[lightning]

Hey guys. For those of you who are using CPA Excel, how long did it take for you to complete the FAR section (reading the notes and taking notes). I know Jeff said to study at most 6-8 weeks per section but I’m not sure I can do it with CPA Excel. The bite-sized lessons are nice but it’s taking forever to get through this section, maybe I’m doing something wrong. I’m working full-time and have the concentration to get at most 2-3 hours per day which translates to about 2 lessons completed. Any tips for getting through this more quicker?

[Anonymous]

co101011

Thanks. So it's not just me. This is a hard section. Cool. I can live with that. At least I did a 6 hour session and improved my brain power and thinking muscle even if I didn't understand everything yet.

By the way…is your name a binary number or just a play on ‘101' as the general class number for introduction level classes?

[Anonymous]

neither…..had to make some username like 10 years ago with my first and last initial and random numbers and just have been using it ever since haha

[Anonymous]

cash flow statement is indeed hard, i still dont understand it. that and bonds/leases were probably my hardest sections

[Fil-Am]

I am on the same boat with Cash Flow Statement – I am stuck! I just get started skimming around Module 1 in CPAExcel and CFS specifically the SCFO is a beast!

@AlexDernfel – When are you planning to sit for FAR Exam? It's quite comforting knowing it's not just me.

Good Luck!

Anything worth doing is probably not easy, but the rewards are worth it. (unknown)
Please feel free to add me on LinkedIn just to say hello or stay in touch.

CPA Exam - PASSED 2014
CALCPA Ethics - Passed 2014
CA CPA License - Pending

To God be the Highest Glory. Little Miracle happens every second!

[Anonymous]

Trek-o-Trick

I'm taking the exam January 8th. I spent all day reading and taking notes on cashflows yesterday to get the hang of it on a deeper level and then moved on.

Basically, I finally understand what is happening.

I remember things in terms of change based on what I learned in calculaus. This way I just apply the double negative rule. To illustrate.

Net Income – change in A.R. = cash inflow or outflow….so if the change in A.R. is negative, then you add the change since -(-change in A.R.) would be a positive number.

I.e.

Net income = 50

beginning A/R = 10

Ending A/R = 5.

Net income – (5-10) = cash amount

Net income -(-5) = cash amount

Net income + 5 = cash amount

50 + 5 = 55

cash amount = 55.

This makes sense since A/R is removed to determine cash, when it decreases it means that cash payments were received more than receivable payments were received.

changes in Assets and prepaid expenses(which are assets) are always subtracted, and added if the change is a decrease….again just remember the double negative rule for changes that I did from calculus.

Liabilities and payables(liabilities) are always added for increases and subtracted for decreases.

[Fil-Am]

Thank you. Ugh, now I have a flu attacked. Stop my study for few days because this crazy flu is killing me. Anyway, thanks again for the good tip.

Anything worth doing is probably not easy, but the rewards are worth it. (unknown)
Please feel free to add me on LinkedIn just to say hello or stay in touch.

CPA Exam - PASSED 2014
CALCPA Ethics - Passed 2014
CA CPA License - Pending

To God be the Highest Glory. Little Miracle happens every second!

[Anonymous]

Help Needed… I am using CPAEXCEL and taking FAR at the end of January, I am just overwhelmed with so many chapters and problems. I just want to know if I can pass just using CPAEXCEL textbook, SIMS and multiple choice questions. Do we get similar kind of questions in the exam. Any advice would be appreciated..Thank you

[lleon]

@CPA3171: I passed FAR using only CPAExcel, but my disclaimer as always is that everyone's is different so at the end of the day, you have to know yourself to set up a successful plan.

with that said, I felt well prepared by cpaexcel. For FAR I did video-text-write notes off text-EQs-PQs then on to the next section as my routine. I studied almost 100 hours total over a 7-8 week span or so. For my final review, I did MCQs from cpaexcel in 20 question blocks, and reviewed the explanations for the answers I got wrong.

at the actual exam, I felt like I was doing okay. Not great, not bad, but ended up passing. Difficulty felt parallel to what's on cpaexcel test bank, and also I didn't see a subject that caught me off guard.

also, have to mention that I felt overwhelmed with cpaexcels amount of info, and found myself forgetting the topics I reviewed earlier. Completely normal imo, just make sure you review those earlier subjects so you're ready come exam time. If you still feel not quite ready, a lot of ppl speak highly of ninja products as a great supplement. Personally I didn't use them, but they get great reviews and aren't pricey given other prep materials. Good luck and keep at it!

Licensed in Arizona

[Anonymous]

@lleon Thank you very much, I'll also try to study atleast 100 hours, and I am glad that I can study confidently now.

[lleon]

Yeah, also highly recommend that any problems which involve any kind of journal entries or tables, you try to reproduce those on your own. It'll help you understand the transaction, and it's also what you might be asked to do on a simulation. It helped me a lot during my studies to stop and think what the journal entry would look like.

In my final review with quizzes of 20, I was constantly scoring between 14 and 20 correct. If you have Wiley Test Bank, people often say that scoring 70% and upwards on quizzes is generally a good sign of preparedness for the real exam. Is this the first exam you're taking?

Licensed in Arizona

[Anonymous]

damn, i need to retake FAR but dread going over everything in cpaexcel again….

[Anonymous]

@illeon, how much did you practice sims in cpaexcel, i got a 72 and feel that sims is what made me fail as i was pretty much guessing on all of them

[lleon]

This is my own opinion: I don't feel like you can practice sims. Once you're comfortable with the format, you just have to know the material. That's why I recommend reperforming journal entries and doing any tables (like in leases, bond amortization, etc.) on your own. If you understand how transactions look like on the books, I think you'll be well prepared for sims. The only problem is you have zero idea what you'll be tested on, so you have to try and be as well rounded as possible.

Link: Current CPAexcel Discount Codes

Licensed in Arizona

[Anonymous]

Sorry to bump an old thread,

but I just wanted to add that I hate the FAR portion of CPAExcel with a passion. I understand the amount of material on the FAR exam is extensive by nature, but CPAExcel just makes it even longer with their drawn out explanations.

Why do they have 1,100 pages of material for FAR???

Drives me nuts !! They seriously need to condense this.

Just a heads up to anyone considering purchasing CPAExcel.

[Anonymous]

Hey guys,

So I've been studying for FAR for about 3 weeks now and I am already close to 100 hours of study time. I plan on taking FAR in August so that will leave me about 10 weeks for studying. My process has been to read and highlight the textbook and then do questions in exam mode. For the most part I have done decently well on the past exam problems, and for the ones I got wrong I would make sure I understood the explanation before moving to the next one. Also, usually everyday I do one or two EQ tutoring exams with 30 questions on all the topics I have covered so far so keep refreshing the old exam questions from prior lessons. As I know there is an extensive amount of information for FAR especially in the Wiley books (1,000+) pages, is there any thing/advice that I should be doing in order to decrease my amount of study time. Or should I say are there topics that I should skip over and just focus on the main topics that are usually testes on the actual exam? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Link: Current CPAexcel Discount Codes

[Author]

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