[Anonymous]

Ok, here are my thoughts on the new FAR exam in 2012 that I took this Sat.

US GAAP vs. IFRS —> 60% vs. 40% (Could be 50/50)

Yes, IFRS is heavily tested now folks, so be prepared! I had many IFRS questions in my 3 MCQ testlets, and here are the breakdowns of 3 testlets.

1st testlet (Medium Diffculty): Easy, Confident about it!

2nd testlet (Higher Diffculty): Holy smoke, it was hard!

3rd testlet (Medium Diffculty): Easy, Confident about it!

As for the simulations, they are pretty much the same as 2011, which was still a tough cookie to chew on.

[Yvonne570]

Think you passed. Considering you were not far from passing the last time.

AUD - Passed:)
FAR - Passed:)
REG - Retake TBD
BEC - Missed by 3 points Retake TBD

[Anonymous]

@CPA_Rookie

I have my FAR test a week from today. I am super nervous. How were the simulations? I have yet to do comparable or stronger on my simulations except for BEC.

[ledgermaven]

I was curious if the IFRS questions are other than theory, if they have calculations also. I have only seen Wiley and Gleim theory questions for IFRS, and seem to get those pretty easy. There are only a few IFRS question at the end of each chapter, so if a lot of those are tested, are they those ones pretty much?

Thanks for the report, good luck

[Anonymous]

@ledgermaven: Yes they have IFRS calculations on it. But don't freak out about it, u just have to know the basics.

@akb9874: Simulations are just as hard as last yr, that is for me tho. But my advice for u is to ACE the MCQs, and try ur best on the simulations. I find it's harder to use simulations to pull up ur score. Hence, do well on MCQs, hopefully that will offset the possible lower marks from sim.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice! That is kind of what I was thinking.

[Anonymous]

40%??? I took FAR a few days ago and I barely had any IFRS questions… As in could count the number on one hand, so I think you just got a crap test. Luck of the draw I guess.

Prior FAR I took in August had a good chunk of IFRS but I hardly saw anything… My testlets felt like mostly theory questions and this time around I felt like I had mostly calculations. Again, I'm chalking it up to luck of the draw.

Who knows…

[gateway3601]

@CPA_Rookie

How did you improve your audit score by 27? What is your secret and what review material did you use? I failed Audit for the second time now with a 64 and I am retaking it in Feb. Thank You….

FAR(61,73,73,74,76) REG-81 AUD(61,64,58) BEC(71,77)

[Anonymous]

Is Govt/NFP tested heavily as well?

or is the focus on IFRS now?

[Anonymous]

@dtomasello: well, I would assume they are gradually updating the newer questions, so when u took FAR earlier during the year, some of the IFRS questions that I had might not be yet added into the exam.

However, I do have to admit, I didn't do an actual count on the # of IFRS questions, but I was kind of surprised to see the amount of IFRS questions in the exam. Hence, study hard for IFRS, so u won't regret it if you do see several questions on IFRS in the actual exam.

@gateway3601: I used Becker only for all my CPA exams. The reason why I screwed up on my first attempt of AUD was becuz I under-estimated the exam when I was studying it. I thought a lot of materials were repetitve and I didn't pay that much attentions into the details. However, they do matter a lot!

So, if you were using Becker as I am, I would highly recommend you to pay extra attention on Chapter 5's Internal Control, that was where I missed the core concept of AUD in my first attempt.

@CPAer: Yes, Gover/NFP questions are the large portions of the exam, pretty much every MCQs testlets have them.

Good luck guys! Hope my info helps!

[Author]

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