[drichter321]

Hello Ninjas,

After a very eventful summer/fall where life happened to much and I failed FAR again, I am back on track. I made my study such that I will be ready for my exam on 1/24/17. Compared to my plan I am 9 hours behind already, and this is because I am not grasping the material enough through the lecture or I am getting confused by the way they ask the questions. If this trend continues I am scared I will not make my test date. I am using WILEY btw.

Does anybody have any advice for me?

BEC: 75 lost credit, could not pass far 🙁
AUD: 76 lost credit could not pass far 🙁
FAR: 74, FML. Next exam 06/14/23
REG: 75 lost credit could not pass far 🙁

[Mike J]

You don't have to flag. Just don't select anything.

[Mike J]

To clarify, you don't have to flag anything. There is a row of thin boxes, corresponding to each question. If you select an answer choice, it will turn dark. The flag feature (clicking the thin box) is actually redundant.

Granted, this may trip up the algorithm the same as flagging a question.

BUT, no matter what you do (short of cheating, of course) you get credit for a correct answer.

So I meant that you should have a strategy, should you panic. If stopping and counting to 10 doesn't work, try to just skip (without flagging) and come back before submitting the testlet.

[Jdn9201]

@Crazyleon – I totally agree with you regarding flagging questions. I never flagged (or skipped) any MCQ on any of my 4 exams. I think flagging is counter-productive, especially if the question is towards the beginning of the testlet. I tried flagging during practice exams and found myself spending more time refreshing my memory on what the question was asking than actually answering it. I also have the tendency of second guessing myself out of right answers and have found that when I go with my first instinct I have more success. Roger also shared a good tip regarding MCQs that ask for complex computations – read the last sentence first. Even in an MCQ, sometimes half of the question is just extra fluff to distract you. Especially for FAR, I read each question twice, answered and moved on.
Another thing I used to read about is breaks during the exam (between testlets, or between the last testlet and SIMS). Of course, you have to keep an eye on the clock, but I took a 5 minute break at least once during every exam (always between testlet 3 and the SIMS). For FAR, I took at least 2. The breaks really helped me to keep focused and kept me from getting bad test anxiety because taking the break essentially broke the exam into parts in my mind. I found either in college or at work, my sharp focus tends to wane after about an hour, even if it's something I'm comfortable doing. Taking a short break is a good refresher.

BEC - 88 8/29/15
REG - 82 11/14/15
AUD - 83 1/8/16
FAR - 80 2/29/16

[shawn in VA]

Mo Taylor-

Thanks for your recommendations. I will follow that plan.

[Mike J]

I mean do what you're comfortable with.

My suggestion to skip and come back ONLY IF you panic. Because I still maintain that if you find yourself agonizing (eg 4+ minutes go by) stubbornly sticking with it will be worse. Then you risk losing other easier points elsewhere in the MCQ. You need lots of time for the SIMs too.

[Goingallin]

I never flag. As someone mentioned above, usually when I second guess, I end up overthinking and choosing the wrong answer. I don't move on to the next question until I feel I've already spent enough time and looking at it any further will not help. More importantly, I don't want to ware myself down before I even get to SIM. My mind can only take so much in a four hour window

[Anonymous]

@Mike030882 – I had a long reply typed out which included a Thank You for your helpful advice. Then for some reason, the message board server kicked me off and I had to log in again and my post was lost forever. Needless to say, I won't be flagging. I have read on here and some other forums about people who did poorly on the exam who said they found themselves flagging every other question or something, and I think that's really counter-productive. This first exam experience is going to be an eye-opener for me and basically I see it as a $200.00 test run. I have failed some computer-based exams in the past, including my drivers licensing exam long ago (I flunked twice on computer before asking them for paper-pencil version, which I passed.) As somebody told me, “On a good day, you pass the CPA exam. On a bad day, maybe you don't.” So, I hope I will have a good day. The human brain is notorious for playing tricks on us – you can know everything cold and go into an exam and suddenly blank out or choose the wrong answer when the correct one is literally staring you in the face and screaming “Pick me!!” I'm more worried about that than I am worried about encountering questions that I don't know how to answer. It's all a complete crapshoot, or like a roulette table in Vegas. Again, though, thank you for the advice.

@jdn9201 – I don't see myself taking any breaks. Reason being, I will definitely run out of time on the SIMs if I do. Some people finish this grueling monster of a test with time to spare, and they're probably the ones who get 90 or higher. I seriously, seriously doubt I will be one of those people. It'll take me every minute of the 4 hours. But, I've been known to not move out of my seat once during some 5 1/2 or 6 hour flights across the country (the USA, that is!) and tend to have a pretty long attention span so I'm just gonna plow through it. Maybe if the AICPA, you know, actually had a heart and made this exam “4 hours plus mandatory two 15 minute breaks” then I could do it. I'll hit the restroom before starting and won't consume any liquids before the test. Thanks for your detailed advice.

[Author]

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