Becker Mock Exam vs. Actual FAR CPA Exam - Page 2

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  • #1882777
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    So I am looking for a little sanity here so please stay with me. I just sat for FAR yesterday after a solid 4 months of studying and 3 weeks of final review.

    I posted a 75 and 80 on Becker’s Mock Exams.

    Flash forward to yesterday and I am at a loss for words. I counted about 25 MCQs on Government and NFP and the SIMS were out of left field. Either completely new topics, or a bank reconciliation but with new areas not covered at all in Becker. I left of course feeling like I failed and that I had to guess on most of the SIMS. I ran out of time on my last SIM and had to guess on most of it. Another SIM I am pretty sure I got completely wrong.

    SO long story short, should I keep studying for FAR until my score comes out or hold off and move on hoping for a miracle?

    Thanks all!

     
    “ninja-cpa-review”/
     

Viewing 15 replies - 16 through 30 (of 32 total)
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  • #1890627

    I am also using Becker to study and I felt pretty confident on the Mcq but the sims were definely difficult. The sims were totally unfamiliar and threw in a lot of curve balls. Even though all the sims were difficult, there were 2 sims where I basically gave up. Anyone else feel good on the mcq but not so much on the sims and still pass??

    #1905091
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Glad I’m not the only one. Just took FAR today and the mcqs were really straightforward compared to Becker but as most have mentioned, the SIMS were incredibly time consuming, had 5 DRS sims with at least 8-10 exhibits each. Got through the MCQs with 2hrs 15 mins and took a 5 min running break before the sims. Felt decent about the 3rd and 4th testlet but didn’t manage my time very well and only had 30 mins left for the 5th testlet. Ended up rushing through, think I missed my research question and left 1/3 of the last sim blank. Pretty shitty knowing I probably could’ve finished had I not taken a running break

    #1910368
    Hashbrown
    Participant

    I just had FAR on July 31 2018. Long story short, i tried my best on the exam, got Sims out of nowhere. Most MCQ's questions were conceptual rather than calculations. I am not very optimistic about my exam but who knows. I feel like a miracle can get me a 75.

    FAR: 07/31/2018

    AUD:

    REG:

    BEC:

    #1910491
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    What do you mean when you say out of no where. Do you mean that Becker never covered those topics. As far as I recall from doing these exams, if you get a SIM that was never covered by the CPA material, then most likely it would be a pre test SIM. How many of these did you get

    #1911076
    LeAnn
    Participant

    I took FAR today and counted the NFP and governmental MCQs since so many people have commented on them. Given that it shows 5-15% and no analysis on the AICPA blueprints (i.e. no sims) it makes sense that they seem heavy on the MCQs since that's the only place they are tested. The % of NFP and Gov't MCQs was high but overall it fit within the 5-15%

    FAR (Aug 4th, 2018)

    AUD (Oct 20, 2018)

    REG (Jan 2019)

    BEC (Apr 2019)

    #1913887

    My CPA story goes like this:
    Studied for FAR from January 15th until my test date of April 5th. Almost a full 3 months of prep. Goingi into the exam I did not want to see a government heavy exam, or a pension heavy exam. With my luck i had all but 2 sims focused merely around pension and at least 30 government questions. If anything tells you how I felt, its that on the exit survey of the exam for additional comments I simply wrote “help me”. Since the score release was so delayed I decided to bust through to Audit next giving myself a month and then also took BEC on the last testing day of the window. Making that 3 exams in one quarter. I start working in September so I am fulltime studying but my brother is getting married August 18th, and I come from a VERY greek family so weddings are not a 1 day occasion, they are a whole month of family flying in from Greece, Italy, and all over the country. I decided to push onto REG since I had to wait almost 2 1/2 weeks for my score anyways. I got a 63 on FAR and passed BEC and AUD. I am now restudying for FAR and am sitting September 10th. I know I am going to retake REG as well. The point I was trying to get at is that now I am restudying for FAR almost 4 months after touching the material, yet a lot of this stuff has stuck in my head because BEC and AUD covered a lot of the minutia that I didnt pick up on the first time around. Surprisingly REG touched on the DTA and DTL which tripped me up as well. Push through and do not be afraid to move onto other sections while waiting for the score. For me personally (I am NOT the best student either and college NEVER came easy to me) a lot of this material stuck from the first time around, so my studying thus far has been narrowing it down to topics that are giving me the MOST trouble with constant review of all material at least 3-4 times a week.

    sorry for the rambling. coffee and revenue recognition lectures get me AMPED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    AUD - 76
    BEC - 75
    FAR - 77
    REG - 81
    "No need to worry, my accountant handles that" - The Notorious B.I.G.
    #1915477
    wongyling
    Participant

    Just wanted to share, mostly vent. I studied using becker, got 70, 74, and 76 on mocks. I studied full time for about 9 weeks. Long story short, I knew everything pretty well going into the exam. Beckers mocks were nothing like the actual exam especially the simulations. I ran out of time for the last teslet. I left 2 sims completely blank and half assed the other. The last teslet had 3 questions with 7+ documents each. It was so overwhelming that it was hard to focus on which questions to answer. Im hoping for the best, but FAR is a hard exam. I left BEC and AUD feeling that i did well, and i passed them. I dont know how to feel about this one. It's a pretty sad feeling walking out of the exam knowing you studied as hard as you could and there was really nothing that you could've done differently. Goodluck to everyone, FAR is hard.

    #1915837
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    As the other above posts have said, don't stress about whether you passed or failed. Just jump to the next exam – I'd recommend AUD.

    I was 99.9999999999999999999% certain I had failed both FAR and REG. Passed both. There is absolutely no way to tell.

    #1917664
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @wongyling

    Not sure if I'm interpreting the ‘9 weeks full time' correctly but you studied 360 hours for this exam? If so, you likely have nothing to worry about.

    #1918213
    wongyling
    Participant

    @greg
    You're absolutely right, I did put in over 300 hrs into this. I hadn't done the math. Thanks man, that actually gives me some peace of mind. Maybe I'm just overthinking and panicky for having skipped my sims. Here's to hoping we all pass FAR!!

    #1918282
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    For what its worth, I took FAR Q2. I walked out thinking it was the hardest exam by far, not even close. Ended up about 10 points higher than I was honestly expecting. If you put that kind of dedication into studying for the exam, you'll be fine!!

    #1951546
    Lily
    Participant

    Hello!
    I will take FAR on Sep 10th, 2018. I need to do simulations of trial balance adjusting entries with more than seven exhibits. I am using Becker, but I am looking for another sources.
    Can anyone of you advise me where can I find it?

    Thank you!

    Lily

    #1951570
    jd
    Participant

    @Lily. You may have already been doing this, but the AICPA practice test is probably the best source.

    AUD - 71 (Q3 2018), 85 (Q4, 2018)

    BEC - 88 (Q4, 2018)

    FAR - 86 (Q3 2018)

    REG - 85 (Q1 2019)

    #1951726
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    AICPA practice test may be a good source, but the downside is that, no explanation is provided to the correct answers. That’s adds more question marks in my brain before seeing the actual test.

    #1951741
    watermelon
    Participant

    @Will did you pass FAR? so curious to know that! my test is within a week.

     
    “becker-cpa-review”/
     

    AUD - 77
    BEC - 89
    FAR - 91
    REG - 84
    I AM not DONE yet!!
Viewing 15 replies - 16 through 30 (of 32 total)
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