[suzieemac]

I know these are all over the place and Jeff’s article on failing an exam has become my go-to for motivation (it is really effective), but I was just wondering what you guys did specifically that helped you get back up and kick this test in the butt once and for all. Did you review ALL the material in depth or just problem areas, etc… I’m dealing with FAR specifically right now and I’m praying to be able to do a 9/8 retake.

Thanks a ton in advance.

AUD - 8/12/16
REG - 10/7/16
BEC - 11/18/16
FAR - TBD

#300before30 - Pass the CPA exam before my 30th Birthday.

[Madhav]

I review all materials as i have seen it for the first time. Since you plan to take on next month, i do not recommend that. Focus on difficult part and sims.

[Anonymous]

I took FAR back in October last year. It was the first one I took so I think I underestimated it. Since that fail, I focused on a couple other exams to try to finish those before the Q2 changes. In reality I just didn't want to deal with FAR quite yet because I knew it would give me the most trouble. I started studying for it again in March. I didn't rewatch the lectures, I just went to my old notes and the textbook, rewrote journal entries and wrote out all the answers to every single problem. After I reviewed a chapter, I would do progress tests to review what I had studied up to that point to keep the earlier chapters fresh in my mind. I also tried to review the SIMs more since they are weighed more heavily now. I didn't necessarily work through them all, but I printed out the answers and reviewed them that way. I also bought the Ninja notes to read / write so supplement the areas I was struggling with. This took my score up to a 77. So if I can pass FAR, you definitely can 🙂

[suzieemac]

@curlygirl1213

Your studying methods are EXACTLY the same as mine.. which gives me confidence that I'm on the right track, and that if I continue to do what I do, but with more persistence, I will have success. Part of failing for me is wondering if there's something wrong with how I'm approaching the material and if I could be utilizing my resources more effectively, but what you and I do (progress tests, writing out all answers to problems, journal entries, repetition etc), seems to be what works best for me considering I've used a trial and error approach to find what works best with each exam. Maybe I'm doing the right things, but just not enough, or I'm not focusing on my weaknesses as much as I should be.

Thank you! 🙂

AUD - 8/12/16
REG - 10/7/16
BEC - 11/18/16
FAR - TBD

#300before30 - Pass the CPA exam before my 30th Birthday.

[Anonymous]

No problem! FAR is definitely a beast. I struggled with financial accounting in college, so I really had to focus when I was studying for the CPA exam. Repetition is key in learning how to do the problems because then you'll get used to solving certain problems a certain way. It is also important to understand the why and the how of journal entries and processes. Why do we need to book this journal entry and how does it impact the financial statements? I would write the purpose and the impact of journal entries when I was taking notes, I had pages and pages of journal entry cheat sheets. Knowing the why and the how of everything will help to make things across different chapters click together.

[Author]

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