[Ariah]

Hello everyone,

I will be taking FAR in 2 weeks. This is my third attempt and I would really appreciate if anyone can share which were the most important topics seen in Q4 and also your experience with SIMS. I have gone through the Q3 forum already but wanted to see if you had similar or different experiences. Last minute tips appreciated. I have been using Wiley test bank, beckers notes and questions, Ninja notes.

FAR is my last section left before am done (Fingers crossed)!!

[Over_It]

Yeah, don't waste anymore time on here or doing anything besides studying. Study as many hours as you can every single day.

4/4 in 10 months while working full time and having a wife and kid. It can be done!

REG - 89: 04/25/16
BEC - 82: 05/31/16
FAR - 86: 10/08/16
AUD - 91: 11/28/16

[Ariah]

@Alle530 – thanks!!
Just took FAR, my Sims were okay but MCQ I am not sure what to expect. I may have done ok if I didn't get tricked, so not sure…Overall, little bit of everything, very important to remember how the stuff works.

@Parth54321 – not sure what scratch means, if you are right out of college or someone that has been in the industry full time. 30 days is doable if you study until your eyes bleed and your ears fume. Make a plan and stick to it no matter what.

[Stilgoin]

I took it. It sucked.
FAR has completely sucked the life out of me.

MCQs were difficult- very difficult. I was expecting my first ‘medium’ testlet. Nope. First two were hard, last one was medium, which does not feel like good news.
The sims were nothing unexpected and I have seen worse, but that still doesn’t mean I did well on them. They were tricky. I’m hoping for 50% correct plus the research.

Anyway- I will see Nov 4th.

Stilgoin, CPA

There are enough critics. Be an encourager

B | 62, 78
A | 73, 67, 79
R | 82
F | 59, 59, Waiting

Ethics | 93

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
~Winston Churchill

“In a world full of critics, be an encourager."

[GeauxAwayCPA]

I also took FAR today. This is my 2nd attempt. Been studying since the tax deadline ended in April and failed in July. It absolutely baffles me that I can study so hard for months, do well when practicing questions, feel confident, and then the CPA exam comes out of left field, laughs in my face, and says “you don't know $hit!” My testlets got harder but my goodness, how are we supposed to pass if we can't even get any of the hard testlet questions right?! They were ALL like multiple paragraphs long. SMH. Praying for a miracle come November 4th…

Licensed CPA in Texas trying to start up my own tax practice

[Soon2beCPA]

I took FAR this morning and GOLLY – it was brutal. Based on my average and trending scores, I thought I somewhat understood what I was studying, but I guess didn't really understand because that test was seriously rough! The questions were so obscure and random…definitely a different feel from both NINJA and Wiley.

AUD - 82
BEC - 80
FAR - 81
REG - 85

Ethics - 100

BEC - 11/2015 - 82
FAR - 10/1/2016
AUD - 6/4/2016 - 80
REG - 12/10/2016

[cpac]

Did the exact same thing yesterday. Studied April-July and failed in July and took it again yesterday. I looked back and am embarrassed of all the time I have studied and STILL don't feel good about my exam I took yesterday. And I have to wait until November 22 for my score. This exam really sucks the life out of you…

Working hard...

AUD: 74, 91 1/18

BEC: 78 12/16

FAR: 65, 73, 66, 83 8/17

REG: 64, 80 1/18

[Pokey]

uggggggg.. I'm so scared!! I haven't passed a section yet, the way its going for others, it will be a another below 71 for me 🙁

A - 79
F - 77
R - 83
B - 75

AUD - 74 (3x), TBD
BEC - Sept16
FAR - TBD
REG - TBD

[NeedsA75]

I passed FAR on my first attempt in Q2. IMO that's when the real pressure starts…knowing that you could lose credit for a section (especially FAR) gives me an anxiety attack

AUD - 96
BEC - 86
FAR - 76
REG - 92

PETH - 92
Licensed in California

 

[Anonymous]

Has anyone else noticed that the passing rate for FAR is almost always highest in Q3, then drops pretty substantially in Q4? And with how these experiences are sounding, that may be true again this year! Anyone know what's up with that?

