FAR in the Books: First CPA Exam Behind Me

Parth is a NINJA CPA Blogger.

Hey NINJAs!

It’s official: My first attempt at slaying the FAR beast has reached the history books. Because this attempt also marks my first time sitting for any part of the CPA Exam, I wanted to share some thoughts on my testing experience.

Having a Prometric Testing Center on my college campus made travel quite simple. As I was walking from my campus apartment to the testing center, I did my best to focus on positive thoughts in relation to my chances of doing well on the exam.

I reached the testing center about an hour before my scheduled appointment time. I had read about the numerous procedures that take place when checking in for a CPA Exam Appointment, but I don’t feel that the reality of these procedures sunk in until I performed them today. I would almost liken the procedures to the ones I experience when going through airport security, but that’s probably an exaggeration.

Soon after getting seated at my testing station, the multiple choice questions started flowing. I don’t think I found large amounts of trouble with most of the questions; however, I did run into a number of situations where I second-guessed my answer choices.

Additionally, I don’t feel that the MCQs captured much of the areas I dreaded the most during my FAR review. I managed to finish the three testlets with a good amount of time to spare.

The Task Based Simulations presented a different challenge. Each of the simulations I received came across as straightforward at first glance. This impression made me believe that perhaps I was missing one or more tricks within each question. I did my best to identify any tricks and to utilize almost the entire time I had left over.

It feels good to say that I’ve completed one exam, regardless of the fact that I won’t know my score until late February. Continuing to dwell upon the mistakes I might’ve made during my FAR exam would most likely serve as a distraction to studying for my next part (AUD).

I’m excited to move forward with AUD because I really enjoyed [and learned a lot from] the audit class I took last semester.

Study hard everyone!

Related Posts

New NINJA CPA Review Flashcards

Check out the new NINJA Flashcards. No additional app is needed – it’s all included in the new DOJO that’s been optimized for mobile studying. Want To Try The NINJA Flashcards for Free? To Your Success, Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS) NINJA CPA | Another71

NINJA CPA Promo Code

Does NINJA CPA Review have any promo codes? No. NINJA CPA Review doesn’t run promo or discount codes. Most CPA Review courses play the discount code game where they say, “this is the price (but it’s not really the price…wink wink)”. NINJA CPA doesn’t play the promo code game. Instead, we offer the same affordable […]

cpa exam simulations

15 New CPA Exam Simulations added to NINJA MCQ

NINJAs, We just added 15 CPA Exam Simulations to the NINJA MCQ Simulation list. New Simulations: FAR: Consolidation: Eliminating Journal Entries AUD: Evaluating Audit Evidence BEC: Direct vs Absorption Costing (SIM), Expected Value (SIM), Budgeting: Master, Static and Flexible (SIM), Economic Indicators (Written Communication), Financial Statement Analysis (SIM), Performance Measurement (SIM), Capital Budgeting Decision (Written Communication), […]

With a Full-Time Job and Two Kids, I PASSED the CPA Exam!

Hello Ninjas, This will be my last blog entry as a NINJA CPA. I found out at the last score release that I passed both AUD and FAR to bring an end to my CPA exam journey. My journey with NINJA began about 4 years ago. After not having taken the exam for 7 or […]

Leave a Reply

2 comments

Roy 9 years ago

How many hours and how long did you study for FAR? Was there an approach that you suggest or recommend ?

Parth 9 years ago

I spent about 6 weeks studying for FAR, converting that into hours I'd estimate about 216 hours [6 weeks * 6 days/week * 6 hours/day]. The approach that I used was a hybrid of the NINJA method and the method included with my review course. I described my methodology in an old blog post: https://www.another71.com/ninja-cpa-blogger-parth-2/. I personally believe that re-writing my notes helped the information stick in my head the most. I hope that answers your questions!