[Ne’O]

Everyone warned about time on FAR.
So I practiced time on FAR, mostly speed getting through MCQs. They are worth 50% of the exam, so I think 90 minutes is more realistic than speed demons who say they did it in 60 to 70.

Still, try to shave up to 10% off MCQs and get it down to 80-85 minutes.

Mtaylo wrote:
MCQ 1 – 45
MCQ 1 – 45
2 Sims – 30
3 Sims – 60
3 Sims – 60

However possible, you have to get 5 to 10 more minutes for the DRS. They can give you 6 to 8 related documents to piece together the solutions, and flitting back n forth to them on the little Prometric monitors is quite the challenge. [If they'd even up grade to a 21″ monitor, I'd be happy].

I actually like DRS questions because it is akin to what I do about 5 to 10 hours per week as the accounting part of our company. Just piecing together that number of documents via a tab function on a monitor about 1/2 the size most of us work with today WITH A TIME CONSTRAINT, is why FAR really becomes a battle against the clock.

Ne'O

-Yes it's Ne'O.

AUD:  72, 89

FAR:  71, 80

BEC:  83

REG: 82

Newbie CPA Candidate

[Ne’O]

@Hiracpa,

I didn't see your post to me until just yesterday.
I studied consistently for the exam for months, putting in about 5 to 7 hours 3 to 4 days a week.
I did all the Wiley MCQs from one test bank and did half of another test bank. I also worked through nearly all the Sims that Wiley gave.

BY the day before the exam, either I was ready or not. I did a lesser amount of MCQs than normal, and after dinner didn't touch a book or computer. I watched a foreign film with the wife and then made sure to get sleep. Then the morning of exam, I got up and went through the little binder of notes (320 dog eared pages so far) and drove up to the testing center through what I thought were just heavy rains.

Even practicing for time, I found it a little of an issue. One of the sims before the break gave me trouble, and I think I would have made more effort to get it >80% correct if not in need of bathroom (yep, the classic exam clencher). Between that and feeling a little rocked by an early MCQ- I don't know if I passed.

As Mtaylo24 said, it might have come down to the research question. That is quite a decisive 7pts.
I studied hardest and longest for this exam, but it is a time cruncher.
Under pressure, I sometimes get dyslexic with my journal entries and might have bunged up there worse than I know.

-Yes it's Ne'O.

AUD:  72, 89

FAR:  71, 80

BEC:  83

REG: 82

Newbie CPA Candidate

[Ne’O]

Brutal week:
With hurricane to the left of me, and neighbor having lost his son to a hit n run by a DUI…. it wasn't the easiest of weeks.

I took the exam. I'd studied the hardest, longest, for this one.
It rocked me badly, rattled by an early question I knew I should nail but none of the answers matched my math.
Resurge… and I did. Only one of the first simms punched me seeing stars.

Time management is important. I'd been timing myself in practice, and still was rushed at the end.

Anyway, I *thought* my chances of being done were good.
I was going to grab a bottle of the champagne my wife and I had at our wedding 12+ years ago.
Instead, just picked up some food for the grieving neighbor family, came home, and put the best face on it I could.

The rains have been constant, but I've been in 2 flood zones in my life. The pumps are going full blast for 24 hours now, but still seeing flooding in our guest/rental house. The back yard is a total pool. So much for our garden this year.
Gambatte! Fighting!

I'll get this exam next quarter.
I would cut off a pinkie Yakuza style to be able to tell her I'd done it and was finally done. Maybe by Christmas then.

-Yes it's Ne'O.

AUD:  72, 89

FAR:  71, 80

BEC:  83

REG: 82

Newbie CPA Candidate

[Ne’O]

2,3,3 as of Saturday.

Not to freak you out, but the sims were tough. I did about 50-60 practice sims before the exam, along with 3000+ MCQs.
The actual sims were almost all tougher than anything Wiley and other sources provided me.

There is just too much material. I nailed some obscure difficult things, only to fub up an easier one because I blanked on how to handle XYZ in
certain situations. I also got one question twice, basically worded two different ways. Both required knowledge of a definition that would sort
something into area A or B. I should have split it 50/50, but decided to go with the same answer both times and think I got them both wrong.

Of the 4 exams, I gave this the most study practically living at the library 20-25 hours a week.
I still felt chewed up by it. Sincerely, good luck.
I'm going to give myself a few days to run the pumps and deflood our hurricane rained out area, then start back at the library for another 2 to 3 months.

-Yes it's Ne'O.

AUD:  72, 89

FAR:  71, 80

BEC:  83

REG: 82

Newbie CPA Candidate

[Ne’O]

Just wait and see.
I came home after one exam where I went in loaded for bear and left the exam feeling that they'd brought out the T-Rex to maul me.
I told the wife, “stick a fork in me, I think I am done for a while”, then I binged on chocolate ice-cream in a way I just don't, and moved on.
When scores came up, I didn't bother checking for a while. Why bother?

