[Anonymous]

Here’s the current situation. I graduated back in December and began studying for FAR December 27th or so. I do not have a job so during this time I have spent a good amount of time studying but right now it is February 13 and my exam is scheduled for February 27.

I have only watched all the videos, gone back through the book and took notes from it and the NINJA notes, and now I am about one third of the way through multiple choice questions on Roger CPA Review and Wiley TB.

I just do not feel prepared at all. I go back a few chapters and don’t remember ANY of the material that I feel like a new just a few weeks ago, I just do not think I am spending enough time on each section.

The problem is I am just very behind and with other life issues such as recently totaling out my vehicle, my wife and I looking for a house in a different city and having to travel to that city tomorrow through Monday to try and find something and possibly get a house purchased I just can not stay motivated/focused enough to finish cramming the material in before the pending test date. On one hand since I am not working but just volunteering as a tax aide for 3 days a week for 6 hours or so I feel like it may be possible to pick it back up on Monday and cram the next 10 days on the rest of the material and possibly squeak by with a 75.

If you were in my shoes what would you do? =( Really need some advice, I know it is really a pathetic situation but sometimes us humans don’t always do the right thing.

[mla1169]

If you wait until you feel prepared and like you have your shit together to sit for FAR you'll never sit for FAR. Lifes challenges aren't going away in fact they seem to snowball and get more intense as time goes by, so take a deep breath, get as much studying done as you can and go for it.

(Also if you think just looking at houses out of town is challenging, you're going to LOVE the actual purchase process, moving and homeownership. Your life is about to get infinitely more interesting.)

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[CPA soon]

mla1169 lolllllllllllll love the comment..really I don't know how someone could ever feel prepared for FAR..it's like a cumulative final exam for like 6 accounting classes lol..

FAR - 71, 68, 74, (8/31/14) 78 ✔
REG - 67, 71, 71, (10/18/14) 78 ✔
BEC - (11/29/14) 86 ✔
AUD - 73, (4/4/15) 86 ✔

I can't believe this is over! 2 years and 3 months..

[CPA soon]

mla1169 lolllllllllllll love the comment..really I don't know how someone could ever feel prepared for FAR..it's like a cumulative final exam for like 6 accounting classes lol..

FAR - 71, 68, 74, (8/31/14) 78 ✔
REG - 67, 71, 71, (10/18/14) 78 ✔
BEC - (11/29/14) 86 ✔
AUD - 73, (4/4/15) 86 ✔

I can't believe this is over! 2 years and 3 months..

[jhd7]

I feel the same exact way about FAR. Unfortunately it's coming at all your misfortunes, but I'm almost happy to see this lol I now know that at least other people are in the same boat and it's not just me. I'm using Yaeger Cram to review and it's pretty discouraging when a “review” feels like you're seeing things for the first time. And I'm also not doing well on MCQs either. But I have to keep pushing obviously, so I'm just going to keep doing what needs to be done. A steady diet of ninja notes, MCQs and working sims. Also this link might be useful – https://www.principlesofaccounting.com/illustrative%20entries/entrieslist.htm I saw it on another thread. It's most of the journal entries we're likely to see. I'll definitely be drilling these too.

AUD- 78
BEC- 79
REG- 91
FAR- 83

Licensed NJ CPA

DONE

[jhd7]

I feel the same exact way about FAR. Unfortunately it's coming at all your misfortunes, but I'm almost happy to see this lol I now know that at least other people are in the same boat and it's not just me. I'm using Yaeger Cram to review and it's pretty discouraging when a “review” feels like you're seeing things for the first time. And I'm also not doing well on MCQs either. But I have to keep pushing obviously, so I'm just going to keep doing what needs to be done. A steady diet of ninja notes, MCQs and working sims. Also this link might be useful – https://www.principlesofaccounting.com/illustrative%20entries/entrieslist.htm I saw it on another thread. It's most of the journal entries we're likely to see. I'll definitely be drilling these too.

AUD- 78
BEC- 79
REG- 91
FAR- 83

Licensed NJ CPA

DONE

[teeteenounouche]

Ditto to all comments, every time I think I have a topic down there is something else to review…I am just going to cross my fingers and hope for the best…I even bought Roger audio while in a panic this week, lol…

Florida:
AUD: 73, 81! Thank you Lord!
BEC: 73, 77! Thank you Lord! and WTB
REG: 71, 82! Thank you Lord! and A71
FAR: 72, 78! Thank you God and my Mommy in Heaven!

CPA Excel, Ninja Notes & Audio, Wiley Test Bank, CPAreviewforfree

[teeteenounouche]

Ditto to all comments, every time I think I have a topic down there is something else to review…I am just going to cross my fingers and hope for the best…I even bought Roger audio while in a panic this week, lol…

Florida:
AUD: 73, 81! Thank you Lord!
BEC: 73, 77! Thank you Lord! and WTB
REG: 71, 82! Thank you Lord! and A71
FAR: 72, 78! Thank you God and my Mommy in Heaven!

CPA Excel, Ninja Notes & Audio, Wiley Test Bank, CPAreviewforfree

[Guti]

You will never feel ready for FAR. Like someone said, this is like the cumulative exam of intermediate Accounting I and I , and then an advance Accounting class plus Gov,NFP and IFRS. The equivalent of 5 college classes in one exam. You have an advantage since you just graduated. How are you doing with FAR teetee?

FAR-84
AUD-
REG-
BEC-

[Guti]

You will never feel ready for FAR. Like someone said, this is like the cumulative exam of intermediate Accounting I and I , and then an advance Accounting class plus Gov,NFP and IFRS. The equivalent of 5 college classes in one exam. You have an advantage since you just graduated. How are you doing with FAR teetee?

