[Anonymous]

Guys I just took the FAR and made a 57. It was expected. I mean I didn’t even study like I was supposed to. I stretched out the time to study so much that I got bored and quite studying two weeks before the exam. I started again after taking a week off. To be honest, I knew I was gonna fail with a score lot lower than a 57. So just so you guys know, I thought the MCQ’s were really easy and the sim’s were the bombs. And I took the exam on 10/24/2014.

Since I am graduating with my Masters this December, I am going to take it again at the beginning of January. Do you guys think less than 4 weeks would be enough to pass a retake? And how should I go about studying this time?

Thanks guys!

[Tripp11]

You admitted all on your own – you didn't study like you were supposed to. In different words, everyone here will tell you the same thing, you have to be 100% committed to passing this exam or it just won't happen.

Are you able to study 8-10 hours per day for those four weeks? If so, that's PLENTY of time to master FAR.

What to do or how to do it? I would just give it 100% and do what you're supposed to do. You know what you need to do. Read the book, take notes, rewrite those notes, memorize important parts, and do MC questions until your fingers bleed. It's easy!

AUD - 93
BEC - 80
REG - 86
FAR - 83

[Riley_N]

I'd be interested to see your score breakdown. You said the MCQ were easy, but I'd love to hear how you did on them in terms of “stronger, comparable, weaker.” I think they're trickier than you gave them credit for.

FAR: 85
AUD: 78
REG: 84
BEC: 89
I made it into the 300 club!

[Anonymous]

so how long would you say you studied for in total? Did you get through all of the material?

[cool_kid]

If you're studying full time, then yea its possible to do it in 3-4 weeks.

[How many letters do you need]

Not to be critical but to pile on top of other comments here, I find it very difficult to believe that you did well on the MCQs with a 57. They may have appeared easy, but I also would be very interested in seeing what your score assessment says. With that, if it does turn out you did do well on the MCQs and THAT poorly on the Sims (basically getting maybe 1 correct?) what you have is an application issue, and a big one! You need to focus more on understanding the concepts and avoid memorization. Also, and I can't speak for FAR, but the NINJA Sims that I've seen are really solid if you just need practice on the application side. Certainly nothing that can't be overcome, although 4 weeks is a stretch…

MBA,CMA,CPA, CFF?, ABV?

[jbisdamon]

I'm wondering who can legitimately study for 8-10 hours a day for four weeks and actually concentrate. That's insane lol. These exams are extremely difficult, but you also have to know you won't know everything. Just my two cents.

BEC - 76 7/22/14
AUD - 84 8/30/14
REG - 75 10/16/14
FAR - 87 11/24/14

[Missbots]

I studied 6- 8 hours a day for 10 weeks, not very smart on my part, I was so burned out on week 8th or 9th. I would study for 2-3 in the morning and 4-5 hours every night. On the 10th week, I couldn't even look at the Becker MQS, they just made me sick. & no I didn't get a 90, I made 82, and trust me I Dnt know where that came from, the MQS were ok, I knew my stuff pretty well and my report confirmed that, The sims on the other hand were straight from hell, I only knew the AL and one another sim, the other 5 were just educated guesses, and the report said I was comparable.

When I was preparing for my exam, I didn't practice my JE, and guess what was in the exam.

So I guess it depends on the person, if you are not a slow learner then yeah 4 weeks would work, but remember FAR has a lot of material, it will take you about 5 hours to read a chapter, and then about 7 or so hours just for the MQS,s.. By the time you get to chapter 4, chapter 1 will be completely erased, so you need to review the chapters atleast twice

My 2 cents

PS.. Forgive my English

[Anonymous]

You seem too nonchalant about getting a 57. I don't know exactly how the exam is scored but I would definitely not look at as “I only need 18 more points.”

If you are productive with the 3-4 weeks studying I'm sure that'll be enough. I would read through your materials at least once more. I would do sims but focus much of your practice on MCQs.

[mminichan]

I just failed my FAR too and I used Becker. i studied more this time than I ever had in the past and my score was pretty the same (with and without studying). I am reconsidering to use different study material and what do you guys think is the best study material for FAR? I think I need to keep doing MCQ instead of listening to lecture. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

@mminichan: Give Ninja MCQ a try and if you want a polar opposite of Becker in terms of lectures, look for Roger's materials.

[kessynicole]

I don't think its a good idea to ignore lectures and just do multiple choice questions. You need to understand the concept so that you can at least make an intelligent guess on questions that you aren't 100% sure about. There are a few to many seemingly random questions on the exam that could be logically answered if you've read the Becker chapters. I used only Becker and passed every test the first time by listening to the lectures, reading the chapter, and then working the multiple choice questions/sims. I worked every multiple choice question twice after understanding the concepts with great results.

REG - 91
BEC - 89
FAR - 89
AUD - 97

I'm DONE BY PRAYER AND BY FAITH!! GOD IS GOOD!! Used Becker to study...supplemented by the Bible.

[REGTaker]

It really depends on the type of learner you are. Lectures do nothing for me. I only really used them for BEC, which was my first exam. I watched one lecture I think for FAR and only read half of the book and I passed on my first try with an 81. I worked MCQs constantly, studied my notes, made note of any MCQ I got incorrect. If you have already watched the lectures and taken notes on them then I definitely wouldn't suggest watching them again unless you have one or two weak spots that need clarification. You must study for a retake like you would for the first take, but make sure you take into account what helped you learn the material best for your first take. Cut out anything that didn't really help you.

[JamesBJames]

@Kessy, I pretty much did the exact same thing you did. Very similar scores, too. I think the lectures were useful just to build a framework for the material – a top-down approach provides structure to support what you learn. I'm not the kind of person who can just drill MCQs and construct the big picture.

Of course, people learn in different ways. I've got a coworker who never watches lectures and barely looks at the book except to clarify things he's not sure about. He only does… like, half of the MCQs and tries to figure things out from there, and he's 3/3 so far.

Just be honest with yourself as you go through the topics. By the end of a chapter, do you know enough that you can teach a person about most of the concepts you learned? If not, you might want to look back at the material.

FAR: May 1st, 2014 - 91
AUD: May 29th, 2014 - 97!
BEC: July 16th, 2014 - 91
REG: August 29th, 2014 - 88

Licensed December 2015

Feel free to add me on LinkedIn by clicking my username!

[BRITTANY.CAMP]

I also just failed FAR for the second time. Made a 61 both times. I used NINJA MCQ both times. I didn't study all that much the first go round because I just wanted to fit a test in while I could. I studied really hard for the second attempt and didn't improve. The first test didn't seem near as difficult as the second. I definitely did not know my journal entries well enough to complete the simulations. I guess I'll stay with the same method of NINJA MCQ for the third attempt. Wish there was an easier way to learn the journal entries for the SIMS.

[Anonymous]

Brittany, if you're struggling with just using the MCQ, then perhaps you need to actually read material instead of just practicing. Doing questions is helpful but won't be of much use if you're guessing on half of the questions because you don't have the base knowledge of the concepts.

[Author]

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