[Anonymous]

I am strudying for FAR right now and I want to know how much more difficult this test is than the rest of them.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the person and how they learn. Is it your first exam or have you taken some before? It seems to be mostly based on Intermediate Accounting with some Advanced Accounting thrown in, so your view on those classes will probably reflect your view on this exam. 🙂 I mean like, if you did well with them and enjoyed the material, this exam will probably seem easier for you, but if you hated those classes and really struggled in them, then this probably won't be your favorite exam! I'm studying for it right now, too, and it's got a LOT of material…but I've been pleased to find that it's going better than Intermediate and Advanced Accounting, cause Intermediate wasn't quite my thing and Advanced was a real bear…but so far, I'm feeling much more comfortable with the content in the exam, probably since I understand it better learning it for a second time!

[ImaCPA168]

It depends. Generally speaking, FAR is the longest meanining it covers the most materail. But I found the exam to be quite straightfowrad. I didn't find it tricky at all. As long as I knew most of the material, it was very doable.

That said. I think different people find different sections difficult. I'm an auditor. Audit was really easy for me. I have a business admin undergrad. So BEC was the next easiest. I have a masters degree in accounting. FAR was the third easiest but I did find it overwhelming because of how much material that exam covered and some topics ones I was never any good at so I struggled with them when I was studying. REG was my beast because I had very little educational exposure to tax and no work experience in tax at all. I had to take that section 4 times.

So you're going to have to guage your own strengths and weaknesses.

B - 83 Done
A - 88 Done
R - 81 Done
F - 77 Done

Ethics - Done
Attest Hours - Done

Licensed-May 2013!

[jaredo155]

I am kind of curious about the same question. I studied for 6 weeks with AUD and felt very confident going in, I studied for 8 weeks with BEC and felt remotely confident going in. I have been studying for 6 weeks already with FAR and have 6 weeks left, and I feel completely overwhelmed at the volume of things to remember. I don't feel like any of the material is harder, it is just going to be so much more to remember. With both AUD and BEC I found the actual exam to be considerably less difficult than my study materials made it out to be, I am really hoping that is the case with FAR as well because I am really struggling keeping all the little rules and details straight.

Also I am using Yaeger Home Study w/Wiley and the Ninja 10 Point Combo.

AUD - 2/2013 - Passed!
BEC - 5/2013 - Passed!
FAR - 8/2013 - Passed!
REG - 11/2013 - Passed!
"Do or do not, there is no try." - Yoda

[jman6]

The key is having a study plan and sticking to it. Also, you have to piecemeal it. Be patient and it will sink in.

BEC (11/17/12): 88
AUD (1/18/13): 76
REG (2/27/13): 88
FAR (4/15/13): 90

[J]

I think that FAR is the most difficult exam relative to the others but at the same time I didn't feel like it was extremely difficult, if that makes sense. As others have mentioned, one of the biggest issues for many candidates on FAR is not the difficulty of the actual material (many of the questions are actually quite simple), but rather the scope. Given that there are so many various concepts from which the exam can pull questions, you're bound to see few (or no) questions on topics that you feel should be heavily tested and extremely important, and then might end up with more questions on relatively obscure topics.

Without divulging particulars, I will follow-up the comment of Elisabeth above… I was expecting the majority of information to come from Intermediate Accounting topics as well, but remember immediately after the exam remarking on how many questions I had from topics generally covered in Advanced Accounting courses.

The worst thing that you can do is look at FAR as a whole. Break it down into smaller pieces and it becomes much more manageable.

[Tncincy]

@InterFC1,

smaller pieces meaning section by section? I know you have to eat an elephant one bite at a time, but some how I keep getting drawn into trying to take a BIG bite. I am finishing FAR cram. I am testing 7/15, but I still don't feel ready. I am nervous about approaching the mcq's because I really don't want to spend more time going back to the book. Help…..I guess I want to be well rounded. Oh I don't know…..

It begins with a 75
Been here too long as a cheerleader.....time to pass

It begins with a 75
Been here too long as a cheerleader....ready to pass

[J]

@tncincy – First of all, I don't think that anyone (or almost anyone) feels completely ready for every possible topic covered in FAR. I felt good going into the exam on most topics, but certainly didn't feel great about consolidations, for example. I didn't feel particularly prepared with respect to government & non-profit in the last week leading up to the exam either, but took some extra time the morning of the exam to review and it really paid off.

