[Anonymous]

Hi Guys,

I need help deciding how to study for FAR.
I bought Becker a year ago and it expired. I don’t think it worked for me.
I felt that Becker didn’t teach me. I felt lost most of time. I still have all my Becker books.

Also, I have a 2014 FAR GLeim book from college. I tried the free trial from the 2017 GLeim and I don’t think it changed from the 2014 version.

Do you think I should invest in another course? What do you think about Yeager or Roger?

Or do you think I should start studying on my own with my Becker & Gleim books and only buy Wiley Test bank.

Please help! I already spent so much $$

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Bare minimum, NINJA MCQs.

That is really all you need. Any additional material would be a good supplement, but if you drill the NINJA MCQs day in and out, that would be the most cost effecient and effective way to passing the exam.

[Anonymous]

I'm using Roger. I don't dislike it, but I don't feel very warmly towards anything except the videos and the MCQ. I don't like his textbooks at all, having now read almost two of them (FAR 100%, and I'm about 85% thru AUD…I read about 20% of the BEC book before deciding to do AUD next.) I have Gleim's books too, from 2015. I like their outline format. Plenty of people pass using Gleim, or Gleim and Ninja. I know nothing about Ninja. I might buy it someday if I really can't pass with the resources that I do have (Roger, and the old Gleim texts.)

[Anonymous]

I really liked Wiley products, for me they explained alot and you can use wiley for life. Free renewals offered (mines expired and all I did was to send them an IM and instantly it was reviewed).

[SomeSomeCPA]

https://www.accountingcoach.com is a great, free resource to get the basics down. I'd agree with getting Ninja MCQ after that.

FAR: 39,59,TBD
BEC: 74,79
AUD: 77
REG: September

[RE2PECT]

I used Roger and Ninja mcq, notes, and audio and passed FAR on my first try. I have no accounting background, but I had just finished up school so the material was still sort of fresh. I never would have passed had I not just finished a Gov/NFP course since my exam had tons of mcq's and a couple sims on it. If you prefer video lectures then I'd go with Roger. He does a great job simplifying the material and explaining it in layman's terms. He doesn't get overly in depth so I would at least supplement with Ninja mcq to fill in the gaps.

investopedia.com is another great resource if you're having trouble with a particular topic.

FAR: 75 Roger & Ninja (notes/flashcards/audio/MCQ)
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, retake 8/29
REG:

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys!

[averiagaskin]

I just ordered Roger and I love it. I do have an accounting background but I am from theater, so it depends on your personality honestly… My boss suggested Becker but that looked boring as ______ fill in the blank expletive. So I went with Roger and it seems good.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all the advice is truly appreciated it. 🙂

[gigabyte2001]

I stand behind the Gleim system – bought the premium system for all sections at once for about $1200 or so. Takes me about 3 mos to study for an exam but it works.

B - 11/11/16
A - 4/16/16 87!!
R - 2/17/17
F - 7/26/16 - Waiting for 8/23

[krstnam]

I'm very weak in FAR. I used Becker and supplemented with NINJA audio and notes. Try the test run of the 2017 version. It seems better for me. But maybe that's because I understand things better than when I started. Idk.

I don't think I could have done MCQs alone and learn material. It's just I was at such a huge disadvantage to start it prob would have been too much. For REG I prob could have passed with NINJA MCQs alone tho.

A lot of the companies let you do a short trial. Can you check out the trials and see if any of them click?

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Can I just say, I used Yeager and I wouldn’t recommend it IF you have been out of school for a while or have no real accounting experience. I was a non accounting major as well. They do not teach you. They sort of jump right in. I figured ok… Ill just read the book then. In my personal experience, I found the book to be awful. It jumped around. They jumped around. I jumped around. I was lost. To boot, I had issues with being able to access their student portal on my phone and after taking MCQ quizzes, realized their site was not mobile adaptive or my phone just wasn’t working with it. Basically, I could take MCQ’s all day, but if I wanted to see the answer and why I got it wrong, it was too big to fit on my phone and I could see nothing. I emailed them about that and the only answer I got was “those are old MCQ’s anyway”. There is one teacher that is amazing ( Cindy) and I didn’t mind the two men that taught but the only guy that “taught” was SO ANNOYING TO ME I wanted to whip my laptop across the room. They read from the book word for word and put answers to MCQ’s up on the board.
Again, its not their fault- its mine. They are a true review program. I realized in day 3 that the review program wasn’t for me, and I stuck to it. I shouldn’t have. I actually found myself looking up Roger CPA on youtube a lot and another fellow named Larry lawther I think was his name. For me, I need a review program that EXPLAINS things. After 15 years being out of school, I am not reviewing. I am relearning. I put close to 300 hours into far and my study habits were AWFUL. Do NONE of these:
1.) Have your study area a mess. I was so disorganized it was pathetic. Towards the end, I got VERY organized and was actually able to get things into my head but it was too late. My test was in a week.
2.) Study too much. Those 300 hours? Over the course of 2 months. I work part time. I literally would study from sun up to sun down on the weekends. That’s just diminishing returns at that point.
3.) Skipped back and forth from chapter to chapter to chapter. If I didn’t understand something (which was common) or that one guy was doing the video… I found myself tuning out or counting how many times he said “alright”, then getting aggravated and switching to a whole different chapter… and there he was again!
4.) Don’t schedule til youre ready. That’s only a suggestion and only what I am going to do. I ending up rushing at the end and skipped over a lot of stuff I had an aching feeling was going to be on my test. So I glossed over it. Me. I have a hard time getting EASY stuff into my head and there I was glossing over stuff. DUMB IDEA. DO NOT SKIP THE SMALL CHAPTERS. I did. And that’s exactly why I failed. Well that and all these other reasons
5.) I ran out of time and couldn’t do more MCQs plus could never do them on my phone.

I am buying Roger CPA and also Ninja this time. I wont go back to Yeager for the life of me, but that’s ME. I think others that really need a review OR learn faster than me- hey it could work. I spent more time yelling at my computer “STOP SAYING ALRIGHT. NO ITS NOT ALRIGHT. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!” than actually retaining anything. The world “alright” is now a joke in my house.

But if you want a book read to you word for word go for it. I watched almost every single video and kept pausing, taking notes, pausing, taking notes. A 45 minute video took me three hours. Then I thought WHY AM I DOING THIS- they are reading word for word out of the book. Sometimes they would skip to their handout and not tell you so you were even more lost  Or put the wrong answer up on the board. I seen that. It just wasn’t for me. I could go on, but I wont. Again, it was my fault I failed.

[Anonymous]

I passed using just Becker (well ONE Roger video on bonds). Ive been out of school since 1990 and out the industry since 2001.

[NeedsA75]

If money is no object, Becker.
If on a budget, Gleim.

Supplement with Ninja MCQ = Win

[krstnam]

@audarah I'm in a similar boat, got my BA in 2005 and took my first exam 5/2016. Im pretty sure I didn't learn about IFRS in school. Enron fell while I was in school and SOX wasnt rolled out yet lol.

Studying for FAR has been brutal 🙁 but since I've adjusted my studying habits, it's getting better so I feel like there is some light at the end of the tunnel…

[Author]

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