[jeff]

Welcome to the Q1 2017 CPA Exam Study Group for FAR. 🙂

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

[Scared-cpa]

I posted this in the February 7 Release Party thread, but I thought I would post it here, as well, in case any of you may be able to help assess my situation.

“I just took my FAR retake yesterday morning and hope you guys can provide some insight on it for me. I hate doing these “what do you think?” posts but sometimes you just need the opinions of others who know what you’re talking about!

I was trending 86 on Ninja mcq before I sat this second time around and I felt like I have a better comprehension of the material. The first testlet was fine. About what is expected – the hardest part for me was getting my nerves to calm down. By my second testlet, I was more relaxed and the questions were a mix of lengthy ones and shorter ones. The third testlet contained lengthy questions. A lot of them filled up the whole screen – I never experienced questions like that my first time with FAR. The first two testlets took me 30 minutes a piece and the third took me 45 because of the lengthiness. When I got to the sims, they were atrocious as anticipated. But they were so out of left field. None of them were like those I practiced in Ninja or WTB. I know practicing sims can’t prepare you because you don’t know what they wy will be over, but give me a break. I also don’t think I found the research. So I honestly don’t know how I did. I’m just really sad now 🙁”

I don't understand why I can't “get” the simulations. I always find several things within them that make it unclear on how I should apply something. The concepts aren't always difficult, but the way they want you to go about answering it can be difficult. I can't really say much more because I can't divulge information, obviously, but it just bums me out because I felt well prepared for it but the sims are a pain. I really don't know anything I could do differently. There's nothing that I wish I would have studied for more or looked over before I went in. There was no way of preparing for the sims. I left all my preparation there in the prometric center, so it really makes me feel awful that I have underperformed yet again.

[Stilgoin]

@scared_cpa My good friend cried for two weeks because she thought she failed FAR. She made an 88. There is no way to know until you get your score. Please don’t be upset and don’t give up hope until you see the numbers. All accountants know -it's all about the numbers. 😉

B | 62, 78
A | 73, 67, 79
R | 82
F | 59, 59, Waiting

Ethics | 93

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
~Winston Churchill

“In a world full of critics, be an encourager."

[Scared-cpa]

Thanks @stilgoin I appreciate it. I've got to start studying for AUD soon. If I don't pass either FAR this time or AUD, I'm seriously going to consider stopping. I need a pass on one of these two. Three fails in a row would be a red flag to me. I'm just trying to get my mind off of it and study for school a while.

[GiniC]

@HRSexton – Really not so far ahead – just one chapter between us, really. I'm trying to hang on to two weeks for final review, but to keep pace with that I had to stop doing the sims with each chapter – they are now going to be how I remind myself of the early chapters – that and reading all the forum questions!!!

[Stilgoin]

@scared_cpa – As an experienced candidate, I would say to you- be careful about setting time limits on your goals. I might have said the same thing when I started this journey in May 2015. Then I had SEVERAL deaths in my immediate family. I tried to push through and compartmentalize, but the stress affected my health. I am proud to say I am on my 11th exam, and I will not give up. There are others on this forum who had cancer and/or other illnesses while studying, who nursed family members with cancer and/or other illnesses while studying, who had accidents or were 9 months prego and sitting for FAR- I had life events, but some are worse. Some are better. Everyone’s path is different and this is my path. You will find yours too. It just depends on how bad you want to be a CPA.

Good luck.

B | 62, 78
A | 73, 67, 79
R | 82
F | 59, 59, Waiting

Ethics | 93

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
~Winston Churchill

“In a world full of critics, be an encourager."

[GiniC]

Well, it's 4 PM and I just finished the lectures on leases. I can't absorb any more today – I'm going for a walk before it gets dark, then I'll tackle the lease questions. Stressing about keeping up my pace!!!!

[Anonymous]

Like @a1lesio said, I'd definitely focus on government, nfp, inventory, and overall concepts. Just finished my exam today and there was stuff on there super repetitive, then nothing at all on topics that seemed to be stressed on Becker. Good luck everyone!

