Dilemma-
You really hit the nail on the head. There's no way to know what is going to be on the exam and the amount of preparation isn't always reflected in your scores. My approach was to be sure that I knew government and not-for-profit accounting. My logic was that in covering those three chapters (Becker) I would be guaranteed to have 16-24% of the exam as a slam dunk. The other chapters that needed my attention I wouldn't know until I sat down to take the test, so I wanted to make sure I understood the concepts through those other seven chapters (a manageable chunk) and I felt that would allow me to logically work through the problems presented on the exam. I also purchased the ninja audio for FAR and listened while I was getting ready for work in the morning and during my commute.
I'm not recommending you adhere to the following routine, but it was what I was forced to do due to time constraints. I share it with you so that it becomes clear that you can be rewarded with a passing score if you don't know every bit of the material covered in FAR. (This should relieve some of the pressure.) Think of it like the college professor that loads you down with work so that you learn to prioritize. S/he knows that you cannot accomplish all of the tasks with 100% dedication – regardless of how disciplined you would like to be and something has to give. It's a good life lesson and being a perfectionist is a tall order.
Here's my story – I only worked the multiple choice problems and SIMS through the first two chapters before I realized I was running out of time. I watched all the lectures and reviewed the material to make sure that I was familiar (i.e. pretty solid knowledge) with the concepts and sample problems presented. In the text, I highlighted only key concepts that I knew I would revisit in my final review. I chose to spend the time available memorizing and familiarizing rather than answering homework problems.
Next, I started to review multiple-choice problems and did this for all chapters. The goal was not to answer each question, but to improve my knowledge base through studying the question/answer relationships. I did this by immediately choosing answer A for each one so that the answer would be revealed. Of course my homework scores were terrible – after graduating with honors and scoring A's in all my accounting courses, this was a new approach for me. It allowed me to be very focused and productive with the limited amount of time that I had available. I didn't have enough time to review the SIMS which was next on my list.
If you put in the work, see the big picture, and stay focused, you'll pass FAR. Hang in there.
✓ AUD: (02/12/13) 71 | (05/31/13) 80
✓ REG: (05/13/13) 75
✓ BEC: (08/06/13) 80 - Unwilling participant in the "Server Upgrade" debacle
✓ FAR: (08/31/13) 65 | (12/06/13) 75 - Beat the Cali Education Requirement
✓ PETH: (12/25/13) 86 | (12/26/13) 92
✓ CA CPA: (02/13/14)
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