[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

[Jen-J]

cpa the third – hope the studying's going well! I also took a few PTO days off about a week before my exam and it was a good way to make everything gel together. I'll be looking for your post on score release day, you can do this, just one more test!

[QueenofCups]

Hi,

I took FAR on last Wednesday (Nov 8) and as so many already said, the issue is that you just don't have enough time to finish all the SIMs.

Overall both MCQs and SIMS are not very difficult as long as you understand the concepts both clearly and correctly.

I recommend you do the AICPA sample test available at the following link, before you take the real test.
https://www.aicpa.org/becomeacpa/cpaexam/forcandidates/tutorialandsampletest.html

MCQs were a bit more difficult than those in the sample test, especially in the second testlet.

There's no arithmetically challenging or time-consuming questions.
I asked for a hand-held calculator but you hardly need it if you're good at calculating in your head.

But I was really surprised because all of SIMs were DRS except one out of seven.
(and I am pretty sure that one SIM was a dummy question.)
And there's no SIMs on NFP or government accounting.

Where did I get the misinformation that there are only about a couple of DRS???

My aim was simply to pass the exam (hopefully with minimum amount of time and efforts),
so I selectively studied with Wiley's and, for important parts, I also did MCQs in Beckers.

I cannot stress enough the importance of getting the basic important concepts down pat “clearly” and “correctly”.
You don't have to waste your time on those questions with complicated, involved situations – trust me.

Do you guys know that you cannot reschedule one day before the test date?
(I knew I'd have to pay some exorbitant amount of money to reschedule within 3 days, but I thought I still had that option.)

Something happened to me the day before and I was frantically trying to reschedule but I couldn't.
I would have just canceled and wasted the whole money, so I took the test.

I REALLY wanted to enjoy that same feelings I had right after I took AUD and REG, that feelings when you can say to yourself “I got this, I passed it”, but I couldn't. Not this time.

So, I have to wait till Dec 19 or so….crossing my fingers.

I wish you all the best of luck!

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out -
because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews,
and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me -
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

[QueenofCups]

Hi,

I took FAR on last Wednesday (Nov 8) and as so many already said, the issue is that you just don't have enough time to finish all the SIMs.

Overall both MCQs and SIMS are not very difficult as long as you understand the concepts both clearly and correctly.

I recommend you do the AICPA sample test available at the following link, before you take the real test.
https://www.aicpa.org/becomeacpa/cpaexam/forcandidates/tutorialandsampletest.html

MCQs were a bit more difficult than those in the sample test, especially in the second testlet.

There's no arithmetically challenging or time-consuming questions.
I asked for a hand-held calculator but you hardly need it if you're good at calculating in your head.

But I was really surprised because all of SIMs were DRS except one out of seven.
(and I am pretty sure that one SIM was a dummy question.)
And there's no SIMs on NFP or government accounting.

Where did I get the misinformation that there are only about a couple of DRS???

My aim was simply to pass the exam (hopefully with minimum amount of time and efforts),
so I selectively studied with Wiley's and, for important parts, I also did MCQs in Beckers.

I cannot stress enough the importance of getting the basic important concepts down pat “clearly” and “correctly”.
You don't have to waste your time on those questions with complicated, involved situations – trust me.

Do you guys know that you cannot reschedule one day before the test date?
(I knew I'd have to pay some exorbitant amount of money to reschedule within 3 days, but I thought I still had that option.)

Something happened to me the day before and I was frantically trying to reschedule but I couldn't.
I would have just canceled and wasted the whole money, so I took the test.

I REALLY wanted to enjoy that same feelings I had right after I took AUD and REG, that feelings when you can say to yourself “I got this, I passed it”, but I couldn't. Not this time.

So, I have to wait till Dec 19 or so….crossing my fingers.

I wish you all the best of luck!

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out -
because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews,
and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me -
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

[Wannafree]

@queenofcups ,awesome exp description.7 DRS ,ultimate.Have you looked at blueprint doc?

[Sturg]

@QueenofCups, were you able to judge how difficult the DRS's were compared to any practice DRS's you took? I didn't do very well on my Roger practice DRS's but there were only a couple to try.