[GiniC]

@scared_cpa – I'm with Stilgoin! I did let life get in the way of my first career – and when I realized I had reached that point in life when it's really hard to make up for lost time I kicked myself heartily.

Believe me, I know how much you want to live life and be done studying – most on this site understand, big time. I went to work full time and school half time for four years (with a six-month hiatus to recover from a life-threatening injury) then dove into the CPA exam – all at a stage of life when my peers' main challenge is finding enough recreational things to occupy their time off from work. I've cried many times over the events I had to skip, the hobby projects calling to be worked on, the places my peers are going that I can't take time for, and much more. I wanted to stop when I realized that I had nearly died and my family's last memories of me would have been the things I didn't take time to do with them. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now, and you will too!

Try to remember the big picture: This is (hopefully) a year or two of your life, which will pay you dividends for decades.

[Scared-cpa]

Thanks, everyone. If I knew I could do it, I would. But the fact that it seems I am struggling so much really worries me. I think that if I am struggling so much then maybe I shouldn't do it. I think it is absolutely wonderful so many people come on here and take the test as many times as they have to in order to pass. I just don't know if I'm that kind of person. FAR has gotten me to really look down on myself. I'm hoping AUD can pick me back up. But at the same time, I will have to come back to FAR at some point, and that scares me because I honestly don't know if I can do it.

[Taps731]

@scared_cpa I just took my exam today, and had the exact same experience as you. 3rd test booklet was preposterous! Incredibly involved calculations, full on diluted EPS with 4 types of convertible instruments, calculations of a discounted bond carrying value using effective interest…in year 6!! Had to do that one literally from start to finish, all 6 years. Just crazy. Sims weren't too difficult for me though, but that's probably just me (for some reason I always think the sims are easy and have more trouble with memorizing the BS Obscure terms they give to easy concepts and when they ask questions about subtopics of subtopics – good one NASBA I bet You cant find me 1 CPA who knows that Timeliness is a enhancing qualitative characteristic of relevance – but you ask it anyways because apparently you think that knowledge will make or break my future career).

Anyways, peeps should really just forcus on Gov and NfP because that's 80% of the exam. @scared_cpa nailed it, they prepare you for 100 different concepts, then test you on 4 topics and that's it! If you know the last 3 chapters of Becker (2016) like the back of your hand, plus have a good handle on chapters 3 and 4, you will get at least an 80

[Taps731]

@scared_cpa I just took my exam today, and had the exact same experience as you. 3rd test booklet was preposterous! Incredibly involved calculations, full on diluted EPS with 4 types of convertible instruments, calculations of a discounted bond carrying value using effective interest…in year 6!! Had to do that one literally from start to finish, all 6 years. Just crazy. Sims weren't too difficult for me though, but that's probably just me (for some reason I always think the sims are easy and have more trouble with memorizing the BS Obscure terms they give to easy concepts and when they ask questions about subtopics of subtopics – good one NASBA I bet You cant find me 1 CPA who knows that Timeliness is a enhancing qualitative characteristic of relevance – but you ask it anyways because apparently you think that knowledge will make or break my future career).

Anyways, peeps should really just forcus on Gov and NfP because that's 80% of the exam. scared_cpa nailed it, they prepare you for 100 different concepts, then test you on 4 topics and that's it! If you know the last 3 chapters of Becker (2016) like the back of your hand, plus have a good handle on chapters 3 and 4, you will get at least an 80

[GiniC]

@scared_cpa – you really need to look at a bigger picture. You started out with the biggest BEAR of the exams – FAR has more material and more details than any of the others. Having to take a couple of tries at that one is somewhat predictable, it doesn't mean you're incapable! I'm afraid you are setting yourself up for failure – you're trying to take the two longest exams within the same testing window, and thinking about quitting at that point. Is there a reason you are rushing? I thought I could take all four in six months, and that artificial deadline was making me nuts.

