FAR Study: MCQs and Notes in Final Stretch

Bobby is a NINJA CPA Blogger.

Well this is the final stretch, number crunchers. I haven't been blogging much, because there's not been much change.

Problems, problems, problems.

I'm seven days out from taking the FAR portion of the exam. Something that is deeply disturbing to me when I retake an exam, like I'm doing with FAR, is when I discover something that I should have already known.

For instance, the other day, I learned something about expenses that had somewhat gotten out of my bubble of knowledge over the years. I had my CPA friend explain a Wiley problem to me and I was just dumbfounded that the information he gave me wasn't something that I knew. How could I have possibly gone in and taken this exam before and not known that?

Of course, I've passed BEC and AUD, and I can assure you, if I went over that material I'd look at it and say Wait, is that right? You're supposed to put a date on an Auditor's Report? Well, how about that? Or something equally as obvious that somehow slipped by me.

I think I'm doing well, but a few weeks ago I got put behind with some medical issues, and while I'm back on my feet, I wasn't sure if I would have enough time to make my end of May appointment. So I considered putting it off until July 1st where I KNEW I'd be ready.

I decided against that though. Of course, don't get me wrong, I still may be taking it July 1st, but I'm going to go in now and try to knock it out in May as well. I think if I put it off, my brain subconciously will slack in its studying urgency, and as a result those 4 weeks in between will not be utilized to the fullest like I assume they would do now.

We certainly don't want to invite failure, but one of the things I'm planning on doing this time around, is that if my May test turns up with an unfortunate number, I'm going to jump right back on and hit it again in July.

I haven't done this previously because usually I had the 18 month clock ticking, and had to start studying for something else, and the insane amount of time it used to take for the grades to come back, it was difficult to put everything on hold. Or, (and more embarassingly) I would become a pitiful sad sack about my grade and temporarily give up.

So, we'll see how this repeated attack works for me. I'll see you guys after testing!