[pdxcpa]

I’ve been lurking on this site for awhile now without ever registering, so I would first like to thank you all and Jeff for this forum. Super thanks.

I just found out I failed FAR for the third time. I have passed AUD and BEC but cannot seem to get past FAR. For the last go around I studied for 3 months using a combination of Bisk, answering tons of ExamMatrix and CPAReviewforfree MQs, and going through hundreds of handwritten flash cards from study notes. Going into the last exam I felt confident that I understood the material and felt good about my test experience, only to find out I was nowhere close to passing once again. I did well in Gov’t Accounting but weaker in the other areas. I used to be stronger in the essay portion, but now they don’t have that part on the new tests. That didn’t help this time, either.

Anyway, in regards to studying, I don’t think that this is a quantity issue, but perhaps quality. Other than giving up, which I’m not going to do, I wondered if anyone out there had any suggestions on how I could gain 10+ points and finally pass FAR this fall? I have to pass by November, or I’ll lose AUD. Thanks, all.

[Anonymous]

What I found difficult about FAR is the amount of material you need to know. And it’s so easy to concentrate on the bigger topics like Inventory, Government Accounting, and Bonds and it’s very easy to ignore smaller topics like Derivatives, Partnerships, and Debt Restructure. In the past, I made the mistake of spending so much time on the big topics and not enough time on the smaller topics. Then, when I took the exam, so many questions seemed foreign to me and I ended up guessing my way through half the exam. That’s the main reason why I failed FAR so many times. With FAR, you really need to know ALL the topics unfortunately because in my experience, they like to throw in so many questions from the smaller topics. I don’t mean that they give 10 questions on Debt Restructure; I just mean that you’ll get a question or two on each topic that you most likely overlooked because we have a tendency to think that they’re not that important.

With FAR, you need to give yourself A LOT of time to study. This is why I strongly recommend that people take this exam first. That way you don’t have that 18 month limit to worry about. Study for about 3-4 months @ 3-4 hours a day. Go over every module in the Wiley book and learn as much as you can. Chances are, you’ll keep forgetting things due to the enormous amount of material. But that’s ok. Just keep going over the topics again and again and eventually it will stick. I highly recommend the Gleim software so you can do lots of practice questions and as you keep doing more questions, the software will show you what areas you need to concentrate more on.

Good luck! You can do this! I almost gave up due to this beast, but I made it and am halfway there!

[IwannaBaCPA]

I am so sorry to hear of your struggles…FAR is a beast 🙁

From reading hundreds and hundreds of posts on here (I think I have spent more time on here than actually studying!!), I can suggest the following, but of course every single person and every single exam is different:

1. Change your study habits and entire approach to learning the material.

*Just simply studying “harder” does not seem to help all that much, especially for someone like you who has already studied your butt off! If you keep approaching the material in the same way, you will likely keep ending up with the same unpleasant results 🙁

2. What works for 1 person does not always work for the next.

*I think the same can be said for what works for 1 exam does not always work for another…

3. Time Management!

*Both in planning your study sessions and DURING the exam. Set a schedule and try your best to stick with it…I know life happens and this is hard, but getting back on track is key. You will learn so much more in two 4 hour sessions than one 8 hour session…your brain needs time to process! This was my big struggle…

4. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!

*Doing tons of practice questions and SIMS is so very important. And the key to this actually helping you is to try your best to understand the “why” of both the correct and incorrect answers.

I am glad to hear you will not give up…keep at it and you WILL PASS! I wish you the best of luck 🙂

BEC: 79 - April 2011
FAR: 78 - May 2011
AUD: 81 - May 2012
REG: 79 - October 2012
Ethics: Passed - March 2013
I am finally DONE!

[Anonymous]

I've taken FAR 3 times now and BEC 6 times. I passed both AUD and REG the first time. I decided I am going to take a break and then come back and start fresh with FAR and then BEC, then the other two as I've lost credit for those now.

[pdxcpa]

Thanks all for the support. It means a lot. And thank you all for the tips. I have REG coming up in a few weeks but then after that I am back to hitting FAR hard. I am going to change up my study methods for sure, because obviously what I've been doing in the past isn't working for me. I need to find a way to not get tricked by the questions. I honestly feel like I know the general material but get tripped up by the “hidden words” or phrases in a MCQ that throw me off and make it the exception to the rule. Or I can get it down to 2 answers but pick the wrong one. I guess that means I need to work at the minutia of each area for next time. Fun, fun, fun. Good luck all and thanks again for the support and suggestions. It is much appreciated.

[Author]

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