[jeff]

Recommended prep time for FAR is 6-8 weeks @ 20 hours a week.

FAR Study Notes: https://www.another71.com/cpa-review-store/

Study Videos: https://www.another71.com/cpa-exam/cpa-exam-review-video/

[seepee]

anyone please asap

I am using becker FAR and was told that pensions are not important to study is it true?

(Hoping its true)

[FARbehind]

they can give you a lot of pensions on your exam so you need to study it…

aud,bec,reg-passed
far-->75 Done!!!!!
ethics-100

[FARbehind]

elsie,

how did your exam go? harder/easier than expected?

aud,bec,reg-passed
far-->75 Done!!!!!
ethics-100

[MPoni123]

Hello all! How is everybody's studying going?! I feel useless on this site now lol. I definitely still watch all of Jeff's videos though haha.

AUD - 84; REG - 90; BEC - 79; FAR - 75; ALL DONE!!

[FARbehind]

@Mponi and @Anna,

You are not unuseful at all. You are a great resource for us, even emotionally. Please keep looking at the forum and posting comments to encourage us!

aud,bec,reg-passed
far-->75 Done!!!!!
ethics-100

[Anonymous]

For those who English is their second language, my hat goes off to you. It is difficult enough with the tricky wording. I fall for the examiners' tricks every time.

I am in awe!

[Anonymous]

FARBEHIND the exam was such a narrow focus. the only variety i got wAS on the sims. whole topics were not represented. many conceptual questions. very tricky wording. i dont know how those that r not good in english language do so well. i did not even understand the research topics so i coould not even do those. very light on calculations. i only needed like 2 or more formulars………………seriously. mnenomics is a waste of time. either u know it or u dont. there was a major difficult topic for most ppl that was on all my testlet s. that was so weird…. my exam consisted of major topics and a few obsure topics……nothing in between or middle of the road. the sims were bloody and brutal. at first glance i was convinced i had failed but i just had to get myself together and tell myself that i knew them all but was too nervous to get it done with the twist and turn and tricky inserts. in fact u need 2hrs for those sims. especially the first sim

on the mcs i knew a lot of the difficult questions but had to guess and move on bcos it was so very time consuming to relax and solve. they were very short calculations but could not relax enough to actually compute it bcos of the twisted wording ,. kudos to those tht pass FAR

[herbert7890]

English is my second language but I do prefer English over Spanish since I learned all the accounting terms on that language. I'm also pretty good at writing and the communications tab feels to me like a “small bonus” the AICPA gives us. I'm actually scared I wont have those buffer points when I take REG on Jan 2011.

FAR 88 - BEC 86 - AUD 90 - REG 85

[FARbehind]

elsie,

This is an interesting take on the exam. Thanks for sharing your experience. Hopefully, you pass and never have to look at it again.

For me, I think it all depends on how I will structure my last 2 weeks of review now. Just as you say, some things are just waste of time. I am not going to spend a lot of time on simulations that's for sure. For me, studying for simulations is a waste of time. I need to know the core material and aim at doing really well on the mcq. Simulations are always hectic for me and I am sure will be this time as well. My goal is just have time to touch everything on the exam.

One technique I've been using lately and it's helping me is the following. When I work through calculations on the mcq I try to be aware of the traps from the beginning. When I am doing subcalculations I say to myself, aha I am getting this number and this is answer a, this is the first trap. Then I keep on calculating and then I am getting a second number and I see it among the choices and I know this is the second trap. That way I dissected the questions and naturally get to the right answer. For instance, if I am doing bond amortization and they ask me what is the carrying value at the end of the second year, when I go through the first year I look at the answer choices and I see they had the number there and I know what trap they have for me. That way I know I am going in the right direction. If I am not getting the wrong answers in my sub steps something is wrong with my approach. Someone else used this technique and it helped them?

aud,bec,reg-passed
far-->75 Done!!!!!
ethics-100

[Anonymous]

sounds like a great way to study……i wish i had studied with some of these traps at the back of my mind, ….studying for sims is a big waste of time…been relaxed and having plenty of time is the key to doing well on sims……….anyone can figure out the sims if u have sufficient time but under such tense conditions it appears more difficult at first glance…

i think Yaeger does a great job of enabling u understand the concepts …. cramming mnenomics and formulars seemed like a huge time waster… i didnt even bother………….the key is first understanding the question……..

[1gshock]

FARbehind… I totally agree with you. FAR is my last section, and I took it again today (it's the only one I've failed – damn you August) and I realized too late that there was a certain way for me to study that would be most beneficial. Last night around 8pm I decided to write out formulas for the main types of calculations in FAR, because I found that certain calculations were my weakest point. I wish I'd done this sooner because I studied those notes until I went to bed and then again on my way to the exam and I think it helped me as much as anything I'd done in the previous 60-70 hours I'd studied.

Also, as I think Jeff has said, FAR is an inch deep and a mile wide. The problem is, the exam really does seem to be concentrated on select areas and you don't know which areas those are going to be. After failing in August, I did a little extra studying on some areas that were more heavily tested in that exam – and in some cases, I didn't get any questions at all on those areas the second time around, and there were definitely some areas that based on studying you'd expect to see, but weren't touched at all in the exam. It's also rough when you see something during studying where there are say, 2 methods to accounting for something and one is GAAP and used most of the time, and the other is not GAAP and rarely used. So common sense would tell you to focus on the GAAP material more, and then you go into the exam and you get tested on the opposite. FAR truly is a beast.

[Ezhil]

Hi… is there anyone here following becker… ?? i have a few doubts… how important are the concepts in the 2nd chapter ?? i.e :construction, accounting for installment sales, partnerships…. i could not find these in the content specification outline given in the text book….

[herbert7890]

F2 is HUGE in the exam. It's heavily tested and one of my least favorite chapters on FAR. I even prefer pension than F2 materials. My strategy was to read that chapter 3 or 4 times until it all synced up (it will for you too).

FAR 88 - BEC 86 - AUD 90 - REG 85

[no_life]

okay, so i took FAR earlier today for the 3rd time. first time was just a trial, i didnt study. second time i felt okay, but definitely not as prepared as i was today. i walked in there feeling pretty confident – i just knew so much information. i never have trouble with time – i normally have a few minutes to spare because i manage it pretty well. for some reason though today i felt that the ratio of work out questions to conceptual questions was like 5 to 1 (rough guess), and i needed more time on multiple choice questions, leaving me running out of time for simulations. so, my question for you guys. i felt pretty good with the first and third testlets of MC, and alright with the second i guess. i wasnt able to finish my simulations. on the first one i only did like 1 1/2 tabs and the writing, and on the second i did 1 and couldnt even get to the rest really. any miracle stories of passing after a situation like this?

BEC [50, 67, 78]
AUD [64, 81]
FAR [46, 70, 66, 81]
REG [69, 71, 81]

[VA CPA 079]

hey everyone – I am new to the site and the CPA exam. FAR is my first exam scheduled and I'm taking it on November 23rd. eek!

I am using Becker and I'm about the finish up lecture 7. Since everyone at work seems to have a CPA already, I'm hoping to use the site to know there are people out there studying and trying to keep their sanity like I am!

Does anyone think there is a good section to take right after FAR? In terms of section material, etc. I currently work in tax (doing tax work for non-profits – which means hopefully lecture 8 of FAR isnt too bad!) so I am thinking REG could be a good next step. Do people usually wait to do FAR last?

[Author]

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