefinitely through the seasons (they don't die out like normal crops if they're not in season). If you just want some giants for aesthetics, don't harvest them & they'll live on even through winter. Example.
32. As of 1.07, lightning is more likely to strike trees & crops, but lightning rods have a very good chance of intercepting them if they aren't already processing a battery (thanks u/Avarice0107).
33. If you like having Junimos hang around your farm, fence in a harvestable crop/flower in the vicinity (single tile will do). Junimos will come out to harvest it, but the fence will prevent them from reaching it. This way, you can have them about all the time, not just on harvest days.
34. Follow-up to #33: Junimo huts have a toggle harvest button. If you don't want Junimos to harvest but still like them hanging around, you can stop them by toggling it off. You still need ripe crops to lure them out (or else they stay in), but you can toggle it on/off midday, so you can have them harvest most crops & then just stay out until you want (thanks u/some_internet_rando). Update: use this to grow giant crops in range of the Junimo huts. Junimos don't harvest giants if they're already there, but this lets you leave ripe crops on the field for some time to fuse (see #8).
35. To save time tilling the field for planting in a new season, leave crops planted that will die out on next season's day 1. You can then quickly clear away the dry plants with a scythe & be ready to plant new ones, so that you have more time to do other things on that day. Useful in the transition from winter to spring where you can use cheap winter seeds that you don't mind losing.
36. If you blow up your Statue of Perfection with a bomb it is destroyed & does not drop as an item. However, you can just get another one by interacting with the shrine again. Source (thanks u/reverendsteveii).
37. If you want to redesign your farm, the quickest way is to have Robin/Wizard move your buildings & use bombs to clear the rest. Note that explosives are destructive on certain items, so if you want to reuse something, remove it manually. For e.g. if you use the pickaxe to remove 1 tile stone fencing, you'll get 1 unit of stone fencing intact to reuse elsewhere. Bombing it turns it into 1 stone (2 units stone = 1 tile stone fencing, so you get back half the ingredients).
38. Debris around the farm (e.g. wood) can spread, destroying placeable objects/crops when it does. Pathways prevent debris from spreading onto (& across) them. If you have a valuable crop such as starfruit or a rarecrow (some of them are irreplaceable) ensure you protect them by placing the scarecrow on a path & have paths around the crops (thanks u/ghoulavenger). Source.
39. If you're lacking farm space to tap trees or need lots of resin to make kegs, use empty spaces outside the farm to plant trees there. See The Valley, Shops & Gifts #27 on how to plant trees outside the farm. Example.
40. You can use a crystalarium trick to change any gem/mineral into another. Video & source.
41. If you are dissatisfied with your choice of farm cave & want to change it, you can use the What FarmCave mod or edit your save file. Neither choice is the end of the world. They're not moneymakers; they just give you a nudge towards completing a relevant community center bundle.
42. There's a secret passage in the forest farm (picture) (thanks u/ImTheBoo512). You can check all hidden walkable areas when placing buildings at Robin's (thanks u/pqkluan).
43. You can put hats on the alien rarecrow!
44. Make sure to have inventory space when you pick up the parsnip gift in your house on day 1. If it's full, it'll be discarded (thanks u/GreenPlazma).

Fishing

1. Hold bait while harvesting from crab pots to prevent accidentally picking them up & reload them in one go.
2. Cast the fishing line at bubbles in the water for quicker bites.
3. Fishing's not limited to water (you can fish in lava/swamps).
4. You can pause time while fishing by clicking the on-screen journal button (not shortcut key). Fishing continues with the journal open. Once you hear a bite, close the journal to start reeling in the fish. This allows you to catch nearly 4x the fish in the same time, & hit a high fishing level early on. Edit: you need to have a quest in the journal for the button to show up; complete any quest & not collect the reward to keep it there (thanks u/greymeta) patched in 1.4 (thanks u/LandoChronus).
5. It's possible to reach reach unreachable fishing spots like this by casting your line at an angle. Press the WASD keys once you start casting & it will move the hook slightly in that direction (thanks u/teibbes). Screenshots (thanks u/Kairuni).

