[jeff]

Welcome to the Q4 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

[Lentilcounter]

The lease started in January and the payments are due at the end of the year. If the payment was due at the beginning of the year, a payment would have been made at the inception of the lease. This payment would have all gone to principal. In your problem, 12 months have passed giving interest time to accrue and increasing the annual interest expense.

BEC = 72 (6/08/16)
FAR = ?
REG = ?
AUD = ?

[Wannafree]

@Lentilcounter ,all the best for tomorrow.I wish you nail the FAR and pass on the tips to us.

[Recked]

Good luck tomorrow Lentil! Stay focused, stay alive.

What are you doing the day before the test? Hammering MCQ's or reviewing notes?

[kara]

Okay ya'll

I just took the test yesterday and all I can say is wow, I have never been more mentally drained in my life. Such a hard test. At first I didn't walk as confident that I passed, I actually thought I got the lowest score possible because I didn't know an entire simulation all guessing. As the night went on and today I am still saying I'll be surprised if I passed, not because I wasn't prepared because it was that hard. Everything Becker told me they would hammer you on didn't show up. So I feel as if nothing I would have done could of changed the outcome honestly and I just had the bad luck of a draw for a test. So I am praying everyone gets a different test then me. With that being said before everyone thinks I didn't study enough, We have been slow at work, and I have been studying everyday for 8 hours a day, and on the weekends, and flash cards when I got home. This is just flat out hard test as it should be because us Accountants are held to a very high standard. I put so much pressure on myself to pass all the tests the first time, but then I saw this stat the other day only 30% of people who take all four exams pass the first time. Not that I relaxed any because it still cost so much to take them, but I felt that it was okay to not pass the first time. I also wanted to pass so bad because I didn't know how I would study again for material I just spend 60 hours a week studying for, how would I get the determination to do and I found out after taking FAR yesterday that if I didn't pass I am more determined to pass this time. Now saying that I am jumping into Audit today and taking it at the end of November. I just wanted to share this experience with you because Its real! THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS IS THAT YOU WALK OUT OF THE TESTING CENTER KNOWING YOU DID YOUR BEST!!!!!

Long post is over.

[Lentilcounter]

Thank you all for your support. I'm reviewing and rewriting notes today. Not doing any new problems today.

Kara, I hope you passed. Did you find the blueprints and that thread on here to be helpful to you in attacking the Sims?

BEC = 72 (6/08/16)
FAR = ?
REG = ?
AUD = ?

[kara]

LentilCounter,

I hope I passed too. I looked at the blueprint before testing went even as far as going to every analysis topic and reviewing how to do them according to blue prints. I just looked over the blue prints again today to answer this question, to see if the one sim that I had no idea about was on there and it wasn't. So with that being said, I encountered a bad test as you can say, where everything Becker said was good topics for the test weren't. I don't want to cross that border of sharing information but just don't focus on things that are out of the ordinary in accounting. Like I said in previous post there was nothing I could have done differently to prepare for the test I got. I hope the tests are different for every person. Does anyone know about this so called curve the grade on as well?

Any Idea how long it takes to get scores back?

[Wannafree]

@lentil ,my expectation on exam (FAR ) .There will be one SIM out of blue and it will have lot of documents e.g. calculate interest or depreciatian or calculate inventory valuation using LIFO/FIFO .We all know these things but then they will add 10 items with 10 depreciable lives and different dates .Then they will add how about now you recalculate item number 5to 10 using IFRS.Okay okay just one more question ,how you disclose these scenarios as per IFRS ? LOL When you look at clock ,it's 45 minutes.Now you are running like usain bolt for 400 meters relay race but dropped the baton.When you reach the finish line then you realize ,you are disqualified because you didn't carry the baton.LOL
Just one question will be like that.Another SIM will be calculate the cost of launching the space rocket by Elan Musk and calculate how you would depreciate the reusable launch vehicles.As he may use the satellite for European union but NASA is in USA ,so please tell how you will calculate and prepare the FS , as per GAAP or as per IFRS .Whatever you have decided calculate as per IFRS. Since he has also agreement with NASA ,please click the tab next to it and read 5 pages of agreement.Now please calculate the intangible assets as per GAAP .If you don't find the information to calculate intangible ,that is your problem.Please calculate the contingencies as per GAAP and IFRS and pass JE.Wait ,it's not over yet ,how would you disclose in FS as per GAAP ? That's all ,don't forget you have 6 more SIMs and you have just 45 minutes remaining.LOL
Rest 6 are not that difficult ,mostly from Blueprint documents but by this time you are drained out complete and don't have time and energy to solve those problems.Latter on you will come to know one question was pretest ( Elan muck ) and other was worth 4 marks.

[Recked]

Scores will be released on Dec 19th.
There is no curve per say, but each question carries its own weight based on difficulty.
Hopefully if you received many hard questions each will be weighted very heavily so you would need to get less of them correct to attain the 75 points.
This is my understanding on the scoring system anyway, but I could be wrong.
Fair assumption that you need to do better than 60% of the people taking the exam this quarter, as Q4 pass rates are usually lowest.
Best of luck.

[kara]

Sims were not as hard as becker FYI besides one

[Lentilcounter]

Kara,

I'll bet that the one sim you struggled with was probably a pretest. Thanks for the info. I don't want you to break any disclosure rules. I guess what I'm asking is are the blueprints helpful in studying for the Sims based on your exam experience? I'm just looking for a yes or no as I think that doesn't break any rules. 🙂 It was very clear in the Webinar that the AICPA wants us to look at these things and they were disappointed that people aren't looking at them.

BEC = 72 (6/08/16)
FAR = ?
REG = ?
AUD = ?

[Wannafree]

@kara ,did you get the Elan Musk type what the heck question with 15 pages of agreement? LOL
I am going to exam with 2 questions mentioned above .I will be focusing on 6 SIMs.I described my expectation based on my last 3 attempts.

[kara]

ReckedRacing:

I was curious on how they score cause I felt my exam was a lot more difficult then others have said and the material on it. So how it works is the first testlet you receive will be a medium difficulty and then if you do well you will go to a “harder difficulty” testlet. The computer scoring takes in to account every question you got right in the more difficult ones. I wonder why Q4 pass rates are lower than others? That doesn't really seem fair in my eyes so I hope that isn't true.

[kara]

Lentilcounter,

Hopefully but know that guy just ruined my day saying pass rates are lower in quarter 4, so rained on my parade (which I don't even know if I had one). To answer your question It helped a little, just know your every day to day adjusting journal entries, and regular journal entries. I really studied what should be disclosed in notes to financial statements, which I am glad I did. (hint hint)

[kara]

Wannafree:

Nope and I am glad I didn't!

[kara]

ReckedRacing:

Not to be rude, but I just don't want others to freak out taking it in fourth quarter. This is straight from AICPA “In reviewing passing rates, it is important to remember that candidates are evaluated against an established standard of competence, and that the examination is scored and scaled so that scores are comparable across test forms and over time. The examination is not harder or easier to pass at different times. An increase in passing rates simply means that candidates are better prepared.”

What I get from that is that candidates taking it in fourth quarter are not as prepared as others, which could be due to increase of Holidays, such as October, and Thanksgiving and Pre-Christmas (since it gets earlier and earlier each year.) So it makes sense as to why the percentage would be lower.

[Author]

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