[jeff]

NINJA Study Notes, Flashcards, and Audio: https://www.another71.com/products-page/

Wiley Software: https://www.another71.com/wiley-cpa-software/

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS) | Another71 | NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE

[momo5]

Thanks a lot for all of the help and good luck to you yankeeaccountant. I'm giving the test for the Virginia state board and I believe it's part of NASBA so I'm guessing I can either go to the state website or the NASBA one.

Long wait ahead.

[magster]

yankeeaccountant – you have a great weekend as well. I will not open a book this weekend (or so I say). We are going camping and I promised to leave the books at home, nobody said anything about those little orange cards. I am using Gleim but still have Becker with the free updates for 2011. My Becker stuff runs out middle of June (that shows how long I have been at it). Might as well utilize what I have and when hubby naps in the afternoon in the tent, I can sit by the lake and still get a few definitions in.

Anyhow – everyone out there in the CPA testing world…enjoy the weekend!!! Now I need to get back to work lol, been spending most of my day on here instead of doing what I get paid for.

REG - Passed
FAR - Passed
BEC - Passed
AUD - 2-25-12 PASSED - DONE !!!!!!!! WOOHOO

*** One day I will get my life back.... maybe today is the day ***

[yankeeaccountant]

hey guys,

a quick question–for those of you who recently took FAR, did you find the testbank in Wiley or Becker preferable? I always use a few testbanks. Seems easy to start to memorize the Becker ones. Did anybody feel like one or the other was more difficult overall?

thanks…..just wondering.

@magster–have fun camping. orange cards are legal. no worries!

[kb24]

I liked Wiley better for FAR. I found the questions more difficult and better preparation for the exam. The exam was extremely challenging, but I felt pretty good coming out of it. I'll find out in a month if my feeling was justified.

Good luck on your trifecta. I did all 4 this test window, and it's so weird now that I don't have to study morning, noon, and night. I was looking forward to getting all the things done that I was putting off, but I'm having trouble focusing now because I don't have that deadline constantly looming over me.

FAR 4/1/11 - 89
AUD 4/15/11 - 85
REG 4/29/11 - 80
BEC 5/13/11 - 85

[yankeeaccountant]

@kb24,

Thanks for the info. I do remember reading that you took 4 this window. Amazing. Good for you for getting them all out of the way. And if I remember right, you were methodical in your process. I commend you on that. I think when you study full time it is sooo easy to get sidetracked. The library saves me from doing “just” doing a load of laundry. I also feel the pressure of passing all of the exams I took since I am studying full time. Have you felt that way? I am squeezing FAR in 3 weeks, which might not be smart. I am hoping that you pass them all. I feel confident that you did.

I am jealous. I can't wait to be done studying. Of course when I finally finish I will go back to work, so no rest for the weary. I am taking a week off and then move to REG.

Ok, I am really distracted today. Gotta get on it.

Have a great weekend not studying!!!!

[IwannaBaCPA]

I just want to say to everyone who has posted recently of their struggles, THANKS! It helps so much to know I am not alone in feeling terrible about my exam and this whole process…

I hope we all passed, but if I didn't, I know I have support here…thanks for that!

Have a nice weekend all and if you are able to, put the books away and take a breather!

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

[kb24]

@yankeeaccountant,

I had originally planned to take FAR at the end of the last test window, but it took forever for me to get my NTS. By the time I did, all the slots for the last few days of February were taken. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, though, because I don't think I could have passed the exam then. I had part of February and all of March to study for FAR and figure out what worked for me and what didn't. So, even though I only had 2 weeks to study for each of the others, I had a system and I just followed it. I feel pretty good about them all except for REG which was a beast so I may be studying along with you in July.

While my husband has been super supportive, my daughter is the one who best understands what I was going through. She's a 2nd year med student, and has an 8 hour exam in the middle of June which basically dictates how much choice she'll have for residency programs. She's at the library from 7am-11pm watching videos and answering questions, and only takes breaks to eat and walk her dog. She took a 4 hour practice exam this week so we compared Prometric sites. What's not fair, though, is that I'll still be waiting on my scores when she gets hers.

Now I'm trying to get back to exercising so I can fit into my interview clothes.

Good luck on Monday!

FAR 4/1/11 - 89
AUD 4/15/11 - 85
REG 4/29/11 - 80
BEC 5/13/11 - 85

[Anonymous]

@yankeeaccountant

One thing I would say is do not overwhelm yourself. I have limited myself to one exam per window which I believe has been a key to my success. I started that way and if I failed I would try to squeeze the other in. So far I have not had to do that. I hope I pass this one and can put this past year in the back of my mind for nothing but laughs in the future.

What I did for BEC, AUD and REG was begin with Becker and then reinforce that with Wiley (its only $34 bucks and totally worth every penny). I would read Wiley and do all the MC questions. Wiley I think is more detailed than Becker and fills in some of the holes. This gave me a comprehensive understanding of the topics.With FAR I did not have enough time do use Wiley as I did in the past. I feel that is a big reason why I didnt feel as confident.