Animals & Ranch

1. Silos can be reloaded not just by cutting grass, but manually from outside & from within a coop/barn. Hold hay & right-click the silo/indoor dispenser to add it to the silo. This allows you to have less silos on your farm. Put a chest down nearby to hold multiple stacks of hay (much larger capacity than a silo) & just reload it when it gets low. Full tip here.
2. Hold a piece of hay while petting animals to prevent the mood dialog from coming up & pet all quickly.
3. You can place machines (e.g. mayo) inside barns/coops.
4. If an animal is blocking your path inside or sleeping in an inconvenient spot, exit the barn/coop & come back to randomise their positions. Also works with pets in your house.
5. The hitbox for cows is centered on the bottom of their sprite (makes sense: udders). It's fairly large, but does not cover the top of their sprite. To milk them, aim low, below their hooves. There's no specific order between animals, so if there's one you want to hit, aim away from overlaps (thanks u/rabidcow). On PC, get the Better Ranching mod to make this a lot better.
6. Hold a tool that doesn't have a right-click action (such as the scythe or copper pan) while picking up eggs to prevent the dialog asking you to eat it from coming up (thanks u/KwinAlexander).
7. You can use symbols when you name your animals. Use the = key to get a star in the name & + for a smiley face (not sure about the console equivalent).
8. Further to #4, if a really stubborn animal is in your way, you can move them by clicking on their change/barn coop button & cancelling it out. When the screen closes, they will be in a different location (thanks u/aznanywayz).
9. As of 1.2.x, you can now choose the colour of the animal you buy from Marnie, mentioned on the "choose a new for your " screen. If you don't get the one you want, cancel & re-roll until you do. Source. Relevant Shane's 8-heart event spoiler: this also applies to blue chickens, so you no longer need to depend on the 25% RNG which converts a regular chicken into a blue one.
10. You can put hats on your horse (thanks u/fishfeathers).

Mining & Adventuring

1. A floor in the mines containing tons of mushrooms (see video) spawns on a regular, predictable basis. It's very useful for money, completing bundles, & cooking.
2. You can reset mine levels by re-entering the mine. I farmed iridium fairly quickly by repeatedly reloading skull cavern level 1.
3. Get the slime charmer ring faster by killing big slimes in the skull cavern (they split into many tiny slimes, each count as 1 kill).
4. You can till soil in the mines to find artifacts, cave carrots, clay, & geodes.
5. You can tell the difference between regular rocks & rock crabs in the mines by glancing at their shadow. No shadow = it's a crab. (note: may not work any more). Bonus: hitting a rock crab with a pick will wake it up & it will attack you, but hitting it with a weapon does not (you get the PING & a 0 damage indicator. A bomb or explosive slingshot ammo will shatter the shell, & it'll run away from you instead. Using the pickaxe from above hits them down, so they don't come at you & do damage right away (thanks u/Caillielf). You can use the pickaxe to pop the shell too, though it takes a few swings (thanks u/Isalan).
6. You can use eggs as slingshot ammo. Hide behind the bushes & egg people (you know you want to). Edit: you can also load it with ore for combat, & explosive ammo makes a decent combat/mining tool (thanks u/pimhazeveld).
7. Holding C will allow you to spam weapon swings faster than you can manually click. This can make weapons such as daggers much more effective in combat. Also works with any swing-able tool (e.g. scythe).
8. You can eat something while a bomb explodes to deny the damage & stop time for a bit (if you time it right). It still causes damage & knocks mobs back (thanks u/Joey0312).
9. You can till dirt at mines, get items, un-till it using the pickaxe, & repeat to get more items (random each time, may include artifacts). Source (thanks u/Alkaizen). Note: this tip's for educational purposes only; even though this is possible, it's not the most efficient way to mine for artifacts. It's much easier to go to floor 15/55/95 (the layout is the same every 40th floor), till the dirt right by the elevator, leave, & come back. The dirt resets every time you go to the floor. This is much less of a drain on energy & time & is the recommended method (thanks u/Zolge).
10. You can pick up coal from minecarts.