[Olya]

Hi,
Have couple questions on MCQ:

In testing for impairment of long-lived assets, Nale Co. determined the following:

Cost of asset               $100,000
Accumulated depreciation      60,000
Future cash flows             20,000
Fair value                    30,000

The impairment loss is:

If the carrying amount exceeds the future cash flows, an impairment loss should be recognized. The loss is the excess of the asset's carrying amount over its fair value.

Why the answer is 10000.00 The carrying amt-fair value should be 70000.00 Thanks

[Olya]

In testing for impairment of long-lived assets, Nale Co. determined the following:

Cost of asset               $100,000
Accumulated depreciation      60,000
Future cash flows             20,000
Fair value                    30,000

The impairment loss is:

If the carrying amount exceeds the future cash flows, an impairment loss should be recognized. The loss is the excess of the asset's carrying amount over its fair value.

Why is it 10000.00 Should be 70000.00

[Wannafree]

@Olya , CV = 100k – 60k = 40K
Test of impairment (step1 ) = 20k – 40K = (20k ) Impaired as CV is more than future cash flow.
Impairment loss : CV – FV = 40k -30k = 10K ( write down to 30k from 40K , 10K loss )

[gguzman]

@Jen J Yes, thank you.

[QueenofCups]

@wannafree
What is blueprint doc? Never heard of it.

@Sturg
I only did MCQs, mostly from Wiley's and some Beckers, to prepare for the test.
I found Wiley's MCQs are in general better and more difficult than Beckers.

I actually believe that the best way to prepare for SIMs and DRS is to do as many MCQs as possible.

And it's important to read and understand the explanations even though you got the answer right, in order to make sure you really got it right, not by just guessing.

You will NOT get tricky questions on advanced level subjects like consolidation or CFS.
Tricky questions are about inventory, fixed assets, receivables, payables, cash and cash equivalents etc.

It's obvious that they want to test you to see whether or not you got the basic concepts right and to see if you can apply them in real situations.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out -
because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews,
and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me -
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

[Anonymous]

QueenofCups-I would be careful telling people what they will and won't see on the exam based on your personal experience-each exam is different. That might cause false hope or complacency while preparing. It's best to be over-prepared that caught off guard during the exam.

[Anonymous]

Had a monster study session this weekend, both days-knowing this is my last one before the test on Friday, was kind of inspiring…. I keep getting low scores on gov't accounting, so I am re-reading the book and redoing my trouble MCQ in Ninja-good thing those go quickly. I took the practice AICPA test. MCQ-easy compared to the ones I have seen in Becker and Ninja and actually SIMS were easy as well-I know that's not indication of a real test, but I was still pleasantly surprised.

Took Mock Exam #2 in Becker-79 overall…Low on MCQ (which is because of gov't accounting) but 84 overall on the SIMS, which I was able to complete easily (again I know it means nothing). Went back through the book-for some reason EPS and equity is giving me trouble, and just made more notes, FC, more MCQ. That's where I am going to live until Friday when I take this thing!

[Anonymous]

What is everyone's plan with regards to Ratios? Has anyone ever had any luck finding key ratios in the authoritative literature?

When I took Audit, I knew the 3 or 4 key ratios and decided to roll the dice with the others. I guess I kind of understood the idea behind more than 4, but I would have had a hard time getting questions of substance correct. Thankfully it didn't come back to haunt me. I was planning on doing the same thing for FAR – knowing Current, Inventory/AR turnover and Debt to Equity ratios. Is this something I should reconsider? Anyone have any advice?

[Anonymous]

@anyatver a 79 on a mock exam certainly is meaningful! You are clearly on the right track! Finish strong and get this thing done! If I get a 79 one week before my exam I will feel MUCH better than I feel right now (inside 4 weeks)

[Anonymous]

@C.P.A the third-thank you! I will be doing MCQ to keep reviewing over the next couple of days and throw in some SIMS just for good measure.

As far as the ratios are concerned-I drilled them for BEC-but for FAR, I just reviewed the basic ones as the MCQ didn't indicate they were emphasized. Know your inventory and a/r turnover ratios, current ratio, etc…. I didn't stress about them-we will see if I am wrong on Friday:) LOL

[Author]

Replies