[vvSPAZvv]

Hi all,

New to the forum (and the CPA exam). I just graduated a week and a half ago and am currently on F2 in my Becker self-study review. I am just not grasping the concepts it seems. I am going through the MCQs after watching the lectures and taking notes, but I feel like they are throwing questions at me that I don’t even know where to begin. Just as I think I grasped a concept, a word changes in the problem and throws me off.

I know this is the CPA exam and to expect anything and everything, but….

Can anyone offer some insight? Should I keep practicing with MCQs? I plan to take the exam in July and am extremely nervous, as I have never been a superb cumulative test-taker.

FAR - 76! 10/15; (65) 7/15
BEC - 82! 11/15; (74) 8/15
AUD - 01/16
REG - TBA

[tptpa]

Just keep at it. A lot of this test is just memorization so if there is a topic in the MC that they didnt cover in the book, just put down a random answer and see how they solved it. The first time through WILL be rough. I got anywhere from 50-70% on the first try. Just keep at it and it will get better. Once you get through all the chapters, 90 question progress tests will become your friend. Use those to keep your mind fresh will all the FAR topics and you should be good to go.

B- TBD (May 2015)
A- 87 (April 2015)
R- 87 (May 2015)
F- 79 (April 2015)

[Gatorbates]

For what it's worth F2 was the worst of them all (most info). You get through that, the remaining chapters aren't as voluminous.

Licensed Florida CPA:
B: 71, 73, 79
A: 83
R: 78 (expired), 77
F: 74, 74, 80

It's finally freaking over.

[Anonymous]

I think F2 is tough for most people. When I took FAR, I remember seeing posts from people about how F2 seemed impossible to them. I had to read it twice before I really started feel like I understood it. Repetition is key. Just keep practicing, and it will all start to become more familiar to you.

[vvSPAZvv]

Thanks everyone. I'm glad to hear some similar experience with F2. I am just finishing up F2 today and plan to revisit it once I have some review time. F2 was just kind of a shock because most of the MCQs were analytical problems that weren't covered explicitly in the Chapter. Hopefully some more practice is all I need 🙂

FAR - 76! 10/15; (65) 7/15
BEC - 82! 11/15; (74) 8/15
AUD - 01/16
REG - TBA

[str6116]

We're in the same boat OP, I just graduated recently and FAR is my first I plan on taking toward the middle/end of July (still awaiting NTS) using Becker. I too plan on finishing up F2 today and finally moving on. Agree with everyone who says it's pretty bad – to top it all off, the revenue recognition concepts/installment sales were 2 things I remember being pretty shaky with in Intermediate.

Did you go over the Sims for F2? I was pretty intimidated when I took my first look at those yesterday (and I didn't think the ones in F1 were too bad, but F1 is definitely easier)

FAR-82 (7/27/15)
AUD-74 (8/31/15), 92 (1/4/16)
REG-65 (10/28/15), 70 (6/9/16), 80 (7/18/16)
BEC-86 (11/28/15)

DONE

...and that's all the people need to know.

[vvSPAZvv]

@str6116

Nice to meet you (virtually, of course). My NTS is still on hold as well. Waiting for those darn transcripts to reach the office. Anyways, I did 2 simulations thus far – plan to finish those off tonight. The two I did were intimidating. F1 gave me hardly any issues at all – I understood my errors made and corrected them on later tries.

With F2, I feel like I am making goofy mistakes (like not reading something correctly, or reading way too far into the problem). Hopefully F3 gets better. Maybe we can compare notes as we go along since we are both using Becker.

FAR - 76! 10/15; (65) 7/15
BEC - 82! 11/15; (74) 8/15
AUD - 01/16
REG - TBA

[vvSPAZvv]

@str6116

Nice to meet you (virtually, of course). My NTS is still on hold as well. Waiting for those darn transcripts to reach the office. Anyways, I did 2 simulations thus far – plan to finish those off tonight. The two I did were intimidating. F1 gave me hardly any issues at all – I understood my errors made and corrected them on later tries.

With F2, I feel like I am making goofy mistakes (like not reading something correctly, or reading way too far into the problem). Hopefully F3 gets better. Maybe we can compare notes as we go along since we are both using Becker.

FAR - 76! 10/15; (65) 7/15
BEC - 82! 11/15; (74) 8/15
AUD - 01/16
REG - TBA

[str6116]

SPAZ,

Nice to meet you as well. My transcripts were sent last week (when they were finally official, I actually graduated April 25th) feel like I may give the state (MD) a call next week… I know one of my friends who graduated in December said he called and got his NTS not long after.

The sims on F2 were pretty rough with all the JE's. I could at least get some of them right, and some close to right. Didn't go over all of the sims (bout 70% though). I was particularly turned off by the construction contract one that asked for the GP's, all the JE's under % completion and completed contract, and recognition of cost in excess of billings or billings in excess of cost, along with the installment sales/completed contract questions (you really gotta take such a roundabout way to get some of those numbers).

I feel ya on the goofy mistakes, I was really intimidated by the long questions with weird/confusing tables and my first pass through the HW's was pretty rough.

Sounds good. I'm cautiously optimistic about F3 with the consolidations because I just took Advanced Accounting this past fall (as opposed to Intermediate I just over 2 years ago, which covered most of the F2 material…) and a decent amount of the foreign currency stuff was still pretty fresh in my head thanks to that class. We learned non-monetary exchanges in that class in a different manner though… kinda struggled with it in F2. Same with goodwill impairment (I wish I still had my notes – my professor structured it a lot simpler than Becker I thought).

