[PTBP2018]

Hello NINJAs!
I am hoping for some good advice. Has anyone out there taken FAR in Q2?

I have taken FAR twice. Both times, I failed – so badly. In all of my attempts for other exams, I was close (when I failed). With FAR, I ended up with 60 on both attempts. I know…it’s sad. It’s so far from passing. I know that I wasn’t as prepared as usual on either attempt, but it still killed my confidence. I traveled a lot during my first attempt. During my second attempt, I only made it through…half of the material due to busy season.

With my exam 2 weeks out, I am hoping for some golden nuggets of advice. I am currently finishing up Government. I will lose REG soon, and both of my other exams will fall off (way too soon) right after that. It makes me beyond nervous. I put in a lot of hours at work, but will have a week off before my exam.

Thank you in advance for any helpful advice!

[Kimberly]

Hi-

I think you need to take the focus off failing so badly. 60 isn't right at the door, but it's not as low as some people. And I've seen some people rebound from scores in the 50s and pass FAR. I myself got two marks in the low 60s and had a 13 point jump on the 3rd attempt to finally pass. It is possible!

The biggest thing is getting through all the material so you are comfortable or at least as familiar and hone in on your areas that you know you aren't as strong in. No way you can be an expert at everything or even know everything, but you have to get through the material to give yourself the best shot. And I'd say study every day. I didn't love it but for the final retake of FAR I maybe only took 3 days off in 7 weeks so it was constantly on my mind and getting in my head. I am doing the same with REG – been studying 27 days straight without a break. It's a hard thing to do but repetition and constant exposure does help. Try to do as much of that as you can for the next two weeks. Every time I took the exam I felt better.

Good luck!

[PTBP2018]

Thank you so much, Kimberly. You're right. It seems so simple. Stop focusing on failing so badly. I try to study every day. My rule of thumb is that – if I am exhausted (due to a long work day or from a bad night of sleep) – to just give it 90 minutes minimum of study time. Sometimes it's hard, but I make myself do it. I am not sure how healthy that is, but I feel so guilty when I take a day off.

This time around, I have gone super slowly through the material – slow and steady wins the race right? I have been doing progress tests after every chapter, but I think I should have done more. Time just has not been on my side. I think that the most motivating thing you mentioned was that proved to me that a 15 point jump isn't impossible. Thank you for that. I REALLY needed to hear that.

I think that the biggest obstacle with this exam is TIME. I always run out of time. Any advice out there on the time piece?

I have been working on getting faster – keeping a spreadsheet of all of my question sets and how long they take me – with a total average of time for all questions attempted. I also have been tracking my performance on all first attempts of MC's, Sims, and all progress tests. I never had to do any of this before, but I think it would have helped on REG and BEC. The Sims worry me – I am saving those for last.

[Kimberly]

Good, I think the studying every day (as best as possible) is a good rule. Even if it's 90 minutes as you say. Sometimes it's only 1-2 hours on weekdays for me but as long as I do something, even some MCQs, I feel I tried. So that's good strategy. You sound focused with your efforts, so continue w/that.

As for time, I am no where near as good as some people but I've tried to never let it get below 2 hours for SIMS. Ideally I'd like 2.5 hours, but most of my last tests have fallen between 2 hours, 2 hours 10 minutes for SIMS. That means practice of MCQs to speed them up. Some others have mastered a better strategy of not going back and reviewing once they answer as their first answer is better inclined to be correct. I have a harder time with that. But 45 minutes a mcq set on the test should be a safe goal.

Maybe others can chime in with some timing thoughts.

[Troys22]

I don't remember my exact timing breakdown for REG, but it was very similar to yours. As for FAR, I plan to give myself 45 minutes per MCQ testlet which would leave me about 18 minutes per SIM. I only spend 5-10 minutes on the research questions. I try to break the timing down per testlet and stick to that plan. Also, for the MCQ, I suggest utilizing the flags. I go through all the questions and the questions I am unsure on, I flag it and make my best educated guess. In past exams, I have had enough time to run back through the flagged questions one more time. However, if I am in a time crunch, I would move on and at least have answered every question. As for the SIMS, those are a little trickier because you never know what SIMS are in each testlet. I would say that whatever plan you come up with just make sure you stick with that plan.

[Becca]

I think making a 60 on FAR after only going through half of the material AND while working during busy season is impressive. I just wanted to tell you that. Try not to be too hard on yourself 😊 Good luck!

[Author]

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