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January 3, 2013 at 7:57 pm #175516

Anonymous
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Hi everyone! I’ve been studying for FAR since late October (10 weeks total prep time), and I am just completing my second pass through the Becker materials (7 weeks to go through everything once, then three weeks to re-read the book and re-do the MCQs). I took the day off of work tomorrow for my final prep (exam is the day after), and I will be doing a practice final (was hoping to do it earlier, but that is how life is sometimes).

I feel like I have done everything I could have done to get ready, yet I still feel under-prepared. Government, IFRS, GAAP, and Not-for-profit accounting are trying to blend themselves together in my mind and I am definitely challenged with keeping everything in its proper bucket, and all of the rules straight. For those of you who have faced this FAR beast before, did you feel overwhelmed a few days before the exam? I’m trying my best to convince myself that this feeling of brain saturation is completely normal, that I’m in pretty good shape, and that now is time to give one last huge effort. Any thoughts from the community?

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January 3, 2013 at 8:56 pm #391873

mypetmeatball
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I have no advice of value to give, so sorry in advance. But just out of curiosity, did you feel the same way before your previous two exams? I think you know better than anybody how justified your worries are, you just need to look at your past experiences as objectively as possible. I'm guessing this has become somewhat of a “pre-exam ritual” for you.

January 3, 2013 at 9:23 pm #391874

Anonymous
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Fair question. I think I felt better before the other two I took- probably felt better about BEC than I did REG. No doubt I was extremely nervous for both. I think for the other two I felt like I had the details down a little better.

As of today, me feeling is that I have a decent big picture grasp on FAR, but what get's me concerned are the MCQ's that focus on the micro level (i.e. is the Income Statement for a not for profit called a Statement of Activities or a Statement of Changes in Net Assets). I think it boils down to what everyone else has been saying- the biggest challenge to FAR is volume, volume, volume.

Regardless of whether I am as prepared as I have been in the past- my strategy is the same going forward- work hard and get a good night's sleep beforehand. I'm just trying to sharpen my “mental edge” so to speak.

So, for those of you who have taken FAR, how prepared did you feel going in? Did you find that you were better prepared than you thought once you hit the exam itself?

January 4, 2013 at 12:32 am #391875

SeePeeAyy
Member

Yes. I was getting real anxious the week before. I was mad that I chose my test time to be at 5pm, because that day dragged forever.

I actually took the day off of studying before and during my exam day just to relax and refresh my mind. I did put in 40 hours of review during the last week, especially on my weaker topics (GOV/NFP/IFRS). As far as going into the exam I knew I put in a lot of effort and hard work but I STILL did not feel prepared, as I'm sure many feel. During the test I was actually really upset because there was one topic I saw frequently that I should have studied harder. I definitely thought I failed during and after.

Goodluck I am sure you will pass.

BTW do you have any BEC tips, I take it in 11 days.

January 4, 2013 at 12:57 am #391876

momto5
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@badger_2012

I think it is completely normal with FAR! That was my first exam and I was reviewing and doing flashcards right up until I walked into the testing center, feeling like everything was jumbled up and I wouldn't remember anything! Once I sat down and began, it didn't seem quite so bad and I just imagined I was doing another Becker test. Just make sure not to use too much time on MCQ's so that you save at least 90 minutes for SIMS. There were a couple questions I started checking and rechecking and then remembered that I need to move on, which was difficult for me. But you will feel much better skipping through a couple MCQ's if you have to and having enough time for the SIMS than you will if you are trying to rush through SIMS with the clock ticking. Good luck!

FAR - 92 (4/27/12)
AUD - 96 (7/17/12)
BEC - 92 (8/30/12)
REG - 91 (11/12/12)

January 4, 2013 at 4:10 pm #391877

Anonymous
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Thanks everyone for your responses! That definitely makes me feel like I'm not alone in this feeling. Time to make the most of this final day of prep!

@SeePeeAyy:

My best advice for BEC is as follows:

Writing: Don't fret about what the topic is. Read the question carefully and answer every part of what they are asking (it's easy to miss pieces of what the examiners are asking for). I had two of my three writing tasks come from my weakest area, and I know I wasn't getting the technical stuff right, but I kept my responses focused on what the examiners were asking for.

MCQ: My impression was that as the test wore on, the questions didn't did particularly harder, just trickier. They would plant distracter information and things like that. Just read the questions with a sharp eye and watch out for those potential traps.

As for studying for it, I felt that balance served me well going in. I spent equal amounts of time on all the Becker chapters, except for economics (which I taught for three semesters in grad school, so I spent less time) and variances (which I hadn't experienced before so I needed more time), and that seemed to work out ok. Also, I still felt dazed and slightly ill inside walking out- so if you don't feel great going out, I don't think that's a bad sign at all.

January 4, 2013 at 4:22 pm #391878

Anonymous
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I was feeling so scattered and overwhelmed three days before that I almost rescheduled my exam – again. Once the exam started I was honestly shocked at how much I was able to remember. I had absolutely no feeling of confidence going into the exam. Sounds like you put the time in – so just take a deep breath and get it over with. 🙂 Good luck!

January 5, 2013 at 3:10 am #391879

Anonymous
Inactive

Thanks CPA_Driven!

Just wrapping up the final hour of prep, then it's off to a good night's sleep and then test time!
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