FAR-82 (7/27/15)
AUD-74 (8/31/15), 92 (1/4/16)
REG-65 (10/28/15), 70 (6/9/16), 80 (7/18/16)
BEC-86 (11/28/15)

DONE

...and that's all the people need to know.

[von2015]

@vvSPAZvv I just passed FAR yesterday and it was a retake. It's the only exam I had to take twice.

This was my method of learning: skim the chapter to get a big picture of the different topics, do the MCQs (half of them), and read the explanation to each answer choice. After I do that for all 10 chapters, I go back and read the book in detail. This really helped me in grasping the concepts, especially the reading each answer choice part. F2 is a meanie! I remember saving that for last in every go-around. I attempted the SIMs for the shorter ones but I would just read the explanations for the super long ones. Their answers are actually pretty detailed and good in singling out specific knowledge to know. Don't be too bogged down in F2 SIMs. Read the explanations, absorb them, and move on.

Know the topics well conceptually rather than being stuck on the quesions. It is unlikely the exact same question will appear on the exam, but you can use what you know conceptually to apply your knowledge to the question and tackle them. Once you know the concept, you aren't “memorizing.” Things will come to you more naturally. Hope I helped :X!

[vvSPAZvv]

@von2015 Thanks for the advice!! And congrats on passing FAR! I hope I can share the same joy you have come July. I definitely got caught off-guard with F2. Becker really tries to through every single concept at you (which is great for preparation) and can be a bit intimidating. I plan to not skim necessarily, but read and learn what I can grasp and flag what isn't clicking and come back to it later. They can't test me on everything, right??

Just out of curiosity, how did you find Becker's questions in comparison to the exam (assuming you used Becker)? Were they pretty similar? Did anything really catch you off-guard?

FAR - 76! 10/15; (65) 7/15
BEC - 82! 11/15; (74) 8/15
AUD - 01/16
REG - TBA

[Vern -No what I mean]

In my opinion, Becker's questions are a little more long winded then the exam. They put in more distractors or have detailed information that is irrelevant to the question. For example: Mad Maxx Corporation, a pennsylvania entity that makes blue widgets and sells them to Blue Star corporation, who then paints them red before selling to Green Corporation….

The exam gets to the point and says Mad Maxx Corporation sells widgets to Green Corporation…

The NINJA questions are more similar to the exam and many are identical to Becker as well. At the end of the day, i don't think the test bank you use really matters as long as you're burning through the MCQ's over and over and over. If you do enough MCQ's you will begin to recognize the patterns that emerge in how they test a specific concept. Or if the questions are more theory and conceptual based, you learn to identify the questions that have one wrong word but everything else is correct. Do 1,500 MCQ's and you'll understand what I mean.

AUD - 90
FAR - 71, 76
REG - 75
BEC - 76 (bubble sucks)

Becker + Ninja MCQ's

[Montiel68]

@SPAZ Hello. I've also started studying for FAR using Becker 2 weeks ago. I've completed the HW for F1&F2, and I'm half way done with F3…There is so much material, and some of it is just not sticking. So, my question for you is…when are you doing your “progress tests”? I kind of want to save them for when I'm done with the whole book, but then I want to test how much I've retained (F1-F3). So, in short, what's your strategy to not forget what you've learned?

FAR- Passed
AUD- **F,F,F,** Retake TBD
REG- Passed
BEC- Passed

[Vern -No what I mean]

Montiel68 – Don't wait until the end of the book to do the progress tests. Once you get to that point, you won't remember much of the material from the prior sections. The progress tests will allow you to review the prior material you studied. I would recommend doing short 10 question “progress tests” as often as possible on past topics. 10 questions only takes about 15-20 minutes and short sessions like that can be done anytime you have a minute of free time. These short sessions give you a sense of accomplishement and that reward feeling your brain needs to stay motivated. Take a short break after and then repeat another 10 question session. You will retain the information while you slog through the other 7 sections!

AUD - 90
FAR - 71, 76
REG - 75
BEC - 76 (bubble sucks)

Becker + Ninja MCQ's

[vvSPAZvv]

@Montiel68 What I planned on doing for the progress test was taking them half-way through before I do the final exams. For example, doing an F1-F5 progress exam once I finish F5 and then F6-F10 once I finished F10. I don't know if this is the best strategy or not, but I feel like it might work for me.

I really like what @Vern suggested. I may take 20 minutes each day and do a 5 or 10 question progress test to retain information.

What I have been doing to help retain information is when I conclude a section, I go back and do 10 flashcards from the previous section just to refresh. For example, I just finished my sims for F2, so I went back and did 10 flashcards from F1. As soon as I finish my next study session for F3, I will go back and do 5 from F1 and 10 from F2. I hope this works…

I can totally relate though with material not sticking. When I got to the sim in F2 that discussed Installment sales for the two year period, I blanked on the formulas. Totally simple concept, but I was overwhelmed by all of F2. Is F3 any better???? I plan to dive into that early tomorrow morning.

FAR - 76! 10/15; (65) 7/15
BEC - 82! 11/15; (74) 8/15
AUD - 01/16
REG - TBA

[Montiel68]

@Vern. Thanks for the suggestion/tip. I really need to start taking those tests asap. I scheduled my test for July 6,so I just have enough time to finish the book and maybe like 1 1/2 for review…hopefully that's enough.

FAR- Passed
AUD- **F,F,F,** Retake TBD
REG- Passed
BEC- Passed

[Author]

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