[jasonrobbins]

Hello,

I’m having real issues studying for FAR (which is scheduled for Feb 28th). I just finished F5 in Becker and when I go back through the text, I feel like I don’t even know what I learned. Even though I have 11 weeks left, I feel like I’ve already failed or am on a path to disaster. I don’t have a strong accounting background so I’m learning a lot of this stuff for the first time.

The main issue is that I’m having problems determining how to study. In my past sections, I always wrote out notecards or wrote outlines for the chapters. I can’t do this for FAR because it simply takes up too much time. I can’t write out the NINJA notes yet, because it doesn’t go in the same order as the Becker materials. I do the MCQ in each section but by the time I finish one section like Bonds/Leases, I forget some of the more detailed questions from B1, B2, B3, etc. And I know that I need to do review tests but, when I do that, I think the questions asked might be skipping over important topics that need to be reinforced.

To sum it up, I’m in a huge slump. 🙁 And to make matters worse, my girlfriend is giving me trouble because I’m studying during the holidays (she is going to be moving away soon for her grad school).

My question is: a) should I just start over and begin with F1 or b) take two weeks to review F1-F5 and pick up on F6? If I do the review route, what’s the best way to review? I work full time and I am trying my best to balance work/study as much as I can. I have wrote an outline for F1, F2, and F3…should I continue to do that or just do tons of MCQs? If I do a lot of MCQ, I feel like I’m only learning the information in those questions and not understanding the underlying concepts. But then, when I do MCQs after I outline, I don’t even do that well on the questions!! AHHHH

Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you guys 🙁

AUD- 97 1x
REG- 81 1x
BEC- 79 1x
FAR- 88 1x

DONE!

10/1/12 to 2/28/14

[Study Monk]

I have been working on FAR for two months and there is no way to dodge the fact that you are going to have put in major hours. I suggest you go one chapter at a time and not move on until you are very comfortable with the subjects. I do not know your time constraints but i suggest that you do not deviate from how you passed the other sections.

Do not be in such a hurry to move through the material because if the information doesn't get planted in your long term memory its as good as garbage at this point. Assuming you do not have any exams expiring I would probably take my time and if you have to reschedule to April so be it. Still put in long hours but try to really get the concepts. I personally try to have a good understanding of the concepts before moving on to the questions.

I have been out of accounting for five years and was never really that good to begin with and I have attained good conceptual knowledge of most of the material. No chapter in FAR is hard after you spend 20 hours on it. I will say the bond and lease problems in becker seem like different information that what the book focuses on and I found that doing the same computational problems over and over really helped.

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[Study Monk]

I have been working on FAR for two months and there is no way to dodge the fact that you are going to have put in major hours. I suggest you go one chapter at a time and not move on until you are very comfortable with the subjects. I do not know your time constraints but i suggest that you do not deviate from how you passed the other sections.

Do not be in such a hurry to move through the material because if the information doesn't get planted in your long term memory its as good as garbage at this point. Assuming you do not have any exams expiring I would probably take my time and if you have to reschedule to April so be it. Still put in long hours but try to really get the concepts. I personally try to have a good understanding of the concepts before moving on to the questions.

I have been out of accounting for five years and was never really that good to begin with and I have attained good conceptual knowledge of most of the material. No chapter in FAR is hard after you spend 20 hours on it. I will say the bond and lease problems in becker seem like different information that what the book focuses on and I found that doing the same computational problems over and over really helped.

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[jasonrobbins]

Wow, thanks for the thoughtful reply StudyMonk. So you think I should just start over? That's kind of what I'm feeling might be my best option at this point too but wasn't sure. Anyone else agree?

Also, my REG expires June 1, so if I don't pass this coming window, thankfully I can take FAR again in April/May. I am NOT banking on that though and giving this first try everything I got. I have passed all the others on my first try and I am not breaking that streak

AUD- 97 1x
REG- 81 1x
BEC- 79 1x
FAR- 88 1x

DONE!

10/1/12 to 2/28/14

[jasonrobbins]

Wow, thanks for the thoughtful reply StudyMonk. So you think I should just start over? That's kind of what I'm feeling might be my best option at this point too but wasn't sure. Anyone else agree?

Also, my REG expires June 1, so if I don't pass this coming window, thankfully I can take FAR again in April/May. I am NOT banking on that though and giving this first try everything I got. I have passed all the others on my first try and I am not breaking that streak

AUD- 97 1x
REG- 81 1x
BEC- 79 1x
FAR- 88 1x

DONE!

10/1/12 to 2/28/14

[Anonymous]

@Jason

My exam is on Feb 1st and two things are helping me :

a) Write down my notes efficiently – you can search my post here; I received very good advices about it. I'm visual so colors help out. I don't write notes anymore, I type them and I study them with little comments on hand. That helps me to study efficiently

b) I'm doing MQC only in Wiley book (first round). My plan is, once I finish the whole stuff, to come back to each chapter as a review (I think is normal to forget but in second review your mind will be more open to receive the info that you already studied) then I intend to do the WTB on computer.

c) Put the effort and think in your mind that YOU CAN DO IT for February 28, so kill yourself as much as you can and think you will do it but will worth coz you don't have to do it again so put all your effort this time.

IF you fail, you will need less time probably than this time and you will get most of the concepts so you will be fine

d) Don't let your gf to decide about your schedule, if she doesn't get it, she doesn't think about you.

That's my opinion, hope it helps..

