FAR exam: thoughts before and after « CPA Exam Review Forum

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FAR exam: thoughts before and after

16 posts from 11 voices

Started 1 year ago by CPAWannaBe
Latest reply from cpa journey

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CPAWannaBe

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I'm on my way to take FAR and I feel as prepared as I possibly could be. In my restudy I've put in over 190 hours. The biggest issue for me is slowing down and reading the questions. I can't say I'm an expert at everything Becker covered but I know enough (I pray) about everything.

Journal entries scare the crap out of me only because on the last exams, I had to do some weird ones. Hope I don't get weird topics. FAR is a straightforward exam for the most part so I'm not going to panick at the questions that are unfamiliar. Move on.

I feel really good right now and just keep invisioning that 75.

REG - 75 (expired, retake July 2011)
FAR - 69, 64, 67 <-Becker, 80 <-Yaeger
AUD - 82 ETHICS - 100
BEC - 72 (retake May 2011)
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Posted 1 year ago #
CAcpahopeful2010

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Yeah im more nervous i will run out of time and go too fast and skip over the *tricks* of a m/c question. Like those hidden keywords like middle of the year, 10% ownership (which is not equity method, etc.). my exam is tom and im scared as hell! GOOD LUCK!!!

Passed REG, FAR, BEC.AUD. Struggling ETHICS. CALIFORNIA

Posted 1 year ago #
connieCPAin2010

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Best of luck to CPAWannaBe and CAcpahopeful2010!! You can do it!

BEC 79 (1/05/10)
REG 80 (3/05/10)
AUD 82 (5/28/10)
FAR 79 (8/27/10) I'm DONE!

Posted 1 year ago #
FARbehind

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Good luck to all of us. I am taking the beast tomorrow for a third time....

Hope cpawannabe did well on her exam today...

aud,bec,reg-passed
far-->75 Done!!!!!
ethics-100

Posted 1 year ago #
CAcpahopeful2010

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Thanks! Good luck to FarBehind also! Hopefully CPAwannabe came out alive, waiting for her update post lol.

Passed REG, FAR, BEC.AUD. Struggling ETHICS. CALIFORNIA

Posted 1 year ago #
big shot cpa

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I too am waiting for cpawannabe's update. shes probably still damaged from the exam. Good luck to everyone still sitting!

Becker 2010/2011.
FAR 96(7/23/10), AUD 96(8/16/10), BEC 85(8/31/10), REG 73(11/28/10), 82(2/27/11).
'There’s no comfort in the growth zone and there’s no growth in the comfort zone.' ~ 'Nothing will work unless you do.'

Posted 1 year ago #
cpa journey

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CPAWannaBe

Hope all went well and you were out having fun!

Good luck to all those testing soon!

Posted 1 year ago #
CPAWannaBe

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I felt so good going to the exam and got there 30 minutes early. The lady up front rushed me back there. I had driven for 2 hours and asked if I could go to the bathroom first and she barked, "Hurry up!". When I got back she said , "You people act like you don't realize there are others scheduled behind you". (There were about 25 computers in this room and maybe 4 people on them). Why such a b*tch? Anyway, I just smiled and proceeded.

It did not go well for me at all. The first testlet had so many calculations. I was hoping to get it done in 30 minutes but I took about 40. The second testlet was about the same difficulty. I was blanking out on stuff I knew and not calculating the same answers as the choices provided. Still no change in difficulty on the third testlet. It was all hard to me. I guessed more than I wanted to save 2 hours for the sims.

First sim. OMG: Hard! I went straight to the written communication and felt great. The other tabs were so long and complex with journal entries on every one. One tab I left completely blank. It was a topic I had never seen before in Wiley or Becker.

Second sim was easy with tab I kinda threw some numbers in. I got through it in 20 minutes. I couldn't believe I left the previous sim blank for this????

Overall, I feel like I did worse than when I made a 69.

I'm just going to put it behind me now and focus on Audit. Yay, Audit!

Good luck everyone!!

REG - 75 (expired, retake July 2011)
FAR - 69, 64, 67 <-Becker, 80 <-Yaeger
AUD - 82 ETHICS - 100
BEC - 72 (retake May 2011)

Posted 1 year ago #
CPA-Valenz

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CPA WannaBe...I am rooting for you. I HATE studying for FAR.

Gleim (Book only): BEC-68(2/26), AUD-67(2/27)
Yaeger: BEC-75(4/21), AUD-78(5/28), FAR-76(8/4), REG-88(8/31)

DONE!!!