The Valley, Shops & Gifts

1. You can buy ice cream in non-summer seasons even when no one's manning the stand! Park your horse behind the counter & instead of getting the message that says no one's working there, you can now buy as much as cream as you like, whenever you like. From your horse. This is one of my favourite tips because it's just so random. Source.
2. You can plant fruit trees outside the farm. (Patched, thanks u/OldManInternetz). If you planted some before the patch, those will remain.
3. When a villager's heart meter is full, it will no longer decay over time even if you never talk to them.
4. Buy items from shops in multiples of 5 by holding Shift while right-clicking. Edit: on console, hold ▢/X (thanks u/wohlstand). On Switch, hold A+Y (thanks u/maniolink).
5. You can put chests & machines almost anywhere in town (chests at the mine entrance/people's houses, kegs in the tunnel, furnaces/kegs at the quarry, worm bins outside Willy's etc.). Remember to store them away from NPC paths (they trample & destroy anything in their way).
6. Villagers appreciate the star quality of gifts if they are liked/loved.
7. Due to the internal re-use of some item IDs, you can use certain wallpapers as stand-ins for some items in the game, including the prismatic shard (e.g. giving Haley a specific wallpaper is equivalent to giving her a coconut). If you have a catalogue, you have an unlimited free supply of some neat items & gifts. See video. Note: video contains an animal & quest spoiler! Edit: patched (thanks u/Chenjiringu & u/chalo1227).
8. You can forage in the trash bins around town for some decent loot. If someone (except Linus) is within 7 tiles when you do it, they'll disapprove & lose some friendship points (line of sight doesn't matter, forage freely).
9. Clint's ore quests can't be instantly completed with ore you already held or took out of a chest in a stack straight away. Put the stack in a chest & take it out one by one for it to count (video) Edit: dropping the exact amount & picking it back up works too - if you drop & pick up more than what's required at once, it won't register (source). You'll hear a "ding" (journal says "Talk to Clint."). It doesn't matter what you do with the ore now. You don't need to hold it while talking to him or even have it in your inventory (don't risk gifting it to him & making him depressed). Source (thanks u/justintnelson, u/grand_cheesemonger, u/FutureCode, u/diakked, & u/Raichu7).
10. When you hear a whistle & get a notification saying "a train is passing through Stardew Valley", head up ASAP to the tracks & catch it go by. You might get lucky as it drops some resources. In winter, the train carries presents (just cosmetic but cute).
11. If you want cash instantly, you can sell directly to Willy & Pierre instead of waiting for the shipping box overnight. Useful in early game if you want money for same-day planted seeds. Edit: you can also sell mine loot, weapons, & shoes at the Adventurer's Guild (thanks u/Caillielf & u/Lykanth), wood/stone to Robin, & ores/minerals/bars to Clint (thanks u/Fiametta37).
12. Birthday gifts can be given to a villager at any time, regardless of whether you've already given a villager their 2 gifts for the week. Useful to boost friendship quickly, especially for the spring dance.
13. You can give everyone a bouquet & see all their heart events without penalties before choosing one to give a pendant to.
14. Remember that the travelling cart comes on Fridays & Sundays & can be very useful in completing community center bundles (especially for off-season goods).
15. You can access the lower portion of the (mild spoiler, unlockable area after upgrading axe:) secret forest for some more hardwood. If you ever wondered why the wiki claimed you could get 12, this is why.
16. Make Pam reach the bus stop faster by blocking her path when she's on the way there. She'll run past you. You can also plant a tree in her path to block her to make it more permanent (see #27).
17. At the Stardew Valley fair, always bet on green at the wheel. Here's the math from decompiled code.
18. You can complete the crab pot bundle without ever building a crab pot. Cockles can be foraged at the beach & crabs drop from the rock crabs in the mines.
19. Once a bachelor or bachelorette is at 8 hearts, you can repeatedly give them more bouquets to quickly raise their hearts to ten in the same day. You don't have to wait another potential 2 weeks to see their 10 heart event. It takes approximately 20 bouquets (thanks u/Cocowife).
20. When trying to complete a community center bundle, check how many blank squares it has. Some bundles show a large list of items needed, but you only need as many items as there are empty squares; you often don't need everything (thanks u/bagelpizzaman).
21. You don't need to go to the community center (& each room separately) to check on bundle progress. See it at any time by clicking on the bundles button (thanks u/Trayoos).
22. If you plan to process geodes & upgrade tools on the same day, process the geodes first as Clint will work on your tool only until it's done (thanks u/Lemerney2).
