[cpa_challenger]

Hi future CPAs,

I took FAR for the first time this past week and all of my sims except for my research sim of course had multiple pages of supporting docs to go through. I did not expect all of them to be as long and comprehensive as they were so I am not sure if I just happened to have worse sim booklets than others or if anyone else had a similar experience to me. Overall I did my best and answered them to the best of my ability in the time I had, but I am not very confident in my answers and did not get to check any of my work :/

Feel free to share your experience if you’d like!

[Anonymous]

Q2 sims were the same. I tried to get through mcq's as quickly as possible. Roughly an hour 5 minutes for both testlets. Sims took everybit of the remaining time. Not terribly difficult just time consuming.

[maverick87]

I took in Q3 as well. My mcq went M-D. SIMs were definitely over hyped. I had 2 that were difficult but the others were not super hard. They all made me think for sure because they aren't easy. I took 45 min for each mc testlet. Felt like I flew through the sims because I was worried about time getting all long advanced sim questions, ended up having a lot of extra time left on exam. At first impression of FAR, I thought AUD and REG were harder exams, have not got score back so who knows. Q3 FAR seems to have a higher pass rate than any other quarter.

Licensed CPA January 2018

[MattLorenz]

I took FAR last Friday the 25th and I got caught with the length of the sims as well. I honestly thought the REG sims were tougher, and I had a friend who took FAR in July and he had governmental and non-profit sims, so when I didn't get any of those, I was surprised. I panicked on the first 8ish MC questions but looking back, I feel the MC weren't bad once I relaxed myself. The amount of material is what freaked me out, not what I was getting asked. Unfortunately, I knew I could nail the first sim on contingencies so I spent a little too long on that. Had 1 hour and 39 mins for the last 6 sims and finished with 35 secs to go. Got to review 5/6 sims, didn't review the memo because I knew 3 of the 5 questions and was more concerned with finishing than getting 100% on that sim.

Thinking back, I've identified a couple minor errors (account name and improper adj) that I wouldn't have made if I wasn't rushed, but overall, FAR didn't give me as many curveballs as I expected. I had seen 90-95% of the material while reviewing with Becker, and I want to feel cautiously optimistic about the result that's coming, but the lack of time management is what's keeping me wondering how I actually did. Upset with myself about that since I'm usually very good with that. Anyone have any advice for me? Also, does the exam account for carry through errors? Had an asset retirement question and if I used the wrong amount to find the PV of, then my accretion and deprec expenses are incorrect.

REG: 87

FAR: 85

AUD: 85

BEC: 89

[QueenCPA]

@MattLorenz

Seems we had the same exam! I had all the sims you listed lol.

 

"And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful .Yes, make our efforts successful"

Amen 🙂

[MattLorenz]

How did your experience compare to mine? I put a lot of time and effort into studying and although I know I could pass it if I failed, I really want to nail this one on the first try. It's tough waiting for the score now and trying not to think about it!

Also, do you know how I can edit my post? Forgot about the confidentiality thing and I'm well over the line.

REG: 87

FAR: 85

AUD: 85

BEC: 89

[QueenCPA]

@MattLorenz

We certainly had the same exam lol.

I really don't know how I feel. I guess id know on score release day.

 

"And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful .Yes, make our efforts successful"

Amen 🙂

[QueenCPA]

@MattLorenz

“”My experience today was quite sadening.
First test let of MCQ's was ok; knew some and didn't know some, but overall, doable.
Then came second test let with crazy and tough MCQ questions, marked over 10 out of the 33 and had to guess to move on.
But I made sure I managed my time well. Completed the MCQ's and still had 2 hours 45 mins.
Then came test let 3, first Sim test let, with the research and an easy sim and I had hope of a pass!
That hope quickly vanished when I saw test let 4, second sim test let and test let 5, third sim test let. The 6 sims were mostly guesses.
Do I have a chance any chance? Probably not “”

 

"And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful .Yes, make our efforts successful"

Amen 🙂

[MattLorenz]

@QueenCPA – It does sound like we had the same exam! Whether that's a good or bad thing will be determined on the 19th. I think I feel the same way as you. 1st MC module was fine once I settled down, like I mentioned. 2nd MC module got a little more tricky, but I can't necessarily go off of how many I mark because if there are questions with a little work involved, I pass on them the first time through so not everything I mark is stuff I didn't know. The 3rd module gave me a lot of hope with how easy the first sim was and the research question. I was feeling decent at the break, and then saw the 4th module and got concerned. For me, it wasn't so much the content but just the amount of exhibits and other junk to sort through. If I do pass, it's because I didn't miss the majority of the points on any sim, but if I don't pass, a lot of it will be attributed to the amount of exhibits to go through for 5/6 sims in the 4th and 5th testlets. There was only 1 out of the last 6 sims that didn't have exhibits, just the tables for the calculation.

I think you've gotta hold out hope. It sounds like you did fine on the first 3 testlets, and I'm betting 1 of the sims in testlet 4 or 5 is the pretest simulation so that one will be tossed out anyway. My fear is that I did good on the pretest questions (12 MC and 1 sim) and once they take those questions out, I'm going to end up failing.

Looks like you've taken REG, so for me, I thought the content on REG was tougher than FAR, but FAR tests your ability to sort through multiple exhibits in a limited amount of time rather than see if you actually know the material.

REG: 87

FAR: 85

AUD: 85

BEC: 89

[QueenCPA]

We had the same exam haha! From top to bottom. Interesting to know people have identical CPA exams.

Well, I took REG before the change so it was much easier.

I really hope for a Pass because I just failed audit and another fail will killlll me.

I just need a 75.

 

"And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful .Yes, make our efforts successful"

Amen 🙂

[MattLorenz]

I had a friend who took REG about a month before I did in Q2, and we had identical sims which gave me a little leg up. I'm not expecting AUD to go as smoothly as REG and FAR, even though I haven't gotten the FAR score. I'm a numbers guy, shocking, so audit will provide the biggest challenge with it being mostly conceptual but it's not as daunting as studying for FAR so it'll get done one way or another.

Also, do you know if the exam takes carry through errors into account? I think you know the questions I'm talking about where if you have a wrong calculation earlier in the problem, your JE could be incorrect or an adjustment to tax expense could be wrong, etc.

REG: 87

FAR: 85

AUD: 85

BEC: 89

[Anonymous]

Finished FAR today….made a 74 last time and this is my last one. I'll say right now I studied enough. However the amount of work they gave on the SIMs was enough to keep a small accounting department busy. Good luck to all and may the odds be in your favor. It was an insane amount of info

Bec 78
Reg 80
Aud 84
Far 70, 74

[Wannafree]

“enough to keep a small accounting department busy” understood as I have seen them in Q2. How did it go ? MCQ was manageable ?

WannaB

[4thand75]

I didn't find the sims to be too exhaustive for the most part. I generally do well on the document review ones. I did however get something I don't think I could have ever been prepared for. Casino revenues and liabilities. It actually said on the question try to figure it out through authoritative literature which I've never seen on a question that wasn't one of the research questions.

AUD: 92

BEC: 82

REG: 87

FAR:87 8/31

[MattLorenz]

That's got to be a pretest question then, I know this world isn't fair so the questions don't have to be “fair”, but that question is way out in left field and it just sounds fishy that they would grade it.

REG: 87

FAR: 85

AUD: 85

BEC: 89

[QueenCPA]

@MattLorenz Whats your email? I have a question.

 

"And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful .Yes, make our efforts successful"

Amen 🙂

[Author]

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