[Wannafree]

Hi FAR Ninjas
I am on my final stage for 10th March exam and overwhelmed by seer volume of materials to review.I have studied the FAR for few months and still not feeling confident as I had felt in other sections.Individually I go into chapters then feel I know this and I know that but when evaluating over all then feel lacking something.Indeed some areas are weak like IFRS .business combination and Pension.When I see the past questions ,I feel it’s easy.In mock test ,scores are having wide fluctuations ,sometimes 50 sometimes 90.In AUD I used to get consistent 80 in Ninja.Feeling confused and wanted to hear from you how you felt going into exam and what you felt in exam.Your inputs are appreciated.
Thanks in advance

[krstnam]

They hit government and non-profits pretty hard I think. (Just took my exam today).

I wish I would have spent more time studying the statement of cash flows with the direct and indirect method and inventory journal entries and valuation.

Basically I should have spent more time on journal entries and less in the formulas behind. I spent quite a bit of time studying pensions and I'm glad I put extra effort there.

This is my second time with FAR. The first time I put a lot of effort into bond amortization and business combinations so I didn't focus so much in that area this time. I still knew the basics and that strategy seemed to work well this time around.

Sounds like you're in good shape though. Good luck!

[txtoca]

Know the gov't & NFP at a high level – the basis JE and all that. Don't worry about too many details. Same for Pension – know the basic formulas & difference between IFRS & GAAP. Know the IFRS & GAAP differences really well – I made a chart of IRFS vs. GAAP for different areas (Pension, Sale-leasebacks, amortization, R&D, etc). Know the differences between depreciation & inventory methods. It's a lot of concepts, so pretty much anywhere that you see differences / comparison, (Par value vs. equity method, indirect vs direct CF, IFRS vs. GAAP, operating vs. capital) make charts so you keep track of different concepts & don't get confused on the exam.

[Cruzer]

@txtoca Sounds like a ton of material they could hit you with. I just mapped out by 2.5 days of studying left and how to attack. Thanks for the pointers. We will see where this bird ends up on 3/10 at 5pm.

[Wannafree]

@krstnam thanks for your inputs,do they ask JE in govt accounting ? Just guessing what type they can ask e.g JE for reconciliation of fund and govt wide ? I have noted lot of JE almost 26 pages.Only JE i have not noted the recon of Govt wide and fund.

[Wannafree]

Thank you txtoca

[krstnam]

@nath I would do both…put it this way. Two exams over 1/3 sim questions were government or NFP. Every sim I did was very comprehensive. They weren't a quick “which fund should you use if…” I think my # of govt NFP sims were pretty unusual, I've looked around and didn't hear anybody else getting hit with that many but still. My guess is some had to have been pretest. I had 90 minutes for sims and I ran out of time…the questions involved a lot of reading with a lot of different areas to click to obtain information-that alone was time consuming.

Imagine there will be JE questions and they won't be simple how do you open a budget questions. If you luck out and don't get a comprehensive govt sim, there will be questions about it on MCQs.

If I could go back and have two extra hours to study, I would hit the stmt of cash flows using indirect and direct methods. It's comprehensive and a good candidate for sims.

[A]

As of this morning, I've got trending avgs. of 71-76% in all areas except Government, where I lag with a pathetic 47%. Thanks, @krstnam. Now I know how I should spend the rest of the afternoon…

:-/

B - 77 (2.27.16)
A - 81 (4.18.16)
R -
F -

Roger Review + Ninja MCQs

[Wannafree]

@Thanks a lot ,feeling much better as you are stressing Govt and NFP. Have you seen Becker's material ? I have done Govt and NFP from Becker's and do you think it's enough ? Did you try JE in AL or any other questions help from AL ? Thanks again

[LD]

@Nath – thought I would chime in, I just took FAR on 2/27 and I definitely feel like Becker prepared me very well for the Governmental & NFP questions. In general, I think you'll be surprised at how little you're tested on compared to the massive amounts of material Becker has you dive into.

[Wannafree]

@Lczarnecka thank you , relieved ,I am covered then.

[krstnam]

I agree with Lc…Becker covered the govt and NFP material pretty well. Even at that I got stumped in part of it. I vaguely remember reading a quick blurb but didn't remember the rule.

They ask so many different questions in the exam…it's not easy. Maybe I noticed the govt NFP questions more than others bc I got hammered with NFP bad on the first exam and barely spent any time studying NFP?? No idea. I've already made a study plan assuming I'll be retaking FAR again lol.

[Author]

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