[CPA so close, so far away]

So…

I take FAR on the 12th. Finished the two Becker final exams for FAR. My first score was an 86% and my second was a 77%. Is there anyone out there who took these exams (and the real FAR exam) recently that could give me some feedback on those scores.

I calculated my grade by taking the average of the MC scores, then the Sims score and allocating them with a 60/40 split like the real exam.

Thanks guys!

[Goingallin]

I never got higher than a 65% for Becker and I passed FAR so you're in great shape!

AUD - 87
BEC - 77
FAR - 75
REG - 82

donotgiveup!!

[Anonymous]

I just passed FAR on my first try with an 80. My final exam scores on Becker were 64% and 69%, so you are in good shape I'd say. The only thing I'd say is that the Becker MC were much harder, and the Becker SIMS were much shorter. I see a lot of people saying that the actual FAR SIMS are much more difficult, but I disagree. The material itself isn't more difficult on the actual exam, they are just a lot more time consuming.

For example, on the Becker Final exams I normally finished with an hour to spare AT LEAST, and the SIMS took me on average an hour, tops. However, on the actual FAR exam, I left myself 1:45 and was not able to finish the SIMS. Granted I was able to fill in every question, I was not confident in at least half of my answers.

As it was my first time taking any CPA exam, and I was very worried about making silly mistakes, I spent a lot of time double checking my work on the first few SIMS, thinking I was way ahead of schedule, only to get rushed on the second half of the SIMS when I realized how much more reading was required. I would recommend practicing the Becker SIMS that give you the emails & memos because I glanced over those during review and felt like I wasn't prepared for them on the actual exam.

[aaronmo]

I'm pretty sure my Becker practice exams were lower than that. They certainly weren't significantly better.

AUD - 96
BEC - 84
FAR - 89
REG - 86

Aaron and always remember, YMMV

I profit from your CPE frustration. You're welcome.

[aaronmo]

One thing to keep in mind…the Becker practice exams weight everything the same way…not so on the real exam; the issue isn't just how many you get right, it's WHICH you get right. If I had to guess…I did better on harder stuff and weaker on more basic things that require more memorization. I think SIMs might be the better all around judge of preparedness…and I generally did stronger on SIMs and “problem” and concept questions. The FAR stuff I missed was IFRS and “what's that spreadsheet called”.

AUD - 96
BEC - 84
FAR - 89
REG - 86

Aaron and always remember, YMMV

I profit from your CPE frustration. You're welcome.

[Goingallin]

Sorry to hijack this thread..

Aaaron. If you used Becker for AUD, what suggestion would you give to pass AUD? The material is easy for me and i'm averaging in the high 80s. However i'm afraid that's not enough. How did you prepare for AUD?

AUD - 87
BEC - 77
FAR - 75
REG - 82

donotgiveup!!

[Author]

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