It ended up being my highest test score, and now I'm on the 4th exam.
I've prepped for this 4th one even more than that 1st one, but am sure I'm still going to walk out of the exam feeling inclined to grab a Pony Tank, strap on a 30 lb weight, and sink to the bottom of the ocean till my air runs out.

-Yes it's Ne'O.

AUD:  72, 89

FAR:  71, 80

BEC:  83

REG: 82

Newbie CPA Candidate

[Ne’O]

Florida summers are cruel.
My exam is in a few days, and I took a break from studying to go outside to get the mail.
My Dr. neighbor to the left was outside and let me know one of our neighbors on our small street had lost their child in a DUI hit n run the other night.
The funeral will be in a few days, right before the exam. They're good people of kind heart, and I'm going to feel like a smuchk spending only an hour or two with them before I have to come home and finish studying for the exam the next day.

The best I can do is take the exam, come home and spend more time with them.
The father and son work together, so it is going to wreck the father up something fierce not to see his son each day.
I hate florida summers. The morale gets low by September.

Ne'O

-Yes it's Ne'O.

AUD:  72, 89

FAR:  71, 80

BEC:  83

REG: 82

Newbie CPA Candidate

[Ne’O]

Matylo- I see the avatar change and approve!
People joked I was the T1000 working through college. [poor kid, rich college]. What a long time ago, but few bad-asses like him in SF since then.

I'm glad you got the AUD extension. That is a major win in itself.
Let us continue to throw ourselves at this and be done in the next few months.
It has been an 8 year journey for me, and I'd like to be home with the family a bit more after all this CPA crusading.

I think the requirements have gotten a bit too much. I hire CPAs for our business, and find myself increasingly having to
help them with the accounting. There is a noticeable difference between the pre Sarbanes Oxley and those who came after.
Our last auditor was *not* good, but there seems to be an increasing shortage of auditors.

Ne'O

-Yes it's Ne'O.

AUD:  72, 89

FAR:  71, 80

BEC:  83

REG: 82

Newbie CPA Candidate

[Ne’O]

Mtaylo-

I wrote a long reply to +1 your switch to T1000 mode and getting the AUD expiration extended out to Nov. Another71 seems to have eaten it and shat it into the never-never. This is my second shorter stab at it.

This is just past an 8 year battle from starting to hopefully finishing, and I hope you and I can both be done with it by the end of 2017.
The CPA Crusade has been too long and I'd like to return home to spend more time with my family once I can say this long campaign is done.

By 1pm, I am off to the County Library for another 7 hours until closing time. I'm bleeding FAR from my eyeballs at this point, yet seems there is always yet another rule, exception, IFRS, or other bugger to try to hammer into memory. The CPAs working for me don't know half of what I've come to learn.

Ne'O

-Yes it's Ne'O.

AUD:  72, 89

FAR:  71, 80

BEC:  83

REG: 82

Newbie CPA Candidate

[Ne’O]

Mtaylo: got your score and are back studying for FAR?
[profanity off screen]. I was afraid to check on you. You've been one resilient T1000 and I hoped most sincerely that you'd be done.

That bums me out a bit. Florida summers are always brutal mean season for a lot of reasons, and I'm a bit burned out by work and study.
I was hoping for a bit of hero news that you finally cleared it. You're resilience has inspired me when I was ready to pitch it in at one point.

Ne'O

-Yes it's Ne'O.

AUD:  72, 89

FAR:  71, 80

BEC:  83

REG: 82

Newbie CPA Candidate

[Ne’O]

FAR, FAR, FAR

Summer in Florida can be brutal, especially in an old house like ours. Hurricanes like to line up and bowl at our heads this time of year.

I've studied for 5 months, done 3000+ MCQs and about 100 Sims, and am still not feeling ready for this exam next week.
I work about 60 hours a week and manage two businesses, one of which is a stressful one. -Yet I am happily married and no kids.
This means I have more free flexible time than some of you.
I don't see how others do this, as I cannot imagine doing this while working for someone else and coming home to house full of kids, school, and family needs..

The last time I took an exam during the summer of 2016, the AC in the Prometric center gave out and internal temperatures were about 90 F.
Sweating buckets and my computer heatstroked once, to be reset by the Prometric people. That was a hard day, and I am dreading the possibility of taking FAR in similar conditions.
I've thrown everything at this last exam and lived in the library for the free AC the past 3 months. I'll hit it with the kitchen sink, but I'm still missing a number of MCQs in this second testbank I started recently. FAR might go into the bathroom and hit me with the cast iron tub.

My hat is off to you applicants having to do this with family and work. I find it brutal even as an older applicant who has some flexibility and support.

Ne'O in Sarasota

-Yes it's Ne'O.

AUD:  72, 89

FAR:  71, 80

BEC:  83

REG: 82

Newbie CPA Candidate

[Ne’O]

I attempted to call Ms. Iannoni (or Lannoni? hard to tell from the font of the original post).
Her phone answering message was unclear and I could only hear part of ‘may be difficult to call you back'.

