25 days to study for FAR retake – trying to figure out a gameplan

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  • May 14, 2018 at 12:07 pm #1796600
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    My firm pays for my exam fees so I am going to take a shot at FAR at the end of this window. I failed with a 69 in January. Comparable MCQ with weaker sims. Is MCQ and sim practice enough for a retake? I am trying to put together a study plan. Definitely will not be going back through my entire Wiley course. Maybe some parts I feel weak in I will go through. Has anyone tried the Ninja videos? Looking for any recommendations! Thanks!

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  • May 14, 2018 at 2:19 pm #1796744
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I took exactly 6 weeks for my FAR retake, utilizing Ninja MCQ primarily for my review and going back through my Becker book, and taking/re-writing existing notes and re-doing the SIMS according to the AICPA blueprint (anything application or analysis level in the blueprint is a fair game for SIMS and have to know cold). This took me from 69 to 81. Admittedly there were giant holes in my knowledge as I started reviewing for the retake. I think 25 days is sufficient if you study a lot and focus on your weak areas. Good luck!

    May 15, 2018 at 9:47 am #1797607
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Thanks! I hate the idea of rewriting notes, but I think I am going to try to rewrite the Ninja notes.

    May 15, 2018 at 10:00 am #1797617
    itooshallpass
    Participant

    I agree, re-writing notes can be a huge help. That and lots of MCQ practice! I found it really helpful to have a second test bank (I added Ninja to Roger). The variety of difficulty and even just having a different screen to look at helped keep me going at the end of my review.

    FAR - 85 (12/17)
    AUD - 80 (1/18)
    REG - 83 (6/18)
    BEC - 85 (7/18)

    Ethics - 95

    DONE DONE DONE DONE

    May 16, 2018 at 1:35 pm #1799188
    Troys22
    Participant

    @OP I have been using Wiley for my main study materials and supplementing with Ninja MCQ. I feel like Wiley provides alot of information and then we have to determine what are the main focal points and figure out what is most likely to show up on the exam. As for Ninja materials, I have found the Ninja Plus videos to be helpful in areas I was struggling with. You have to be careful though because those videos are out dated but they seem to help me with some of the topics. How did you think the Wiley materials did in preparing you for what you saw on the exam?

    AUD - 80
    BEC - 79
    FAR - 77
    REG - 83
    Troy
    May 16, 2018 at 1:42 pm #1799212
    jombe
    Participant

    MCQs & SIMs all the way.

    I always went thru all the lectures and solved some practice problems after each chapter, etc.

    After that, I just kept doing MCQs & all the SIMs on the book I bought & NINJA.

    I think I averaged about 2~3,000 MCQs and about 50~100 SIMs per section.

    I also made notes on the problems I got wrong or wasn't sure and went thru that quite frequently 2 weeks before the actual exam.

    AUD - 99
    BEC - 91
    FAR - 94
    REG - 96
    --------------------------------------------
    Done with exam. On with life.

    FAR - 94 (10/4/15), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
    AUD - 99 (1/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
    REG - 96 (4/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
    BEC - 91 (7/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ

    581 days of listening to lectures, reading texts & 10,000+ MCQs...

    May 22, 2018 at 6:22 pm #1806965
    Audrey15
    Participant

    @jombe what review course were you using for all four parts? I am just about starting and yet to decide whether to go with Wiley or Gleim. I am currently taking the free trial from Wiley and will definitely supplement whichever review course I pick with Ninja CPA Review.
    Your scores are quite impressive by the way.

    San Jose, California
    May 22, 2018 at 7:17 pm #1807048
    cafeteria_food
    Participant

    As others have suggested, MCQ's are the way to go (A LOT of them). I found writing down the answer to every question I got wrong really beneficial. Like you, the idea of re-writing my notes sounded terrible, and honestly, I wasn't getting much out of them anymore. By writing down only questions you get wrong you end up with a whole new set of notes to study!

    AUD - 94
    BEC - 91
    FAR - 84
    REG - 75
    Colorado CPA

     

    May 23, 2018 at 2:47 pm #1807925
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @cafeteria_food yeah I have been doing a lot of MCQ's and writing notes for missed questions. The good thing is I feel like I could take FAR and score above 50 without studying since so much of it applies to my job so I only have 25 points to go in my mind (maybe I am wrong but my 69 was with a month of skimming the text and doing hardly any MCQ's). I have been doing only new questions and am going section by section which seems to really be working so far. When you go section by section, you really hammer the info and concepts into your brain. I struggled with inventory stuff like LC-M but now after doing all inventory MCQ's I feel like I am proficient and know it. The random question MCQ sessions are good for comprehensive review right before the exam, but sometimes it is hard to really drill something into your brain if you only see it one time out of fifty questions.

    I haven't started on the Ninja note rewrite. We'll see what happens with that. I am making a lot of learning progress with MCQ's only. Hopefully I can get around to some sims if time permits. I plan on continuing to study after the end of this window and taking the exam again in July if needed (fingers crossed I won't need to but that's a tall order with 3.5 weeks of studying).

    May 23, 2018 at 4:22 pm #1808018
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    The Ninja audio has also been in my arsenal but I have a hard time being disciplined enough to use it on every commute and I also question the return on investment vs. just hammering MCQ's. May be a little too passive of a style of learning for me.

    May 23, 2018 at 4:49 pm #1808041
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @Troys22 I think Wiley does a fine job as a review course but I am a big believer in the Ninja MCQ's as well so I lean on those at the end of my review. Wiley can easily get you a pass though. Since Ninja has worked for 2 exams, I am not going to try to fix what isn't broken. Failing FAR was an effort issue, not a review course issue

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