[TheDeedtheGlory]

Hey all,

Not sure if this is the right place to put this but this is my first post and I wanted to share my experience with people who get it and have been there. Took FAR today and it was my first section of the CPA exam. I drove out of state for the test and studied for 7 weeks at over 40 hours a week after graduating in May. I am very lucky to have a few months without work in order to tackle what I can of the CPA sections. That is why this hurts so much, as the sims brought me down. Maybe I was too reliant on what Becker told me, maybe I should have researched what the SIMS were really like, but I just flat out ran out of time…Leaving three tabs almost completely untouched. A mathematically assured death sentence for an otherwise confident take on the MCQ’s, I had the knowledge, I did the work, but I didn’t plan for just how different real sims are to Becker. When that time ran out and I had those three tabs filled with random account titles and nothing more, I crumbled, barely able to communicate with the test center staff as I exited, not a shred of hope that I passed.

I will admit that I am not the fastest test taker on the planet, and many of my peers taking the exam seem to have run though practice exams much quicker than I did with similar scores, but I never worried because I finished them in time. Going in to the exam I wanted to allocate an hour to each section just as I did in practice that seemed to work just fine. By the time I reached the third section I was running into a few problems that tripped me up and I ended up getting to Sims with only 50 minutes. Ok, no problem right? I finished practice section in 30 minutes! [Open tab, shock] So I look through all of the tabs expecting the heft to taper off on at least a few of them, to no avail. Panicked I start in on the first one and realize I am absolutely going to have to hustle, three down with moderate confidence I have 15 minutes left, then the research and I somewhere miss managed the last 15 minutes, it all really just blurred together as I tried to somehow have 4 tabs and a calculator functioning on my screen with 4 minutes left…well I guess cash will have to be right for some of these right??

Anyway, I am confident that I will be visiting FAR again soon based on simple math but that’s ok as this is a journey and above all a test of resolve, for guts and glory. Good luck to all testers out there. And thanks for reading, I realize I wrote a novel here but it was really just for me to vent more than anything and if this is an inappropriate section for such a rant let me know and I will take my party elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

FAR is a beast…It was by far the hardest section for me. The first time I took it, I felt like crying throughout the entire time because I was basically the test's punching bag. That damn test had me convinced that I was awful at accounting and I took a YEAR off. Then decided to repurchase the materials (used Rogers the first time around and then got Becker), studied really hard, took the test and it was SO hard. I couldn't believe how hard it was because I had studied like 3x more for that test than any other test and I was prepared to know all the answers. I was pretty sure I failed and was pretty bummed for the full two weeks before I got my score because I knew if I failed, I would end up losing credit for REG at the end of the summer. When I got my score and saw an 86, I dropped my phone and said “Holy F%@!!”. I still have no idea how I got that high of a score lol.

This is your first section of the CPA Exam so you don't have anything to gauge your experience against yet. I have talked to so many people who haven't finished SIMS for REG or FAR and passed. I had a friend who left the testing center crying because she didn't finish REG and passed. You just never know, especially with FAR. There are so many variables to the grading system. It's always good to have a backup plan, just in case, but don't count on the fact that you failed FAR because you very well could have passed it. Go read the FAR Exam Experience blog and you will see a lot of people who were POSITIVE they failed and passed it.

[Matt]

I took FAR today, too. And like you, I breezed through the MCQ only to end up running out of time on the sims. I actually had an hour and 15 minutes to go when I started the sims, but before I knew it the remaining time had dwindled down to a half hour and I still had 5 or 6 sims left. That last half hour was basically a hopeless blur of desperately crediting cash and debiting and crediting numbers explicitly given in the problems. I must have panicked because questions about relatively major, straightforward FAR topics all of a sudden became insurmountable enigmas to me.

I appreciate Amanda_88's comment and will keep my fingers crossed, but given the fact that I feel like I bombed at least 6 of the sims, I won't be getting my hopes up.

That said, I basically only studied for just over 2 weeks and did a little over 11 MCQ and 3 sims, so I am fairly hopeful that if I have to retake FAR in October, I'll be able to handle it, so long as I don't procrastinate again. It's just demoralizing knowing that I'll have to re-learn all this stuff all over again after jettisoning it from my mind to tackle BEC and REG in July and August.

AUD: 88
BEC: 79
REG: 81
FAR: 72 » 74 » 88

Study method: 100% watching videos, including solving problems covered therein; no books, paper, or pencils

[Anonymous]

I would have done what you did if I hadn't been so active on this forum. I read as much about people's experience with FAR as I could and repeatedly read that you need 2 hours for SIMS. It makes sense because using an hour on each MCQ section means you're allowing 2 minutes per question, which is a lot of time for most of the MCQ. And then to get down to the SIMS and have 8 minutes per SIM is just not enough time. Some of those SIMS are so long it took me 5 minutes just to read through one. It doesn't allow any cushion for spending time to search through the AL for help with the ones you are unsure about. It's also amazing how quickly the time goes. 4 hours seems like a long time until you are sitting there spending over half your time reading through questions. I'm sorry you had this experience. It sounds like you were extremely prepared. It stinks that you have to wait so long to retake it IF you happen to fail. There is still a chance that you passed if you were confident about the other answers you put down and if one or two of the questions you didn't have time for were test questions. It ain't over til you get your score!

[jopa16]

Don't stress yet. Many people have left several sims blank and passed. I was 100% sure I failed FAR myself. Check my score.

