FAR – Exam Experience - Page 5

  • Creator
    Topic
  • #169275
    jeff
    Keymaster

    We have a lot of “I took __ today threads” so to consolidate, here is the official thread.

    Please – Not even a hint of exam disclosure per AICPA rules.

    Links to other Exam Experience Threads:

    AUD

    BEC

    REG

    AUD - 79
    BEC - 80
    FAR - 76
    REG - 92
    Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS)
    NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE | Another71
Viewing 15 replies - 61 through 75 (of 188 total)
  • Author
    Replies
  • #1552225
    Tipofga80
    Participant

    Took my exam this morning and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I tried the 45:45:30:60:60 timing and it didn't work.

    My first testlet I finished with time to recheck my answers. My 2nd testlet was a nightmare. I ran out of time and was not able to recheck my answers. The 3rd testlet and 1st of SIMs I should've spent way more time on. I'm upset about it because I left the exam with 25 mins on the clock that I definitely could've used for testlet 2&3.

    Overall, the content was doable if you are prepared, and I lucked up with not too many Gov accounting questions.

    Good Luck and heres to a hoping for a pass in August!

    AUD - 84
    BEC - 75
    FAR - 75
    REG - 77
    AUD - 70, 84
    BEC - 67, 74, 75
    FAR - 75
    REG - 77 (lost credit), 71, Retake Q4 2017

    REG - 77 (will lose in Jan 2016)

    BEC - 67 74, 75

    AUD - 56, 70, Will try again 🙁

    FAR - ??

    Save the beast for last.

    #1552245
    Wannafree
    Participant

    All the best TipoFga80. Wish you good luck.I know YMMV but still I feel good when someone says it was good or not too bad.

    WannaB
    #1552299
    Wannafree
    Participant

    @TipoFga80 YMMV ,”I lucked up with not too many Gov accounting ” ,it seems now Govt is dated ,in old format it used to be like weeds.Could you manage DRS and research question on time ? second testlet was hard that means u did well in testlet 1. How were MCQs , simple calculations or two step calculations e.g Calculate the EPS and then DEPS type ?

    WannaB
    #1557781
    suzieemac
    Participant

    Just took FAR, my first test under the changes. I took AUD, REG & BEC under the old format, but only passed AUD & REG.

    I feel kind of indifferent right now. The second testlet of MCQ was definitely higher difficulty questions than the first. I had to read some questions a few times to actually decipher what was being asked. Two of the SIMS, I felt, were almost identical to one another. However, thankfully it was in an area that I felt somewhat confident about, so I'm going to hope that it works in my favor. If not, one was definitely for pre-test purposes.

    Positives about the new testing format: the “standard” break. I never used the breaks in the past, but the 15 minute break allowed me to get some water, walk around in a few circles, get my blood recirculating and kind of just clear my head, which I think was a huge help, and honestly, I only needed 4-5 minutes before going back in to finish the second part of the test.

    Negatives: For me, the first two SIMS were ridiculously complex, and I budgeted a certain amount of time before saying “screw it” to move on to the next part of the test (or the break). The rest of the exam was merciful (or so I think) and I was able to complete the final two testlets with a half hour to spare, which was nice, but left me feeling annoyed that I couldn't go back and change anything from the first set of TBS. The research question, especially, screwed up my time budget because it was during the end, took me less than 5 minutes, and I could have allocated that time to the first two TBS, but in the past I've had research questions take me much longer. =\

    Now I get to wait until mid August and essentially forget everything I've studied until I find out my results, since now its on to BEC! As if they couldn't find more ways to torture CPA exam candidates.

    AUD - 75
    BEC - 84
    FAR - 78
    REG - 86
    Suzanne

    "No one cares, work harder."

    AUD - 8/12/16
    REG - 10/7/16
    BEC - 11/18/16
    FAR - TBD

    #300before30 - Pass the CPA exam before my 30th Birthday.

    #1557798
    SallyCPA
    Participant

    @suzzie Thank you for your input! Any reccommendations on budgeting time, as in what would be the best amount of time to allocate for each testlet?

    #1557871
    cpaswag
    Participant

    @suzziemac did u use Becker? if so did the new “skills practice help? how many DRS did you get?

    #1557981
    brokeonbecker4
    Participant

    @suzieemac I definitely agree on your positives. I also had a similar experience with MC (2nd testlet getting harder). Hopefully this is a good thing for us! I wish I could “HiYa!” your last sentence a million times.

    @SallyCPA I budgeted “50, 50, 30, 60, 50” I was under for testlet one, but used that time in testlet 2. A few minutes under when I took my break. I had 55 minutes for testlet 5, and I needed probably 80. So. Much. DRS. I have friends that only needed 35 minutes on testlet 5. There's just no way to know…



    @cpabound24
    I used Becker and took FAR 5/7. Some skills practices helped, some didn't. I had 5 DRS TBS, 3 in testlet 5 alone. Yeah. Just…yeah.

    #1557997
    Cruzer
    Participant

    Would this time strategy seem to work?

    “There is no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs.” -Anonymous

    • AUD - PASSED (Q1 2017)
    • BEC - PASSED (Q3 2016)
    • FAR - PASSED (Q2 2017)
    • REG - PASSED (Q4 2015)

     

    #1558333
    suzieemac
    Participant

    @nola-girl5 you had 5 DRS?! omg! I had two and I thought it was some kind of sick joke! I felt like I knew the concepts for the ones I was given though, so I was thankful for that at least. One of the DRS I practiced with Roger made me want to throw my books out the window.