When I say that you should break it down, it really does look like a lot (and rightfully so) if you consider all of the different topics/modules to study. Just try to concentrate on one part at a time… for example… don't worry about studying for FAR, worry about studying current assets and liabilities. I found that by thinking of the exam and working topic by topic, I approached the last few modules and honestly thought to myself… “This isn't as bad in hindsight as it was looking forward when I started”.

Finally – and this is true for all sections but FAR in particular – if there are one or two things that you don't understand well or don't understand at all, don't worry about it. You'll compensate for that with your strengths.

[MintsRGood]

It all depends on your background when considering most to least difficult exam sections! I love tax and work in public accounting, so REG was my easiest section. My firm does compilations and reviews, but we don't do any auditing work so I had a horrible time with audit due to a complete lack of exposure and severe distaste for all the ambiguity that the auditing questions present…give me a like kind exchange or partnership basis any day over all the horrible auditing crap!!!! BEC was more annoying than technically difficult IMHO…it's the “hot dog” of the exam in that all the leftover topics that aren't tax/audit/financial accounting get mashed up and stuffed into BEC. FAR I'm finding to be familiar due to the financial accounting I do daily at work and I'm having lots of flashbacks to my intermediate and advanced accounting courses. I haven't hit any topics that feel impossible or completely foreign like I did with auditing, just a crap load of information with varying degrees of familiarity. It's all relative! 🙂

@tncincy I think the goal with FAR is to keep a “one module at a time” attitude. When I look at the massive Wiley text and start thinking about how much material there really is, I get really down about it. I try to ignore the massive size of the book and focus on hitting X amount of pages per day to finish off the text by 7/25 (2 weeks before test day). It's like accomplishing a small goal every day I hit the magic number and it makes me feel like it's a manageable task. I also find it gratifying to “rebalance” after a good power weekend and see the number get smaller…although I keep at the same rate just to compensate for the unexpected. Just keep grinding it out, you can do this!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂

REG: 75 DONE 🙂
AUD: 61, 71, 68, 92 DONE 🙂
BEC: 76 DONE 🙂
FAR: 72, 74, 79 DONE 🙂
Licensed Michigan CPA 🙂
-Some people dream of success...others wake up and work hard for it!!!
-The cowards never start and the weak die along the way!
-You better work, b***h!
-Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.-JFK

[IwannaBaCPA]

Wow – what a loaded question. There is no simple answer as many others have indicated. It just depends on so many things. I have to say I think FAR is probably the hardest to STUDY for. I felt overwhelmed throughout the entire process.

Find what works for you and realize that you cannot know everything and they cannot test you on everything.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD LUCK! I certainly believe luck plays a role 🙂

BEC: 79 - April 2011
FAR: 78 - May 2011
AUD: 81 - May 2012
REG: 79 - October 2012
Ethics: Passed - March 2013
I am finally DONE!

[Anonymous]

Test “difficulty” wise, I found BEC and REG more difficult than FAR.

However, FAR required the most studying hours out of all the sections

[Anonymous]

Well, 59% of Roger students say the hardest section is FAR…not even close.

https://www.wileycpa.com/cpa_studytips/what-is-the-hardest-section/

[scestone]

Although FAR probably requires the most studying, I don't think it is the hardest exam to pass. I think it is curved or weighted heavier than the rest. I studied much harder for REG than I did for FAR, and came out of REG feeling much more confident than FAR and scored 1 point higher on FAR lol.

REG - 95
FAR - 96
BEC - 92
AUD - 99

[mypetmeatball]

I can't speak to the difficulty of the actual exams, but I can say with certainty that it's been the hardest one to study for by far.

The sad part is that I learned every single topic covered, at some point, with the exception of gov't and nfp. Ironically I find those parts to be the easiest. I don't know what it is but I find the way the examiners test these topics really throw me through a loop. I'll say this though: I usually find the questions recently released from my review software to be much easier; I seriously feel bad for anyone who took FAR in the early 90s, those questions are straight from hell.

[memmy29]

Depends on how well you did in your Financial Accounting classes and how often you use journal entries in your every day job (IMHO). I passed the other three with serious studying, but FAR took my four tries…almost crushed me.

Just make sure you have a good review course (I used Becker, NINJA notes, and Wiley test bank), and you'll get through it.

AUD - 84
BEC - 84
FAR - 77
REG - 75

So glad to be done!

"If you're going through hell, keep going." - Sir Winston Churchill

AUD-84, REG-75, BEC-84, FAR-77

Licensed CPA

CIA Exam
Part 1 - Passed
Part 2 - Passed
Part 3 - Passed

[Author]

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