REG 2/26/14 - 90
BEC 4/08/14 - 92
FAR 5/31/14 - 90
AUD 7/09/14 -

[TheDeedtheGlory]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I am kicking myself today for not doing more research about how much time to spend on each section. After reading on here and seeing different SIM strategies I am getting hindsight pains….I should have put in zeros, I should have done X, Y, ect…well theres nothing to do but get ready for the next one and be glad that I am able to spend the next two months only doing CPA stuff. I am very impressed by some one this board that have the full package of family, work, and other stressors that are able to grind it out and pass.

Until now I was confident that my study package alone was going to guide me though the whole experience, I usually take my concerns to the internet for other matters so I don't know why I put blind faith in the program. Thats not to say it wasn't adequate material, but had I gone out of pocket for it I would be very disappointed.

Glad I joined this community and I hope I can learn and provide some insights as well.

Audit is up July 31 so back to the grind, just have to keep it out of my mind. Waiting until August 4th is going to be painful, hopefully reading about audit quality will numb my concerns.

[M.O.D.]

I don't understand this dilemma. Do you not take practice exams so you can see if you have enough time to complete it?

If I couldn't complete the practice exam, I would not waste time going to Prometric, never mind money, stress, humiliation, etc.

BA Mathematics, UC Berkeley
Certificates in CPA and EA preparation, College of San Mateo
CMA I 420, II 470
FAR 91, AUD Feb 2015 (Gleim self-study)

[stoleway]

@TheDeedtheGlory

Spend more time on your review materials before you schedule to sit, I don't know about how smart you are but 7weeks for FAR is not enough to feel comfortable with the materials. I studied for 4 months and I know that's really extreme but it paid off.

REG -63│ 84!!
BEC- 59│70│ 71 │78!
AUD- 75!
FAR- 87!

Mass-CPA

[Anonymous]

@M.O.D.–She said that she set aside 1 hour for each section during the practice and she didn't have any problems finishing. The practice SIMS aren't as difficult as the Actual SIMS and I could easily go through 7 practice SIMS in one hour. Practice is nothing like the actual exam.

[Anonymous]

I think a good rule is at the minimum leave 1.5 hours for the 4 hours exams. I saw people on here saying leave 2 hours for audit which i did but then i ended being done with 30 minutes left which i could of spent on being more careful in the MCQ.

[Anonymous]

I agree with eliasm6…I think 1.5 hrs is the magic number IMO…but everyone is different. Since OP said she's/he's slow when it comes to taking tests, maybe 2 hours would be best.

[M.O.D.]

I continue to be stymied by this issue. All practice tests (which include SIMS) should be set harder than the actual exam. Otherwise you will never know if you are prepared, thus the course fails to prepare you.

And this is my experience with Gleim CMA and released IMA essays and MCQ questions. They were equal or harder than the actual exam.

If the real exam is harder then one should question the preparation materials, and find appropriate preparation materials. The time spent should be commensurate with the materials, not be a guess.

BA Mathematics, UC Berkeley
Certificates in CPA and EA preparation, College of San Mateo
CMA I 420, II 470
FAR 91, AUD Feb 2015 (Gleim self-study)

[MC Guesser]

Took FAR yesterday and left myself 2.5 hours for SIMS. In retrospect there are 4-5 MCQ which I know for a fact that I missed now and thats probably among the countless others that I missed. It's a tough thing to decide which to “sacrifice” a few MCQ or a few SIMS. When I would be unsure about a MCQ i would put in my best “gut” guess (hence the username) and flag the question and if my gut hadn't changed by the time i returned to the flagged question I wouldn't think twice about it and continue to next testlet.

The 2.5 hours was good for the SIMS because it gave me the opportunity to research the right answer through the codification even for the non-research SIMS such as the journal entries. I would definitely recommend doing that if you find yourself with a few extra minutes for SIMS. My biggest mistake was not drinking any water for two hours before the exam so that I could avoid bathroom breaks. By the SIMS my head was pounding and was clearly dehydrated. IMO its better to take the bathroom break or leave yourself having to hold it in for a bit than to go into the exam devoid of any fluids. Ultimately knowing right off the bat that I got those 4-5 MCQ wrong is leaving me discouraged about the exam but that was my experience.

FAR: 7/1/14 (85)
REG: 7/28/14 (88)
AUD: 8/22/14 (84)
BEC: 8/28/14 (83)

CPAExcel, WileyTB, Ninja Notes and Blitz

[mla1169]

Heres the thing, more preparation is always better–no argument there at all. But to those who profess that you can GUARANTEE success before taking the exam, I am going to respectfully disagree while hoping it works for those who hold to that belief.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Anonymous]

Sorry M.O.D.–I have to disagree. I looked at 3 different review course SIMS and they were a joke in comparison to the real test. My knowledge of the MCQ and searching the AL helped me pass those SIMS, not working other practice SIMS.

[TheDeedtheGlory]

@M.O.D yea as I said, I had no problem with Becker practice exams finishing on time, and it may seem obvious to some on this board that have taken tests and been active on here but for someone like me who only used Becker and their suggestions I don't think its as as cut and dry as you think. I studied 40+ hours a week for the test, I would have had diminished returns if I went much longer. I had no problems with any sim sections I practiced with, so I took the material I was studying as effective. Both practice tests I took I got high 70's and understood my mistakes. It of course is my fault for not doing a bit more research on the matter but the sim practice were not effective to let you know how intense they were.

I think it is a trade off, do you go in and take 30 extra seconds to assure you answer the MCQ question right, or do you fly though and have comfortable time on SIMS. There is no way I could get my MCQ time down to more than maybe 2:45 leaving me 1:25. That would have been enough for me to at least have a good college try at all of them.

[Author]

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