[Anonymous]

This was my 2nd time taking FAR and I went from a 51 to a 59. Granted the first time I took the exam I crammed the material and had lucky guesses but the 2nd time I took it I felt comfortable with that material and really focused on understanding the material. I used Becker both times and re-watched the lectures and did the homework. I also bought ninja notes and read through them a few times but did not re-write them like they recommended. I do not know what to do and would like to take the exam before busy season in January. Any suggestions? Should I just wait until after busy season or try to get a good study session in during the holidays and what new materials should I use to study?

Needing motivation…

[Anonymous]

Hi browneyedgirly73, sorry to hear that you need to do another FAR exam.

I just passed FAR this window and thought I had to retake it in January because my exam tested ALL my weak areas and I didn't have any confidence of passing it. but I was lucky enough to pass.

i also use Becker lecture and passmaster but it's 2010 version, so i supplemented it with Wiley 2011 test bank CD which I think it's great.

Also, for me, i only watched the video once in order to mark the important notes the instructors given, after that, I preferred to read the book. i made notes on my own and it's in the same order as Becker lecture so that it's easier for me to remember and my notes were the parts I thought were important and I couldn't remember very well, otherwise, making tons of notes was too time-consuming for me.

I did not use any final review or cram courses.

one thing i really regretted is that i only did half of the Wiley test bank questions. if i had done all of them at least once, i would feel much more confident.

Good luck for your journey of being a CPA and i am done with CPA exam!

[Anonymous]

Hi cocacpa,

I was wondering if you had a link to the WILEY CD that you used? I bought some sort of wiley online test bank and started to use those questions as more practice but didn't know if there was a separate cd that I could buy that has more questions or study material.

Thanks

[GirlAcct74]

Hi Browneyegirly73,

On the advice from the ladies who run Rock The CPA Exam blog, I downloaded the test bank from Gleim. It was about $55 and was definitely more helpful than the Wiley Test Bank. The Gleim software does automatic updates when new material is released to be tested. It was more than adequate for FAR.

I failed FAR in May with a 56 and just recently passed with a 77. The software doesn't have the simulations; but I used what was in the Wiley book to answer those.

Good luck to you.

FAR 56, 77 (credit gone - THANKS BEC!), 73, 74, 79!!!!
REG 65, 65, 75
AUD 59, 64, 70, 70, 80
BEC 68, 73, 78

[Raf25]

@GirlAcct74

I just got my score for FAR a 61 I know horrible.

After seeing your score how did u go from 56 to 77 on FAR?

I'm just trying to come up with a plan for next round btw I used Becker

FAR: 61 Retake Jan 2012
AUD: Feb 2012
BEC: ?
REG: ?

[slugger991]

browneyedgirly73,

I only used Becker to pass FAR on first try with an 89 and I didn't really have a good foundation prior to studying with Becker. I mean I did take accounting courses but let's say I just kind of slacked off and got by. There were a lot of materials on FAR that I was unfamiliar with.

Here was my method:

1. Watched and understood the lectures with captions ON (I only watched the lecture once, but made sure I highlighted/underlined/checkmarked every single detail the instructor went over, and paused the lecture if they were going too fast). Of course I didn't grasp all the material when I was watching the lectures but I tried to be in the same ballpark. At this point, the material was pretty foggy to say the least.

2. Read the sections on the book that I ONLY highlighted/checkmarked/underlined, then wrote all the highlighted/checkmarked/underlined onto a separate notebook. Writing this information out really helped me absorb and understand the material.

3.Read the section again, and reinforcing this with the separate notes on the notebook that you made in step 2. By this time, I was memorizing the material.

4. Did the homework. I did not do any supplementary problems but made sure I did all the ‘main' homework problems. I was scoring mostly in the 65-80 mark on the first try.

5. Did all the homework problems again, but this time I also focused on WHY I got the problems right or wrong. For the problems that I felt that were important (even the ones I got right), I copied and pasted the explanations on Becker onto a word document. Use ctrl+A+C for this, because you can't directly highlight with your mouse on the Becker interface.

6. After going through step 1-5 routine for all the sections, I did a ‘chapter review,' where I read through the entire chapter (section by section), reinforced the reading with my notes and also read through the word document, highlighting important key points.

7. Did the simulation, printing out sections I got wrong/or felt were important.

*About a week before the test, I did what could be called a ‘cram review' in which I did a daily ‘chapter review' as noted in step 6, covering a chapter a day. By this time, I was re-absorbing all the information I could have possibly forgotten and I was developing a good logic for the material.

*I did not do any final exams, because I felt that the time could be better used to review the materials and re do problems that I felt were important. Additionally, I didn't want to cover any more problems than I needed to because I felt that I covered all the bases by doing the problems on the homework.

That's it. I think the most important thing about these tests is developing a good study plan because the volume of the material is overwhelming to say the least. So hopefully, I gave some good pointers. GOOD LUCK

AUD - 97
BEC - 87
FAR - 89
REG - 85

[Anonymous]

You might want to try a Cram. Because there is so much material to cover in FAR, I felt like the Cram sort of wrapped everything up one last time before the exam.

[Author]

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