- This topic has 24 replies, 17 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 3 months ago by
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March 2, 2017 at 5:39 pm #1502775
nk522
ParticipantHi guys,
I have FAR next week, and it’s my last exam. When I started studying for my CPA I thought that by the last exam I would just give it my all and do everything to pass, but now that the time has come I am burnt out and can’t seem to concentrate or find any motivation.Now with that being said, is FAR really as bad as they say it is? I’m in my final review stage and feel like I know nothing!!! Any advice or stories would be deeply appreciated.
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March 2, 2017 at 5:52 pm #1502797
jereumie
ParticipantYeah, its bad because of the volume and quantity of materials, but nothing special or dramatically difficult. We have all learned it before in school.
March 2, 2017 at 5:57 pm #1502806Anonymous
InactiveIt is all about the volume.
My advice to you is to make your own notes and review them every other day to keep information fresh on your mindMarch 2, 2017 at 6:01 pm #1502817Goingallin
ParticipantI would have to agree FAR is tough bc of the volume but ironically it seems there are more people that passed FAR first attempt in contrast to REG. If you noticed just based on the fail attempts, REG take the cake as far as this forum goes.
I took FAR first bc I prefer a downhill battle verses an uphill battle. I'm sure you've heard from many to take FAR first for various reasons but I think the main reason is to get FAR out the way before the 18 window starts closing in.
March 2, 2017 at 6:06 pm #1502829Anonymous
InactiveI personally thought REG was not that bad..but I'm in tax so
March 2, 2017 at 6:20 pm #1502850Anonymous
InactiveYea I've passed two parts in two months and now I am onto REG, my third section within the third month.
Definitely starting to feel the burn…passing REG will mean I only have FAR left and over a year to pass it. But if I fail REG, that will mean I have REG and FAR on the new exam format and not getting 2nd window results until August, which screws up timing for everything 🙁
I am definitely nervous about FAR though….but I have not even had the time to let it get to me.
March 2, 2017 at 9:31 pm #1502989Anonymous
InactiveWhat makes FAR so hard is the voluminous amount of stuff you have to know for it, particularly Govt/Nonprofit/IFRS. I have only taken FAR, and no other tests yet, so I can't compare it to anything else. But, let's just say that my FAR test was very weird. Not brutally hard overall, but just a very strange exam. There was way more on Government/Nonprofit that I ever thought there would be and most of the SIMs were just not what I would've expected. Two of them were very easy and do-able (the research question and one other), two were horrible (I skipped one altogether), and the remaining three were just kind of vague and oddly-structured questions and I don't know whether I got them right or wrong. I walked out knowing that I probably hadn't passed.
March 2, 2017 at 11:39 pm #1503087Skynet
ParticipantFAR Sims is more Terrifying than all the scary movies combined.
Til this day, I'm still shocked at the score i even got on FAR.
March 2, 2017 at 11:52 pm #1503102Spartans92
ParticipantSorry to hijack your thread OP. But dang @jereumie, got mad respect for you! Crazy to take all 4 in one short window and u still manage to be 75% done. Yet, I started this exactly a year ago and almost at 75%. DAMN! U must be one of those super smart people. 2 weeks for AUD and BEC.. I took 5 weeks for AUD retake and still dont know if I can pull that 75.
@Goingallin, I agree. I took FAR while back and failed, retook it and made much lower score. My 18 window is bout to be up in OCT for BEC. I really do not wanna see that to happen especially the long a$$ wait. I would not be able to retake it in Q3, only thing I could do is study my a$$ off and pass if not take it before it expires in OCT and its gonna suck regardless.BEC- PASS
March 3, 2017 at 12:54 am #1503165Anonymous
InactiveI'm just curious – and certainly I'm not pointing fingers – but are there any known liars on this forum? I don't know quite how someone could go about figuring out who is being truthful and who isn't but judging from some of the posts I read, like that dude who lives in some other country who claims to be passing them all without studying and who started a thread that now has 100+ posts on it, well……I don't believe everything I read on here. I think some people just post stuff with the intention of seeing how much envy they can draw out of everyone else. Reddit and other forums are notorious for that. I'd like to think that this forum is better, but there are people on here (I'm sure) who aren't as “blessed” as they claim to be. Personally, I don't think you can leave four SIMs blank and still pass FAR with a score in the 80s. But there's no way to prove it. I also don't think you can pass these exams without studying. But…there's no way to prove that someone who just took one or more parts *cold*, with no studying, actually DIDN'T study. Which is to say, they probably studied just as much as the average person.
