[jeff]

Welcome to the Q3 2017 CPA Exam Study Group for FAR. 🙂

Introduce yourselves and let your fellow NINJAs know when you plan to take your FAR exam.

The Five Steps (NINJA Framework): https://www.another71.com/pass-the-cpa-exam/

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

[tskits75]

@mh25 This was my fear when i first started too, i thought 7 sims with 7 tabs meant 49 tabs to do. Each tab is the SIM itself broken out into a few different ones that contain 2-3 tabs each.

AUD - 92
BEC - 79
REG - August
FAR - TBD

[QueenCPA]

@mtaylo24

CMA Part One was not bad at all, it was more like a BEC again with more complex calculations. The MCQs were really straight forward but the sims involved a lot of questions, although much easier than CPA. I used Gleim for full time studying (3 weeks) and it definitely prepared me very well for the exam.

Also, how was FAR for you. I need advice from you in how to tackle this beast. My exam is in 2 weeks.

[DeterminedCPAer]

Guys, I need your help and advice. I am just completely burned out and I think my brain is doing anything it can to not study. I'm behind on my review schedule. I have 18 days until my exam on August 7. I'm on Chapter 6 of Becker. So far reviewing the first 5 chapters (doing around 100 questions each), I've been getting around 85%. I'm doing each chapter at a time. My lowest score was a 65% when I did a 10 MCQ progress exam but I understood what I did wrong.

Chapter 6 is all about leases (which I feel I know 80%), sale-leaseback, derivatives/hedging, foreign currency, and income tax (deferred). I thought chapters 3, then 4, then 5 were hard, this seems overwhelming. Is it weird to think I feel more comfortable studying chapter 7 which is pensions and sotkcholders equity? Chapter 8 – 10 goes into EPS, cash flows and then you start your NFP and Gov. All which I feel more comfortable with.

Anyway, I think I may take today off to relax and clear my mind. But I feel any day not used to review is a waste. I also feel I'm not doing as many MCQs as I should. I thought I'd do 100 a day but I'm doing on average 50 a day (first day has been spending about 3 hours to skim pages and second day MCQs).

So I have 18 days left (17 if I dont study today). I really am not going to study for SIMs because you cant, just can understand how to work them. I'll probably spend a day reviewing them. I worry I may just say screw it, not review SIMs and just hedge I can do them.

How many MCQs are people doing per chapter? I have a week off of work before my exam which I was planning to do about 200 MCQs a day and both practice exams.

[DeterminedCPAer]

@wannaFree and @coachemup Regarding reclassifying current liability as non current if intent and capability to refinance is there. If the question comes up on CPA exam, they may try to trick us by the refinancing occurring after the balance sheet date but before F/S issuance.

I recently had a question like this that I got wrong because the current debt coming due was being refinanced with additional common stock that was issued after the balance sheet date but before the F/S issuance. I said they would be classified as current. I forgot what the exact answer was but since the refinancing caused capability and intent, you could/would update the balance sheet because F/S haven't been issued.

[DeterminedCPAer]

@ImJeremy12345

I haven't read all the posts yet, on page 16, so sorry if you may have already answered this. LOL Best of luck, I'm sure you did great.

Any additional info you could provide based on your exam. Did you feel there was more NFP and Gov than what you thought/anticipated based on AICPA blueprint? Many said yes so just gauging your thoughts. Also, how math intensive were the MCQs? If you used Becker, were they more, less or about the same in math calculations? And finally, where the MCQs on the higher level concepts and then TBS questioning you more on the details of specific stuff?

[DeterminedCPAer]

@wannafree @coachemup

With regard to the IFRS questions possible asked. If they ask to calculate inventory in IFRS, that means they want you to use Lower of Cost or Net Realizable Value (under is FIFO/WA) since Lower of Cost or Market (LIFO/Retail) isn't allowed, correct? Just wanted to make sure you weren't referring to something different that i'm forgetting LOL.

[DeterminedCPAer]

@tskits75

Hope you did well, I feel you got this!

Any detail you can provide? Where MCQs more conceptual or if math involved how heavy was the math? Any areas you thought were heavily tested, compared to the AICPA blue print? How were the SIMs? Would you say they took a long time because the material was hard or just had a lot of things to do (read, write the JEs, etc…)

[Vinti]

@JMG
We are in same boat, thank god I found one who has same exam date. I am also taking FAR on august 31 and using becker only. How much material have you coverd yet or studied and whats your study plans and strategy?

[DeterminedCPAer]

@tskits75 @accountingbeans @wannafree

I reread the question or certain lines a few times too just to make sure I didn't read it wrong! I probably also have some type of OCD where I have feel I have to read it a few times to make sure I didnt forget some data point.

I have learned that reading the question first does help. I know sometimes Becker MCQs love to give you a paragraph to read and the question is something simple that requires no math.

[DeterminedCPAer]

@Hiracpa I really do not think the reconciliation of government wide will be a MCQ…maybe a TBS but i'm hedging it wont be at all. Gearty from Becker even said that it would be very unlikely they test you on a topic like this because of the complexity of it.

I do think JEs for NFP and Gov are fair game, especially on TBS. But I think those JEs will be on the basic side like receiving donations or pledges for NFP or booking JEs for tax revenue or fund transfers between Gov Funds. I want to believe (and hoping) many MCQs are more conceptual since NFP and Gov didn't have a lot (if any) math and very little JEs.

[DeterminedCPAer]

@queencpa im taking it the second week of August. Why whats up?

[IwannabeaCPA2017]

Is it just me or does anyone else feel becker is stupid for asking questions not even covered in that section?? Im on F4 financial instruments and haven't even covered bond yet but I'm having all these questions on bonds!!

Im ready to get a WIN on FAR! Best of luck everyone.

[hopingtogetFAR]

@DeterminedCPAer

I would say don't reschedule and take a day off/maybe do very light review for items such as segment reporting or maybe review flashcards.

I say not to reschedule because I was told by two of my good friends not to reschedule an exam. Granted, it may have been easy for them to say that since they both passed the fist time, but one of them only completed 60% of studying for Becker and passed. I also think that no matter how much you review you'll never feel ready to take the exam. If you take the two mock exams and make a 60% or above I think you can pass based on the trends that I've seen from other people's scores. These two links are encouraging.

https://www.another71.com/cpa-exam-forum/topic/post-your-becker-final-score-vs-actual-score/

https://www.another71.com/cpa-exam-forum/topic/post-your-becker-final-score-vs-actual-score/page/2/

[hopingtogetFAR]

For those that have taken the exam, will they ask you a series of questions in MCQ based on a previous example in MCQ? For example, in MCQ would they ask you to calculate pension expense for a MCQ and then 5 questions later ask what service cost was, or are all the MCQs unrelated and require individual calculations?

Also for anyone worried about having a physical calculator on the exam, you can try calling your Prometic center and asking if they give calculators? I called mine and they guaranteed I could get one. I know it seems minuscule, but I HATE the computer calculator.

[JMG]

@Vinti I just started this week lol, I've only been able to get through one chapter per day (I've been doing lecture + skills practice + MCQs + taking notes in one sitting). At that rate there's no way I will be ready for August 31. I'm actually starting to consider pushing it back to October, we'll see. It's crazy because with Audit I was able to zing through 3 or 4 chapters a day easily.

[Author]

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