8 Weeks Until FAR…UGH!

Here is my recommendation based on my own experience. I am using Wiley CPAExcel as well, and I have the Becker books because I had Becker through my first job for a while. I also have been doing a similar 2-3 hours on the weeknights and 5-6 hours on the weekends. Usually I will take off one day a week (or have a really light day) when I first start a section.

I highly recommend continuing to watch the lectures. CPAExcel does short lectures and I really like that, much better than the crazy Becker lectures. I think the instructors give you a good, high level overview of a topic. My process has been to listen to the lecture, then do the multiple choice questions. In my current section (REG), I have found it helpful to spend one or two nights just doing lectures and questions for that lecture, and not worrying too much if I missed a bunch of questions. I'll get through 4 or 5 lessons (or one sub-topic area if there are only a handful of lessons). Then I will spend a night or two going back through those lessons, reading the material and digging into the questions more until I have gotten at least a 90% on that lesson. I have read about how your subconscious brain continues to process things, and I have found it extremely helpful to get a topic rolling in my brain, then it sinks in better when I look at it again a couple days later. This has been my approach during the weekdays, then I usually spend the weekend really diving into lessons I struggled with during the week, or trying to get a jump start on the next area. I think this also helps with reinforcing concepts and helped me get through the lessons faster so at least I am exposed in case I get a question on the test that surprises me.

You have lots of time, don't stress yourself out too much yet., particularly because of burn-out. Stay dedicated to studying for at least two hours during the week and it helps you stay on it. I would say you should try to ramp up your study efforts as the test gets closer, and I think you will naturally do that as the panic of the test comes up, that's what always happened with me anyways. When I first started studying it was really slow going, then about a month before the exam I go into panic mode and find the energy to do an extra hour or two a day and I stopped taking days off.

I definitely advise to do LOTS of practice on questions you've finished. I think one thing that helped me in the sections I have passed so far is to go to the EQ Tutor in CPAExcel and do a 20-30 question quiz on the questions I have correctly answered. This is a good review to do a couple times a week, and as you go farther in the material it will have more to pull from. This can give you a good insight into if you are retaining the material and if there are areas you need to go back and review. I think that helps make the review at the end not so intense and scary because you've been reviewing as you go. I also liked to do quizzes on questions I haven't answered yet, and that gives me a feel for what's coming up.

Is this your first section? Good luck!!

FAR was, by FAR, the most difficult section for me. I spent about 10 weeks studying for it. I also used CPAexcel, and I added Ninja MCQs during the final three weeks or so (highly recommended!). I never watched any of the lectures, as I found them to be a waste of valuable time. I took AUD first and watched all of the lectures, but I found that I pretty much zoned out during them. So I stopped watching them from that point forward. I also suggest for you to move on, even if you're struggling with a section. Go through the material and do the best you can to understand things, but don't waste too much time on it. FAR has so much material that if you keep doing that, you'll keep falling further and further behind. You will also find that as you go through more of the material, some of the stuff you didn't understand the first time just seems to come together.

My studying basically consisted of the following: read each section and do MCQs/SIMS. I saved myself about three weeks before the exam to just focus on the Wiley MCQ test bank and Ninja MCQs. While doing these, I would take notes that I could review periodically. FAR was beyond overwhelming for me, and the material didn't really start coming together for me until less than a week before the exam. It's a long battle and I totally feel your pain right now. I had more than a few emotional breakdowns while studying FAR. 😉 Hang in there…you will get through it! Best of luck to you!

If it helps type up your notes as you read the material that way when doing MCQs you can quickly reference them. I did that in college and just switched over to that method here recently and it's working. So I have my own notes and the Ninja to reconcile against. Treat it like work.