Last fall, when I realized I was biting the heads off anyone who came near me because I was stressing so badly about being unable to focus on BEC while my FAR review course was already starting with AUD following right behind with no break, I went to a psychologist to help me evaluate whether the problem was my abilities, or me psyching myself out. Long story short, it was me. I needed an un-involved person's perspective to help me see and reverse my negative thinking, and it really helped – I went from completely unable to focus and make myself study, wanting to quit and repeatedly postponing exam appointments, to being far less stressed and performing far better than I thought I could on the next two exams. I still need her help to prevent me falling back into that self-defeating thought pattern, but it's working.

Your screen name suggests you begin with stress then pile more on – and exam stress can make you do poorly even when you know the material. Maybe a counselor could help you turn that around? If you have insurance, most of the cost should be covered, and it really helped me get better perspective on the whole effort. We self-critical types can usually do much more than we believe we can.

[Scared-cpa]

@GiniC My idea was to get the “toughest” one out of the way first so when my 18-month clock began, I would have already finished the one a lot of people struggle with. Walking into this, I thought the exam was just hyped up to make CPA's feel better about themselves. Everyone in school talked about how bad the GMAT was. I studied for two weeks (barely) and took it with the flu and passed just fine. So I foolishly thought the same thing about this.

The rush to finish these is to pass all four before I start working. I'm currently a full-time (4 courses) graduate student getting my MBA. I finish school in July. So I wanted to get them done before then. Do I think I will finish them all by July? Nope. But I would reallyyyyyy like to have them done by the end of the year. I've got to do AUD this quarter because my NTS runs out. I paid for it when I paid for my first FAR exam, thinking I would pass the first time and be taking AUD right now when I am actually retaking FAR.

After I take AUD in March, I am going to take a break for about a month, though. My classes are demanding so I am wanting to get caught up by then. My name comes from my initial experience with studying. I bought CPAexcel assuming it wouldn't be that bad and started struggling with the accrual accounting section. I got freaked out and scared, hence my name, and those emotions have yet to change. I have always been a high stressed individual. I was stressed in elementary school – getting sick every morning because of my anxiety. I have improved with that when it comes to most parts of my life. But this exam has severely exacerbated my problems. When I begin studying, life is miserable, I'm miserable, and I'd say I make everyone around me miserable.

Did you take any sections and fail before you received your passing scores? I would do anything for your scores! I don't like to sugarcoat things and I will admit I have had everything handed to me in life. School has always been easy. College was easy. I would say graduate school is easy – I just don't have much time to complete everything with these exams piled on top. I passed the GMAT on my “trial run” without any effort. This is the first thing I have had to work for in my life and I honestly don't know how to work for it. How do I know I am trying hard if I have never truly tried before? It's just all a mess. I really appreciate your comments, though. Reading about others going through a similar situation makes me feel better. Reading what I'm writing makes me sound a lot more sad and depressed than I feel, but maybe I am this down in the dumps and just don't want to face it. I don't know what to do about all of this, how to go about fixing it, and how to actually pass these darn tests.

[GiniC]

@scared_CPA – You sound like me in my younger days – school wasn't much of a challenge until I got pretty far along, then had to figure out what everyone else had already learned about studying. I actually flunked out of one university before I got my act together, which left me completely terrified of failing again – which is a big part of the reason I never qualified for my engineering license (and they only require one exam!). I've learned to pay attention when my internal dialog is going the wrong way, but it took a long time. Do you want to talk off-forum? Sounds like you could use some conversation but the public venue can be constraining. If so, you can email me at VRC92@alumni.neu.edu.

I'm signing off for now (I'm a morning person – I'm foggy tired now) but I'll be online and beating on leases and bonds all day tomorrow.

[waffle_house]

Anyone up doing some late night studying tonight? I have a date with Governmental accounting tonight 🙂

[Author]

Replies