FAR-84
AUD-
REG-
BEC-

[teeteenounouche]

Hey CR7, I graduated a long time ago… I am doing ok. I am grasping the journal entries as I go which is helping me to understand the topics better. I guess my brain likes JE more than actually reading the material. I have reviewed all topics on a high level but still have a ways to go with getting all of the details down and memorized. I am in MCQ mode so gaining more understanding from them as well. How are you doing?

Florida:
AUD: 73, 81! Thank you Lord!
BEC: 73, 77! Thank you Lord! and WTB
REG: 71, 82! Thank you Lord! and A71
FAR: 72, 78! Thank you God and my Mommy in Heaven!

CPA Excel, Ninja Notes & Audio, Wiley Test Bank, CPAreviewforfree

[teeteenounouche]

Hey CR7, I graduated a long time ago… I am doing ok. I am grasping the journal entries as I go which is helping me to understand the topics better. I guess my brain likes JE more than actually reading the material. I have reviewed all topics on a high level but still have a ways to go with getting all of the details down and memorized. I am in MCQ mode so gaining more understanding from them as well. How are you doing?

Florida:
AUD: 73, 81! Thank you Lord!
BEC: 73, 77! Thank you Lord! and WTB
REG: 71, 82! Thank you Lord! and A71
FAR: 72, 78! Thank you God and my Mommy in Heaven!

CPA Excel, Ninja Notes & Audio, Wiley Test Bank, CPAreviewforfree

[Study Monk]

It took me about 2 months to feel ready for FAR studying full time. I probably averaged 40 hours of studying per week or more. Chinchilled it sounds to me like you are making a similar mistake that I made. You want to start doing the multiple choice a lot quicker in your study regiment.

If you look into articles on how people learn, there is a lot of articles saying that people learn BEST from taking practice tests and going over flashcards. I read in a review course that a common mistake of new CPA applicants is that they often spend to much time reading the material. It appears that practicing recall is just as important, if not more important, than the act of putting the information in your head.

I have concluded that I could of spent at least a third less time studying for FAR if I focused on learning the multiple choice questions sooner. For one I would have of been able to see what the MAIN TOPICS that are being tested and be able to spend most of my time learning that material. I spent a lot of time learning useless information before I even looked at what was being tested in the test bank. Secondly by doing problems I would of really quickly got to know what topics I really didn't know and spent the time necessary to master that material before moving on.

Another thing that helped me with FAR is that I repeatedly would go back to old chapters to keep the material fresh. That means I would not just do chapter 1 and then come back to it in 3 weeks. I would do chapter 1, then 2, and then go back to reviewing chapter 1. The next week(or few days) I would work on 1,2,3. Then 1,2,3,4 and so on.

I think since you don't have a lot of exposure with these exams there is no harm taking FAR at the end of the month to see if you can do it, but I would devote every hour of your next two weeks to multiple choice questions. If you think a fail will impact your ability to go on with confidence then I see no harm in rescheduling.

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[Study Monk]

It took me about 2 months to feel ready for FAR studying full time. I probably averaged 40 hours of studying per week or more. Chinchilled it sounds to me like you are making a similar mistake that I made. You want to start doing the multiple choice a lot quicker in your study regiment.

If you look into articles on how people learn, there is a lot of articles saying that people learn BEST from taking practice tests and going over flashcards. I read in a review course that a common mistake of new CPA applicants is that they often spend to much time reading the material. It appears that practicing recall is just as important, if not more important, than the act of putting the information in your head.

I have concluded that I could of spent at least a third less time studying for FAR if I focused on learning the multiple choice questions sooner. For one I would have of been able to see what the MAIN TOPICS that are being tested and be able to spend most of my time learning that material. I spent a lot of time learning useless information before I even looked at what was being tested in the test bank. Secondly by doing problems I would of really quickly got to know what topics I really didn't know and spent the time necessary to master that material before moving on.

Another thing that helped me with FAR is that I repeatedly would go back to old chapters to keep the material fresh. That means I would not just do chapter 1 and then come back to it in 3 weeks. I would do chapter 1, then 2, and then go back to reviewing chapter 1. The next week(or few days) I would work on 1,2,3. Then 1,2,3,4 and so on.

I think since you don't have a lot of exposure with these exams there is no harm taking FAR at the end of the month to see if you can do it, but I would devote every hour of your next two weeks to multiple choice questions. If you think a fail will impact your ability to go on with confidence then I see no harm in rescheduling.

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[CPA soon]

I think that's what I am going to start doing going forward, just pound mcq and sims and see how that will work. Also for everyone taking FAR, do not under estimate the importance of not for profit and governmental accounting and make sure you know it well.

FAR - 71, 68, 74, (8/31/14) 78 ✔
REG - 67, 71, 71, (10/18/14) 78 ✔
BEC - (11/29/14) 86 ✔
AUD - 73, (4/4/15) 86 ✔

I can't believe this is over! 2 years and 3 months..

[CPA soon]

I think that's what I am going to start doing going forward, just pound mcq and sims and see how that will work. Also for everyone taking FAR, do not under estimate the importance of not for profit and governmental accounting and make sure you know it well.

FAR - 71, 68, 74, (8/31/14) 78 ✔
REG - 67, 71, 71, (10/18/14) 78 ✔
BEC - (11/29/14) 86 ✔
AUD - 73, (4/4/15) 86 ✔

I can't believe this is over! 2 years and 3 months..

[Author]

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