Advice on FAR and a thank you to this community!

  • Creator
    Topic
  • #817479
    pk314
    Participant

    Hi all,

    First of all, I just wanted to say thank you to this community for being so helpful while I was studying for my first CPA exam, FAR. I just got good news today that I officially passed FAR and I feel so relieved, although I still have the other 3 sections left.

    Second, I wanted to share my studying and exam experience so that others could benefit from it as well. A little background on me, I just graduated from a B.S. in Accounting this past May and started my studying around early June. I am also not working since I start full time in October. I sat for FAR on 7/26/16 and thankfully passed with a 94. So, as I was starting to study I had no idea what to expect and was extremely nervous for this monster of an exam. Here’s what my studying method was:

    I did Becker self-study and supplemented with NINJA MCQ. So, I first started by watching the lecture while making the notes and highlighting in my textbook as I went through the lecture. But, I quickly learned that I had to either keep pausing the lecture to keep up or I would be so into the highlighting or writing the notes in the margin that I would not really hear what the instructor said. So, I decided I would look at the ebook on the software (which has the highlights and notes already done) and skim through each section of the chapter while copying those notes and highlights from the ebook into my book.

    Then, I would watch lecture and would only have to follow the lecture without taking any notes or highlighting since I had already done that. After the lecture of a particular section within the chapter, I would do the HW until I got the HW for that section 100% right. Then I would move on to the next section and repeat while doing 2 chapters a week and doing a final review for about 16 days. After I finished going through it all the first time, I went through the textbook again and wrote down notes of all the important highlights, concepts, formulas, J/E’s, and mnemonics and I also rewatched some lectures on topics that I had trouble with the first time through like Bonds, Pensions, Nonmonetary Exchanges, Governmental and NFP. Then, I went started hammering down NINJA MCQ’s and was getting extremely frustrated with it because I kept averaging in the 70’s while Becker Progress Tests I was averaging in the 80’s. Then I took a Becker Final Exam and did pretty bad, scored around high 60 to low 70, which made me more frustrated and nervous. Then, I went through the topics I did bad on according to the Final Exam and supplemented with YouTube videos if I still had trouble.

    Then, I went through the entire book again and rewrote all important J/E’s, mnemonics, and formulas only this time which I used as a “cheat sheet” and reviewed regularly. Then, I continued doing NINJA MCQ’s, Becker Progress Tests sets of 30 and also took the 2nd Final Exam. At this point, I was very burned out and ready to just get the exam over with.

    Come exam day, I would advice that you do not focus on worrying about whether your testlets are getting harder/easier and just manage your time and do your best. I honestly could not tell if my testlets were getting harder or not, I pretty much flagged the same amount of questions on each testlet. Also, I highly recommend spending NO MORE than 45 minutes per testlet regardless of difficulty. I spent a maximum of 45 minutes on each testlet, if I didn’t know an answer I would just flag it, guess and move on and come back if I had more time. I left 1 hour and 45 minutes for the SIMS and honestly could have used more because I could not finish 2 SIMS and had to leave spaces blank of which 1 SIM I strongly believed was a pretest. Some may say I overstudied but I strongly believe that overstudying is better than having to retake any one of these difficult exams especially when it’s your first exam and don’t know what to expect.

    Links to helpful J/E’s I used during my review:

    https://www.principlesofaccounting.com/illustrative%20entries/entrieslist.htm

    https://sites.google.com/site/farnotes/gas-34/journal-entries–fund-based-vs-government-wide

    Sorry for the long read but just wanted to share my experience and good luck to everyone!

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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  • #817542
    GeauxAwayCPA
    Participant

    @pk314 Congrats! I am currently trying to defeat the FAR monster. Thanks for the J/E links. So you just rewrite those entries multiple times over and over?

    Licensed CPA in Texas trying to start up my own tax practice
    #817563
    pk314
    Participant

    @GeauxAwayCPA, Thank you! Those J/E's I just looked at them almost everyday during my review and tried to understand them instead of memorizing them, I didn't write them down multiple times but I can't see why doing that would hurt. I feel its better to understand them than to memorize them because the account names will be given on the exam.

    #817590
    GeauxAwayCPA
    Participant

    @pk314 ah, I see. Thanks for the tip! Good luck with your remaining exams!!

    Licensed CPA in Texas trying to start up my own tax practice
    #817704
    Scared-cpa
    Participant

    Thanks for the info! I, too just graduated with my BBA of Accounting and am currently in grad school to get my MBA. I'm studying for FAR and it will be the first section I ever take. Right now I'm doing about 2-4 hours a day depending on the day and plan to sit mid-November. I'm only using Wiley CPAexcel. I do a similar study method as you mentioned.

    First I read the section in the book and highlight important information. Then I watch the videos and take notes over it. Then I do the MCQs or TBS and read over them no matter what I get wrong or right. Then I go back through the MCQs until I get all or most of them right. Some sections just have to many for me to get them all right and not get behind in my study schedule.

    Does this sound okay to everyone? Any other suggestions?

    "The more I practice, the luckier I get."

    FAR - 67, 82 (Expires 07/31/18)
    AUD - 68, 79
    REG - 75
    BEC - 82

    Wiley CPAexcel + Ninja

    I cannot believe I am done.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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