16 days till FAR – last section! - Page 4

Zieba – FOCUS! With regards to Becker vs Wiley MCQs…They were fairly similar – I've used Becker about 90 percent of my studying and I got a trial of WTB and I was still scoring 80+ percent…The Wiley sims were not impressive in my opinion. If I had full access, I'd switch back and forth…

In previous exams(AUD, BEC, and REG), my questions have typically been more like the questions I get with Becker, which rarely try to trick me and are very overt with the information they supply. I think I've seen some straight up exact same q's.

Holy sh*t! There seem to be a lot of us in the same boat. WHY DID WE LEAVE FAR FOR LAST? WHY? Oh that's right, we know why. Sigh.

Neo – your reply is appreciated, somehow knowing someone else is kept appraised of your progress helps. Do check in here over the next few days and report back, and/or vent. Also, are you saying Wiley questions tend to trick you more often?

Andriana – I would be of no help. I am past discussing concepts, at this point I just want to get as many “looks” at how it is asked and what is asked.

I really felt practicing SIMS contributed to my understanding of the material. After working through each chapter I did not feel I understood the material until I started my two week review. The SIMS, which I avoided prior to the two week review, really helped me piece things together. I did do MCQs until I thought I would puke everyday leading to the exam. I focused on my weak areas and used the book and SIMS to reinforce those areas….When I began studying a lot of people recommended focusing on MCQs and avoiding SIMS…Avoiding SIMS was almost my undoing in FAR, luckily I realized the importance of practicing them prior to the exam! In my experience they were instrumental to my passing…I know that is not true for everyone but you should evaluate that assertion for yourself instead of basing your opinion on what works for others….

My experience leads me to say that you should know NFP, Gov't accounting, and pensions inside and out…There were an array of questions touching on many different topics; however, I felt my particular test seemed to focus on about five topics over and over again…I don't remember specifics from the test (and I couldn't disclose them even if I did) but what I do remember is that when I left the exam I remember feeling bad about having not spent more time reviewing NFP, Gov't accounting, and pensions. I also remember being upset that it didn't test me on all the subjects I worked so hard to commit to memory…just the same topics over and over with a few other topics thrown in here and there….

This is in comparison to my BEC experience where it felt like everything was equally tested!

I think journal entries are essential for passing the exam.

When practicing MCQ think of the appropriate journal entry for the correct answer.

Pension accounting is my least favorite by far, but I have resolved myself to redoing that chapter in particular over the weekend. Governmental and NFP is my strongest by far, probably because it's more conceptual rather than fishing bits on information out and arranging them to solve mathematically. I'm really comfortable with the pass keys and fact-matrices in that chapter.

You would think leases are so easy. The amort chart is always the same, the rules for oper/cap are relatively easy, but the way they present this information on the exam is relatively intimidating.

Sonygal, did you practice SIMS out of Becker, or draw upon some other source?

Zieba – I had more “Oh Duh RTFQ” moments when i was doing Wiley and a couple questions where I wasn't sure on the time frame.

I can't say I find anything impossible to do….I know what way the information fits together, but I sometimes have a hard time deriving information from the facts. I'm just brushing up on journal entries. On the subject of Becker vs Wiley, Becker seems to cover more large conceptual stuff and the Wiley questions seem to love the finer details. I've come to enjoy them both…

Most people say doing MCQs over and over is the way to go. I find in the final week or so leading up it is best to set them aside and focus on the text, the concepts, the formulas, and allow yourself go through your book/notes and see if you understand from cover to cover the main points. There are almost an infinite number of ways a concept could be tested in a question, but if you can get a solid understanding of the core material, you'll feel much better going in and can handle most questions on any topic. Doing questions over and over isn't necessarily the solution for everyone and can give you a false positive on your study standing.

Hi guys!

Checking in. I put Wiley down for a while and started doing Becker progress exams on the first three chapters (ad nauseam). I also sat down to a few SIMS and really started to think about the concepts on a deeper level. The one where one converts from cash basis to accrual via J/E's was particularly interesting.

Tonight it's all about pensions. Hitting Chapter 6 (Becker), doing all the HWK and practice questions, have 6 hours for that. Then I'm going to write out the PBO formulas on large sheets and put them up in front of where I sit so every time I look up they're there.

Early this coming week it's leases….I hate leases, I know nothing about leases, aside from the basic choice of factor. I hope that going over a topic I know nothing about will pay dividends as opposed to polishing others. I keep my Becker progress tests to 25 questions, so I can review and understand without getting lost in long session.

Everyone else on track? found their track? has some sort of plan of attack?