[jeff]

I just checked mine for MA – still error score not found. Nothing yet

[financeguy]

As someone who pretty much never panics when it comes to tests or anything else, I somewhat panicked on this one. DON'T LET THAT HAPPEN TO YOU!!!

If you don't know it the day before the test, then you don't know it. Deal with it. It is not the end of the world. As you can see by reading everyone's post, very few people feel prepared and confident going into this thing and feel even worse coming out. It is okay if you don't absolutely know everything. Just realize that. Make sure, before the test, that you understand that you don't need to get 100% right to pass this thing.

I personally believe the key with this exam is to not let it overwhelm you. Handle what you can. Put in the work studying and preparing and know that you put in the work and are prepared for MOST everything they throw at you. If you get a curveball, DO NOT let it throw you off your game. Take your best educated guess and move on.

You should make it through the first testlet in 30 min. The 2nd one will take longer, but you should not spend more than 1 hour on it. 3rd one should be about 50 minutes or less. That will leave you with approximately 45 min per sim. The MC are definitely more important than the sims. There are dozens of posts from people who didn't finish or feel they completely bombed the sims and still passed. Good luck everyone.

AUD - 81, BEC - 74, 80, FAR - 82, REG - 81
Done!

[Anonymous]

FARbehind, thanks for the sentiment. I started this journey a few years ago and gave up (I did lose my credit for AUD then). So, I restarted it about 4 months ago and passed FAR in Feb 2010 and AUD in May 2010. Many thanks for the info on losing the credits, but this time I left myself plenty of time to recover if I do need it. I am dedicated and confident, not that I wasn't before, but this time I have a better approach, one that seems to work for me. I just really believe that going through the MC and reviewing the correct and incorrect responses work, not reading the text, but just understanding concepts as you said. I wasted so much time working the very long and difficult review question's, reading the text and listening to lectures that it just became unmanageable for me. I don't want anyone to fall into this trap.

[Anonymous]

@cpa journey, I feel so much better about FAR this time. The first time I took it, I panicked. Like financeguy said, that was not good. I went into the first testlet and breezed through it. Thought I was doing so great on time I went over the questions again before I went to the second testlet. BAD IDEA. The second testlet was way more intense and I saw the timer going down fast. Third testlet was not bad at all. I saved 45 minutes for each sim but was so blown away, I just started filling in anything without thinking and still ran out of time.

The second time I took FAR was a “practice run”. I knew I wouldn't pass but I am so glad I took it because I see now what the examiners are trying to test us on. My focus in my restudy has been on the basic fundamentals of financial accounting. I am not spending hours learning the complex problems and problems with exceptions to the rules.

I've been through the lectures, chapters, the homework questions 3 times (in just the restudy), and the Becker Final Review. I have some of Jeff's notes and videos from when I was in Club 75 that help too. If there is something I need to work on, I go to my Wiley question bank. Also I will review the past 3 years of the AICPA released questions. It's a lot of material but I've given it my best effort to feel comfortable with any problem they may throw at me. I really think I can pass it this time.

Lots of us are taking it this week. I wish you all the best whether it is your first time taking it or your last. If this is your last section, I can't imagine what you must be going through. Happy studying!

[Anonymous]

CPAWannaBe

Thanks, your attack plan sounds good. Study and stay calm. Going bak over the material and repeat the study cycle as many times before the test. That was how I approached AUD. It workrf for me too..

Good luck for Tuesday! Hope all FAR test takers do well.

PS The cat attacked me this morning. There was another cat outside and the old fight or flight respinse kicked in. My leg is showing the worse for encounter. Of course she has forgotten all about it. Sure hope they finish the repairs onmy car soon. I am ready to go home!

[rahulcpa]

CPAWANNABE

I am pullin for ya! attack that beast with all the confidence in the world. GoD bless!

BEC - 82 Reg-87 Aud - 86 Far - 81 (THANX THE LORD)
(Dr CPA (Asset)
Cr Life) 😉 (revenue)

[Anonymous]

So I took FAR today (yes! NY *finally* offers testing on Sundays!!) and am just blown away sometimes. To echo what so many people have said – my best piece of advice is to just stop beating yourself up over certain topics if you're not understanding them the days leading up to the exam. I drilled some things SO hard – topics Becker said would be “critical,” and I literally didn't have a single question pertaining to that topic. And totally forgot how to do the easy things that I should know.

I saw someone ask it before – I felt like my multiple choice got crazy at the end. TONS of long, wordy questions – nearly all calculation-based. And then had the easiest sims of any exam I've taken. I'm psyching myself out and really hoping sims are actually independent of MCQ performance. Otherwise, I'll be tackling this beast come October.

Best of luck to everyone! And here's to waiting/agonizing for the next 5 weeks.

[FARbehind]

cpaschooldropout, thanks for the insight/advice. It is coming handy for people like us in their last days of preparation. It can get overwhelming to look at all this material… Simulations are for sure independent and not adjustable based on your performance so don't worry. From what you describe about your mcq getting harder and wordier it seems like you did a good job.

aud,bec,reg-passed
far-->75 Done!!!!!
ethics-100

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have some good examples of the difference between “hard” questions and “medium hard” questions. I went into the second testlet wondering if the questions were going to get harder and I am not sure if they did.

Maybe its just me but it seems that all the questions are pretty hard and it is completely subjective as to whether you receive a “hard” testlet or a “medium hard” testlet.

If you could list some attributes of a hard question/testlet it would help my psychological well being.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

Baltimore

It is pretty subjective. When I took the audit exam I thought the MCQ concepts were all pretty familiar and I did not notice a change in the difficulty. I did not really see anything that I had answeed before. Just that the concepts were all familiar from Becker and Gleim test bank questions. When I took BEC the first time I thought the exam was getting harder – but BEC is NOT an adaptive test.

I have not taken FAR – scheduled for late Aug.

If you are well prepared and the exam test you on what you know – it does not seem to get that much more difficult.

[Anonymous]

@Baltimore

The only difference I could tell on AUD was the questions got wordier. The first testlet were mostly short to the point questions, the 2nd & 3rd testlets were very wordy, more tricky questions.

But I actually saw the same question for 2 different questions asked exactly the same twice (kind-of weird).

[nycegurl]

CPAWannaBe, All the best of luck tomorrow!!! I am sending good vibes to you! You will rock FAR! Keep calm and breathe, you got this girl!

REG - 82 (11/09)
FAR - 72 (2/27/10), 79 (5/29/10)
BEC - 69 (7/9/10), Retake 11/26
AUD - 75 8/28/10

[Anonymous]

great advice dolphan! i think i might print out your post and post it on my wall. lol. what is my FEAR is being too nervous while at the computer and being too worried with the time and not reading the questions throughly , hence choosing the wrong answer, or worse having the examiners *trick* you in some way in their MC. Im thinking the pretest questions are indeed graded, and they just curve everything. I dunno, guess no one will ever know!

[keepon]

good luck tomorrow cpawannabe, i'm pulling for you. hopefully this time around we won't be able to reschedule around aug. 20.

AUD 81, REG 65 78, BEC 75, FAR 71 85(8/3/2010)

[Anonymous]

just took a practice exam on becker, got a 60%!! ;-(

i swear im gonna cry!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the well wishes!

I think I'm going to throw up. *smile*

UNLEASH THE BEAST!!

Best of luck to CAcpahopeful2010 and FARbehind tomorrow and anyone else taking the exam!

[Author]

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