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Since many others have shared their experiences with this brutal exam, I thought I would go ahead and share mine, as well.
Yesterday, January 19, I took my first section of the CPA exam, FAR. This was the first time I had sat for any of the exams, so I was obviously pretty nervous. I had already read so many of the experiences—good and bad—from my fellow students here at Another71, so I can’t say that anything I encountered was particularly unique or unexpected, but I wanted to share anyway.
I had been studying for this section since early October, using the full RogerCPA exam course, supplemented by the Ninja MCQ test bank. By Monday morning, I had a bit under 70 hours of study time just from the Ninja test bank—trending at either 83% or 85%. This doesn’t include the 44 hours from Roger’s FAR videos, the 15 hours or so of the Roger Cram Course, or the time spent using Roger’s MCQ test bank, which, while lacking, is still decent in terms of quantity of questions and explanations, in my opinion. So, clearly time spent studying was not an issue with me—I would estimate that I spent at least two hours (sometimes three or more) nearly every day studying, in some way. What I was more worried about was whether or not I had studied efficiently, which I guess I will find out in a couple of weeks.
I thought I had a decent start with the exam, but tried not to get dismayed at some of the questions I wasn’t sure about in the first testlet. By the third testlet, it did seem to get noticeably harder. Time was not much of an issue, but in order to leave a full 1 hour and 45 minutes for the sims, I had to guess on several of the questions in the last testlet. I really started noticing the effects of pressure by this point. There seemed to be so many questions that, while I probably knew how to answer them, they threw in some variable that I didn’t know how to handle, or the pressure of the exam just kept my mind from functioning properly. My brain seemed to just freeze at several points by then, and I just couldn’t seem to focus—I just wanted to get out of there. Making this even more nerve-wrecking was the guy behind me who wouldn’t stop shaking his leg the whole time, producing a clicking noise from his chair with each shaking of his leg. So, I put on the ear muffs and tried to ignore it.
When I submitted the third testlet and opened the sims, I nearly went into a complete panic. It just seemed so overwhelming and I felt like giving up and began honestly questioning my abilities to pass this thing. So, I ended up doing the two research sims and then picked what seemed to be the next “easiest” sim. By the time I completed this third one, I had calmed down and was able to focus much better, though I was still stymied by several of the sims. I was able to use the research tab for one of the problems I had (for a journal entry), but I should point out that the research tab does no good if you get a governmental or IFRS sim problem.
I just did my best to complete the sims, but I had very little confidence when I was done. I think I had about 15 minutes or less to spare by the time I was done. Like many others have experienced, I felt pretty sure that I failed it upon walking out of the testing center. I felt fairly confident going in, but this exam can truly crush that confidence. The pressure of the actual exam can easily get the best of even the most confident student. This was probably the hardest part of the entire exam process. It feels like so much of what you study becomes useless during the actual exam (although I know that’s not actually the case). There were several problems that I probably could have figured out in the comfort of my own home, but for which I just couldn’t focus on during the exam. The pressure is immense!
Although I still feel uneasy about my overall performance, I calmed down after a bit and thought that maybe I didn’t do too awful. I’ve read about many people who left two seems completely blank and still did well. One thing I probably wouldn’t recommend is researching problem questions after the exam. I did this for a few problems that I remembered, and if you find out that you did it incorrectly afterwards, it just further crushes your confidence. It’s basically useless to do so, since you’ve already completed the test.
One thing I will say is that I actually like the on-screen calculator. You can use the ten-key and having the on-screen tape saves some writing on scratch “paper.” That brings up another point, though: I absolutely hate those stupid markers and the laminated paper! They don’t work well most of the time, dry up, and smear. It’s also a pain to remember to put the cap back on after every time you use it. I find that this whole thing with the markers actually discourages the generous use of scratch paper, creating another unnecessary discomfort. I just cannot understand the logic behind this. Apparently this is not an issue with Prometric, but with the AICPA, as others seemed to be using pencil and paper for various other exams.
For now, I will just have to wait until February 04 to retrieve my score. I thought that I would just be relieved that the exam was over (especially since it was the first one), and that the scoring is now out of my control, but I have to admit that this period of waiting is like walking around with a constant cloud over my head. I just keep thinking about it.
My biggest piece of advice (other than to study hard, of course—especially govt. and NFP accounting) would be to not let the pressure and anxiety of the test get the best of you. I knew this coming in, but it was even a bigger issue than I thought it would be. While I’m sure it did affect my overall performance, it could have been much worse if I let those intrusive, negative thoughts overwhelm. I seriously felt like walking out after the third testlet, and even questioned why I was even wasting my time with this—thinking that maybe I’m not cut out to be a CPA. But somehow, I was able to regain my focus and complete the exam, including all sims. In my opinion, this exam is at least as much a test of endurance, and will power as it is a test of knowledge.
Now, it’s onto BEC on February 29!!
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