Also, another key to my previous success has been from the fact I am usually the last person to leave the office every night as I study there after work. I also study EVERY day! Almost never take a day off. Practice, practice, practice!

[Anonymous]

Just got home from taking FAR, its 1:40 and the beer taste good! I don't know if the testlets got much harder or not (I couldnt tell the difference with REG and I apparently did okay on those). I know it took me longer to do the 2nd and 3rd testlet so I hope that is a good sign. I felt that some of the brief questions were difficult so I dont think you can judge much by the length of the questions. Its hard to change the difficulty as the first 3 questions were prettty difficult on the first testlet. I ran through them pretty quickly, as I did Becker practice exams. First testlet took me 30min and 45min for the other two. That left me2 hrs for the sims. I used all but 20 min of that. Had a ton of information to go through.

Overall, I gave it my best. I have at a minimum of about a month of vacation (by vacation I mean only having to work 9 hrs a day), so I am looking forward to that. There was nothing easy about this part of the exam. I could have studied another month and probably wouldnt have done much better. The AICPA ensures you know a lot about every topic. For the rest of the day, I will be enjoying some Jimmy Buffett out in the sun and relaxing! For those of you that still have to take it, I wish the best of luck to you! Just give it your best, its all you can do.

[Anonymous]

Just got home from taking FAR, its 1:40 and the beer taste good! I don't know if the testlets got much harder or not (I couldnt tell the difference with REG and I apparently did okay on those). I know it took me longer to do the 2nd and 3rd testlet so I hope that is a good sign. I felt that some of the brief questions were difficult so I dont think you can judge much by the length of the questions. Its hard to change the difficulty as the first 3 questions were prettty difficult on the first testlet. I ran through them pretty quickly, as I did Becker practice exams. First testlet took me 30min and 45min for the other two. That left me2 hrs for the sims. I used all but 20 min of that. Had a ton of information to go through.

Overall, I gave it my best. I have at a minimum of about a month of vacation (by vacation I mean only having to work 9 hrs a day), so I am looking forward to that. There was nothing easy about this part of the exam. I could have studied another month and probably wouldnt have done much better. The AICPA ensures you know a lot about every topic. For the rest of the day, I will be enjoying some Jimmy Buffett out in the sun and relaxing! For those of you that still have to take it, I wish the best of luck to you! Just give it your best, its all you can do.

[yankeeaccountant]

@danatwvu09,

Congrats! At least you are done…and can relax. I have a hard time knowing when the testlets get more difficult too. But, it sounds like you did well. I am hoping this will be the last one for ya—hopefully it will be getting those initials after your name time!!

I am at the library and it looks like Wiley is down for the entire rest of the weekend. I am bummed because I have been using them mostly to prepare. The questions in their test bank seem harder to me. But , since I am testing on Monday, I have no choice but to go with Becker.

I better get back to it now.

Best of luck to you….enjoy the “free time”!

[Yamaha]

Kb24,

How many times did you go through the Wiley test bank? Did you do all the questions or a certain amount per testlet?

[Anonymous]

Thanks! I hope we both kill the beast!

I will say this, Wiley's MC are more difficult as they go a little deeper in the material than Becker. I think thats good because its always better to study harder questions than what youll see on the exam. Also, I have noticed the difficulty of questions are the actual exam are more in line with Becker. If you havent completely reviewed them both and still have some weak areas I would do Becker first and if time remains, reinforce it with Wiley.

[yankeeaccountant]

@danatwvu09

Thanks for the tip…going to simulated exam on Becker..

I feel good since I did the sample test on AICPA and got them all correct. Now, I know that they are really not indicative of the exam, BUT, heck, I will take a win when I can. So, for right now, this moment, I feel good. A nice boost to the confidence! I will need that going into the testing center. YAHOOOO for the small stuff, sometimes we need that to ride on!!

Okay, back to studying.

Best of luck to everyone testing the remainder of this window–finish strong!

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

I just took FAR this morning and have a question. do you know if they award you partial credit on the Research tab in TBS? I ran out of time before I could type in the last part of the ASC reference? I'm positive the first three parts of the code were correct. Now what I thought was interesting is that I saw the clock time down to “5 seconds remaining”, then IMMEDIATELY after that the session expired. I swear on my life it couldnt have been more than a half second because I remember watching it and thinking I have enough time to put in the “1” at the end. Has anybody noticed this? I'm going to report this to the AICPA,but they'll probably think I'm crazy. Also, after I took my restroom break after the first testlet, I was signing back in and the prometric lady told me,”whoops, I forgot to get your thumb print before the test”. can you do that for me?” It took a couple minutes because she couldnt get a good scan…. I dont usually complain about much but today there were two things that bothered me that really seemed to make a difference. The extra 2 and a half minutes makes a big difference when you are struggling to finish all the sims. If I failed by a few points, I'm going to be real upset. GRRRRR!!!!!!

[Author]

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