[Wolfchicken]

I am just starting studying for FAR with Becker. Just out of curiosity, what do you think the worst out of the 10 chapters is? I am just trying to know what I am getting myself into so I am not frustrated when coming across annoying and difficult chapters. It might be different for everyone, but just wanted to see if there was a common chapter the majority thought was the worst. I would appreciate your feedback.

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BEC - PASS
FAR - PASS
Audit - PASS
REG - PASS

[kudawudashuda]

I'm studying for FAR right now and so far F1 blew past my head. I continued on with F2 and everything feels so bland and boring that I skipped to F8 and F9. Found the governmental topics more interesting because they related to each other whereas F1-F2 seemed like a buncha random topics slushed together.

Since I am about to finish non for profit, I am going to move onto F6 which is Pensions and Accounting for Income Taxes. I remember this section in college and thought it was interesting, so hopefully I'll be okay. I feel like I am jumping around too many chapters, but whatever keeps me motivated to study is what I need.

REG = 58 (02-20-13), 75 (05-01-13)
AUD = 67 (05-29-13), 79 (08-29-13)
BEC = 83 (07-31-13)
FAR = 72 (10-29-13), 69 (02-27-14), 73 (04-16-14), 81(08-13-14)

Study Materials = Becker 2013 + Wiley Online Test Bank
(75%) On my Way to a CPA (minus the experience requirement)!

[smeech8000]

F2 wasn't so bad, with the exception of the Foreign Currency material. BLECCHH.

I couldn't stand F7-F8 which were the Governmental sections (as well as NFP). You're already worn out by the time you get there and think “geez I don't even remember how to do some of the stuff from F3-F4 at this point.” What's Acquisition Method? Dollar-Value LIFO? WhatisthisIdon'teven…

Just a LOT of material on FAR.

B 92
A 99
R 90
F 92

Becker Self-Study

OH CPA since 2/18/14

[smeech8000]

F2 wasn't so bad, with the exception of the Foreign Currency material. BLECCHH.

I couldn't stand F7-F8 which were the Governmental sections (as well as NFP). You're already worn out by the time you get there and think “geez I don't even remember how to do some of the stuff from F3-F4 at this point.” What's Acquisition Method? Dollar-Value LIFO? WhatisthisIdon'teven…

Just a LOT of material on FAR.

B 92
A 99
R 90
F 92

Becker Self-Study

OH CPA since 2/18/14

[CPA Exam]

I thought F9 was the worst. You can at least survive F8 if you know GRaSPP SE PAPI. F9 had more governmental stuff and NFP accounting which I found difficult. On the bright side though, when I took the exam, I did think that most of the governmental and NFP questions were very fair.

Audit: 97
BEC: 92
REG: 89
FAR: (8/30/2013)

[CPA Exam]

I thought F9 was the worst. You can at least survive F8 if you know GRaSPP SE PAPI. F9 had more governmental stuff and NFP accounting which I found difficult. On the bright side though, when I took the exam, I did think that most of the governmental and NFP questions were very fair.

Audit: 97
BEC: 92
REG: 89
FAR: (8/30/2013)

[Anonymous]

F2-F3 are the worst.

[Anonymous]

F2-F3 are the worst.

[evesocal]

They were all bad. F2 was bad, Governmental and NFP bad, bonds were bad, the whole thing was awful. Those journal entries,sheesh! That exam is too big. And IFRS everything was bad.

smeech8000 – I gave up on Dollar Value LIFO. Too much math. Way too time consuming to deal with on the real exam. I decided the answer to any Dollar Value LIFO question would be C and saved myself time to work on questions I had a shot at. Not hat I remember if there were any questions on it, because I would've clicked “C”and moved on without reading through it. Time management is part of the exam.

With Pensions – I actually hated it a bit less than some of the others because I really forced myself to learn the formula. I wrote it down over and over and over and made some progress with it and felt good about that. Don't know if this helped or not on the exam.

