[yesandstuff]

Hello Everyone,

I am currently signed up for the Becker self-study review program and am lucky to say my schedule is fairly empty with the exception of Tuesday nights and Saturday nights. If I am willing to spend the majority of my waking time studying for FAR, do you believe it is passable with only a months worth of studying under my back?

Thanks!

[Robert Bentman]

@hkhalil1 nobody walks into the exam feeling that they prepared enough and (most of the time) when you walk out you really have no idea how you did and you still pass lol. So give yourself some credit for the ones you have passes bc they are certainly not able to be passed by “luck” in my opinion.

As far as your answer to advice, I would say that you should really approach your review the same way as you approached the other 3 exams. I passed the other 3 as well and I took FAR in the last window and did not pass and retaking it in November as well. I'm approaching it the same way as i always have and I am just making sure to know the areas that i was weak on. If you are going to have an entire month to review minus the 7 days….that's an amazing amount of time and you really should have no problem if you have covered everything and that whole month is just a “review”.

There is really no right or wrong way of approaching it. As you know, FAR has a ton of material so I would make sure to stick to your plan and do what you said as far as going to the sections you have struggled on and re-work those areas. I would definitely say that you would want to make sure you review all other sections as well even if you thought they were maybe easy the first time around b/c like I said (and we all know), this exam does have a lot of material and very diverse areas.

That being said, I think you'll do fine if you stick to your plan and do what you did to pass the other 3 exams. Hope this post somewhat helps you. Keep me updated and let me know how it's going, I have my re-take on Nov 26 and praying I pass because I will be done as well! I'll definitely be adding to / checking this forum from now until my exam.

[Zhabaisimmortal]

ibaccpa, accounting experience is of little help in far, imho. 2 weeks is all you should need. If you need any more than that you should ask yourself if accounting is right for you. Again, the point being if you don't enjoy accounting, then what's is the point making it your career and suffer throughout? And if you do enjoy it, then 2 weeks is just right if you get it and have a feeling how the system works.

[ibacCPA]

@Zhabaisimmortal Haha I, in no way, suffered through FAR. I just don't see how someone can finish the material (I use Becker) in just two weeks and then review thoroughly. I like to step away from the desk for a little. It's healthy to do so.

I feel like you're going to be in the minority with this thinking. It's just a lot of information. More power to you. That's awesome if it only took you two weeks. I'm just sharing my experience.

REG: 7/11/14 - 80
BEC: 8/19/14 - 86
FAR: 10/17/14 - 84
AUD: 11/22/14 - 77

4 up, 4 down!

[Zhabaisimmortal]

PS, I am not a super CPA and haven't passed all four levels yet, just was forced to study 2 weeks since the work was busy and the testing window was closing on me. What I don't understand, is what have people been doing in MS programs (yeah, yeah, I know: “not everyone is lucky enough to go to the accounting program” crap) if they take a more than 2 weeks to study.

[pikachu]

I did it in a month. 3.5 weeks reading Wiley, MC at the end, skipped sims. Then I did online test bank and sims for the last week. Passed with a 77. I was spending about 3 hours after work everyday. Maybe 4-6 each day of the weekends.

I'm doing miserably with Audit. Haven't been studying as hard since I got a new job with a lot better pay right after I passed FAR.

FAR: 2/23/14 77 (1 month studying)
AUD: 5/25/14 68
AUD: 7/13/14 72
AUD: 10/12/14 72
I GIVE UP

[needhelpnow]

Regardless of make sure that you know..if you take it in Jan and don't pass, you have to wait until April to re-take it. So if you can get it in before Dec, do so and see how you did. That way you can re-take it in Jan. Correct me if I am wrong guys. Thank you

[NAT]

Hi FAR people ! Two questions. Did anyone try 500 Questions: Financial Accounting and Reporting for the CPA Exam ? By publisher McGraw-Hill Education. They have 500 questions (problems with answers) for all 4 exams. Also, if somebody just have passed FAR, what FAR-OCTOBER-2014- testlets were the most comprehensive to you (which section, chapter of FAR) ? And how you managed FAR exam time, any advises ?? Thanks and Happy Halloween-2014 !!

