[jeff]

Welcome to the Q2 2017 CPA Exam Study Group for FAR. 🙂

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

[Jj]

@sydney yup. Same sims. The equity one was killer. The thing is if I had like 6 hours I could pass but it's just impossible to complete that test in the 4 hours. I want to see any Becker instructor complete that test in 4 hours haha

[CPAIN2K17]

@wannafree I am sitting tomorrow, 8 am. I appreciate you all sharing your experiences but I'm not gonna lie y'all are scaring the crap out of me lol. My game plan is just to get through MCQ as fast as possible(not sit and try to figure out questions that I don't know how to do), hopefully leaving myself with 2hrs and 30 or 2 hrs and 45 min for sims (about 20 min per sim). If I am taking more than that much time per sim, I will move on after 20 min, so that I atleast allow myself to see each sim and put effort into each sim. I do not even know what to study at this point with you guys saying its mainly random topics lol.

I know people keep saying adjusting JEs… just basic JEs to close a trial balance or what? Not sure what is really meant by that. I am pretty good at preparing a statement of cash flows so I wouldn't mind getting a sim on that, but I'm not sure if that's what's meant by preparing FS.

[Jj]

It's not like preparing cashflow statement its being given a cashflow statement then going through trial balances and emails and trying to figure out first- what needs to be changed, then where and how to change it. It's not just normal cf prep with direct or indirect method with a few inc/dec accounts. Study retained earnings, and be very familiar with how adj affect each financial and why

[sydalexomar]

@CPAIN2K17

Adjusting JE – be comfortable with all JE's basically. Because if they give you an income statement or balance sheet – you have to read through the memos and figure out what you need to adjust and which statements those affect – or it doesn't affect. So everything is kind of fair game. There is really no way to study more or less – you either know it or don't know it by this point. Focus on your time more than anything and don't waste your time if you don't know something just move on. That is the best helpful piece of advice I can give you from my experience.

[CPAIN2K17]

@beantown and @sydney thanks for sharing, I really appreciate it! I will see y'all in August for the score release and hopefully it will be good news for all of us Q2 FAR peeps.

[Jj]

I'm on to REG tomorrow @cpa2k17 I'll see you in there

[mtaylo24]

My vague description with no topics mentioned. I hope this helps!

Testlet one – Tough
Testlet two – Still tough
sim 1 – 2 sims
break
sim 2 – 3 sims
sim 3 – 3 sims

In no particular order

sim 1 – docs provided, adj and balance worksheet using resources tab
sim 2 – research
sim 3 – docs provided (resource tab) complete TWO worksheets
sims 4 – JE, then adj JE
sim 5 – DRS
Sim 6 – complete reconciliation w/ facts provided (no resources)
Sim 7 – Facts provided JE (useless resource tab)
Sim 8 – DRS

AUD - 1st - 60 (12/12), 61 (2/13), 61 (8/13), 78! (11/15)
REG - 55 (2/16) 69 (5/16) Retake(8/16)
BEC - 71(5/16) Retake (9/16)
FAR - (8/16)

[LCros]

I took the exam today too.. I am not sure what's worse a DRS or a regular sim where the directions are so vague you are not sure what to do with it. I knew the material but by the time I figured out what to do, 15 minutes had gone by. Oh well….

[CPAIN2K17]

Thank you @mtaylo, appreciate it very much! Nice job on getting the tougher second MCQ testlet as well

[LCros]

And then to add salt to the wound a 10 week wait…..

[Me!]

@SOX with Sandals…LOL! I think that after every score release! Thanks for the laugh.
I am sitting for FAR tomorrow afternoon, not feeling too optimistic but will give it my all. Thanks everyone for sharing thier experiences these past few days it has been insightful. Hoping everyone gets a 75 in August. I am dreading that I will have to study until score release but it is what it is.

[Anonymous]

do mcq as fast as you can ja

[Anonymous]

Took my exam today and Whheeww! Hardest test imaginable to man! So my second testlet wasn't that much harder than my first but definitely more difficult. I agree with @beantown23 to “spend [your] last few days reviewing other things.”

Just because you didn't get a super hard second testlet doesn't mean you failed. At least that's what I hope lol. I mean let's be real here. If in your second testlet you received questions that took longer than 20 minutes each to finish, there's no possible way to finish the exam in time (20min x 33?'s = 726 min = 12+ hours). So even these 1/2 page questions beantown speaks of couldn't be much more difficult than an easy second testlet. The first testlet is still not easy by any means.

I managed my time well and started my SIMS with exactly 2.5 hours remaining.

I got 3 DRS's like @mtaylo24. 2 came in the first testlet. I took the 15 minute break and the last DRS came at the end.

Definitely know adjusting JE's. I think I got some of the same SIMS as beantown.

One of the most insane things I encountered on this super difficult examination was in a SIM of mine. I had to use the AL to learn specific industry accounting practices and then apply them to calculate balances and write JE's. Think of it as a FAR pop quiz lol. I saw nothing of this particular industry accounting in Wiley, Becker, or any other review material.

I finished in the nick of time and wish I had more time to review my answers and just think lol.

So yeah, hardest exam ever. Lmk if anyone has any questions.

[danko1983]

i sit tomorrow at 8 am (the part that terrifies me the most, i much prefer afternoon tests and have a whole routine etc) and planned on being on here a lot more, but i didn't recover fast enough from REG in march and fell behind. This is hopefully my last exam too. after reading anything i'm very happy i have accommodations and extra time to take this with how it sounds like they really killed everyone with this new exam. i did not get to review much which completely stinks, but let the chips fall where they may and hopefully i get lucky and end this thing finally. good luck to everyone!

BEC - exp 2/28/13 (crap)
AUD - exp 11/30/13

[Anonymous]

I'm glad to see the comments on here regarding the exam. I took it in early April and after several people were saying it was easy or not a big deal. I was starting to think I was the only one who thought it was difficult.

@Sydney Omar I made the same mistake with REG! I was reviewing the 5th testlet thinking I had extra time. I submitted it with about three minutes left and to my surprise the last testlet pulled up. I was able to quickly do the research question but left two SIMS blank. I felt so stupid.

[Author]

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