Good luck, you'll get through it.

B: 75
R: 80
A: 77
F: 81
Ethics: 84, 92 and done!
Licensed in California

[evesocal]

They were all bad. F2 was bad, Governmental and NFP bad, bonds were bad, the whole thing was awful. Those journal entries,sheesh! That exam is too big. And IFRS everything was bad.

smeech8000 – I gave up on Dollar Value LIFO. Too much math. Way too time consuming to deal with on the real exam. I decided the answer to any Dollar Value LIFO question would be C and saved myself time to work on questions I had a shot at. Not hat I remember if there were any questions on it, because I would've clicked “C”and moved on without reading through it. Time management is part of the exam.

With Pensions – I actually hated it a bit less than some of the others because I really forced myself to learn the formula. I wrote it down over and over and over and made some progress with it and felt good about that. Don't know if this helped or not on the exam.

Good luck, you'll get through it.

B: 75
R: 80
A: 77
F: 81
Ethics: 84, 92 and done!
Licensed in California

[wobrie4]

F2-F3. F2 was just all over the place. F3 was consolidations/mergers, which just stink to begin with. F3 was the only time I truly questioned myself if I could do this.

On My Way to a CPA...

FAR- 83 (12/02/12) (Try #1...by some miracle)
BEC- 80 (2/23/13) (Try #1... by some miracle)
AUD- 77 (05/04/13) (Try #1... by some miracle)
REG- 79 (08/03/13)(Try #1... by some miracle)

[wobrie4]

F2-F3. F2 was just all over the place. F3 was consolidations/mergers, which just stink to begin with. F3 was the only time I truly questioned myself if I could do this.

On My Way to a CPA...

FAR- 83 (12/02/12) (Try #1...by some miracle)
BEC- 80 (2/23/13) (Try #1... by some miracle)
AUD- 77 (05/04/13) (Try #1... by some miracle)
REG- 79 (08/03/13)(Try #1... by some miracle)

[Anonymous]

Great topic, would love to hear more opinions on this.

F2 for me so far has been the absolute worst, it's so discouraging with the sheer amount of material all jumbled into one chapter and I don't think Becker goes into enough depth based on the questions they give. Wish they had some more tricks for recognizing revenue with all of those rules and things.

I find myself coming up with my own boxes of how to remember rules like R&D expense and how one little aspect can change how it's handled, blah blah lol

[Anonymous]

Great topic, would love to hear more opinions on this.

F2 for me so far has been the absolute worst, it's so discouraging with the sheer amount of material all jumbled into one chapter and I don't think Becker goes into enough depth based on the questions they give. Wish they had some more tricks for recognizing revenue with all of those rules and things.

I find myself coming up with my own boxes of how to remember rules like R&D expense and how one little aspect can change how it's handled, blah blah lol

[Jferjamey]

F6- Pensions was awful. They just glazed over the topic with weird mneumonics. I had to look back at my textbooks from Intermediate 3. Pension worksheets are easier to learn the Pension Expense ad Pension Asset (Liability) calculations IMO.

B - 81 (8/31/13) first attempt!
A - 80 (2/3/14) first attempt!
R - 89 (7/31/13) first attempt!
F - 86 (7/2/13) first attempt!
Licensed CPA: 12/31/14

Becker rocks!

"Discipline is choosing between what you want now, and what you want most." -Abraham Lincoln

[Jferjamey]

F6- Pensions was awful. They just glazed over the topic with weird mneumonics. I had to look back at my textbooks from Intermediate 3. Pension worksheets are easier to learn the Pension Expense ad Pension Asset (Liability) calculations IMO.

B - 81 (8/31/13) first attempt!
A - 80 (2/3/14) first attempt!
R - 89 (7/31/13) first attempt!
F - 86 (7/2/13) first attempt!
Licensed CPA: 12/31/14

Becker rocks!

"Discipline is choosing between what you want now, and what you want most." -Abraham Lincoln

[Author]

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