[SallyCPA]

I take FAR on May 27th and am almost done with F1 on Becker. Does anyone have any advice on how to pass with all this material? I am considering buying NINJA notes or Audio as a supplement because I really would like to pass on the first attempt..

[Namstut]

@SallyCPA, the amount of the material in FAR really is overwhelming, but don't spend too much time on each chapter, it will all click at the very end. My advice, based on my personal experience with Becker FAR, would be to study the lecture using the best method that works for you.

I did not watch the lectures because after the first chapter I learned that the textbook allowed me to go at my own pace and take notes as I go. I had under 7 weeks to prep for FAR so per my schedule I had to cover 2 chapters a week to ensure that I have 2 weeks to review. No matter how much time you spend on each chapter, by the time you get to the last you won't remember much from the first. That's why the review time has always been so critical for me.

I did all of the MCQs after each chapter but I left SIMs for the review time. I never touched optional practice questions and only went through MCQs for each chapter once, really drilling into the ones I answered wrong.

In the last two weeks I attacked all of the SIMs and did 30-50 MCQs daily.

As a supplementary material I used Ninja audio lectures for FAR, the material in the audio is very condensed but it helps you identify any grey areas.

So to summarize, don't dwell over individual topics that take too long to grasp. A sufficient review time (at least 2 weeks) is the key, you will master those concepts when you work SIMs.

Good luck!

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

All Done!!!

AUD 7/6/16 Passed
BEC 9/3/16
FAR TBD
REG TBD

[SallyCPA]

If I already am through a decent amount of the material and will have about 3-4 weeks to review. Should I go through every chapter again? I feel like reviewing for FAR is much different than any of the others

[krstnam]

@SallyCPA – I'm a little over three weeks out for my retake on FAR so we are in a similar boat. I did this in the final week of review before my last exam and I think it helped. I had only wished I started doing this earlier.

I go through my notes – my notes are little tidbits of information from MCQs that I missed. I try to see if there are patterns (NINJA MCQ makes this easy because it shows you the areas you're weak in). For me, I've picked four areas of subject matter that I need to work on this week-one of them is government wide f/s. I found the BECKER section of government wide info and I'm going to redo the lectures/practices and MCQs that are applicable. To keep the rest of the material fresh, I'm doing a couple SIMS a day and 25-40 MCQs that are scattered across all topics. This also gives me an idea of areas I need to work on next week. The targeted approach of studying seems to be helpful for me.

Good luck!

I'm going to be the person who says "I finished even though..." not the person who says "I didn't finish because..."

B - 77, 76

A - 57, 64, 72, 76!

R - 78, 72, 78!!! DONE

F - 54, 73, 71, 64, 69, 76!

[SallyCPA]

@krstnam Did you start using NINJA only after you finished Becker? It seems like they are reducing a lot of the nonprofit/gov with the new exam

[krstnam]

@SallyCPA – I've been trying to find a way to say this without writing a novel sized comment but here it goes…I did a retake of FAR in March. I got a 73 so instead of moving on to AUD, I figured I'd finish FAR. So, I already had a good idea of what I needed to work on.

This round of studying, I went into four chapters of Becker and called it good before switching to NINJA about two weeks ago. This is the third week I've been doing this and I'm seeing good improvement. In a perfect world, I would have gone through all the Becker materials before switching over to the NINJA MCQs. IMHO – Becker gives better explanations as to why a question is wrong. NINJA tells you why it's right which is helpful and also has links to the materials. Anyway…

As for the government changes. The content area, I didn't see content areas changing for it. I know the old test was like 8-12% government, now it's 5-15% government. I think it means either less or more may be tested because the range is bigger. I'm still hitting government hard because both tests I took had TONS of government questions. If it's supposed to be 15% of the exam, I would expect at least one GOVT SIM.

FYI – my first exam was supposed to be 8-12% NFP. I knew I got TONS of NFP questions. I scored a 54. When I got my score breakdown I was comparable scores in all the subjects except NFP for MCQs and below on SIMS. After that, I think the % of question figures are BS. But if I'm only 1 out of 2000 people complaining about that, maybe it's just an anomaly I experienced 🙂

I'm going to be the person who says "I finished even though..." not the person who says "I didn't finish because..."

