[rudeexcuseme]

Hi 71ers,

So I made it passed REG last night and I’ve got AUD and BEC in the bag thus I only need FAR. I will lose AUD on 4/30/16. This seems like plenty of time but a little more than 2 of those months are filled with some pretty heavy travel and lots of long auditing hours. My plan is to take a shot at FAR in January and try again in April should I fail. Granted, the shot in January will be the only one I plan to take so I plan to bust my ass until then. I will be using Becker self-study as that is all I’ve been using this whole journey.

My concern is that I haven’t taken a financial accounting course since advanced accounting in 2012 so FAR seems like it is going to be a lot of re-learning stuff and not so much as a refresher so that worries the hell out of me. I am an auditor so I haven’t forgotten the language or anything but I’m sure I don’t retain a darn thing from that pension accounting chapter back in Intermediate 2! But I digress…….

Has anyone pulled off a 6 week (or short in general) jam session for FAR and gotten through it? Do you recommend any strategies (skip the lectures, do only MCQs, get a supplemental, etc.)? So far my study habits have been very thorough but slow; for example I started studying REG first week in September, banged out the 8 chapters of material and reviewed for like 3 weeks and for the whole journey that is what worked for me. I don’t have time for that anymore. I need to cover the most ground, retain the most information and rid myself of this demon once and for all. I’ve long since determined there will be no holidays for me until 2017 so I’m in this for the final push. Sorry for the long post folks. Thanks for reading.

[Lighthaven]

Hey, responding as a person who passed FAR with 4 weeks of study.

This was definitely not the amount of time I had wanted to study for the exam but I had a goal this year of passing all the exams in 6 months. This was thrown for a loop when I failed REG. So, I ended up retaking REG first and then going for FAR (and BEC) all in the Q4 window. It's been intense, to say the least.

But, if you seriously throw down and focus, you can do this. Really.

I probably studied around 8 hours a days (I don't start working at my firm til this January). I was not able to get through all of the material but I tried to focus on really important subjects (pensions, government, leases, bonds) and then do my best to at least skim over the materials I couldn't cover.

I hadn't been in a general financial accounting class for years either and that really worried me. But the material really can be learned, and within a short amount of time. It might be a struggle at first but you can do it. Just don't give up when the material is tough at first.

I would definitely suggest reviewing as you go along. I think this was really helpful to me because I didn't have a week or two left to review. So once I moved onto another subjects, I would always re-read and do some MCQs for subjects I had already finished.

Also, if your'e really pressed for time, skip the lectures of stuff you can easily grasp from reading the books. I'm a huge supporter of watching the lectures but sometimes there just isn't enough time.

Finally, remember to skim what you can't finish (you'll be astonished how much you remember).

Sorry this got a little long to but I wish you the best of luck! You can do it!

AUD - 83
REG - 81 (2x)
FAR - 78
BEC - 85

And that's all she wrote.

[Anonymous]

I haven't quite passed FAR yet, so I might not be exactly the person to take advice from, but…..

I studied for FAR for about 5 days and got a 74. I did nothing but watch the Ninja Blitz videos. Its definitely not the ideal study strategy, but I put myself in a situation where that was really my only option. That being said, I think the beg/middle of January is definitely enough time to study for FAR if you really bust it.

I've purchased the Becker self study for my retake and plan on watching the Blitz videos again and using the Becker lectures to fill in the blanks and add the detail that I need to pass.

Hope this helps!

[loyaldodgersfan]

I'm an advocate for the Final Review product that Becker offers. Granted, it is pricey, but I found it immensely valuable for the final days before the exam. There is nothing in the book that you can't find in the main textbook. However, it does do a fantastic job of highlighting the most tested topics as well as bringing everything together in a succinct manner. It was a huge help for me in NFP and Gov. Accting.

It helped me pass FAR.

[Anonymous]

I work full time and passed FAR with a little less than 5 weeks of study time. I would use your study materials in concert with Ninja MCQ or another test bank if you have one (though Ninja is really good and very detailed for FAR), especially since you need to relearn rather than refresh some concepts. The key is to set a course load where you get through all of the study material with about 10 days to spare before the exam, and stick to it hard core. This will mean you'll have some days where you need to put in 5 or 6 hours which can definitely be hard while working.

Get to the office early and grab a couple extra hours of studying and cut out any extracurricular activity, work and study are about all you'll have time for. The weekends are amazing for this, I had a couple of 15-16 hour study days in my prep time, this really helps you get through the material. Right around the halfway point through the material start adding in a lot of review, do 50 question sets of everything you've done so far, keep refreshed on everything because FAR is just too massive to retain it all after one pass through. Supplement your study with MCQs as often as you can.

For the final two weeks grind as hard as you can on the MCQs, practice SIMs mainly to grasp the kinds of things they ask for and to double check that you're solid on producing journal entries from scratch as this will make or break you on the SIMs. I'd aim for 250-300 MCQs per day on this schedule. If you're using Ninja, aim for 70% average and 85-90% trending on all topics. Use the last couple of days to attack any weaknesses you've identified in your MCQ grind.

It sucks for sure but it's very doable. This worked for me as well doing BEC in 3.5 weeks of study although that took significantly less study time than FAR even with that much less time.

[rudeexcuseme]

Thank you everyone for your responses. I will definitely be taking all of these helpful posts into consideration starting today!

[AlexCPA]

250-300 MCQs a day is absolutely insane. Who has time for that?

FAR - 89
AUD - 88
REG - TBD
BEC - TBD

Using Becker and Ninja MCQ

[hasy]

I'm with you! But I know my limits and I'm only on Ch 5/31 with Roger's. I haven't had a real accounting class since early 2014. What a sad reality. But I need to make use of that window for FAR. I want to take it in Feb, just so that if I fail, I can take it early Q2 and maybe take REG too since I paid for it already. Though, I'm going to try to study and do MCQ's everyday. I just want a 75.

It's hard in the beginning and still is. But push through! I'm going to try. 🙂

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved - Helen Keller

-

BEC 80 (10/23/15)
FAR 72 (4/2/15); 83 (7/11/16)
REG 52 (4/28/15)
AUD (9/9/16)

Roger + NINJA MCQ + WTB

[Author]

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