FAR second time around

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  • #1275000
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    So I just took FAR today for my second time… and I am so frustrated. I walked out feeling like I had no shot of passing. I had been doing fine on progress tests (~70-87ish per chapter) and had gotten a 60 and 69 respectively on the two practice exams. BUT, I got such nitpicky/weirdly worded and very obscure questions…and to make it worse, I definitely had 3 easy testlets the whole way through, which freaked me out. First time around, I had gotten a hard testlet for sure and came out with a 73. Is there a chance I passed? Slash if you do incredibly poorly on your first one, does that automatically set you up with two easier ones? Or does your third testlet depend on your second testlet’s performance? If that is the case, oh boy.

    I think that I did relatively well on the sims minus 2 of them that I was unsure of… I wrote a complaint in my comments, because one of them lacked the info you needed to complete the question!! Anyways, if anyone has had an experience similar to mine good or bad, please let me know! I am deciding whether to just start restudying now (because I feel that horribly about it), or move on to REG… 🙁 I hate this process so much…

    Thanks!

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
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  • #1275007
    GeauxAwayCPA
    Participant

    oh boy. I feel your pain @aspiringcpaveteran. I made a 72 first time around in July and have my retake on Thursday at noon. I have been studying nonstop since early August and what you are describing is exactly what I'm worried about. Those stupid weirdly worded/obscure questions…curveballs, etc especially for Govt, NFP, and IFRS. Ughhhhhh. 🙁 Here's to hoping and praying you and I both have a happy November 4th! 🙂

    Licensed CPA in Texas trying to start up my own tax practice
    #1275034
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Yeah, it was honestly so random…basically only IFRS, NFP, govt, and fair value option stuff whatever that is…pretty much chapter 8-10. It just felt horrible because I KNEW it was easy, but I just had not gone over the particular stuff. If I had taken the first version that I had failed back in August, I would have been totally fine, because it was all focused on major topics. I just felt so angry because I spent so much time refining consolidations, SoCF, pensions, bonds, and leases and I probably had like ~5 questions total on all those topics combined. Hopefully it ends up magically working out… I'm going to be praying for that 75. Anyways, rant over. GOOD LUCK ON THURSDAY, you can do this! @geauxawayCPA

    #1275111
    GeauxAwayCPA
    Participant

    thanks @aspiringcpaveteran! I'll definitely be praying for both of us to have good news on November 4th! Ahhh those obscure, tricky-worded, hard-because-they're-easy questions are the worst! I tried to cover all my basis but it's impossible to feel completely ready for anything they throw out of left field. Oh well 🙁

    Licensed CPA in Texas trying to start up my own tax practice
    #1275151
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Yeah… what I'm hoping is that magically they were considered “hard” and I just saw them as easy just because they were short and a few seemed very basic/not that complicated to figure out or compute… a few just weren't even covered in Becker. I just went through my book and even googled one of the terms they used — nothing came up! So crazy. Half of this exam is purely luck. But you're right. OPTIMISM! Can't do anything about it now. You can do this! And please let me know how it goes on Thursday (if you can somehow re-locate this post…Sounds like we have a similar level of almost there – but not certain if we're completely quite there), because I am considering buying Ninja as well. I am highly dissatisfied with Becker. @geauxawayCPA

    #1303399
    GeauxAwayCPA
    Participant

    @aspiringcpaveteran well I took it yesterday and it was brutal. Agree that there were questions out of left field and terms that I NEVER saw in my study materials in months of studying them. It absolutely baffles me that I(and you and everyone else) can study for MONTHS and they can still find a way to make you feel like crap about it and like you never studied at all. Ugh, so frustrating 🙁 Anyway, enough complaining. Like you said, nothing we can do about it now but hope and pray!

    I used CPAExcel for my first three passes and it worked but when I failed FAR the first time, I switched to NINJA for this retake. There were some small things that I wish were different, but I liked NINJA for the most part. I liked the trouble questions and missed last time feature, but wish you could drill down into the specific subtopics under the 5 major topics. I loved the stats progress report so you could see your…..progress….lol. Come score release date, I'll know exactly how much I like it and vouch for it haha.

    Licensed CPA in Texas trying to start up my own tax practice
    #1305787
    cpac
    Participant

    Just took it yesterday after scoring a 65 in July and studying nonstop since around August 20… hoping and hoping and praying and praying that I passed. My second testlet was easy which freaked me out but I'm hoping I got a lot of them right because my third was hard and my SIMS were pretty tough, too. Two research SIMS though so at least I had a good amount of time to focus on the calculation SIMs…

    Working hard...

    AUD: 74, 91 1/18

    BEC: 78 12/16

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

    REG: 64, 80 1/18

    #1305789
    NeedsA75
    Participant

    It seems the Q4 exams across the board are testing random concepts out of left field. I'm wondering if there is a trend here or if its just coincidence?

    AUD - 96
    BEC - 86
    FAR - 76
    REG - 92
    PETH - 92
    Licensed in California

     

    #1305801
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Yeah, I honestly do not know what to think. If I passed, I will be so shocked. I felt that the first time I took it, the exam was super fair (I just hadn't really looked at a couple of the main topics as much as I should have). This time, I felt very blindsided. Who knows, perhaps (even though they were short and “basic”) the out of left field questions were considered a “hard” testlet. I just remember first time around, the “hard” testlet had HUGE paragraphs that took me awhile to even read/understand before I could even tackle them…. Oh well, here's to praying for good news…despite all odds. It would be awesome if it were a trend/this was a thing just because they're changing up the exams all before next quarter?

    #1306458
    naptowncpa
    Participant

    Like you said, some of the questions were just foreign to me. They've got to maintain that 46% pass rate somehow because it generates income for NASBA and the AICPA.

    Regardless, it was my first time. For your second timers…don't get discouraged. Keep studying and it will have to fall into place.

    Good for you for putting the time in nonstop for nearly two months…you at the very least deserve a nice night out at a really expensive restaurant.

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