Posted 1 year ago #
aazaidi2000

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Hi
I am not afraid to say that experience in FAR and AUD can give you two opposite results.

AUD

Study material, no frustration (four big topics out of six), Time no problem, calculation (can be 100 % calculation free), exam experience (did many things), result fail or pass among 80 % good performers.

FAR

Study material, big frustration (many areas), Time big problem, calculation (can not be 100 % calculation free), exam experience (did some things), result fail or pass among 50 % good performers.

Who can smile on good attempt on AUD exam? AUD 78 % can be failed by failing one area

Who can cry on bad attempt on FAR exam? FAR 70 % can easily pass.

Syed Zaidi
BEC Passed, FAR Passed, AUD Passed, REG (Passed), Ethics (Passed), Done

Posted 1 year ago #
cpawannabee

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CPAWannabe....at this point wait and see what happens. I know....... that you know....... A LOT of people post on this blog swearing they must have failed and that there's NO possible way they passed. One month later we read they got a 75 or 76. Gimme a break!!

Hang in there...take a few days off....then begin hitting AUD hard. I'm following you...I take FAR on 8/7 and then AUD (possibly end of August.)

I may move FAR to the end of AUG depending how much study time I can get in while on vacation this week.

Chin up Kiddo!!!

BEC-70 74 71 77 AUD-69 74 74 72 81
REG-64 79(exp)78 FAR- 51 69 77

Posted 1 year ago #
aazaidi2000

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Hi CPAWannabe:

My opinion is that you should not take break. Enjoy AUD. It will be very different experience than FAR. But we need to know that all CPA exams have different challenges.

Syed Zaidi
BEC Passed, FAR Passed, AUD Passed, REG (Passed), Ethics (Passed), Done

Posted 1 year ago #
financeguy

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I hope you passed CPAwannabe! AUD is much easier than FAR

AUD - 81, BEC - 74, 80, FAR - 82, REG - 81
Done!

Posted 1 year ago #
FARbehind

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Here I am fresh from the exam today...with a headache... and thoughts like: why I am doing all this to myself....

No good feeling overall. With the mcq it was just as cpawannabe describes: it felt like all 3 were difficult. lol. I dont' know what to think about it because I know we all start with an easy testlet (and it felt that way last time). But this time it seemed so many wordy questions with calculations. I had planned to not go over 30 minutes for the first testlet (listening to finance guy's advice) but I went over 50! Then the second testlet, same thing. The third testlet also had plenty of wordy qs with calcs and I did some guessing on some qs at the end because I saw I had about 2 hrs left and still about 15 qs with calcs from the third testlet... I didn't want to start panicking but whitesoxfan was all in my mind with his doritos break (no dorito break for me).

Going to the sims the first one was a hell. Many tabs with JEs and a lot of reading. Difficult topics. I wrote only about 3-4 sentences to the wc and then fought a bit with the tabs. I moved on to the last sim (with about 30 min remaining). WC first, then the tabs were not so difficult. Just like cpawannabe describes first sim difficult and the second easy. I think they do it on purpose to see if we have good time mgmt. This happened to me on REG too. I think I found both research tabs.

I feel like if I didn't do well on the mcq the sims wouldn' t save me. :) ahhhhhh. If I don't pass it this time I need to think of radical measures. Like going to Becker class again in Oct-Nov or buying new Yeager materials and starting all over. Thank you all. Good luck!

aud,bec,reg-passed
far-->75 Done!!!!!
ethics-100

Posted 1 year ago #
Anagha

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My first testlet itself had long wordy calculations. All 3 testlets had some problems I had not idea how to approach, and I felt that the best approach for those would be to simply guess and move on, for fear of not having enough time on the sims. While I had 2 hours left for the sims, I started to feel that I maybe I rushed through the mcq's a bit and I was not able to do a good job on the sim work tabs anyway, inspite of having enough time. Was definitely very frustrating. The entire test had a tricky/difficult feel to it for sure.

AUD 94, BEC 88, FAR 85, REG 89

Posted 1 year ago #
cpa journey

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CPAWannaBe

Have a wait and see on the FAR score. AUD won't be as bad for you I bet. I used Becker and then Gleim testbank. The exam seemed all very familiar - did not notice any difference in difficulty level. The sims were not too bad and both communications were straight forward. The only thing I wish I had done differently was taking regular progress tests to keep the info fresh in my mind. Passed the first time with a 85. There is lots of time on this test. You can easily go through the MCQ and have plenty of time for the sims.

The Becker Chapter 1 from FAR will help you on the Reporting section.

After FAR it won't seem too bad!

Posted 1 year ago #