[acct_is_accrual_profession]

I just started studying for my first exam (FAR) last Monday using Becker. Because I live in California (=slow, slow processing time), I haven’t yet scheduled my exam. Assuming I’d want more time for FAR, I allowed myself one week per chapter. Last week I watched all of the lectures, read through the chapter, did the homework and supplemental questions, but still did not feel 100% regarding the material. Is this feeling normal? Should I feel 100% before moving to the next chapter, or is that not realistic? I put in 24 hours of study last week and am guessing that part of this bleh feeling is that I haven’t had a ton of time to let material sink in (through use of flashcards, practice….)

Please advise! Thanks 🙂

FAR - April 2011 - Passed
AUD - May 2011 - Passed
REG - July 2011 - Passed
BEC - August 2011 - Passed

[Manderz]

I am also studying for FAR with Becker. In my opinion, I would move on to the next chapter…. You will probably never feel 100% with the material, it is too voluminous! If you did the lectures and MCQ I would definitely move on. The problem with trying to master the material is by the time you get to the last chapters, you will forget everything you learned in F-1. You can always go back and review your trouble areas when you are done going through the book and lectures.

I am told that Jeff's FAR NINJA review works really well, in there, he suggests starting with just going through the lectures first, taking intensive notes, then doing countless MCQ, followed by re-writing your notes to help you “re-learn” the materials, and then finally everything should come together for you!

I bought the FAR NINJA review & I am currently following Jeff's plan. Everyone seems to think it works really well so why not give it a try? 🙂

Good luck, FAR is a beast!!

[Office Space]

Take this with a grain of salt…

Studied 10 days after 10/15 and did a healthy choice of multiple choice (800-1500 problems IIRC)

Reviewed the sim questions and answers.

Do your normal exam routine (Rockstar energy drink halfway through)

FAR sucks, it's 4.5 hours of computational bologna with some NFP & governmental thrown in for good measure (of further bologna.)

You may get to a point halway through when you don't care what the answer is, you just want to leave the test. Stop, regroup and think “two hours of hell or retake this entire crappy test again NO MATTER WHAT”

And most importantly, TELL EVERYONE THAT ASKS YOU THAT YOU FEEL LIKE YOU FAILED. If you pass, yay. If you fail, well then you didn't feel that much more pressured to pass.

Good luck, it's tough but is passable. I would propose Becker for the multiple-choice questions alone. That is primarily how I studied for the exams. The tests for the AICPA (with the exception of FAR at quite a few points) were easier than the Becker questions.

And finally, REPEAL THE UPDATED 1099 REQUIREMENTS CONGRESS.

"We are such nerds, we're looking up money laundering in the dictionary." - Office Space

Signed,
(Insert name here)

[Anonymous]

@ acct_is_accrual_profession:

I read this once on this site and it proved to be very very useful so I hope it helps you as well.

FAR has far too much material and by the time you get to Chapter.9 you would've forgotten Ch.1. Someone suggested that she did the passmaster questions after watching the videos and reading the chapter but left the supplementary questions for later. So this is what I did:

Week 1 = Chapter 1 (Videos+Text+Making Notes+Passmaster Questions of Chapter 1)

Week 2 = Chapter 2 (Videos+Text+Making Notes+Passmaster Questions of Chapter 2) + Ch.1 Supplementary Qs

And so on and so forth! It really helped cause I kept revising previous material but at the same time did not spend too much time on the old stuff and kept moving on!

Hope you figure out a way that works for you! Good Luck! 🙂

[Anonymous]

I have a question, why BECKER could review chapters so fast?I have a friend. She is using becker as review program for FAR and we almost started in the same time in Jan. I am so confused how she could finish reviewing 6 modules wihtin 10 days. For me, I dont think its possible when I use Yaeger review program, even I spent 3-4 hrs on study every day.

[NeedToFocus]

I'm not sure for the Yaeger, I just started using the program because with Becker I failed. And hopefully Yaeger will work for me, but I'm trying to get a steady pace of how I like to study and what works for me. Any ideas or helpful hints I'm all for it.

[Nicole]

My advice is similar to @Office Space's advice. I did over 2000 MCQs. I learned so much by doing the MCQ. I did some while studying each individual chapter, and I did more in the last week before the exam to freshen it back up. I found the MCQs in my practice were very similar to the actual exam questions. Also know the journal entries. I don't know how the new TBS are, but my sims in 2010 were nothing but a bunch of journal entries. And read Jeff's notes. They do a great job to sum everything up at the end.

Florida - Using Bisk, Jeff's Notes, and CPAreviewforfree.com

FAR - 87 (08/14/10) AUD - 97 (11/12/10)
BEC - 83 (02/26/11) REG - 90 (05/31/11)

[Author]

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