Ambitious Plan: Preparing for FAR and REG

11 Mar 2013

NINJA CPA Review

Serena is a NINJA CPA Blogger.

Since my last post, I have managed to maintain my optimism and extreme motivation. In the last week, I have chewed my way through the rest of Governmental Accounting, IFRS, Interim Reporting, Inventory, Investments, and Leases.

If you remember, I am going through the topics in alphabetical order (since that’s how they show up in my flashcard app), first mastering the flashcards, then writing the notes, then working as many Wiley MCQs as it takes to achieve a 75% or better.

Governmental took me a little longer to get through than anticipated, and I also took an entire Saturday off from studying last weekend because I had family visiting in a city close by. So I didn’t make it through all the topics by the end of week three as planned. This weekend is catch-up.

On the agenda Saturday: Not-For-Profit (which I was afraid would be much like Governmental, but have been pleasantly surprised), Partnership Accounting, and Pensions. As of right now, I am through NFP, about to begin Partnerships.

On the agenda for Sunday: Personal Financial Statements, Present Value, Segment Reporting, Personal Financial Statements, and Stockholder’s Equity. If I can accomplish this as planned, I will have three full weeks of reviewing and re-writing notes, MCQs, and practice SIMS.

I will also be slipping in some REG MCQs and SIMS. Yes, you read right—REG. My 18-month window is coming to a close April 20th and unfortunately, my last go-round with REG was ONE point shy of passing, leaving me 20 days in April to take 2 tests. EEK!

I am curious to see if anyone else has been successful with this type of approach (overlapping REG & FAR, especially), but not curious enough to hear discouraging comments because I really don’t have another option.

To add to the panic, there were NO Saturdays available at Prometric in San Diego, so I will be driving to Anaheim April 6th to take FAR and taking a half day from work sometime during the week prior to April 20th. I have yet to reschedule REG, as I am waiting for a new NTS.

“Ambitious,” you might say? Isn’t that why we are all here in the first place? We strive to be better; we are ambitious and driven individuals; we are aiming to become CPAs.

Leave a Reply