[eMeRGeD]

Hey all. I’m taking FAR Dec 5th and have given myself 3 solid weeks to study. I’ve already gotten a 70 and 72. The issue is I haven’t looked at the material in a probably 2 months as I’ve been trying to REG out of the way. As I’m getting back into things I feel like there are just so many topics to cover that I don’t know where to begin.

My goal is to just do all 2700 multiple choice and write notes as I go along. Do you think it’s worth going back and watching lectures at this point and is there somewhere that would be a good place to start in regards to topics?

AUD - 75 - Apr 2018

BEC - 77 - Mar 2018

FAR - 82 - Dec 2018 - I'm Done!

REG - 83 -  Nov 2018

[Operation_CPA]

I would skip the lectures and just do MCQs and TBS for 3 straight weeks. Especially anything JE related. It will all come back to you relatively quickly in my view, especially if you received a 72 on your last attempt.

FAR - 76 (Lost credit), 76
AUD - 80
BEC - 76
REG - 75

Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

[eMeRGeD]

I think MCQ tends to be my weaker area for FAR which from what I read seems abnormal. The simulations feel like a regular day at work! Thanks for the advice though, I appreciate it. Any other opinions or tips from anyone?

AUD - 75 - Apr 2018

BEC - 77 - Mar 2018

FAR - 82 - Dec 2018 - I'm Done!

REG - 83 -  Nov 2018

[eMeRGeD]

Are there any topics you would suggest stressing? Not-for-profit, government, leases, consolidations? I want to hit the “major” topics first but not sure if there really are any or if everything is major

AUD - 75 - Apr 2018

BEC - 77 - Mar 2018

FAR - 82 - Dec 2018 - I'm Done!

REG - 83 -  Nov 2018

[RoseMarie]

I would suggest looking at the AICPA blueprint for a better idea of what to focus on but definitely government and leases.

FAR - 11/05/18 - 92

BEC - 12/04/18 - 95

AUD - 2/27/19 - 96

REG - 4/17/19 - 93

I’m done!!

 

[LittleTimmy]

I'm in the same boat, taking FAR in December just before the deadline. My problem has always been that the Roger book is structured so that Government, NonProfit, and Consolidation are the last chapters of the book, and I never get that far into the book and never get to those chapters in studying and thus have never passed the FAR test and never have time for MCQs during the studying process.

The big 6 topics I am concentrating on this time are:
– Foreign Currency
– Leases
– Statement of Cash Flows
– Government
– NonProfit
– Combination/Consolidation

If I can spend 10 hours a day for the next 20 days, then hopefully I can get close to 200 hours in of reading and answering MCQs.

BEC- passed 16 months ago

AUD- passed 12 months ago

FAR- passed 3 months ago

REG- 69 , 63, 81

[Mike J]

Whenever I failed an exam, I just got the reset button. Conceptually, I knew I was close. But, I treated any sub-75 like a zero when it came to actual studying.

I threw out the failure letter (I failed so who cares what the score is or which areas were stronger/same as/weaker than). Bottom line is you know which areas, topics you need to sure up.

So start over by seeking to become an expert in (eg Bonds and Leases). Put the CPA prep materials away for the first day or so back. Research the crap out of your worst two or three topics. Watch YouTube clips, read your college textbook. Do what you have to do to just understand those topics.

Write out your findings in your own words and read it over a few times. Incorporate this with your FAR notes, if you took notes.

Now, go back to your materials. I'd give myself about 3 weeks. Or 4 if you want to go over the lectures again. Go through MCQs, with 20-question blocks at a time. For each (5 or 6) main topic group, endeavor to get 80% correct twice. Doesn't have to be consecutive. Review each solution set. Don't forget to review so you learn why answers are right or wrong. When you have 2 80% for each main topic, just do random 20-question blocks for like 2 or 3 days. Next, do 20-Q blocks for the 2 lowest scoring topics. With a week out (if you're using NINJA) go through all 4 sets of the recently released MCQs. Don't worry about the score. You just want to be familiar with the Qs they may ask. Also, go through the AICPA practice test for the same reason.

That should catch you up.

Good luck.

AUD - 90
BEC - 79
FAR - 77
REG - 77

They don't trust JUST ANYBODY to count beans

[LittleTimmy]

Okay guys, I got up to Chapter 12 on Roger's FAR Book last week (the book has 31 chapters in total), and I decided to go back to Chapter 1 a few days ago and start rereading again. While rereading, I do 15 to 20 Multiple Choice questions for every chapter, and I take screenshots of them and have them categorized by Chapter and I hope to print all of them off and take notes on them. I am back up to Chapter 12 now and hope to be up around Chapter 20 by the time thisweekend comes around, and hopefully finish the book before December 7th or so.

I have now done about 250 MCQs, I hope to be up around 600 MCQs by the time December 7th comes around. This is the first time studying for FAR that I have done MCQs, I was able to get a 65 last time without doing any MCQs and without reading Government, NonProfits and Consolidation (since those are the last chapters in the Roger book and I never have had time to read those Chapters before). My plan is to read those 3 chapters in early December and score at least in the 70's this time.