Yes indeed, there is a certain very small percentage of people out there who take these professional exams and say “Oh they're not bad at all, don't believe all the hype about how hard and impossible they are to pass.” The fact of the matter is that for the vast majority of people, these exams take a tremendous amount of effort to pass, even if you've studied it all before. If it was so easy to do that, a lot more people would be doing it. And a lot more people wouldn't be having trouble getting the magic 75 and NASBA wouldn't have nearly the balance they have in Retained Earnings and/or having such lavish holiday parties at the Ritz Carlton, or both haha.
One of my accounting instructors many moons ago told our class “Am I smarter than any of you? Absolutely not. What I am far better at than most people is getting things done efficiently. The year I passed the CPA exam was the *one* year that they really made it easy. The previous few years had a very high failure rate and they watered it down for just that one year. That's why I took it when I did, and why I passed. I probably wouldn't have passed otherwise.” He wasn't kidding about the ‘smart' thing either. If you talked to this guy, you'd probably think he grew up in the ‘hood! He was in fact a millionaire though. Not from teaching, but from his career in the securities industry, in the days when the market wasn't so volatile.
March 3, 2017 at 1:11 am #1503175Anonymous
Inactive@crazyleon
In my opinion, there are a lot of fakes. It is unfortunately a manipulative tactic many people use to gain recognition and power over others. People can essentially say and post what they want of this nature and it will go unchecked. Then any skepticism or opinion to the contrary on the other hand typically would get called out as trolling or jealous/insecure behavior.
That's not to say it isn't possible to pass the CPA all in one window, but then they try to make it seem easier than it actually is in order to fluff their ego. That is the manipulative part.
March 3, 2017 at 1:19 am #1503177Anonymous
InactiveDuh! Everyone passes each exam with less than 50 hours of studying and scores 90+! What a crock of crap! Talk to other candidates YOU KNOW and then the Truth will come out. Not the False advertising that the AICPA and Review Courses engage in. Goodluck everyone!!!
March 3, 2017 at 1:21 am #1503180Anonymous
InactiveMarch 3, 2017 at 1:29 am #1503184Anonymous
InactiveIf I was passing all four without studying or minimal studying, I wouldn't be posting on here. Absolutely not. I'd have no reason to and wouldn't waste my time. I wouldn't care about what anyone else was doing, I'd seek no advice, I'd ask no questions and make no comments. I'd be secure with my command of everything in BEC, FAR, AUD, and REG and would have no need to look at what others were saying or post anything. I wouldn't just come on here and dangle carrots and turnips and say “Wanna know how I did it?”, especially if I knew that the way I did it was exclusive to myself and that my “magic formula” probably wouldn't be workable by other people. If these exams were a cakewalk, there would be a lot more info out there about how to pass them in one window, or at least how to pass them all on your first attempt. But there isn't, and for good reason…there is too much uncertainty and too many variables. Even the CPA review vendors lie about their subscriber pass rates (a few of them say “88% pass all four on the first try” which is *100%* untrue if you think about it even a bit and maybe even crunch a few numbers!) I don't know why they can't be honest…but if they were, they wouldn't get as many customers. If you have a high IQ, fine. If not, the one and only thing you can do is keep studying, paying your state board, paying NASBA, and going to Prometric until you pass. Well, that's four things haha.
March 3, 2017 at 1:42 am #1503187slackergurl
MemberI don't think it's possible to pass without some review. I do think it's possible to pass without 200 hours of review per section, but the culture online is such that people who only spend 40 or 50 hours reviewing are mocked or ridiculed for spending less time than the next person. I wouldn't blame them for staying quiet.
March 3, 2017 at 1:42 am #1503189Skynet
ParticipantMy scores are real, however I'm not lying when i say i have dated half of the ladies on A71 😉
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