[justgivemea75]

Hi all,

I just started studying for FAR and I’m already worried about how I’m going to pass this test. I’m doing Becker self-study and I just got done with the first homework, which hasn’t gone so well. On some of the topics, I’m literally scoring 33% and there are a few others where I’m only getting 65-70%s on them.

One thing is that I’m trying to simulate exam conditions when doing the homework as best as possible. Therefore, I do not look at my notes, What I did is that I watched the entire F1 lecture yesterday, looked over notes, and then tried all of the homework today from memory. The rest of the day, I’m going to re-read the sections that I bombed and then do the supplemental questions/F2 lecture tomorrow.

Is this the right way of doing this, or am I just a moron? I’m genuinely getting concerned about passing this test, because it’s only going to get harder and I’m already struggling. I thought that graduating from a T20 masters program and being well above average in terms of rank would put me in good shape, but so far it has been a disaster. Also, do I really need to get 75% of all the questions right to pass? That seems impossible so far.

One last pattern I’ve noticed is that I generally do OK with computational questions but struggle with concepts. For example, I nailed all of the discontinued ops calculations, changes in depreciation methods etc. but when it asks me what the maximum number of days I can extend my filing of a 10-Q is, I never remember those.

Thanks in advance!

FAR - 84
AUD - 76 (phew)
BEC - 88
REG - 77

DONE!

[mla1169]

You sound like you're right where you should be in your first few days. If if were possible to master a chapter in one day, you'd only need about 2 weeks to prepare for each section, and we know that's not the case.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[mla1169]

You sound like you're right where you should be in your first few days. If if were possible to master a chapter in one day, you'd only need about 2 weeks to prepare for each section, and we know that's not the case.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Anonymous]

I agree with mla. You are on track. I was right there almost 2 weeks ago. I hv managed to cover F1-F4 so far and hv been consistently scoring in low 40s… There is hardly any section where I got over 70s. Its very scary and sad since I hv taken advanced financial accounting in school and on would hope to do well in FAR. However, thats not the case for me. I have forgotten most of the details and so hv to learn a lot of the stuff again.

I am banking on the fact that it will somehow get better. It has to, right? although I redid some of the questions from F4 that i got wrong initially and I still got them wrong on my 2nd go. I wanted to cry.

All I can say is..hang in there.. It has been done before and we can do it too!!

[Anonymous]

I agree with mla. You are on track. I was right there almost 2 weeks ago. I hv managed to cover F1-F4 so far and hv been consistently scoring in low 40s… There is hardly any section where I got over 70s. Its very scary and sad since I hv taken advanced financial accounting in school and on would hope to do well in FAR. However, thats not the case for me. I have forgotten most of the details and so hv to learn a lot of the stuff again.

I am banking on the fact that it will somehow get better. It has to, right? although I redid some of the questions from F4 that i got wrong initially and I still got them wrong on my 2nd go. I wanted to cry.

All I can say is..hang in there.. It has been done before and we can do it too!!

[jpowell31]

Yep – you're on track. These exams ARE a nightmare and having done extremely well in my undergrad and graduate programs, it feels like a bit of a slap in the face. But keep on, don't get discouraged and eventually everything will start clicking. With Becker you'll want to go into the exam scoring at least 80% but trust me…you will need to go through your notes a few more times and the question a LOT more times before you get there. don't spread it out too much or what you learn in the first chapter will be gone from your memory before you get through all the material. It's overwhelming but you can it! The fact that you found this forum just starting out will be a HUGE help! good luck!

-__-

[jpowell31]

Yep – you're on track. These exams ARE a nightmare and having done extremely well in my undergrad and graduate programs, it feels like a bit of a slap in the face. But keep on, don't get discouraged and eventually everything will start clicking. With Becker you'll want to go into the exam scoring at least 80% but trust me…you will need to go through your notes a few more times and the question a LOT more times before you get there. don't spread it out too much or what you learn in the first chapter will be gone from your memory before you get through all the material. It's overwhelming but you can it! The fact that you found this forum just starting out will be a HUGE help! good luck!

-__-

[jpowell31]

sorry for all of the typo's in that post 🙂

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[jpowell31]

sorry for all of the typo's in that post 🙂

-__-

[justgivemea75]

Hi all,

Thanks for the encouragement. Do you have any advice on how to go about studying for this then? I'm doing alright on some of the larger sections, but I really don't know how I'm going to memorize all this minutia. I can understand big picture concepts, I can nail most journal entry stuff with practice (the only topic I struggled with as far as computation goes in school was pensions…even leases wasn't that hard once I figured out a way to categorize the info), but if the exam really asks me a bunch of random questions that I can easily google in a work situation, then I know I will fail because that was never my forte.

Basically, if there's SOME logic as to how a topic is done the way it is, I'll figure it out even if it's hard. I'm very much a person who needs to know WHY things happen and cannot blindly put in my head something without understanding the rationale behind it. The IS/OCI (I only scored 70 on the IS set because I was weak on changes in estimates, etc. and refused to look at my notes to copy exam conditions) etc. type of topics, I do fine with, but memorizing what disclosures are required for what section or IFRS/GAAP differences is a huge challenge for me. Any advice?

Finally, are you supposed to do the homework from memory or with your notes to help you? A few of my friends who have passed non-FAR/REG sections said that they used their notes the first time through and then redid it without notes. Is that a better way to do it?

FAR - 84
AUD - 76 (phew)
BEC - 88
REG - 77

DONE!

