[Jolly Roger]

I wanted to post something because after reading through a lot of the posts on here, people often seem to be negative or dismissive when someone asks if its possible to study for a minimal amount of time and pass a test. But lets be honest – life happens! Its not always easy to carve out hours and hours of time for studying over the course of a month or two, so if you find yourself having to cram just know that it is VERY POSSIBLE to pass these tests with a small window of study time.

For some “LIFE HAPPENS” reasons I was unable to study until about 8 days before my FAR exam that was on Saturday June 6. I was fortunate enough to have plenty of PTO saved up at my public accounting firm (COVID=no vacations) which offered me the flexibility to take off the week leading up to the exam. If you are unable to do so this method is probably not possible unless you can focus off 2-3 hours of sleep a night…

I started the Friday 8 days before by watching as many lectures as I could on 1.5x speed. I worked my way through the first 8 chapters of Becker (so no governmental yet) until the Wednesday evening 3 days before the exam. This time was all spent watching lectures, and doing 10 random MCQ’s from each module. If I got 8/10 I moved on, if I did worse I marked that module and made sure to go back later to do more. This took 6 days of studying about 10-12 hours a day.

On Thursday morning, I began reading through the 2 chapters on Government, not watching any lectures. This stuff is weird for anyone who doesn’t do it, so I just focused on understanding the basics plus memorizing the types of funds and their function, and some of the rules on presenting the financial statements. This took about 10 hours and I called it quits.

On Friday morning, I did a few SIMS in areas where I was weak, and went back and did an additional 10 MCQs on all the modules where I did poorly. I reviewed for about 3 hours, then took a practice exam. Got a 65, then went back and reviewed all the questions and reinforced certain chapters where I did poorly. I then reviewed the Gov stuff that evening, and did some more MCQ’s on those areas where I did poorly.

On Saturday morning (my test was in the afternoon), I took the 2nd practice exam slowly and reviewed all my answers and why I got specific questions wrong. I didn’t finish the exam completely, but it was good to apply what I had in my head to some new questions. I quickly reviewed my answers and headed to Prometric. After the test I felt like I had completely failed, and had to do the last testlet in 20 minutes. I filled out what I knew for sure on those last 3 SIMs without doing much math, and guessed on the rest of them. I got my score of 79 back yesterday and was very surprised… but who cares I passed!

Of course not everyone has the luxury of having a week where you can drop everything and cram, but for anyone that does, there is hope! Don’t be discouraged, focus on what you can do for the next few hours and get it done then move on. The more time you spend anxiously worrying about how little time you have the less time you have for studying. Hopefully this helps you if you are in the same boat I was in, you can do this! Best of luck to everyone.

[Diesel]

That's an awesome story. Thanks for sharing. If you were ever asked in an interview to name a time when you had perseverance despite all the odds weighing against you… I would hope you'd say it was this exam. It had to have taken a lot more than just knowledge for you to pass, you also have to consider your confidence and your resilience. Your week of hard work really paid off here. (And Becker's review program must be darn good.)

[Jolly Roger]

Thanks Diesel!

HA! The confidence was definitely wavering after the exam, but I appreciate the kind words. Hopefully this helps others that have been told they can't do it gain some motivation.

[Diesel]

Your story of passing so quickly is definitely the most incredible I've heard! Do you just have BEC remaining? Planning to knock that one out in 5 days this time? Just kidding. But best of luck to you in the future!

[Recked]

Impressive story. Would have loved to save myself 250+ hours.
I was out of school for 15 years, so I doubt this would have worked for me, but I guess it depends on the luck of the draw, if you get a test with all the stuff you know.
Well done!! Get that last one done! so close.

[Snakonzus]

Jolly Roger wrote:

I wanted to post something because after reading through a lot of the posts on here, people often seem to be negative or dismissive when someone asks if its possible to study for a minimal amount of time and pass a test. But lets be honest – life happens! Its not always easy to carve out hours and hours of time for studying over the course of a month or two, so if you find yourself having to cram just know that it is VERY POSSIBLE to pass these tests with a small window of study time.

For some “LIFE HAPPENS” reasons I was unable to study until about 8 days before my FAR exam that was on Saturday June 6. I was fortunate enough to have plenty of PTO saved up at my public accounting firm (COVID=no vacations) which offered me the flexibility to take off the week leading up to the exam. If you are unable to do so this method is probably not possible unless you can focus off 2-3 hours of sleep a night…

I started the Friday 8 days before by watching as many lectures as I could on 1.5x speed. I worked my way through the first 8 chapters of Becker (so no governmental yet) until the Wednesday evening 3 days before the exam. This time was all spent watching lectures, and doing 10 random MCQ’s from each module. If I got 8/10 I moved on, if I did worse I marked that module and made sure to go back later to do more. This took 6 days of studying about 10-12 hours a day.

On Thursday morning, I began reading through the 2 chapters on Government, not watching any lectures. This stuff is weird for anyone who doesn’t do it, so I just focused on understanding the basics plus memorizing the types of funds and their function, and some of the rules on presenting the financial statements. This took about 10 hours and I called it quits.

On Friday morning, I did a few SIMS in areas where I was weak, and went back and did an additional 10 MCQs on all the modules where I did poorly. I reviewed for about 3 hours, then took a practice exam. Got a 65, then went back and reviewed all the questions and reinforced certain chapters where I did poorly. I then reviewed the Gov stuff that evening, and did some more MCQ’s on those areas where I did poorly.

On Saturday morning (my test was in the afternoon), I took the 2nd practice exam slowly and reviewed all my answers and why I got specific questions wrong. I didn’t finish the exam completely, but it was good to apply what I had in my head to some new questions. I quickly reviewed my answers and headed to Prometric. After the test I felt like I had completely failed, and had to do the last testlet in 20 minutes. I filled out what I knew for sure on those last 3 SIMs without doing much math, and guessed on the rest of them. I got my score of 79 back yesterday and was very surprised… but who cares I passed!

Of course not everyone has the luxury of having a week where you can drop everything and cram, but for anyone that does, there is hope! Don’t be discouraged, focus on what you can do for the next few hours and get it done then move on. The more time you spend anxiously worrying about how little time you have the less time you have for studying. Hopefully this helps you if you are in the same boat I was in, you can do this! Best of luck to everyone.

Thank you for sharing your experience! It's encouraging to hear that cramming can work. I'm glad you passed despite the time crunch. I'll definitely check out additional lectures, consultations, and resources to help prepare. Your story gives me hope. Best of luck with your future!

[amelia]

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[Author]

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