Good luck

[Anonymous]

@Jason

My exam is on Feb 1st and two things are helping me :

a) Write down my notes efficiently – you can search my post here; I received very good advices about it. I'm visual so colors help out. I don't write notes anymore, I type them and I study them with little comments on hand. That helps me to study efficiently

b) I'm doing MQC only in Wiley book (first round). My plan is, once I finish the whole stuff, to come back to each chapter as a review (I think is normal to forget but in second review your mind will be more open to receive the info that you already studied) then I intend to do the WTB on computer.

c) Put the effort and think in your mind that YOU CAN DO IT for February 28, so kill yourself as much as you can and think you will do it but will worth coz you don't have to do it again so put all your effort this time.

IF you fail, you will need less time probably than this time and you will get most of the concepts so you will be fine

d) Don't let your gf to decide about your schedule, if she doesn't get it, she doesn't think about you.

That's my opinion, hope it helps..

Good luck

[Anonymous]

More than two things after all hahaha.. Hope that helps..

[Anonymous]

More than two things after all hahaha.. Hope that helps..

[Anonymous]

To OP, I was in the same boat as you. I would get through each chapter and when I felt like I got the chapter down, I realized I totally forgot everything in the other chapters before that. What REALLY helped me nail down the “big picture” is just knowing the main acronyms in Becker for each section, then doing Wiley MCQ's 30 questions at a time. I would select all subjects I had studied and then see what my weak areas were.

If any subject was REALLY weak, then I'd do another round of MCQ's with only that topic. Maybe 15-25 questions total.

If I had to do it again, I wouldn't have written down as much and just listened to lectures one time through and spend 75-80% of my time on MCQs. Wiley's instant feedback after each question is more useful than a lot of other tools you may have (textbooks, flash cards, notes, etc.)

That's my two cents.

[Anonymous]

To OP, I was in the same boat as you. I would get through each chapter and when I felt like I got the chapter down, I realized I totally forgot everything in the other chapters before that. What REALLY helped me nail down the “big picture” is just knowing the main acronyms in Becker for each section, then doing Wiley MCQ's 30 questions at a time. I would select all subjects I had studied and then see what my weak areas were.

If any subject was REALLY weak, then I'd do another round of MCQ's with only that topic. Maybe 15-25 questions total.

If I had to do it again, I wouldn't have written down as much and just listened to lectures one time through and spend 75-80% of my time on MCQs. Wiley's instant feedback after each question is more useful than a lot of other tools you may have (textbooks, flash cards, notes, etc.)

That's my two cents.

[interimusername]

First, don't knock yourself. 11 weeks is more than enough time to study for FAR.

I agree with Bennyhana in FAR being a lot more conceptual than people may think.

My personal study style is to just plow through the book once so that at least I've read it. Read through a section, do the MCQ, move on. Once I've read through the entire book, I'll start doing mass MCQ's, whether from the software or online. Just keep doing them. If you truly understand the concepts, it should start piecing together. And if you forgot the material, if you read through both right and wrong answers and understand why they are right/wrong, you'll probably get a better understanding of the material instead of just starting from scratch. Once you are X weeks out, reread the book again to absorb any material that you may have forgotten/glanced over the first time over.

Everyone learns differently, but that's worked for me so far. Since FAR is your last section, I would suggest continue doing what has worked for you. You are 1 year in with only 1 test to go. Really no reason to overreact and change habits that has worked for you so far, because like I said, 11 weeks is more than enough time.

[interimusername]

First, don't knock yourself. 11 weeks is more than enough time to study for FAR.

I agree with Bennyhana in FAR being a lot more conceptual than people may think.

My personal study style is to just plow through the book once so that at least I've read it. Read through a section, do the MCQ, move on. Once I've read through the entire book, I'll start doing mass MCQ's, whether from the software or online. Just keep doing them. If you truly understand the concepts, it should start piecing together. And if you forgot the material, if you read through both right and wrong answers and understand why they are right/wrong, you'll probably get a better understanding of the material instead of just starting from scratch. Once you are X weeks out, reread the book again to absorb any material that you may have forgotten/glanced over the first time over.

Everyone learns differently, but that's worked for me so far. Since FAR is your last section, I would suggest continue doing what has worked for you. You are 1 year in with only 1 test to go. Really no reason to overreact and change habits that has worked for you so far, because like I said, 11 weeks is more than enough time.

[Kls238]

You sound like me a few months ago. I started by taking notes and making flashcards to only abandon the strategy and started only reading the chapter, studying Becker FCs, and doing MCQs. I felt like I was 50/50 – I was comfortable with some topics and had holes in others. Needless to say, I failed with a 70. This time around I stuck with writing notes before doing any MCQ. My notes have “fact nuggets” for topics I'm great at and detailed notes for the topics that I struggle with. I'm not going to lie, it was really time consuming and it sucked. But now that I'm going through the multiple choice, it's paying off. I do roughly 15-30 MCQs then study my notes, then study several pages of notes.

I was skeptical of writing notes cause it was time consuming, but concepts are sinking in so much better now that the notes are in my own words. It will all eventually click and things will get better. Keep at it!

Passed all sections.

[Kls238]

You sound like me a few months ago. I started by taking notes and making flashcards to only abandon the strategy and started only reading the chapter, studying Becker FCs, and doing MCQs. I felt like I was 50/50 – I was comfortable with some topics and had holes in others. Needless to say, I failed with a 70. This time around I stuck with writing notes before doing any MCQ. My notes have “fact nuggets” for topics I'm great at and detailed notes for the topics that I struggle with. I'm not going to lie, it was really time consuming and it sucked. But now that I'm going through the multiple choice, it's paying off. I do roughly 15-30 MCQs then study my notes, then study several pages of notes.

I was skeptical of writing notes cause it was time consuming, but concepts are sinking in so much better now that the notes are in my own words. It will all eventually click and things will get better. Keep at it!

Passed all sections.

[Anonymous]

i actually think its better to spend less time studying for FAR. i made the mistake of spreading it too much over 4 months and ended up getting a 72, planning to retake in feb

[Author]

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