B - 77, 76

A - 57, 64, 72, 76!

R - 78, 72, 78!!! DONE

F - 54, 73, 71, 64, 69, 76!

[SallyCPA]

@krstnam Thanks for the post!

I agree. I honestly do not believe that the exam material is going to change that much (keeping in Gov and NFP) but I could be wrong. I know for a fact the NINJA MCQ work much better for me. Especially considering the new Becker format and the amount of fluff they add in to the material. It is so hard to do progress tests although I do not like the new skills practice for sims. Sounds like you're going to kill it. I'll be interested to hear how it goes for you.

[Anonymous]

I took FAR in January. I'll be doing AUD and BEC before I retake it in Q4. I know I will be in better shape by the time I retake it, if for no other reason than I was definitely not prepared on all the topics. GOVT/NPO were the only areas that I was good in; I think I had a “WEAKER” in every other section in the score report. Ended up with a 62. Next time I'll take down that beast!
I think I am in agreement about the FAR format not changing much. I don't really see how they could make it much more difficult than it already is. The “analysis” questions are being added to AUD and BEC, I get that. But, how much analysis can you do of FAR topics? Not much. They're only adding one more SIM to FAR…no big deal there. The thing that does frighten me a tad is that the SIMs will be broken into two testlets and you can't go back and work on the earlier SIMs, as was allowed on the old format. Maybe the AICPA will change that at some point?? But, when I took FAR earlier, that was one thing I liked – I was able to work on the remaining SIMs and then go back and spend 20-30 minutes on the two that were way hard. I know I got them wrong though so maybe in the end it didn't really matter haha. NEXT TIME!!! Good luck on FAR, to those of you taking it this quarter. I guess today was the first day of the New Era of the CPA Exam! Although, the first day of a very, very long waiting period until score release.

[martimann]

On my first try of FAR I made close to 100 pages of Notes, got a 72.
Second try I got almost 150 pages of notes, got a 73.
I'm hoping the 3rd try is it, I passed all the 3 other sections on the first try, but FAR, well FAR is just FAR.

AUD - 76
BEC - 80
FAR - 73
REG - 82

Be all in or get out, there is no half way.

[Jdn9201]

Cessnapilot totally hit the nail on the head. These exams especially FAR is more of a mental battle than anything else I think. The problem is you start seeing how many chapters and pages are in the book and questions to answer, and it's easy to think over time that it's darn near impossible to pass. It doesn't help when almost everyone else wants to tell you how bad it is.

You have to flip it and think positively about it – the volume becomes a blessing because there is no way possible the AICPA can test you over every little detail. People try to think they have to remember all of it, and you don't – not sure if the AICPA put out new outlines for the new version, but if so follow it. When I studied, if a section was 5% or less, I would try to get half of those questions right and if I did I moved on. I found my outline to be very accurate in helping me to concentrate on the heavier tested topics. And also, try to think about how it's connected. When you put the pieces together and see the big picture of it, it's really not that bad, or at least not as bad as people make it out to be.

BEC - 88 8/29/15
REG - 82 11/14/15
AUD - 83 1/8/16
FAR - 80 2/29/16

[martimann]

@jdn9201,
I agree, being pessimistic doesn't really help at all, but chances are most candidates will feel overwhelmed at some point. In regards to studying based on the outlines, I was looking at the blue print for the new version of the exam, and the blue print pretty much covers every single topic and exercise of my Becker material. You have to cover all topics, Olinto says god forbids you get a 74 for not covering something's petty. I also think sometimes its luck, I remember the time I took REG it seemed as if the exam had given me everything's I had nailed on the last two days, AUDIT was a little more difficult and I hadto do little more digging on on the literature, and FAR well you figure haha. But I agree, being pessimistic doesn't help.

AUD - 76
BEC - 80
FAR - 73
REG - 82

Be all in or get out, there is no half way.

