All,
Having been a longtime reader of this blog, I'm posting here today for the first time hoping to get some much-needed perspective. Took FARE today, first time, was sure I'd prepared sufficiently (about 210 hours total study time, mostly doing Becker MCQ and answer review), and walked out of the test a total basket case. Granted this has happened to me previously (on both BEC and REG, on which I scored 89 and 90, first time, AUD got a 96 and pretty much left that test knowing I'd at least passed), but today was different. It felt like a total disaster. The first MCQ testlet was dead easy, finished with time to spare, went back and checked those quesions I'd marked for review, and finished that testlet confident that I'd gotten all or nearly all of them. From there it went downhill fast. Testlet 2 was impossible (I know from experience that this is supposed to be a good thing, but I seriously finished it with the sense that I got maybe 1/2 right, tops), and 3 was slightly easier but not much. I marked more questions for review than I could reasonably go back and look at.... really tough. Got to the SIMS with about 40 minutes to spare, muddled through the first, leaving 2 or 3 (? it's a blur at this point) tabs empty but pretty sure I nailed the written communication and at least some of the first tab (on entries for equity method purchase, but this SIM was all over the place, covering gobs of material and it was all I could do just to read it and figure out what the hell they were asking). The second SIM was significantly easier but started it with about 10 minutes to go, and basically just got the written communication and the research done (confident I got both right) but literally left about 80% of the rest of it blank. Filled in 2 easy correcting JEs on another tab and then the clock ran out. So, long story short, this was just brutal beyond anything I experienced in any of the other 3, and now I'm freaked out and basically depressed. I have a wife and 2-year old daughter and would like to get back to having a life, and after today I feel like that's not in the cards yet. Thoughts or advice much appreciated.... my window runs out in May, so I'm basically planning to just take a week or two off and then gear up for to start studying for FARE again. By the time I get the score, I might as well be ready to retake if necessary during the first week of July. Fortunately I took BEC first, so that's an easy retake, but still this blows... maybe I'll pass, but definitely far and away the most nerve-wracking test of the four for me.... should have taken FARE first, didn't know it would suck so much harder than the other 3.