23. In your co-op partner's house, you'll find a chest inside with level 1 tools to use. This is helpful early in the game your tool is being upgraded at Clint's. Note that you can't upgrade these tools if you've already upgraded the others. For example, if you take a regular watering can to Clint's to get it upgraded to copper, and you already have a copper watering can, steel is the only available option (thanks u/vegankilljoy).
24. Unlockable area spoiler: if you can't enter the casino, zoom all the way out to be able to interact with the bouncer & the vendor (thanks u/moonlawliet).
25. Unlockable area spoiler: you can buy deluxe speed-gro at the Oasis on Thursdays for cheaper than at Pierre's (thanks u/FutureCode & u/eyemahdin).
26. During fairs & events, always remember to check for interactions everywhere. For e.g. the fall fair has a top area that is easily overlooked, near the water fountain. If you ever wondered why Gus, Elliot, Maru, George, & Evelyn were, that's where they went. You can click the grill to get burgers there!
27. 1.1 building spoiler: you can bring your horse with you when you use a warp obelisk, so you're not stuck with having to walk. Park your horse right in front of the obelisk. Dismount (be careful where you click, otherwise you'll warp without your horse). Start walking into it until it shakes & you phase into it, so you occupy the same space as the horse. Click the area that covers both the horse & the obelisk, & as you warp, you will jump on to it. As long as your cursor covers both the obelisk & the horse, you'll be transported with it. Source.
28. You can plant non-fruit trees outside the farm. Pick a spot, use the hoe to dig there, & plant your maple seed/acorn/pine cone there (thanks u/gridbuster).
29. Unlockable area spoiler: pay back the cost of the 500 g bus ticket to Calico desert easily by foraging. Even the lowest quality coconut goes for 100 g, so pick up a few coconuts/cacti along your way to the skull cavern (better still process those in preserves jars/kegs), & you can make back the money without much effort, besides any good loot you'll pick up in the skull cavern as well.
30. To rearrange the museum exhibit, you'll need to have something to donate (to access that screen). If you give your last item to complete the collection & have nothing left to donate, you'll get stuck with that layout, so make sure you set up everything beforehand. PC players can get around this by using the museum rearranger mod which allows you to change the layout at any time.
31. Unlockable area spoiler: Calico spin at the Casino is the best/only way to make the Qi coins you need to buy everything, & it follows a pattern which can be exploited. Video tutorial (thanks u/KippDynamite). Illustrated tutorial (thanks u/Joey0312). pattern exploit patched in 1.5, but now the game favours the player and is greatly affected by luck (thanks u/Piececrafter).
32. 1.1 quest spoiler: in the witch quest, you have to get past the goblin henchman by giving him void mayonnaise, which is easily obtained by fishing in the swamp right there. The first item you'll catch is void mayo. If you put a chest there & stash it, you can fish another one, stash it & repeat ad infinitum (you get it about 25% of the time). Source (thanks u/Myrandall & u/Nuderval).
33. Remember that you can regenerate health & energy at the spa by standing still in the pool. While you're there, you can enter the opposite gender's locker room, even though it says you're not allowed in. At the pool, push up at the stairs continuously while spamming the button to dismiss the notification & you'll get through (thanks u/Skinn_Bones). Source.
34. On the 28th of any season, go to the bush in the little alcove north of the swings/slide in town & click on it at exactly 12:00 pm to get a secret gift! Furniture item: Junimo plush..
35. Standing at the edge of the map & swinging your tool will allow you to creep forward & escape the map, to do some cool things. Video & source.
36. The map-escape trick in #34 can also be exploited to get infinite health & energy at the spa. Video & source.
37. You can force the quality of spring onions to be gold only (especially helpful in early game). Fill up your backpack completely, with a gold quality spring onion in 1 slot (no other type of spring onion in your pack). When you click on a spring onion to pick it up, it will spawn as one of the 3 or 4 qualities. Since different qualities occupy different slots, any time a non-gold quality is spawned, it won't let you pick it up since there's no space. Keep clicking until a gold is spawned, whereupon it will be added to the stack in your pack. The quality also affects how much people like them as gifts. Video & source.
38. Don't waste resources making chests for community center quest items. You can lock them into the slot as you get them (note multiples need the exact number). That way you don't have to keep track of what you have (thanks u/lolcrunchy).
39. You can get Mayor Lewis' shorts without befriending Marnie (thanks u/Ryandw2).
40. Unlockable area spoiler: buy Qi coins easily by holding right-click on the coin machine & spamming Y on the keyboard (thanks u/deadline_wooshing_by).