[Timewast3d]

Hi everyone
Good luck to all those preparing for FAR. I passed mine with 80 on my second attempt. The first was a close 72( that was during busy season w/o much study).
I thought I'd share my experience preparing for the beast…(apologies if I seem like I am repeating what others have already posted).I relied on Wiley (yes Wiley book) and Ninja MCQS. I chose Wiley because sometimes it helps to get TMI on a particular topic where Becker or other fail. There's no need to hate the book for how huge it looks! Also I'd say please never feel ashamed to admit you don't get the logic or understand the journal entries. FAR is all about talking to yourself in terms of Dr n cr. And I'd suggest to put your doodling and random scribbling skills to use n quickly writing out the solution to McQ ..As if that's an expectation. I know it's time consuming…So this approach is for those who have time on their side. And when I say time..8-10 weeks is good if you put in 4hrs daily or stretch during weekends.
Ninja is a life saver once you have understood your basics. N with FAR repetition is the magic. How I did it was..I came back to a topic every 3rd or 4th day…Like going back n forth. Basically bring your mini review into your study plan besides the main min 10 day review time.it helps to retain a lot better and even if you are struggling in a particular area…You know exactly where it is…And you can alot time to work on weaker areas on a weekly basis. So I had a static master plan (kinda initially)…But built on it every week …Like a sub topic to be covered/reviewed before moving on to next one. Another guide could be your intermediate textbook. Let all your resources be close to you….So Incase u fumble..You can just refer to the details n move on.
I did not practice for SIMs. What helped in my exam…Was my confidence on typical journal entries. Won't say it was an easy exam. It never is! But trust me things will come to you at that hour when u have scribbled n rewritten McQ solutions during your study.it WILL click!
I did not leave any topic out. I went by the number of NinJa questions to guage what areas are definitely imp.
And lastly on confidence building…Never think you are dumb n that you don't know how to conquer this.just put your head down n work hard. If you don't have real friends who can understand your situation..You don't have to share with the world that you failed n you suck at the whole CPA thing. You don't need that extra bit of demotivation or you don't want to be looked down upon.
Sorry for the long blabber. Hope it helps in some way. All the best people!

[SallyCPA]

Should I wait to use NINJA MCQ until I have gone through all of my becker material? Also if I have about 3 weeks to review what would be the best way to go about that..

[SallyCPA]

What do you guys think is the best way to review for FAR? I have finished all Becker material and have around a month to review using Becker and NINJA MCQ….

[Anonymous]

I'd hit the mcqs for your review and not stop. I didn't do that. I was so focused on getting the concepts down that I dove into mcqs and when I scored low, I really didn't care to figure out why. DO. NOT. DO. THAT. I failed miserably. Honestly, the test at least for me, was not hard. I failed it but I failed it because I was adamant I was going to get the bigger stuff in my head (bonds, leases) and ran out of time. So I skipped pensions, foreign currency, business consolidations and securities…all the small stuff. Bad idea, because every other question was gov, nfp, IFRS, small skipped sectiona. The Sims were the same. I had three gov Sims. Know your topics! Hit the mcqs and know not only why you got it wrong, but why your answer is right.
If you miss an mcq, write it out and write the answer. I scored stronger in gov. You should see my notes for that section. For me, what I do is take notes ( I'm a book learner not an audio learner) while I'm reading the books. Then I take those handwritten notes and turn them into questions. My answers were hilarious but spot on. Come test day, I flew through the government questions. One of them surprised me as it was so far out in left field, and one of the Sims I was shocked they were asking me to do what they were. It would have took me an hour to do just that one sim and I probably still would have had it wrong. Hit the gov and nfp mcqs and Sims very hard. Review time I feel is individualized. Everyone learns their own way but I wouldn't skip on mcqs.

[SallyCPA]

Thanks for the advice @audorah!I definitely agree that even if you read the book and understand the concepts you can still get the MCQs wrong because you're not used to the format. Definitely will hit NINJA MCQ hard and sims hard. Really hoping that gov and NFP is still tested heavily on the new exam…

[Author]

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