FAR Study: Time Flies when You’re Working Hard

Shaila is a NINJA CPA Blogger.

Hello NINJAs!

I’ve just hit the 50% mark in my study materials for FAR. I am determined to keep going, unlike the last few times I started and stopped and started back up again.

I’m planning the next couple months out so I will be able to get the most out of my time and put in enough hours to have a decent chance of passing.

With AUD and BEC, I had enough review time to review all my notes and do about 500 MCQs each and that paid off. With REG, I didn’t have time to review my notes, so I worked over a thousand MCQs in the few days I had before the test and picked up lots of helpful little nuggets of info.

I think this strategy maximized the time I had, and I wound up with the perfect score – a 75.

With FAR, I don’t want to take chances.

I want to have enough time to review and work as many MCQs as possible. My plan is to get through at least 10% of the material each week, allowing me to finish in five weeks. That will put me at mid to late March, and then I’ll give myself three or four weeks to review, work on topics that I didn’t quite understand the first time around and do MCQs until my head hurts.

I have been fortunate enough to stumble upon some “general time” at work, since I’m sort of in between projects. I’ve been using this time to study and it’s helped free up my evenings to do other things. Mostly take the dog on longer walks, watch Netflix – House of Cards, anyone?! – and get out and explore Sacramento.

I’m hoping to add regular workouts to the mix. I’m also planning to change my work hours so I get off a half hour earlier. You can do anything in a half hour!

I still feel pretty overwhelmed by this test and all the tricky material it covers, but I know it just takes time and effort. There’s no other way around it. FAR can be defeated, if I come prepared.

I’ll leave you with a very appropriate quote:

“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”