    @cpabound24
    , I used Roger & Ninja. This was kind of a mercy test due to me trying to take BEC in February (when I had originally scheduled FAR) after failing BEC the first time in November, so it was either take FAR at the end of my NTS window or lose the money. Take that, and throw tax season right in the middle and you end up with one anxiety ridden candidate with barely 4 weeks to really focus on FAR lol. I didn't really leave enough time to go through all of Roger's Lectures. I finished maybe half. So, I went through the entire Ninja book and MCQ topic by topic, and anything I couldn't grasp, I supplemented with a Roger lecture. I feel like I did have a breakthrough in the learning curve though, which is what I needed.

    @sallycpa @cruzer – I believe I followed Roger's time management breakdown as closely as possible. I did 45-50 minutes for each MCQ, 20 minutes per regular SIM and 10 minutes for research. Since the MCQs were super wordy, I only had maybe a few seconds to go back to my flagged questions and make an executive decision. Since the research SIM took me no time to find, and appeared at the end of my test, I was left with 20-30 minutes at the end, but there's nothing you can do if the first sims are harder than the last, I would rather have extra time than to be scrambling at the end. Under the original test format, I would have taken those minutes to look at my first two Sims more closely, since for me they were the toughest. =\

    AUD - 75
    BEC - 84
    FAR - 78
    REG - 86
    Suzanne

    "No one cares, work harder."

    AUD - 8/12/16
    REG - 10/7/16
    BEC - 11/18/16
    FAR - TBD

    #300before30 - Pass the CPA exam before my 30th Birthday.

    #1562577
    mtaylo24
    Participant

    The test was tough but I think I'm more upset about the time management and missing my research sim than anything else. Breaking the simulation testlets up into 3 is not right at all. After wasting an hour 5 mins on the first 2 sims,and having only 55 mins to work the remaining 6 sims, how am I supposed to check my work? I was sure to leave nothing blank, but I don't feel great about this one.

    CPA (2017)

    REG:  75

    BEC:  76

    FAR:  77

    AUD: 78

     

    CMA (2019)

    P1: 380

    P2: 360

    AUD - 1st - 60 (12/12), 61 (2/13), 61 (8/13), 78! (11/15)
    REG - 55 (2/16) 69 (5/16) Retake(8/16)
    BEC - 71(5/16) Retake (9/16)
    FAR - (8/16)

    #1562593
    oldercandidate21
    Participant

    I'm pulling for you MTaylo. I think I only got the Research Sim correct on one of my passes. Keep ya head up.

    FAR 75
    BEC 81
    AUD 71, 84
    REG 69, 71, 83

    FAR - 75 November 2015
    REG - 69 April 2016 (WTH? Test I got isn't what I studied for)
    BEC - 81 June 2016
    AUD - TBD

    #1562676
    SOX with sandals
    Participant

    Out of my 8 simulations, each had several documents that I had to review, excluding the research question. The questions realistically could have been solved had there been more time. In my comment section following the exam, I noted that more time should be allowed based on the more comprehensive nature of the sims. So much time was wasted flipping back and forth between tabs/ documents. A second monitor wouldn't hurt, either.

    AUD - 77
    BEC - 79
    FAR - 80
    REG - 76
    “Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm.”

    ― Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    #1562802
    Chief71
    Participant

    I just took FAR. I feel…just alright about it. The second testlet was definitely more difficult than the first. I'm pretty sure I got the research question, but I didn't have time to finish the final sim and just tried to fill in as many boxes as possible as the time was winding down to get a couple extra points.

    There were maybe 6/7 gov/NFP MCQ. I wish there were more because I have a good grasp on that stuff and spent a ton of time studying for those. No gov/NFP sims though.

    BEC: 83

    REG: 71, 4/11

    FAR: 5/25

    AUD: --

    #1562947
    SWANG
    Participant

    Taking FAR for the second time tomorrow. Tomorrow will be my two year anniversary mark of the first CPA exam I took and failed with a 74. I had gone to a different test center each of the other exams I have taken so this will only be my second time at this test center. Lets hope that after this exam I am done with my CPA journey. The wait will surely kill me.

    AUD - 73
    BEC - 84
    FAR - 78
    REG - -80
    REG: 74, 73, 80 Lost 12/10/17

    BEC: 70, 84 Expires 05/01/17

    AUD: 64, 72, 73

    FAR: 70, 62, 78

    #1562952

    Just took the FAR exam today….. first time here. I'm pretty sure I failed. It sucks because I studied really hard for this exam, started in end of January. But most of what I studied was barely tested on the exam… Bunch of stuff was not tested. As for NFP/govt, probably got about 10-12 NFP/Govt Mcqs on it. I only had 8 simulations though. About 5 were DRS and it was annoying having to scroll up and click to read the full documents. My research question was really hard. I still do not know where to find what they were asking. The simulations were tough, and mcqs weren't that easy.

    FAR - 70 - 5/30/17, 75 - 9/10/18
    REG - 68 - 8/21/17, 82 - 12/10/18
    BEC - 72 - 12/4/17, 86 - 3/5/18
    AUD - 61 - 3/4/19, 63 - 5/28/19, 77 - 8/26/19

    yo fk audit, for real for real
    ~no one said it would be easy

Viewing 15 replies - 61 through 75 (of 188 total)
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