“FAR” from a Fun Memorial Day Weekend

28 May 2012

NINJA CPA Review

Joe is a weekly NINJA CPA Blogger.

Hey NINJAs,

So as I sit here in a quiet room mulling over Governmental Fund Accounting, I realized how cruel the CPA Bosses can be making the last day of the testing window occur directly after the unofficial start of the summer!

I have been keeping up with my 2 hours in the morning, 1 hour at lunch and 1 hour after work study approach, but the size and complexity of the FAR material has really overwhelmed me with only 5 days left until test day. I took the remaining 5 days off from work and will study as much as possible in hopes of feeling remotely comfortable with all of the material so that I don’t freak out when my first question asks me the installment method.

I will start using Wiley MCQs and take as many pop quizzes and simulated tests as I possibly can. I also recommend going through as many simulations as you can as well. These simulations really test your understanding of a concept. MCQs can prove you have some basic knowledge of an area but complete understanding may prove to be a weak area of yours when going through the simulations.

A professor told me some pretty good advice. When preparing a cash flow statement, DO NOT make sure it balances correctly with the ending cash. This seems like pretty crazy advice, but what the professor was getting at is you may have gotten 95% of the cash flow correct but missed 1 area or incorrectly calculated a few changes.

If you try to go back, you only waste time and you potentially run the risk of changing already corrected cash flow items and will receive even less points than before. So instead, approach the cash flow in a step-by-step process and once you’ve listed an item, move on from it and don’t worry about the ending calculations.

I have already gone through my NINJA Notes twice and feel comfortable with what those have taught me, I think at this point it is most beneficial for me to take as many MCQs as possible and as many simulated tests as possible.

I will also try to enjoy a little bit of this weekend especially taking time to think about the men and woman who have given their lives for our country, without our country’s defense groups we would be nothing and this is a great opportunity to remember that.

Good luck NINJAs. I hope we all can make it through this grueling test!

Talk to you soon,

Joe

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1 comments

Tana Fuller 12 years ago

What great advise regarding the simulations. I agree that if you don't understand the information you won't be able to complete them. I just took AUD I studied the simulations intensively. I don't know if it helped my score, but it definitely helped my confidence level. I am using Roger CPA review and his recorded lectures work through several simulations, watching those lectures helped me develop a system to answer those questions. I feel that the key to answering the simulations is to already have an answer in your mind before seeing what choices they offer. If you do not already have an idea of what the answer may be, you can make the question fit the answers, not find the best answer for the question.