[livealittle]

I'm going to guess people in Q4 are trying to get it in before tax/busy season starts and aren't quite as prepared as they need to be.

BEC - 8/8/16
REG - 66, 77
AUD - 81
FAR - 9/8/16

[Ariah]

Ok just got Far results, scored 88. I am officially done with the CPA exams
I wasn’t able to sleep well since I gave the test because I thought everything was so easy,and I didn’t discuss with anyone since I thought easy meant fail. So I am now going to rephrase I was probably over-prepared. Thank you Lord!!
I wish everyone the very best; please know the basics inside n out.

[seventyfiveplz]

Found out I passed FAR today with an 81. I was a bit nervous because, I had 2 research sims and was pretty sure I got both of them wrong. Although, I know one of them had to be a pre-test, but also no one seems to know for sure how much they're weighted. That being said, I won't know how I did on the MCQ versus the sims until they post it to the state board website. For the MCQ, my first testlet seemed very easy. I thought wow I probably got 25/30 of these right. My second one was much more difficult and were novel paragraphs compared to my first testlet. The third testlet was like the second and I started to panic a bit because I knew I needed at least an hour and a half for the sims so I rushed through that one faster than I would have liked. The sims seemed fair to me except for those dumb research questions. I guess they didn't hurt me though.

Anyways, for anyone still studying, I would recommend to know your government and not-for-profit very well. Of course all material is fair game in these tests, but in particular know those 2 subjects. There's a reason they each have their own category when you see your diagnostic performance report.

A - 5/13/16 78

B - 8/14/16 75

F - 10/14/16 81

R - 74, Retake 11/14/16

A 5/24/2016 - 78
B 8/9/2016
F TBD
R 7/7/2016

[Anonymous]

This wasn't my first time at the rodeo. MCQ were hard, and every day I wonder if I did ok enough to pass or did I get tricked? The sims were not as outrageous as I've seen before. DRS was a bit maddening with all of the flipping back to other documents. I'm not sure why aicpa thought DRS would be a fun or good idea. There was one sim where the directions were clear and I knew how to do it, but just seemed completely unsolvable so finally I just plugged and said FORGET IT! and moved on. Once again, the exam was 4.5 hours of mental agony. I didn't take a break between any teslets, didn't want to lose any precious time.
I left Prometric in a depression that lasted for two days.
If this is another fail I will have to sell things or borrow money for retake fees.

[Ryan]

took FAR today…Couldn't get the damn research question! What's the point of a vaguely worded question that can't be searched????

AUD - 93
BEC - 85
FAR - 85
REG - 85

 

[Lostinamerica]

I took the exam yesterday. I thought the first testlet was challenging but fair. The second became noticeably tougher. The third one was ridiculous as to I wonder how deep did the test writers dig to get that level of difficulty.

The SIMS were tough but I was at least familiar with the concepts. I am confident I got the Research and the DRS was probably the easiest. I am hoping for 75 points.

Last time I took the exam, I scored a 73 (Sept) and I thought the testlets became increasingly difficult and I felt pretty good about the MCQ. The diagnostic beared out that I did well on MCQ as I did Stronger on all but one (Gov't) and it was comparable. Yet,, the SIMS on that exam weere out of left field and I even wondered if they were SIMS for the same exam. I did not finish them and I had no DRS. Even the Research was on a topic I had never even heard. I knew I did poorly on the SIMS and the diagnostic said ‘weaker.' With my very favorable MCQ diagnostics, I suspect it was a legendary low number. I really did not think the exam was even fair but I can do nothing about it. 🙁

I feel better than last time but I am unsure. I did not study nearly as much this time as last but in an odd way, it might help as I didn't get as caught up in as much minutae and gave myself nearly 2 full hours for the SIMS.

B Passed
A Passed
R Passed
F 8/31/2016

[Author]

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