[Meg]

Wow! FAR seems so out of left field!

I took FAR yesterday. I have taken the other three tests, all this summer, and passed. Going into FAR, I felt like I had a handle on the way the test worked. I could tell I had a Medium/Difficult/Medium progression of testlets, and I would bet I got almost all of the last testlet questions right.

My PREVIOUS experience with simulations-on other exams-is that they are very doable! Heck, even if you don’t know, you can find ALL of the explanations you need in the literature, and I thought FAR would be no different.

I was dead wrong. I only gave myself about an hour and ten minutes to do the simulations. I found the availability of the AL to be almost useless to me. I am confident about 1 tab out of 7 :(. I even missed the dang Research freebie. I may have done OK on one or two other tabs, but for the most part it was a guessing game. Nothing like my experience with REG and AUD. AUD I actually left the test about a half hour early. These FAR simulations I was working to the last second with slots still unfilled.

I can’t imagine a person could get a passing score with that experience, but I will say that one or two of my questions on the simulation were difficult times 10.

Very disheartening to pass all the other tests and then get smacked in the face like that with your last one.

BEC 5/31/14 83
REG 7/3/14 86
AUD 7/15/14 81
FAR - waiting

[CPA soon]

Last time I took FAR I had one hour and 18 minutes left for sims, I left the test room with 3 blank problems, got a 74, scored stronger on all topics and weaker on sims. You can easily lose track of time.

FAR - 71, 68, 74, (8/31/14) 78 ✔
REG - 67, 71, 71, (10/18/14) 78 ✔
BEC - (11/29/14) 86 ✔
AUD - 73, (4/4/15) 86 ✔

I can't believe this is over! 2 years and 3 months..

[Pumpkins]

You must have gotten lucky with your AUD simulations then… with mine, there is no way they would have been in the literature… you had to thoroughly understand the transaction cycles and financial statement effects. I'm guessing it was similar to what the FAR sims will be like.

Sounds like your FAR was pretty standard.

AUD- 93
BEC- 81
FAR- 1/26/2015
REG- TBD

CIA Exams Passed in March, 2014

[Meg]

@pumpkins I can't even remember anything about the AUD sims, but I just know I was able to at least fill in answers that made some sense. I think it was a combination of things, but I do believe I got a couple of really wicked questions on FAR, and perhaps my AUD weren't so terrible. Luck of the draw I guess!

BEC 5/31/14 83
REG 7/3/14 86
AUD 7/15/14 81
FAR - waiting

[Stgeorge]

@CPA Soon and @MEG , how did you study for the FAR exam? Currently taking it on the 27th of August just went through the wiley book once, nnow reviewing all chapters and doing WTB currently working backwards with 450MCQ complete in WTB while skimming the chapter and writing notes before answering MCQ in WTB. I am wondering if I should do the SIMs or not. average score right now is a 69%…

FAR 81
AUD 65, 84 (Used Ninja MCQ which I say contributed to my huge increase in score I love you Jeff)
REG 87 (CPA excel Wiley Self Study Book, Ninja 10 point combo)
BEC 86! I Must Pass or I lose my FAR Credit, Pray for me(Becker, Wiley, WTB, Ninja MCQ, Ninja Notes)

DONE!!!!!!

Using : Wiley CPA Exam Review Textbook, Wiley TB, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQ

[Meg]

@stgeorge

Because of previous experience with SIMS, I did almost no SIM preparation. Worst mistake ever. It was good to try to catch every little detail as far as MC content goes, taking chapter notes, reviewing topics. But I would also block out at least a day's worth of SIM work. On all of my other tests, SIMS were something I could wing. I could not wing it for FAR. I also did not give myself enough time. Going back I would give myself at least 1:40 for SIMS.

BEC 5/31/14 83
REG 7/3/14 86
AUD 7/15/14 81
FAR - waiting

[zieba]

I just can't help making this point (over and over again, sorry guys):

If you see a SIM and the topic is out of this world difficult, you are likely being tested on the underlying concept and not the terrifying jibbershissh staring at you in the face. Certain SIMS love to stonewall you with details only to ask a question so simple that only duh! comes to mind. Things like, when should this be recorded? or what is its carrying value at year end? (I just made those two up).

If you see yourself staring at something so difficult that you can only laugh nervously as tears begin to well up, put away the calculator app and think about the underlying concepts. If you have a derivative question which is so difficult that you can barely read it (much less work through), it is likely they aren't interested in you running through valuation equations from scratch as this isn't the CFE… they may however want to know if you know which bucket to put it into based on some predetermined framework.

I believe signatures are disabled for score release load, but I passed the exam.

AUD - 75*, 88 done 5/14! (*exp)
BEC - 74 , 77
REG - 65 , 76 (10 point combooo!!)
FAR - 69 , 75

Dr: perseverance
Dr: intelligence
Dr: luck
. Cr: . advisory score

[Meg]

Zieba thanks good tip!!!! (Also why are sigs disabled? Score release load?)

BEC 5/31/14 83
REG 7/3/14 86
AUD 7/15/14 81
FAR - waiting

[Author]

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