What do you do if you fail an exam?

  • Creator
    Topic
  • #819846
    mikeyrockz
    Participant

    Trying to plan ahead here and keep myself prepared if I fail. I took FAR last week, my first exam, the scores don’t come out until September 9th. I scheduled BEC for October 10th. My plan is to start studying BEC either this week or next week, which gives me ~4 weeks to get through the review material and then ~2 weeks to do review and knockout a bunch of MCQ.

    The thing is, with the way I have things setup now, by the time the scores come out I should be about half way through the BEC material. If I fail I’ll have to reapply and pay for FAR again and all that, I’m in CA if that matters.

    My question is, in my position, would you stop studying BEC, start reviewing FAR, pay again, try to get a date early in the window and then go back to BEC? Or would you move forward, take BEC and then retake FAR? My concern is with starting to forget stuff from FAR if I wait too long.

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
  • Author
    Replies
  • #819852
    Finally_a_CPA
    Participant

    If I were you, I would probably go back to FAR. I know you'll be half way through BEC but I could not imagine myself having to go back to FAR a few weeks later. It's just so much information to cover. When studying for FAR, I felt like every week, as I learned new info, I also forgot some other info. BEC on the other hand does not cover nearly as much information so you can always come back to it in the future.

    AUD - 75
    BEC - 78
    FAR - 81
    REG - 92
    "If you study, you will pass" - Roger
    #819888
    littlemissrocky
    Participant

    Personally, I would continue with BEC and just review FAR occasionally to keep the material fresh. I wouldn't wanna waste any study time by starting to study for BEC and then switching back to FAR. Plus, the last thing you want is to get bogged down by
    one exam. Although I haven't taken BEC yet, I have heard it is the easiest for many candidates. Passing BEC will give you a boost to your confidence and help you conquer the other exams.

    B-81 11/9/16
    A-87 8/8/16
    R-87 9/8/16
    F-84 7/12/16

    "If you can shape it in your mind, you will find it in your life."- fortune cookie inspiration

    “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'” - Muhammad Ali

    B- TBD
    A- Scheduled 8/816
    R- Scheduled 9/8/16
    F-84! (7/12/16)
    "If you can shape it in your mind, you will find it in your life." - A little inspiration from a fortune cookie

    #825010
    nadroj
    Participant

    If I was already studying for another section, I would keep going with that section. That is especially true if I already scheduled the next exam. However, one size does not fit all.

    #825100
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Should you decide to study BEC prior to getting your result for FAR next week, begin with Financial Management. There are many overlapping topics between FAR and BEC in that chapter.

    #825112
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Have you received a failing score? If not, move on to the next section until you receive your score. Do not convince yourself you have failed until you find out for sure. If you studied well enough the first time there is a small chance you will forget everything you've learned by the time scores come out. You know more think you think you know and it takes a while to forget.

    #825154
    SuckItUp
    Participant

    Holy crap, DON'T plan for failure. Trust me, BEC!!!!!!!!

    #825247
    Valar Dohaeris
    Participant

    Since it's FAR, I would wait until you know you passed it before moving on to the next exam. FAR has so much material, and it's tested at such a granular level.

    However, I wouldn't necessarily stop studying BEC until I knew I failed FAR.

    AUD - 81
    BEC - 83
    FAR - 83
    REG - 84
    CPA

    Finance Manager

    Experienced in Big 4 audit, regional audit, and technical accounting consulting

    BEC - 85
    AUD - 81
    REG - 84
    FAR - 7/24/16

    #825280
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I would keep on with BEC, take BEC, and then do the re-take for FAR. I think it's helpful to give your mind a break from one set of material and study the next set of material. It also helps you to realize that you're truly re-studying for FAR, not just doing a brush-up. Otherwise, it's too easy to think “I just studied this, I don't really need to study again”, even though in reality, you need to study again start-to-finish. Having taken the break to study for and take BEC will help you realize that you need to fully re-study FAR, which you'd need to do anyway, but might be easier to forget.

    Now, if you get in a spot that you're going back and forth between FAR and BEC and have failed each one 2 or 3 times, I'd change my advice and say study one, take it, keep studying it, and don't stop studying it till you've taken it and gotten a passing score, and only then move on to the next. But, you're not in that spot, and there's no reason to expect you will be.

    For now, you can – and should – pretend that you passed FAR and move forward accordingly. No reason to sit around for weeks waiting on a score just in case you failed. If you failed, then you can deal with that when you get there, but for now, all you know is that you gave it a shot, so move forward with BEC and give it your best till test-date.

    #825751
    Kettlepot
    Participant

    I agree with Lilla. If you have no history of failures, then you have nothing to base your “What if I failed?!” fear on. Just focus on BEC for now.
    I am in the other boat where I tried to flip-flop on my tests and be done ASAP, and it didn't do me any favors at all, so now I subscribe to the “Do one over and over until you pass” method.

    Far: 49
    BEC: 79 (Expired)
    AUD: 51, 67, 64
    REG: 59, 64, 59, 69

    #830234
    mikeyrockz
    Participant

    Forgot I made this topic, but thanks for the responses, definitely helped give me an idea on what I should do if I happen to not pass, since it's my first part of the CPA exam and first time taking it I just wanted to see what every one elses mindset is regarding these kinds of situations. But, 2 more days until D-Day!

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.