[Ag12thman]

Unfortunately, in allotting myself time to study for FAR initially, I did not give myself near enough time to get through all the material, work multiple choice questions, and review. I’m maybe half-way through the study plan/progression and only have two weeks left until my test. Yes, some life-happening got in the way, but primarily I spent too much time at the beginning making sure I read through the book and watched the lectures and just made sure I understood before moving on. I had a hard time with F2 and that section took me a good deal of time to get through. I do work 40 to 50 hours per week, and have a family (kids). I wish I had given myself another two to three weeks at the very least, but my eyes were too big back then I guess and I jumped in with both feet.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do these final two weeks? I do not have enough time to get through all the sections, obviously. I cannot reschedule the exam either as my NTS expires two days after the date I’m scheduled to sit. I am using Becker. Any help, advice, or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

FAR: July 2016

[Anonymous]

Skip the lectures. Read the book and do as many MCQ as you possibly can! A few days before do the practice test to familiarize yourself. My opinion is to not practice the SIMs (except for familiarizing yourself with the research one if this is your first test) since you'll never find one on the test that is the same, it is better to know the concepts that the SIMs might cover.

Good luck!

[y_u_no_pass]

I was in about this position a few days before my FAR exam. It definitely is possible. I agree with skipping lectures. You can also skip some of the reading. If you are somewhat comfortable with the material, just start the mc and see how it goes. If you get 70% or above I would say it is safe to skip that section.

Florida CPA!
Took final exam 2/25/15.
Sent in Application 3/12/15.
Issued License 3/20/15.
Used CPA Excel solely for all exams.

[taxgeek83]

MCQs and flashcards like there's no tomorrow. Go topic by topic with both – you might have an easier time nailing down the sections doing that as opposed to just jumping around randomly. It won't be a fun two weeks, but it's doable. 🙂

[Ag12thman]

Thanks for the great information and pointers.

y_u_no_pass, based on your username, I'm assuming you passed after being in my same situation a few days before your FAR Exam? 🙂

FAR: July 2016

[Ag12thman]

I don't have any flashcards prepared as of now, so probably not wise to create some this late in the game, right? And reading the book seems to be taking as long as watching the lectures – just because there is so many pages! Maybe just pound MCQs and use them to review areas based on incorrect answers?

FAR: July 2016

[MaLoTu]

Can you reschedule? I have taken 3 exams. When I took FAR I knew I wasn't ready, but I took the test anyway and failed. REG, I rescheduled twice and when I took it I passed.

[Ag12thman]

Nope – I can't due to the fact that my 90-day window runs out shortly after my exam (like 2 days later). If I were to try to reschedule, I'd forfeit my $200 exam fee.

FAR: July 2016

[TiredGACandidate]

Definitely get through governmental and non profit. Don't skimp on those chapters. I've also heard of people skimming quickly through F10. If you have time, look it over but I would focus more on the other sections.

BEC - 76
REG - 82
FAR - 55, 84
AUD - 72,67, 88
Done!!

[Anonymous]

@ag12thman

I posted in another forum asking this (so now I look even more creepy) but I wasn't sure if you saw it. I was curious if you were from the B/CS area. I was thinking you might be based on your screen name.

[Ag12thman]

TiredGACandidate, Thanks for the pointer. I will be sure to go through those chapters as I was definitely leaning toward halfway blowing them off. I appreciate it. Going to give this my best shot, but I definitely goofed in planning my study time needs.

FAR: July 2016

[Ag12thman]

@delilahdirt – Yes, I am. I do not reside there now, but did for a long while. I am not too far from there now, though. (I posted the same answer on the other thread, by the way.)

FAR: July 2016

[Anonymous]

@ag12thman

My husband and I just moved to the area. I was excited to see there was someone who could possible be here as well. 🙂

As far as your exam goes I agree with previous posters. Here's what I would do:

– don't spend a lot of time on sims aside from learning how to do the research

– do not watch lectures (I don't do this anyway)

– skim the book

– hammer mcq. I use ninja during my review and take notes as to why I got certain questions wrong. Make sure you are understanding more than just memorizing. This will go a long way on far.

– use the last two days or so to drill down and understand big topics you're still struggling with.

Far really is a beast. I just encourage you to give it all you've got until test day.

[Ag12thman]

deliladirt, thanks very much for the help and tips! What study course are you using? Just curious.

Yes, the lectures almost seem like a waste of time and they take a lot of time, too. Gearty (Becker lecturer) is pretty worthless it seems and he's pretty boring. I do enjoy Peter and he gives some helpful tips from time to time. Anyway, I may just start skipping the Becker lectures altogether and replace them with reading the textbook and taking good notes. I am out of time for this on FAR, but I think that is going to be my plan going forward. You (deliladirt) scored pretty darn high, so please share your secret, if you don't mind. 🙂

Thanks for the encouragement! Oh, and you will love B/CS – it is a great community and place to live. Very friendly people and a very safe place to live. I go back often to just be there and attend some of the sporting events.

FAR: July 2016

[Anonymous]

I use CPAexcel to get through the material and ninja during my review.

For FAR I went through all of the sections first reading the material, then going back and answering the mcqs. When I got them wrong, I would read CPAexcel's explanations and go back through answering them correctly. The only time I watched videos was when I was completely lost or stumped by a topic. Also, I didn't let topics trip me up. When I noticed I was moving through the material slowly, I would step it up. A defined study plan can help with this as it is so easy to get bogged down. At the end of it, the pieces really do begin to fit together.

I know it's probably not what you want to hear with your test being so soon, but I left myself a solid 3 weeks to review. During this time I worked tons of ninja mcq and spent about 5 hours doing sims. During the last two days of my review I identified my weak areas and went back into cpaexcel to learn what I had previously missed. I was sooo glad that I did as several mcqs and a couple sims were over these topics i went back and spent some time on.

I truly think the key is doing the mcqs. Taking notes as you go to figure out where you're struggling. Far is so detailed so it can be difficult to identify your weak areas.

I am taking the same approach with audit and hoping it'll pay off!

[Ag12thman]

Delilahdirt, thanks for all the great tips/advice. I appreciate it. I definitely did not leave myself near enough time to study FAR. I thought six weeks would be enough and it may have been had I not gotten bogged down on a few of the topics in a couple of sections like I did. I spent way too much time in that section trying to be sure I understood and were finally getting some multiple-choice questions right before moving on. About how much time did you give yourself to study for FAR total?

I am not going to have really any time to go back and review areas I am week on, unfortunately. I just don't have the time, unfortunately, and I cannot reschedule my exam. I realize this is probably going to hurt my score, but I will just have to hope I can squeeze out enough correct answers to pass at this point. If only I had a time machine! (LOL!)

I also believe I should have not watched so many videos and should probably have taken more notes from the book instead. The videos do seem to take a pretty long time get through, especially if I have to stop and re-watch parts of them.

Best of luck to you on your Audit exam!

FAR: July 2016

[Author]

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