FAR - 07/2015
AUD - TBD
REG - TBD
BEC -TBD

We suffer one of two things in our life. The pain of discipline or the pain of disappointments.
When you are disciplined, there is no pain of disappointments.

[NAT]

Hi Robert Bentman, You said you will have FAR in November-2014. Would you share how your final study-week prior the FAR-exam would look like? Any tips for those who is still hard working and studying…. More attention to problems/solutions or Journal Entries or or the mixed review would be the best ?? Some people complain that overloaded head (FAR is the largest volume of info vs. AUD, REG and BEC) makes them bizarre… Any practical advises? Thanks

FAR - 07/2015
AUD - TBD
REG - TBD
BEC -TBD

We suffer one of two things in our life. The pain of discipline or the pain of disappointments.
When you are disciplined, there is no pain of disappointments.

[hkhalil1]

@robertbentman thanks so much for your advice. I tend to be an insecure guy and sometimes I just need a pat on the back from someone who helps me acknowledge that I'm not in fact being lazy and doing everything i can to pass. My mantra is “stick to your study plan” as best as you can. Of course tweeks are required along the way and I'm doing what I can. As it stands now the first week of November is not going to be for review rather to finish the material. But Ive basically taken off work from November 7th through the exam date on the 28th so I will be able to get some major studying in. Hopefully the month of November will be kind to me.

Good luck with your retake!

REG - 90 (8/13)
BEC - 80 (12/13
AUD - 63 (10/13), 77 (5/14)
FAR - 78 (11/14)

[Zhabaisimmortal]

hkhalil1,

The exam is a joke. Go in and feel confident. It is 8 measly chapters in becker. Highschoolers can do it.

[Anonymous]

Zhaba, your being a troll is so transparent. You life must be very fulfilling if your goal is to make an entire community of people feel worse about themselves. By the way you haven't shared your score with us. If it's so possible in 2 weeks how'about you doing something good and share with us your study technique. If it's so easy why not give back?

Ps, Becker is 10 chapters. Strike 2 on credibility.

As you can probably assume a large number of us find out our FAR scores on Tuesday and are still shell shocked from the exam. It's not helpful when someone come in and tries to trivialize it all. Maybe you could understand that everyone is different and if in fact you did it in 2 weeks, you're the major exception.

Also, OP, one month would be tough. But if you're fresh out of college and have a ton of hours in the week it's possible. But FAR is a beast so if you do do this, please do a lot of yoga in conjunction with it 😉

[Zhabaisimmortal]

Brooks,

I am not trolling and the last thing I want is to make someone feel bad about himself. But you are right in a way. It is better to tell the people that the exam is hard so they get over prepared. If you look at my previous posts, I pretty much told my technique (nothing special) and my score. What helped me big time is understanding that the FASB is not trying to make things more complicated, but rather try to make the system work and make more sense. I used to fight accounting textbooks and get upset. At some point, I started to see patterns (nothing ‘beautiful mind'-like, just small things here and there). If you come across a challenging topic, just ask yourself: “How would I design it so it works” – I mean the standard. I bet that if you try to answer this,sooner rather than later you will see that your solution is not the best, and you will see that the standard set by FASB makes more sense (although it might be the other way around and then I am taking a hat off). That was my situation. It helped me.

Again, I am repeating myself here, but reading a chapter and doing a homework after some wait helps me to sink the material better.

If you still think that the exam is challenging, look at the number of CPAs in the USA. It is approaching a million. If a million people can do it, the exam is certainly not difficult.

[Anonymous]

Zhaba,

Thank you for responding and sharing what worked for you. You made a few points that I will keep in mind as I study. I like that thought of thinking about how I would design it to try to make more sense of the topic.

I am still not a fan of how you share your experience as I do think it's a little rough but that's my problem, Thank you for clarifying your position.

[Anonymous]

Zhaba:

First, the CPA tests standards set by the IASB and GASB as well. So your conceptual approach will require understanding the conceptual framework for all three standard setters, well enough that you can guess the answer without studying the specifics.

Second, the whole point of having to study specific standards is that there are either deviations in the application of accounting principles, or there are specific applications that are required/generally practiced due to history and industry differences. For example, you first learn the basic revenue recognition principles, but then spend a lot of time learning all the exceptions to the basic revenue recognition principles (long term contracts, installment sales, etc).

[Author]

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