Done with FAR – What a Beast!

20 Nov 2010

Club 75 Candidate Bloggers

By J.W.

J.W. is a weekly Club 75 Blogger as he documents his journey through the CPA Exam.

He has been a member of Another71.com's Club 75 since August 2010.

Week 8:

I took my FAR exam the other day and I must say it is really a beast of an exam. I needed every last bit of the 4 hours and I had to guess at the end of the 2nd Simulation.

My first thoughts coming out of it were I have no idea how I did. If you were to ask me for a range, I’d say anywhere from 55 to an 80. I thought I did well on the first testlet, I don’t recall anything in particular that I just didn’t know. When I got to the second testlet and third testlet, I didn’t notice the questions get particularly harder, but I did feel some questions were definitely “Wordier” and had more variables than the previous ones, but there were still single variable, one sentence questions mixed in and I have no idea of what a Difficult-Difficult question is like as compared to a Medium-Difficult one. They’re all difficult. So I’m just completely stumped on how I did on the MCQ’s since I didn’t feel the test get any harder per testlet, it was more a question to question thing.

I left about 40 minutes each for each Simulation and I always did the written communication first for each. I was completely comfortable with the WC topics they gave me, and I was relatively confident in how I did on both of them. The first SIM I feel I did pretty well on, I was comfortable answering the questions. However I didn’t finish the second in the sense that I had 7 minutes left with 3 tabs to go. I basically quickly read them and answered them. I’m not too confident in those 3 tabs. I spent all of 2 minutes at most on each research tab.

Knowing what I know now, I probably would have changed up my study habits a bit, focusing on each chapter more as I did it. I will definitely be altering my study habits for the next exams. I felt as though the Wiley questions were very good, and were actually harder in some aspects than the actual exam questions. I have no plans on switching study materials. In fact I’ll probably use more Yaeger/Wiley materials in the future to supplement the Homestudy/CRAM/Test Bank CD. When it was all said and done I clocked in at around 115 hours.

Right now as it stand I am going to take a short break from studying, get some of that Home Improvement stuff done and catch up on some TV. I’ll probably start studying for BEC in a week or two and I probably won’t take it in early January as I had planned, but will more likely do it in early to mid-February, as my NTS expires in mid-February. It will depend on my score for FAR. I must admit, despite the dread I felt studying for FAR towards the end, I am slightly anxious to get in to some new material. So my long term plan right now is still a bit up in the air pending the results of FAR.

I have a bit of a conundrum though, and maybe my fellow Another71ers have some advice for me. I purchased the Yaeger then and now and got BEC and FAR for 2010, with AUD and REG for next year. What I’m thinking is that I will use the Yaeger 2010 BEC Homestudy DVDs that I haven't used yet with the Wiley 2010 book, but also buy the 2011 Wiley book to supplement it for Written Communication questions. I’ll presumably have access to the Wiley 2011 Material on the Test Bank CD, as that will come with my new 2011 material so I’ll have plenty of up to date MCQ’s to do. Does that sound good? Let me know what you think.

-J.W.

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10 comments

Joemark 13 years ago

If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that I wrote this blog. Sat this past wed. Had the same exact experience.

Luke 13 years ago

I completely agree with the first commentor and you, I took the test 10/22 and walked out with a range in mind of 60-75. I found out yesterday that I scored a 83 and now only lack Audit to complete my CPA. Good luck to you, and to anyone working on the CPA right now, we all know how much we put into it!

Dave 13 years ago

Congrats on slaying the beast. I just found out i passed FAR with an 83 ! When I finished the test an hour ealy I thought I had failed for sure !

Encouragement 13 years ago

You'll enjoy studying for BEC much more than FAR. You can bank on that. Half the material, no sims.

Big Tall 13 years ago

Its funny the same thing happened to me as the blog writer and I by some miracle I passed with a 75. Now I'm cramming BEC in 14 days. Short Notice but the material is so much easier and condensed.

M 13 years ago

I envy you. I constantly complain and make excuses for myself. I'm a single guy, not married no kids, easy job and complain about studying. You are married got kids, demanding job and you do what you do. Keep up the good work. You are a better man than most. good luck to you sir

Miranda 13 years ago

I took FAR 11/16 and feel the same. I have no idea how I did and despite not taking a single break, still ran out of time on my sims. I honestly feel like it could go either way. I also am taking a break until my 2011 Becker materials are sent but cannot decide if I want to tackle BEC or Audit next. Good luck- we have another month of waiting to find out :/

Aaron 13 years ago

Failed REG for the sixth time. I've gotten a 66, 68, 72, 72, 72 and 71 (just got the score in UT today). I knew the material better than ever this last time... Is it true they score based on the supply of CPAs? I've passed everything except REG and now am lapsing on AUD this month. I think the CPA isn't for me.

Damian 13 years ago

I took FAR last Saturday. I passed BEC this window and waiting on AUD results here in CA. I would have to say FAR is in fact a beast compared to AUD & BEC. Questions are wordy. I averaged two minutes per question on the testlets. By the time I got to the simulation, I had an hour left. It took me 47 minutes to finish the first. I panicked and read all the questions on the second, instead of jumping into a tab and tackling it. I think I did well on the testlets, but I'm already planning to take FAR again late February. REG will be handled in early January. Good luck to all and happy holidays to all!

@J.W. 13 years ago

I felt EXACTLY the same way when I left the FAR exam! I haven't heard yet but I hope I passed just like you did! Good luck with all your studying!!