BEC- passed 16 months ago

AUD- passed 12 months ago

FAR- passed 3 months ago

REG- 69 , 63, 81

[Accountant405]

Okay I’m in the same boat I have my third attempted at FAR on Thursday in 2 days. The first time I made a 71 and the second time a 73. My biggest problem is it seems like a lot of major subjects from the review material are not tested. You spend a month focus on the heavily tested subject according to the AICPA blueprint and then end up with no questions over those topics. I do not want to say to much about past experiences other than they should not call it FAR they should call it NCG not for profit, cash flow, governmental. My biggest problem is the SIMS I am seeing are on subjects that a maybe a paragraph in the review material and not anything you would expect to see……. for example let’s say doing a consolidated financial statement but the sub is reported in the euro and the parent is reported in the US dollar. Like are you kidding me it will take me 20mins alone just to get all the accounts of the sub into the US dollar. The last attempt I went into the test and spent the first 15mins writing down formulas and notes about major topics and then by the end of the exam realized I did not use one of them. The AICPA blueprint is WAY OFF I feel like say in Becker there are 10 chapters you were tested on maybe 4 of the chapters and not on any key subjects. The percentages on testable material according to the AICPA is so wrong they say well this topic should be 10-20% and it’s actually 40-50% of the exam. I do not know if anyone else feels this way but it is heavily tested on certain areas and the SIMs are just plan ridiculous and out of left field.

[jeff]

You're in the home stretch of your review … work your MCQ topics starting with your weakest and work backwards … do 20 question topic-specific testlets and take notes on what you miss.

AUD - 79
BEC - 80
FAR - 76
REG - 92

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS)
NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE | Another71

[LittleTimmy]

Okay boys, I'm in my final 5 days. I will be spending 12 hours a day for the next 5 days, I will be fully reading the chapters for Statement of Cash Flows, Government, NonProfit, and Consolidation over the next 5 days and trying to do 30 MCQs for each of those chapters. I'm trying to go from a score of a “65” on my last exam and scrape by with a 75 on this exam, this time around is the first time I've done MCQs for FAR.

I was up early this morning, starting on Chapter 20 and I will try to read up through Chapter 31 by Thursday night. That is 244 pages I have to read over 4 days and then I have finished the book, and then on Friday and Saturday I have to review Chapters 1-20. My goal is to read 6 pages an hour for 40 hours from Monday-Thursday, or 1 page every 10 minutes, but I have serious attention/focus deficiencies and many times I'm not able to stick to a 6-page per hour pace; these next 5 days will determine if I can become a CPA or not.

BEC- passed 16 months ago

AUD- passed 12 months ago

FAR- passed 3 months ago

REG- 69 , 63, 81

[LittleTimmy]

Okay, I just found out I made an 8-point increase in my recent FAR test from December, bringing me up to a 73, which is a 48-point increase from when I first took it. I spent November reading the book and doing about 400-500 MCQs, this is the first time I incorporated MCQs into my studying, and this was the first time I was able to spend time reading the Government and NonProfit chapters, although I still had to skip the Consolidation chapter as I ran out of time.

I will take FAR again in February, and hope to go from a 73 to a 75, I plan to spend all of January doing MCQs and a few SIMs, I need to do at least 1,000 SIMSs this time, as the sole reason I made an 8-point score increase was from incorporating SIMs into my study routine.

BEC- passed 16 months ago

AUD- passed 12 months ago

FAR- passed 3 months ago

REG- 69 , 63, 81

[LittleTimmy]

Okay, so I received my Score Performance Report for the 73 in FAR, showing if I was “weaker”, “comparable”, or “stronger”.

Content Area:
Part 1- Conceptual Framework, Financial Reporting (25-35%): WEAKER
Part 2- Select Financial Statement Accounts (30-40%): STRONGER
Part 3- Select Transactions (20-30%) : WEAKER
Part 4- State and Local Governments (5-15): WEAKER

Item Type:
Multiple Choice (50%): WEAKER
Simulations (50%): COMPARABLE

It's very strange, in my 15+ months of studying for FAR, I have never studied any Simulations at home, and yet I scored “comparable”, but this is the first time before a FAR test that I did MCQs at home and did about 500 MCQs at home and I scored “weaker” than the other candidates.

BEC- passed 16 months ago

AUD- passed 12 months ago

FAR- passed 3 months ago

REG- 69 , 63, 81

[LittleTimmy]

Okay, I am 2 days out from taking FAR for my 6th time. I was able to get my FAR score up to a 73 the last time I took it (it was also the first time I was unable to answer the FAR Research Question in the Code, I just simply could not find the correct, so if I had gotten that correct, perhaps that would have been enough to get my up to a 74 last time…. )

I went out and purchased two-dozen large Posterboards, have them filled with notes and hanging off of my bedroom closet doors. I am going over all kinds of MCQs, however – I am still very disappointed during this Final Review week by how much material I have forgotten over the past 6 weeks of studying, I spent hours restudying certain topics in the middle of January, and have now forgotten them completely… but I am trying to cram everything in now.

I will spend the final day reviewing BONDS, the new LEASES content, GOVERNMENT, NONPROFIT, and then CASH FLOWS. I went over Cash Flows just last week and am already forgetting major concepts on the Direct and Indirect methods.

BEC- passed 16 months ago

AUD- passed 12 months ago

FAR- passed 3 months ago

REG- 69 , 63, 81

[Author]

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