[Anonymous]

I failed FAR in the first quarter with a 69. How should i approach restudying FAR?

Should i focus first on my weaknesses or start from Chapter 1 and build up my knowledge?

I hope to take the retake in the 3rd Quarter. any and all tips are appreciated

[ajurew1]

I am assuming a fail too when I get my score from IL hopefully tomorrow. The plan will be to start over from Chapter 1, because I feel like I can gain more points even in my stronger areas by studying everything again.

BEC - 84 (4/13/2013)
REG - 82 (10/17/2013)
AUD - 85 (12/5/2013)
FAR - 75 (10/11/2014)

[stag]

I thought the best thing I did when I studied for the exam was that since I hadno idea about government and non profit, I spend very little time on it, just enough to make educated guesses. Instead I focused my energy on materials I had better understanding. I figured I rather get all the questions I'm comfortable with right, and gamble on stuff that I'm not familiar with. Basically I figured I will get a better return on time spend on materials that I will understand given the amount of time I had to study. Spending 2 hours on capital lease is much more cost effective than 2 hours on government funds. well, walking out of the exam i thought my method backfired and I probably got like a 60 since the exam was so hard and I had no idea what the heck I was doing. I ended up with a 87, not bad for basically skipping the last 2 chapters of Becker on FAR

FAR - Aug 2013 Passed
REG - DEC 2013 Passed
BEC - FEB 2014 Passed
AUD - MAY 2014 Passed

BSEE = who needs accounting degree to pass CPA exams?

[ajurew1]

stag, hope I have the same results as you. I didn't spend much time on Governmental either because it was a huge weakness for me and I felt like I was wasting time studying for it. I also feel like I scored in the 60s. I will find out hopefully tonight.

BEC - 84 (4/13/2013)
REG - 82 (10/17/2013)
AUD - 85 (12/5/2013)
FAR - 75 (10/11/2014)

[stag]

good luck, ajurew1. it takes those who are going through our rite of passage to understand how challenging this is.

FAR - Aug 2013 Passed
REG - DEC 2013 Passed
BEC - FEB 2014 Passed
AUD - MAY 2014 Passed

BSEE = who needs accounting degree to pass CPA exams?

[Anonymous]

don't hijack the thread hahah!

I appreciate the info!

[jopa16]

What materials do you use to study?

REG 2/26/14 - 90
BEC 4/08/14 - 92
FAR 5/31/14 - 90
AUD 7/09/14 -

[Anonymous]

Yaeger and ninja.

[jopa16]

I watch the lectures the first time through. Do the MCQ and sims with the chapter. I always checkmark MCQ's I got wrong so I can come back later and do them, time permitting. For the final review, I go through my book and note on what chapter and page each tricky subject/ heavily questioned subject is. I use google keep to keep track. I used to take notes, but I've found that when I look at them later out of context they make no sense so I've stopped doing that. Once I've noted what pages I need to keep reviewing, I do a bunch of 30 question progress tests. Think somewhere in the range of 20-25 during the review period. I then try to go back through as many sims as I can, time permitting. Go back over the pages noted at least twice before the exam. I had a ton of spare time on BEC so I went back through all the checkmarked MCQ's.

REG 2/26/14 - 90
BEC 4/08/14 - 92
FAR 5/31/14 - 90
AUD 7/09/14 -

[Anonymous]

Do you think 6 weeks is enough to restudy?

[Anonymous]

Looking for FAR re-take study tips:

My plan is to re-take it on Jan 24th. First time I scored a 73 (so close especially when I know what I did wrong on a couple of sims on topics I knew, but for one reason or another I screwed them up on exam day sims) back at the end of October. Got score on Nov 24th. Just started restudying again after the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Here is my plan:

1. work MCQs after work Monday-Friday

2. Work Sims & Study Notes (My own written notes and read over somethings in the Wiley book) on Saturdays & Sundays

3. Repeat this process until Jan 10th

4. Use the last two weeks to bring it all together.

That 73 is just stuck in my head because I know I could have passed it back in October if it wasn't for a few mistakes.

[taxgeek83]

I got a 73 on my first round with FAR as well, and know I could have passed it had I actually studied. Definitely was kicking myself after that.

I think your plan sounds solid – I would recommend getting a new test bank if you haven't already. Ninja is great – I bought it for my second shot at FAR and passed (not much more studying than the first time around – you'd think I would have learned my lesson). I also used Ninja notes and flashcards, along with my Wiley book for reference when I needed a little bit more detail.

[Zuly]

@e_griffin87 your plan sounds pretty solid to me. Sorry to hijack your post but I am in the same boat as you, I failed with a 71 and planning a re-take on 1/3/15. I feel a little lost, even after reading all the posts on re-takes, because I'm not sure if I should start from scratch or just do heavy review by cranking out more MCQs and reading over NINJA notes/flash cards. So I like your plan but hopefully we can hear from others. By the way, how are you approaching the MCQs? Doing them by section/topic or a mix of all topics?

FAR - (11/01/14) 71 (02/07/15) 79
AUD - (04/30/15) 86
BEC - (07/21/15) 73 (10/01/15) 75
REG - (11/30/15) 55 (05/19/16) 74

[Anonymous]

Thanks Taxgeek for advice. I already have the ninja notes and used them as reference mainly when I had trouble with a certain topic because I took my own notes from lectures and Wiley book.The thing is I really studied for 3 months for my first time with FAR (first exam attempt), so it could have been a mixture some nerves of sitting for my first exam and knowing a couple more topics just a little more than I knew them on exam day.

[taxgeek83]

@Zumo – For what it's worth, I started over. I knew the topics, but only generally, and didn't have a thorough understanding.

As far as the MCQs, I find that if I go section by section, the material sticks. I start to see patterns and learn from them. I used that technique for both my FAR retake and BEC and came out just fine on both.

[Anonymous]

@Zumo. Well last night was my first official 1st night of restudying. I just re did all the MCQs for a topic in the Wiley test bank. I will do this for the next few days on a couple more topics that I believe are my weak areas. Then starting next week I will just start doing random MCQ question sets until exam day Monday-Friday. Then two week before the exam, see where I stand on certain topics and hammer those areas until exam day.

So I guess to answer you question:

By 2-3 topic for remainder of this week

Then, mix of all topics for the rest of study period

Lastly in last two weeks,re-evaluate the areas I need work on & hammer those topic by topic until exam day.

[Author]

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