[kdotter]

Hi guys! I’m in a pretty tough position. I have been studying for FAR since the middle of July, so about a month. I’ve pushed my test back a total of 3 times already. It is now set for September 7th, but the review for FAR is sooo tough! I forgot a little bit of what I learned, and I am just not on track. I know people say to review and master For Profit before starting Not for Profit, but I am cramming before my test. The rest of September is a black out month, so I have been throwing around the idea of pushing my test back until the first week of October. I’m just worried that if I do push it back (again) I will be giving myself too much time. But if I keep it at September 7th, I will barely touch F8, F9, F10 or the Mock Exams.

[HoosierCPA]

Not familiar with the new Becker format but I definitely believe in the idea of too much time. I've thrown out this analogy before and it may be cheesy but it makes sense to me!

Think of your brain as a conveyor belt, you start with chapter 1, learn the material and its gets placed on the conveyor. As you move to more chapters what you learned in chapter 1 moves down the conveyor until it falls off and you start to lose what you learned. The idea is to get as much on that conveyor before it falls of, and having to relearn it.

My general rule throughout studying was 1 week per chapter, spend my Sundays doing 100 question progress test over all the chapters i have covered to try and keep it fresh. Once I made my way through I spent 2 weeks reviewing everything and working through sims. I didn't kill these exams so it wasn't a full proof method but it worked for me.

FAR - 78
REG - 72,74,71...please just go away REG nobody likes you!
BEC - 82
AUD - Aug 16

[Anonymous]

@HoosierCPA Congrats on passing all 4 parts! How many weeks did you spend on each of your exams? I spent 6.5 weeks on BEC and ended up failing with a 67, but spent about 4.5 weeks on AUD and passed with a 77. I don't know if it was material content or time that caused me to fail one and pass the other. I'm trying not to dwell, but be smarter with my next 3. I have until Oct 2018 to pass FAR, REG & BEC.

[HoosierCPA]

@chasinCPA thank you! If I remember correctly Becker course is AUD, BEC = 6 chapters REG = 8 chapter and FAR = 10 chapters. First go around I stuck to the layout I said above. I did a week per chapter plus 2 weeks of review.

Before I started I always laid out an excel sheet with where I needed to be for each day. I usually had lecture done before the end of the day Monday, sometimes it went into Tuesday. Then spend Tue-Sat going through homework questions. I would work through them till I got every single one correct at least once. Sunday was always a review of prior chapters. If I worked ahead I would start lectures Sunday.

FAR - 78
REG - 72,74,71...please just go away REG nobody likes you!
BEC - 82
AUD - Aug 16

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't postpone it again. I did that last year and I am very sorry I did. I just kept thinking “i'm not ready”, when I probably was ready. In that month that I postponed it, I forgot a lot of stuff, and i'm sure that contributed to the failing score. But, it was my first exam, I had no idea what to think about the whole process and had never set foot in a Prometric.
I learned my lesson about postponing exams and haven't done it with any of the other 3.

[Operation_CPA]

You really just need to find the right balance where you aren't letting too much time go by in between chapters, otherwise it's difficult to remember certain details. If you're doing progress tests, then you're most likely OK, but from personal experience: I finally passed FAR after cramming for my review and not skipping anything (aka finding that happy medium – you want to keep everything as fresh as possible).

That being said, I highly recommend you take the time to study those areas you mentioned. Super easy points on exam day and could be the difference between passing and failing.

[Author]

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