[Anonymous]

I’m taking FAR in four days. It’s my first CPA exam ever. I just sat down to take a Becker practice exam and I couldn’t do it at all. I couldn’t do any math or remember how to do ANY questions. I guessed on almost all of them and felt like I could not do the exam justice. I started crying and panicked so I quit. I don’t know what to do now, I am really freaked out. Long story short I began studying in January but had NTS issues and scheduling issues and couldn’t take it until Q2, so I finished the material in February and gave myself quite a bit of time off…
I feel like the time per question really gets me, and the questions are SO math intensive and seem like they would take WAY longer than the suggested 1.10min/MCQ.
What do I do.

[Lara]

Have you studied at all since February? If you gave yourself some time off since then, and did not restudy it’s more likely you have forgotten most of the stuff covered in the exam. I took my exam in February, although I made a good score then I will probably fail if I take it today as I have forgotten most of the material.

[aaronmo]

I don't know what your memory is like…but, for me, if I had a few months off between prep and the test…I'd have no chance. I'd wager that I forget at least 60% of the material…at least the detail…within 3 weeks. If I took over a month off, I'd have had the same performance issue you're having…I don't think it's surprising, nor remarkable. In addition, you know you aren't prepped, which causes added anxiety and lesser performance/recall. At least that's how it would be for me.

To me, this sounds like you regroup…start over…and schedule the exam for a week within prep finish time. You'll also RE-LEARN it much faster.

This isn't the end of the world…just start over. The CPA exam tests what you and can recall on a particular day…and it's not your day. This is also why I think the CPA exams should be more like the bar exam…focus more on concept, like SIMs, and less on “how many minute details can you recall and which you'll forget after your celebratory beer after the exam?”

Edit – I am 100% in agreement with Lara.

[Anonymous]

You just stated your issue in the post. The main reason why you couldn't remember is most likely due to a long break you took..especially from FAR. There is no doubt that FAR has the most materials, and you can't just take a break from studying. You need to be consistent with studying and review these topics. Most exam candidates already have problems retaining the information due to the sheer amount of the topics covered in FAR even if they have been consistently studying.

Also, the Becker mock exam questions are considerably more difficult than the actual exam, and they tend to use more tricky words too, so I'm not surprised that you couldn't remember or knew how to do the problems. Like the others said, just re-group and study from the scratch, and DO NOT take a long break again. Good luck.

[Operation_CPA]

First things first, the Becker practice exams are absolute beasts. I never really found them useful for FAR as Beckers questions are incredibly lengthly and time consuming. I think your time is better spent reviewing JEs and things of that sort.

Secondly – when studying for any one of these exams, the key is to keep the material as fresh as possible and not allow too much time to go by between chapters. This is what really hurts people – I have been a victim to this and learned the hard way. If I were you I would take a deep breath and see how much you really do know, because it is probably more than you think.

[Anonymous]

I finished the material Feb. 13th or so, doing all lectures and MCQ for each module. If I'm being honest with myself I probably took a month off, studying only a little during that time. I starting reviewing after my spring break, so mid-March, and have been doing it ever since. For review I went back and did all of the MCQ I got wrong and took notes on each one I got wrong again. I feel like I have sunk so much time into this one exam that I cannot just start over. I feel like such a failure for letting my NTS stuff get away from me and for messing up my timing on FAR. I'm in grad school and everyone I know has already passed two parts at least. It is so frustrating to feel so behind, and to have wasted so much time. I'm not sure if I should make these next four days hell and try my best to pass it, or not take it and move on to studying for BEC.

[Anthony]

The exam is all about short term memory. Taking 2+ months just do a section and doing time off is just too much time wasted. The brain can only memorize so much before you forgetting things.

[Anonymous]

Well, at least overconfidence won't be a problem for you lol? Exam tip: calculation problems are usually the most time-consuming and stressful, so I prefer to do all the non-calculation/word MC's first, which are usually easy points and helps build confidence. Time management is critical, so you should never dwell too long on any one particular problem.

[tmacpa]

a key part of success with the cpa exams is believing in yourself, as corny as it sounds.
Just because your classmates say they're almost done blah blah blah this, that, means nothing.

Everyone's journey is different. With the cpa once you get it, that's it. Whether it took one testing window or seventeen, nobody is going to care.

Be honest with yourself and put in the time, you'll be okay.

[Anonymous]

I've read other posts that have said that Becker's practice exams are way harder than the actual exams. I've also read posts from people who said “I never got over 50% on a practice exam and still passed.” I would not beat yourself up over this. I think the practice exams of some of these vendors – Gleim is another one – are designed to be way harder than the actual one. Which I think maybe is good because if you can just get through it in the allotted time, you should do ok on the real one. The only reason I personally would ever do a practice exam is to see how quickly I could get through it. If I was really, really behind the clock, then I would know I'd need to speed up. But again, the questions are harder so of course they will take you more time…so why do practice exams?? Don't underestimate your ability. Especially on FAR, the MCQs are really pretty cut and dry and short and sweet. If you know the stuff, you should get most of them right.
At least that's how it is for the easy testlets. The hard testlets, I don't know. But I'm suspecting you don't have to get many of those harder (longer) ones right in order to earn points.
I just posted something about this earlier today, about being a slowpoke whenever I do MCQ at home. The key is just not to be slow on test day, but usually your adrenaline takes care of that.

[Anonymous]

Oh btw yes, you need to study for FAR and get it done in as short a time possible. The other 3 exams, you can maybe take more time on but they do not have nearly as much info as FAR does. I made the mistake of postponing my exam date twice. I should NOT have done that. I'd probably have passed if I had taken it when planned originally. I pushed it out another month – twice – because I felt unprepared. And guess what happened? I didn't study as much because by then I'd burned out. Now I'm starting over again….although, most of it is coming back to me. Lesson learned though – don't postpone. For FAR anyway.

[Anonymous]

I just took FAR today and am leaning towards probable fail. The first MCQ set I was ok with. The second one was so hard, I feel like I got a 20% on it. SIMS were ok, really hit my bad areas and I wasn't sure I was doing them right. I found using the authoritative literature helpful when I had no direction on a question (I apportioned 20 mins per SIM). I definitely had enough time on SIMS and the first MCQ, but the second MCQ was honestly just a fail. Who knows. I won't ever study for an exam in 7 weeks and then take it a month and a half later–but hey that wasn't my intention in the first place (had bad timing with NTS/changing systems). I'm hoping to take BEC May 16 (going to start studying Monday) and then REG early July. I find out my score for FAR and BEC in late June, so I'm hoping that if I fail FAR I can take it after REG in August before I begin work in September, leaving me to take AUD while working (before busy season!)

[Anonymous]

Sorry to hear that. As frustrating as it may be, I really think retakes are very helpful, even necessary, for perfecting your studying strategy. Soon you'll just get a feel for what topics and concepts are important.

[ajwynn30]

cpa_struggle- Was the AICPA blue print accurate for your exam

[Anonymous]

@ajwynn30 yes especially SIMS.

[Author]

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