[jeff]

We have a lot of “I took __ today threads” so to consolidate, here is the official thread.

Please – Not even a hint of exam disclosure per AICPA rules.

Links to other Exam Experience Threads:

AUD

BEC

REG

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS) | Another71 | NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE

[Wannafree]

@Amor I was expecting you to pass last time itself.I remember your Tax notes those were awesome notes .So sorry you tripped like me.
Since last two days I am doing just research for my retake.There are people on this forum who aced MCQs in 1 hour they had filed day on SIMs and I checked the CSO it has reduced the test of memory from 50% to 10% and increased the applications of concept test to 40% .If you connect the two our way of taking notes with minute details will not work anymore.
What is needed BEC type formula list and solve the calculations based MCQ as much as you can.This is my understanding.It will be challenging as how do you know which 10% they test for memory ? So you have to read but we can assume we would be able to guess few and save time for SIM.Just sharing my observations.If you find something for FAR please let me know.

[Wannafree]

So sorry @Amor to hear your updates.Last March itself I was shocked to see that you couldn't become CPA.You and I are on same situation ,we have to change our style of studying for FAR now.I am sure you have studied hard ,I still remember your tax and AUD notes which were simply gold but that is no more gold.We have to find out what is needed now.
As CPain2k17 ,Beantown and Anthony have done it we need to do that.Ace the MCQ in 1 hours.That's my goal now,practice MCQ.

[Iceman6]

I took my exam on 5/30. Both testlets were pretty tough, though I felt like the second one was a lot more wordy and a couple questions from left field I had no clue on. I definitely got lucky on the SIMS, the first 5 I flew through and felt super confident with, and nailed the research question. The last 3 SIMS were brutal but at that point i had time to double check stuff. Got one DRS which I have no idea if I did well on. I finished with 10 mins left and my splits were approx. 40 / 40 / 30 / 60 / 60

Waiting till August….

[Wannafree]

@ICeman6 , congratulations for flying through SIMs.Do you mind sharing suggestions how we should tame this beast ? Let me be specific without violation of disclosure rules as really not interested to know the questions.How you approached the first SIM ? So many resources email , I was able to solve this question but took lot of times.How you approached ?
Let us take a DRS SIM , How you approached to make sure u were not leaving any info ?
How much time you given for practice MCQ or SIMs ?
Last question , which materials you used.
I would appreciate all your suggestions tips criticism.
Really frustrated.

[Mscfisher]

@mtaylo i had no idea an extension was possible! Let me Google that now.

[panic]

I am scared

[kincaidr04]

I am taking FAR in mid to late July and I am using becker to prepare. And I was wondering if it would be a good idea to get the Ninja audio for FAR and listen to it while in the gym? And if so, for example if I am studying chapter 3 with becker should I listen to the whole audio or just listen up to ch 3 and once I move forward with becker move forward with the audio?

Thanks for all feedback!

[Superdude3000]

Took what will hopefully be my last CPA exam today. Here was my breakdown and exam experience. Testlet 1 was cake, think I missed at most 2 questions. Testlet 2 was noticeably harder, this was the first time I really noticed a major difference between testlets 1 and 2 for any of the exams. I flagged probably 5 or 6, probably missed 4 or 5 questions on it. Testlet 3 (sims) first question I think I nailed, second sim I think I got about 75-80% of it down. Fourth testlet was by far my hardest testlet. The first question I was (and still am) a bit confused about what they were looking for answer-wise. It seemed way to straight forward and I'm convinced I didn't understand the problem fully or something but anyways, probably get like 50% correct, or more if it really was as straight forward as I thought it was. The next problem was a joke, can't disclose anything but let's just say that the people who make these exams didn't even expect you to know how to solve it! LITERALLY, I'm not lying! The final problem in this testlet wasn't bad and felt good about it (80% confidence). Final testlet was a breeze, 2 straight forward sims (90% confident) and a research which I got in a few minutes, although it did take quite a few searches before I finally zeroed in on it.

In all I think FAR was fairly difficult, but I got an 87 and 83 on the Becker mock exams and I feel like I knew enough to pass. My recommendation would be to really time manage. I left the second testlet earlier than I needed to (1 hour remaining) and I could've used that time to double check my answers or to try and better understand some of the questions. I ended up with an extra 30 minutes on my final testlet and I only ended up changing one answer in those final 30 minutes after QUADRUPLE-checking everything. Also, be ready for the supporting documents. Roger and Becker did a great job at preparing me there so I really wasn't overwhelmed with all the extra material but I've seen others on here who seemed very surprised by it. I got a wide range of questions, so for those of you asking what sections to specifically study, my answer is try to know it all because you can literally see anything. Hope to see a pass on the 18th (west coast), but off to Mexico for a week now!!!

[SallyCPA]

Took FAR recently and was wondering if anyone got a very difficult 2nd test-let? Out of all the tests I've taken, including FAR in Q2, this is the first time I saw a huge increase in the difficulty between testlets…

[Superdude3000]

Ya, like I said in my post this was the first time I noticed a significant degree of difficulty change between MC testlets. Still feel pretty good about the second testlet though.

[mtaylo24]

Sat for it again today for the fifth time. No major gripes this time, nailed the research 🙌🏽, ran out of time in the last two but hopefully I had enough info to get points. Nothing was left blank and my last one still balanced. Had about 2 bullet points that I didnt get to on the last one. Breakdown was probably

Mcq 1 – 45
Mcq 2 – 45
Sim 1 – 20
Break
Sim 2 – 60
Sim 3 – 70

AUD - 1st - 60 (12/12), 61 (2/13), 61 (8/13), 78! (11/15)
REG - 55 (2/16) 69 (5/16) Retake(8/16)
BEC - 71(5/16) Retake (9/16)
FAR - (8/16)

[QueenCPA]

I had been waiting for your post @mtaylo24

I prayed for you too!

You have indirectly encouraged us here and It seems you killed it this time.

Goodluck

[Anthony]

Hopefully this will the final the nail in the coffin for you @mtaylo24. You've been here for too long.

[Earla Riopel (NYCARE)]

@mtaylo24, sounds like you nailed it! That's a perfect break-down per testlet. Congrats in advance! You're so close in becoming a CPA. Happy to hear.

[SallyCPA]

@Mtaylo definitely crushed it…nooo doubt

@superdude I'm glad someone else felt the same way…i thought it was just me. I was really concerned cause I have never seen questions get THAT much harder in my previous exams where i passed. They weren't even that lengthy (although some were) but they required multiple steps and seemed like they could have been put in a simulation question. I am worried because i had to guess on 5-7 of them… Sims weren't too bad ironically and i actually got the research

[Author]

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