Since I am very new to this quadrant and have never contacted the Massachusetts Society of CPAs before, anyone able to recommend another
contact there that might help clarify some of our questions and concerns?

I will keep pressing to finish the FAR exam, but wondering if I should consider another state.

Ne'O

-Yes it's Ne'O.

AUD:  72, 89

FAR:  71, 80

BEC:  83

REG: 82

Newbie CPA Candidate

[Ne’O]

Thank you Radez.
I've been mentor so long in so many areas of finance and trading that it feels odd to be the one drowning rather than life-guarding.
Feeling relatively confident about the FAR exam chances, I was beginning to grow excited about finally reaching an 8 year goal.
Today's discover on the MA CPA site and little else on the internet have led to a crisis in a tea-cup… on a Saturday.
The only people to help are here on Another71. I owe this site a lot and hope to give back once / if I finally become a CPA.

My signature is on 13 years of audit reports and K-1s tax return work. Several of our fund's LPs are former CPAs. But I have never worked for a CPA- just hired them, and reluctantly had to fired one long ago.
The auditors with whom we have had a great working relationship for much of the last 6 or 7 years all left their regional firm last year.
Their replacements were not particularly competent. It felt that we had to teach them extensively and I even chose to check at one point to verify the lead auditor was actually a CPA. Having the current auditor attest to our work seems a bit foolish. I will reach out to our previous auditors and explore this avenue with them.

It seems I could most be helped by understanding ‘experience' as the MA Board of Accountancy.
While I feel I have accumulated a significant amount of experience, will they see it as such?

Ne'O

-Yes it's Ne'O.

AUD:  72, 89

FAR:  71, 80

BEC:  83

REG: 82

Newbie CPA Candidate

[Ne’O]

Ah-ha.

Talk about life altering moments. I was sitting in the library studying here in Florida for my last exam (FAR) next month. I have been pursuing the non-reporting license since March 2016.
Stumbling on the MA change and verifying it here, I packed up the books and the laptop and drove home.
It has been 8 years of a pursuit, and I am ready to give up.

I am a COO and PM of a hedge fund, for 14 years now. We are a small fund with no CPAs on hand- MBAs and CFAs, not no CPAs. For 13 years I lead handle the audits with our auditors (often having to guide them gently along) and preparing the K-1s with our regional accounting firm. We do the accounting and they do the K-1s.
After 2008-2009 hurt us, I decided it was time to have a solid credential. I set for the CPA. I went postbacc for Accounting, then the Masters program- nightschool and weekends. Having the masters, the last year+ has been the exams. This took quite a long time while managing a business.

The non-reporting license was to allow me to obtain the CPA, then take a year to close out or down the fund, and transition into a new profession.
I don't have the formal work experience, and cannot casually close the company to pursue it.
The non-reporting license was to be a bridge over the gap.

I am sure to call the MA Society of CPAs on Monday, but here on a Saturday feeling a bit stunned and desperately searching for workarounds on the internet.
I feel like Andy Dufresne in Shawshank Redemptiong having just crawled through 1 mile of sludge to find a new grate freshly welded on the end of the tube.
If anyone has concrete advice, I would immensely appreciate it.

Ne'O

-Yes it's Ne'O.

AUD:  72, 89

FAR:  71, 80

BEC:  83

REG: 82

Newbie CPA Candidate

[Ne’O]

Clarify if you want a MBA or MSA (Accountancy).
At my level of experience, I thought an Executive MBA at Wharton was beneath or behind me a bit.
Things changed and I needed a masters despite my level of work experience, yet I was sort of stranded in a place where the nearest
Masters of any repute was going to be a several hour drive each week.

At the time there weren't many schools doing online masters in Accountancy. I ended up doing SUNY-IT, now rebranded SUNY Polytech, and being very happy with most of the program. There were 2 weak teachers but also a half dozen ones as competent as any professors I have ever had. Most of the classes were a lot more educational and thought provoking than I anticipated- worth the money.

I see Post University now offers a masters in Accountancy. They did not when I started. I had to take several post bacc classes there to satisfy SUNY requirements. It was a better and more rigorous school than I would have thought, but seems to be growing and changing each year. I moderately recommend them, but from experience 5 or 6 years ago.

Ne'O

-Yes it's Ne'O.

AUD:  72, 89

FAR:  71, 80

BEC:  83

REG: 82

Newbie CPA Candidate

[Ne’O]

Mtaylo24 and Aatoural,

I went stealth as I studied, but wanted to check in on you guys.
Thanks for your posts through Q2, as I'm up in Q3 and walking in your big footsteps.
Special respect to Mtaylo24 as a grinder with the tenacity of a T1000.

Ne'O

-Yes it's Ne'O.

AUD:  72, 89

FAR:  71, 80

BEC:  83

REG: 82

Newbie CPA Candidate

[Author]

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