[kschepp789]

Hey guys. I am fairly new to this forum and I need your advice. I recently graduated in May with my masters in accounting (what else?). I start my Staff 1 Audit position at E&Y on September 18th. I had originally planned on doing the Becker Fast Pass this summer in order to take (and hopefully pass) all 4 sections of the CPA exam by August 31. That way, I would be done before I started working full time. Well, I was off to a great start. May 13th started my first Becker class for BEC. I had approximately 3 weeks total to study for BEC. Like I said, I started out really strong, studying 12 or more hours per day (exhausting), and fortunately, I was able to pass (barely) with a 77. Thank goodness! Next up was FAR. Unfortunately, it seems like I had lost all momentum. FAR was 10x harder to study for than BEC, and each chapter was taking WAY longer for me to complete and actually feel like I understood what I was doing. I was originally scheduled to take FAR on July 6th. With the date approaching (and still being on F3), I panicked, and decided to change my test date to July 12th. Then, with that date approaching and barely making any progress, it is now scheduled for July 31. I first thought I would just take FAR and AUD, and leave REG for when I’m working. However, it is now July 18th and I feel as if I could use so much more time studying for FAR. I don’t know what my problem is, but FAR seems absolutely impossible to me.

To get to the point, what would you guys do in my position? I currently have FAR scheduled for July 31 and AUD scheduled for August 31. I will have to take REG sometime while I’m working. Do you think I should keep it like this and take a shot at FAR? Or should I extend it, focus all of my time and effort on passing FAR before starting work, and then worry about AUD and REG while working?

Any advice is appreciated! I feel lost!

[StephAV]

So where are you at now in your FAR studies, still on F3? You have just about 2 weeks left… I'd try to get through the material with at least a week of review. My test is Monday… This last week I'm working on problem areas… Doing practice tests…. I think your plan of trying to get the exam done before you start work is a very good plan. I know when I started in public accounting (many years ago) I did have some down time in the beginning when it was just too much work for people to show me how to do things. You might experience that… The sooner you get this done the better! And you have one down, yay!

FAR - 7/13 - 72, 11/13- 74, 2/14- 82!!! Best score ever (for me)!!!
BEC - 1/14 - 75!!! Perfect score! First Pass! YAY!!!
AUD - 8/14 - 80!!!
REG - 5/14 - 72, 10/14 - 66, 1/15 - 78 - DONE FOREVER!!!
I did 5 of the UNA and CPAExcel classes to earn units.

[kschepp789]

Unfortunately, I will only be finishing up F4 today! I don't understand why these chapters take so much longer. To me, the material in FAR is much more difficult than BEC. I am hoping I will have down time when I first start at EY to finish up these exams! I am starting to really panic! 🙁

I also just purchased the NINJA notes for FAR a couple of days ago. I am hoping to have some time to rewrite them as I have read that this has helped many people.

[StephAV]

I am not using Becker, but it sounds like you are going to have to postpone… How many chapters are there? I think you want to allow yourself at least a week of final review…

FAR - 7/13 - 72, 11/13- 74, 2/14- 82!!! Best score ever (for me)!!!
BEC - 1/14 - 75!!! Perfect score! First Pass! YAY!!!
AUD - 8/14 - 80!!!
REG - 5/14 - 72, 10/14 - 66, 1/15 - 78 - DONE FOREVER!!!
I did 5 of the UNA and CPAExcel classes to earn units.

[Anonymous]

So I take it that you've been studying FAR since early June? If that's so and you're still on F-4, I'd definitely reschedule. I'm taking FAR now too, and it's definitely the most challenging test IMO. July 31 would be way too tight and you would have little time to review the older chapters.

I'm guessing you know about the rescheduling fees, but I would recommend about 1 month to study for audit. I wouldn't recommend trying to cram audit in before end of August.

[montaguy]

I just took FAR (today) and was in a similar situation as you. I found audit studying to be much easier and was not prepared for the amount of commitment FAR took. One week ago I rescheduled, adding four days to my plan. A small amount of time will work wonders for your confidence and knowledge and will NOT ruin your over all exam schedule (as I thought it would have).

Hope it helps!

[Having To Eek My Way Thru Life]

I'm in a similar position of trying to complete all of my exams before my start date. I passed BEC in Apr while finishing school. I gave myself about 2 months to study for FAR. Now I'm taking REG (I'm on R-8 in Becker) Aug 1 and AUD Aug 26.

I'd say postpone audit and really prep for FAR and REG to have a better chance of passing. If you only on F-4 you still have some pretty heavy material to dig into…govt/nfp, pensions, and leases.

[kschepp789]

Thanks for the help guys! I think I will definitely reschedule. I would much rather pass FAR the first time and not have to worry about taking FAR while working. I am really hoping AUD and REG are a little easier to study for. I have heard from multiple people that AUD wasn't too bad for them, so I am hoping I will have the same experience.

Good luck to all of you! Seems like you are all very motivated! Thanks for the responses. I needed a little kick in the butt to get myself in gear again!

Thanks again and good luck!!

[Anonymous]

I am in the same boat (well almost) I just graduated and i am working Big 4 come the fall. I began studying for FAR the first week of June doing the the two lectures a week as recommended by Becker, and originally had my test scheduled for July 19th (which would have given me about two weeks of final review). The lectures in FAR, especially with Becker, take a very long time to go through, and i found myself behind schedule. I pushed it back to July 31, which will give me about two and a half weeks of final review from the time i finished up F10.

I know becker has the “review before final exam” thing in there where you redo mpq and sims and take practice tests. Idk about any other becker users but it takes me a whole day of studying to fully review a lecture (F1, F2 etc). i guess i learn a little slower than others, but if you want to review completely using the method becker provides in self study, you will want to give yourself some time to go over everything!

Remember, everyone is different and at the end of the day go with what you're comfortable with!

[Author]

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