[xkc5]

I work with several people who have MBA, MACC, CPA, all 3 or just 2 of 3 etc. Should be noted I work in industry and have never been in public, these people all have the same background.

Macc is mostly considered (only) the best way to get your hours if you didn't double major in Finance, MBA is considered a decent way to get a broad view but most people here got it because of what reallytired said. There's one guy who went back to get his Macc but he is one of those guys who gets every possible certification or opportunity if it keeps him busy.

The CPA, though, is the only thing that matters in the end of those 3 for pay, respect etc and noone will bring up the other 2 besides in the scope of the hiring process. I think the guys who had Macc got an additional 5% over a standard undergrad, and then CPAs got 30% more than the Maccs roughly. In other departments than mine (Finance/Accounting/Controlling) the MBA is a huge deal for their growth.

I'd go get my MBA, my employer will pay me for it but I'll be burned out now that the CPA is over and it's been less than 48 hours since I got that last score.. Too soon 🙂

I think it's a great conversation to have as other areas of the country or businesses may be quite different.

FAR - 84! (1/09)
AUD - 82! (4/09)
BEC - 91! (5/23)
REG - TBD (9/03)

Controller at Volkswagen
2:52 marathoner at Boston in 2016!

[xkc5]

Definitely not worth much time. Got tested on it but if you know the risk elements well you will nail it without having to know any details

FAR - 84! (1/09)
AUD - 82! (4/09)
BEC - 91! (5/23)
REG - TBD (9/03)

Controller at Volkswagen
2:52 marathoner at Boston in 2016!

[xkc5]

4 for 4 on first tries thanks to NINJA!

Felt like I failed REG by a point or 2, as I knew I missed 10 questions which I considered easy on the MCQ – and the SIMs were a nightmare. I somehow pulled an 83, while I have said “somehow” every score release but Ninja never let me down. 80+ on all 4. Big shout out to CPAExcel also, was good to get in depth enough on all the lessons for those curveball questions.

Ordered my xbox one.. scheduling the celebration dinner and getting to see my girlfriend to the fullest who I met shortly after starting this journey.

FAR - 84! (1/09)
AUD - 82! (4/09)
BEC - 91! (5/23)
REG - TBD (9/03)

Controller at Volkswagen
2:52 marathoner at Boston in 2016!

[xkc5]

REG

Average 67%
Trending 95%
Actual 83!

Total Attempts 5,667
Total Time 58 hours

Had 100% Completion on CPA Excel also!

I passed, I'm done, thanks to NINJA for being with me the whole way in the form of MCQ, Audio, and Notes. Total game changer I couldn't have done it without them, I'd have paid the price many times over..

FAR - 84! (1/09)
AUD - 82! (4/09)
BEC - 91! (5/23)
REG - TBD (9/03)

Controller at Volkswagen
2:52 marathoner at Boston in 2016!

[xkc5]

Took REG on Sat.. Felt like I was knocking it out of the park on MCQ but spent the better half of the evening afterwards looking up concepts I felt iffy on.. Turns out I got 7 wrong and those were just the ones I remembered. The MCQ didn't go as deep as I had studied so I slipped on many higher level questions which were so easy it was like always the first line in the Notes, for example.

Exam was worded so very vaguely, for example cash was exchanged in a transaction but there was no way of knowing which direction the cash went so we just assume what we normally see in studying. Also in the SIMs it was unclear how it was to be filled in one, but then in another they were nice enough to say “make all numbers positive”

SIMS were a nightmare, besides the research thankfully. No DRS for me.

I was trending at 96, 100% completion in MCQ and CPAexcel and used the notes and audio like crazy.. But personally think I just got really bad luck of the draw on my SIMs and blanked on easy questions because I was burned out and over-studied. Fully prepared for a retake, but I felt like this after FAR and got an 82. All lies in the SIMs scoring curve..

FAR - 84! (1/09)
AUD - 82! (4/09)
BEC - 91! (5/23)
REG - TBD (9/03)

Controller at Volkswagen
2:52 marathoner at Boston in 2016!

[xkc5]

As a marathon runner (someone already referenced us as having good online posts about this) I will offer this honestly:

Low fiber day before test
Immodium as soon as you pass everything you can in the morning

I've never had the doo-doo during a race and I think I've done 8 or so at a pretty hard intensity which tends to bring out the worst in us.. But as with anything, mentality makes a huge difference. You can take all the sea-sickness medication in the world and still hurl your brains out before anyone else on the boat.