[justgivemea75]

Hi all,

Thanks for the encouragement. Do you have any advice on how to go about studying for this then? I'm doing alright on some of the larger sections, but I really don't know how I'm going to memorize all this minutia. I can understand big picture concepts, I can nail most journal entry stuff with practice (the only topic I struggled with as far as computation goes in school was pensions…even leases wasn't that hard once I figured out a way to categorize the info), but if the exam really asks me a bunch of random questions that I can easily google in a work situation, then I know I will fail because that was never my forte.

Basically, if there's SOME logic as to how a topic is done the way it is, I'll figure it out even if it's hard. I'm very much a person who needs to know WHY things happen and cannot blindly put in my head something without understanding the rationale behind it. The IS/OCI (I only scored 70 on the IS set because I was weak on changes in estimates, etc. and refused to look at my notes to copy exam conditions) etc. type of topics, I do fine with, but memorizing what disclosures are required for what section or IFRS/GAAP differences is a huge challenge for me. Any advice?

Finally, are you supposed to do the homework from memory or with your notes to help you? A few of my friends who have passed non-FAR/REG sections said that they used their notes the first time through and then redid it without notes. Is that a better way to do it?

FAR - 84
AUD - 76 (phew)
BEC - 88
REG - 77

DONE!

[jpowell31]

Everyone is different but you seem to be in extremely good shape. You have to remember that you'll never know everything but that the more times you go through the material, the more the minutia start to click. Becker has a good summary at the end of IFRS/GAAP differences. I would read the applicable chapter's differences at the end of reviewing each chapter if I had time (unfortunately I don't) but I am learning a bit through MCQ because even if the question isn't on IFRS, if it's heavily tested, it will note the difference at the bottom of the solution (i.e. “Note: IFRS does not allowed extraordinary gains). Also, Becker may not highlight some topics but everything is fair game so my notes always start out extremely detailed (between 100-150 pages each exam) and I cut it down when I go through when things become obvious or aren't helpful in my studies. Each time I go through my notes I continue to chop away at it so that I'm down to 1 or two pages per chapter and I can read those pages every night for the final week.

I like to use my notes (that I create myself based on what was highlighted in the lectures and added to along the way with other helpful tidbits gained from MCQ or this forum) when going through MCQ the first couple of times and even if i'm really struggling thereafter just to ensure that my notes are correct, helpful and all-encompassing. I find that once I start doing the MCQ without my notes I can start picturing what I had written and, similarly when reviewing my notes, I can picture what types of questions will come up and what areas I need to re-read to stick in the final week(s)!

-__-

[jpowell31]

Everyone is different but you seem to be in extremely good shape. You have to remember that you'll never know everything but that the more times you go through the material, the more the minutia start to click. Becker has a good summary at the end of IFRS/GAAP differences. I would read the applicable chapter's differences at the end of reviewing each chapter if I had time (unfortunately I don't) but I am learning a bit through MCQ because even if the question isn't on IFRS, if it's heavily tested, it will note the difference at the bottom of the solution (i.e. “Note: IFRS does not allowed extraordinary gains). Also, Becker may not highlight some topics but everything is fair game so my notes always start out extremely detailed (between 100-150 pages each exam) and I cut it down when I go through when things become obvious or aren't helpful in my studies. Each time I go through my notes I continue to chop away at it so that I'm down to 1 or two pages per chapter and I can read those pages every night for the final week.

I like to use my notes (that I create myself based on what was highlighted in the lectures and added to along the way with other helpful tidbits gained from MCQ or this forum) when going through MCQ the first couple of times and even if i'm really struggling thereafter just to ensure that my notes are correct, helpful and all-encompassing. I find that once I start doing the MCQ without my notes I can start picturing what I had written and, similarly when reviewing my notes, I can picture what types of questions will come up and what areas I need to re-read to stick in the final week(s)!

-__-

[cool_kid]

I'm about to take FAR 9 days from today and this is my first attempt. The thing I've realized is that you as you go along or towards the end when you're doing final review, you figure out what works for you, what doesn't, and what mistakes you've made. Everybody tends to learn differently or have a different approach when it comes to studying the material. For example, I was never really much of an index/note card type of person when it came to studying for exams in college but I felt like if I did make some of my own notecards it would've helped prepare for this exam.

[cool_kid]

I'm about to take FAR 9 days from today and this is my first attempt. The thing I've realized is that you as you go along or towards the end when you're doing final review, you figure out what works for you, what doesn't, and what mistakes you've made. Everybody tends to learn differently or have a different approach when it comes to studying the material. For example, I was never really much of an index/note card type of person when it came to studying for exams in college but I felt like if I did make some of my own notecards it would've helped prepare for this exam.

[Kimboroni]

I was doing the same as you for AUD– trying to answer MCQs without looking at my notes– and all it did was make me feel like I didn't know anything. So I started using my resources for the questions. It was much more effective. I learned so much more, and as I kept going, I had to refer to my resources less and less, and then when I took the test I passed.

I figure it doesn't matter if I look things up when I'm preparing, since the only time that matters is the actual exam, and up until then is all part of the learning process. The important thing for me was to keep my confidence up.

Using the in-test-bank hints really helped me zone in on what I was doing wrong (misreading, etc.). So I thought those were really helpful, since they are specific to that question and how it's written.

AUD 84 (1/9/14-Wiley books/TB + free materials)
FAR 83 (5/21/14-the above + NINJA 10 Pt Combo Lite)
REG 84 (7/9/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC/Notes)
BEC 76 (10/5/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC)

Disclaimer: My ninja avatar is not meant to imply that I have any affiliation with this site other than being a forum member. That's a pic of a T-shirt that my daughter gave me for my birthday. 🙂

[Author]

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