Player, House & Skills

1. Stay up past 2 am by clicking on the on-screen journal icon (not shortcut key, as with Fishing #4) once you see the pass-out animation begin. You get a short time to get to bed safely before the animation is triggered again (this is repeatable). You still get an energy penalty the next day, but it's better than losing money early in the game. (patched, thanks u/vegankilljoy).
2. If a pet/villager is blocking your path, keep walking into them. They vibrate at first, & after a moment, allow you to phase through.
3. Cooking ingredients are pulled from both your inventory & the fridge. I used to put cooked food in the fridge before I realised this. Edit: inventory items are pulled before the fridge (thanks u/Pellantana).
4. Don't store your legendary fish in the fridge. You might make legendary sashimi by accident. It tastes of regret, & a reloaded day.
5. Sashimi recipe + crab pots = easy energy. If you have fish that isn't very valuable, make it more profitable by turning it into sashimi. Useful if you have a lot of crab pots.
6. Foods that give you speed buffs stack with coffee, & the horse. Wiki.
7. You can place objects on top of & under furniture, even furniture on furniture (e.g. artifacts & decorations on tables, torches underneath tables, & chairs on top of tables). Place a torch behind the Tree of the Winter Star to give it a nice glow.
8. Rotate furniture with right-click before placing it.
9. You can hide chests behind bookcases & under tables. Place the chest in the same spot & you can make functional furniture while saving space in the house. To move a hidden chest, pick up the furniture first to get to it. Source.
10. You can place paths inside the house.
11. Turn on "always show tool hit location" in settings to better see where tools will hit.
12. Controller players: do you often find actions taking place outside the spot you're facing? Are you watering a random tile behind/around you instead of the one in front? This happens because your cursor location interferes with where you're facing. The quickest correction is to hit Y/equivalent to bring up your menu/backpack & dismiss it again. This resets your tool hit to the spot you're facing. I made a gif to demo this.
13. If you randomly/accidentally click things, you might use a tool which costs energy even if it doesn't accomplish anything. Equip a weapon or the scythe instead, which costs nothing to swing.
14. Hover the cursor over the energy & health bars to see the exact numbers of how much you have & use.
15. If you lose your scythe (e.g. after passing out in the mines), & can't find it anywhere, you will likely find it in the fridge.
16. You can change the pitch of flute & drum blocks by right-clicking them. Here's a creative example!
17. When selecting items from the inventory/chest, you can Shift-click a stack to halve it. Useful if you want to redistribute resources, split stacks, or to get to a certain number quickly (e.g. if you want ~300 wood, halve a 400 stack, drop it in your inventory, & halve the source again for another 100) (thanks u/Ihateleeks).
18. Some objects, such as campfires, can be placed both inside & outside the house/sheds.
19. As of 1.2.x, you can use the Del key to trash items in your inventory. You no longer need to drag them into the trash can. Just select the item & press Del.
20. As of 1.2.x, you can use LB/RB (Xbox controller, tested on PC) to scroll through your three inventory rows, so you have a full new hotbar accessible with the controller without needing to open up the inventory screen (thanks u/fearofthesky). Source. If you are on PC, Rotate Toolbar does the same for KB/M.
21. Just as you can use Shift to buy items in batches of 5, you can hold Shift while clicking on an item to craft it in batches of 5 instead of 1. Useful for items you usually want to craft a lot of at once, such as fencing (thanks u/spambreakfast).
22. Remember to have free space in your inventory while picking up presents in the mail from your neighbours. If you don't (or otherwise ESC the screen before collecting it) you'll lose the mail (thanks u/pikaababe).
23. Jack-O-Lanterns on display will turn to mush on the night the season changes from fall to winter. Protect them by keeping them in a chest/inventory (thanks u/Blu-Cup64).
24. By using item numbers instead of names you can spawn any item in the game, no mods required.