FAR - 84! (1/09)
AUD - 82! (4/09)
BEC - 91! (5/23)
REG - TBD (9/03)

Controller at Volkswagen
2:52 marathoner at Boston in 2016!

[xkc5]

Tonight's my last night and I'm feeling the vibes reading your posts. I hope all goes great for you!

Currently at 95% trending, 5,700 question attempts in review phase obviously.. 100% CPAExcel completion, read the Ninja Notes 3x this week alone and watched all the videos from the video demo (Thank you Jeff for the timing in posting this demo.. Lifesaver as always). Also reviewed my self-typed notes twice from CPAExcel video lectures. Feeling oh-so-confident but I felt this confident going into AUD and got wrecked on SIMs.

FAR - 84! (1/09)
AUD - 82! (4/09)
BEC - 91! (5/23)
REG - TBD (9/03)

Controller at Volkswagen
2:52 marathoner at Boston in 2016!

[xkc5]

I've had inflation through all of my exams until I got to my last few days where I had hit 100% and was in review and just hammering MCQs. In my opinion it happens because in the trouble questions we get to see the same question so many times over.

My auditing final trending score was 10 points higher than my actual result, which I feel like was thanks to SIMS, and I definitely agree it can be inflated for those of us who are hooked on it.

FAR - 84! (1/09)
AUD - 82! (4/09)
BEC - 91! (5/23)
REG - TBD (9/03)

Controller at Volkswagen
2:52 marathoner at Boston in 2016!

[xkc5]

[CPA Exam Study Tip]: 1. Take advantage of all types of study tools around you. You won't figure out what kind of learner you are without some trial and error, but make sure you can translate your knowledge into answering MCQ as frequently as possible.

2. Don't focus on studying SIMs for FAR besides learning the possible formats of answers you may have to give. Ex., trying to practice an entire cash flow statement over and over to get yourself to 10 min. or less has a very low statistical probability of helping you on your exam day. Efficiency in studying is way more important than saying you “trained” some super specific area, and trust me SIMs are nothing you can practice to any efficiency. I wish I knew this before taking FAR.

[Interview Tip]: Quit the cookie cutter nonsense. This applies to Big Four and industry. Not a single manager worth their salt is looking for those canned answers. They're looking for confidence and understanding the reality of what being a member of the workforce is, rather than your GPA and how you “enjoyed” intermediate accounting or auditing so much that you are dripping with anticipation to put it to work.

FAR - 84! (1/09)
AUD - 82! (4/09)
BEC - 91! (5/23)
REG - TBD (9/03)

Controller at Volkswagen
2:52 marathoner at Boston in 2016!

[xkc5]

Tu, I completely agree. I put zeroes but for the rows themselves in the JE leaving them blank to me is weird. I too had depreciation involved, and no further rows were able to be input, so just as a vague statement since we can't disclose specifics… Half of my rows were empty on an entire SIM question.

FAR - 84! (1/09)
AUD - 82! (4/09)
BEC - 91! (5/23)
REG - TBD (9/03)

Controller at Volkswagen
2:52 marathoner at Boston in 2016!

[xkc5]

As someone who just took FAR on Monday, I have to sypmathize with everyone here.

Trended 85% on MCQ, practiced half of the SIMS at 90%+ on Ninja and did 100% completion on CPAExcel and 3/7 of the SIMS I got were out of left field completely.

In one of the SIMS you could only use “no entry required” once on all parts of the question, so I don't quite understand how it will be graded. This, to me, pointed that it would be a “pre-test” question but even in that case.. 2 other SIMS were completely impossible to prepare for. The IFRS is real, now.

I did make a comment on my exam survey that the SIMS were very unclear, and not being able to access GASB and IFRS standards is pretty unfair given the new exam breakdown. But it is what it is.

FAR - 84! (1/09)
AUD - 82! (4/09)
BEC - 91! (5/23)
REG - TBD (9/03)

Controller at Volkswagen
2:52 marathoner at Boston in 2016!

[xkc5]

FAR! Been monitoring this forum for advice for my Q1 2015 exam for a long time and downloaded ninja audio but definitely would be thankful for FAR MCQ right about now..

FAR - 84! (1/09)
AUD - 82! (4/09)
BEC - 91! (5/23)
REG - TBD (9/03)

Controller at Volkswagen
2:52 marathoner at Boston in 2016!

[Author]

Replies