[NYaccountingstudent]

So for REG i didnt use the authoratative literature at all (except for the Research questions)

But for audit i used the Al for 2 or 3 of my sims.

Should i use the AL for FAR sims? Or is it not worth wasting my time?

[EZ_Sims_4_me_Pls]

can't really answer that question without knowing what Sims you get..

it could prove useful, it could not…

it didn't prove useful at all for me.

[mckan514w]

take this with a grain of salt considering I failed FAR last time 🙂 but the first time I sat for FAR there was NOT ONE SINGLE SIM outside of the research question that the AL would have even been remotely helpful for… think topics not covered by GAAP. However the last time I sat, there were actually two that I had a question on how to classify / how to present some of the information and I found the AL to be very helpful… unfortunately also ran out of time despite leaving close to 2 hours to do the SIMs… so it really just all depends. It is best if you can do them without needing to use the AL simply because of the time involved but yeah in some cases the AL def. helps.

and they ask me why I drink...

FAR- 61-next time I'll ask for lube instead of a calculator
REG-75- Never been so happy to see such a low grade
BEC- 8/11
AUD- 9/2

[Iceman6]

Kinda like mckan said, it kinda depends what SIMs the test throws at you. I had a specific SIM that told me to use the AL because I had to classify certain items a certain way. It proved to be insanely helpful. So if you know how to use the AL effectively it can be a huge help, even for 5-10 mins if you can spare it

[Jdn9201]

IMO, it's hard to tell beforehand how much it will help but I don't think it's a waste of time. I took FAR a year ago but the AL was helpful for at least half of my SIMs. I practiced by both doing extra research Sims and looking up other Sims in their relevant section. I reviewed for 4 days and spent one day just doing the above.

BEC - 88 8/29/15
REG - 82 11/14/15
AUD - 83 1/8/16
FAR - 80 2/29/16

[RE2PECT]

I'd go into the exam expecting not to use it, but like others have said, it depends on what sims you get. FAR was my first exam and I made a rookie mistake and didn't check it for one of my sims. It was for a calculation I couldn't remember and I would have found it word for word had I looked. Luckily it didn't come back to bite me.

FAR: 75 Roger & Ninja (notes/flashcards/audio/MCQ)
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, retake 8/29
REG:

[Trele6]

I think REG and AUD are where you get your best bang for the buck by using AL for SIM questions. I don't remember the AL helping me at all for FAR and I basically filled in one SIM with straight 0's in all of the boxes.

You might get lucky and get a SIM that can be answered with AL, but I would go in thinking of using your time to actually work on the SIMs versus searching.

First go at the CPA! Only using Becker
Reg / Nov 2015 - 87
Far / Apr 2016 - 79
Bec / May 2016 - 80
Aud / Aug 2016

[waffle_house]

Never used the AL for FAR sims, only for the research question. Unless you need a definition of some sort you'll be wasting a lot of time thinking you will find the answer in the AL.

[ipadminihalf]

I think it is extremely helpful if you know where the illustrations of the financial statements are located before going to the exam. The day before I took FAR, I spent about 10 minutes looking up where the statements were in the AL.

If, for example, you have a simulation related to cash flow (direct or indirect), it might actually save time not having to decide which activity goes into operating, investing or financing activity. You can also use it to double check work where applicable. With both AUD and FAR, I had about 1 hour left and doubled checked my answers using the AL. I thought the AL was most helpful for AUD and it was useful for FAR on certain sims.

REG - 2/19/16 - 77!
BEC - 4/16/16 - 79!!
AUD - 6/04/16 - 84!!!
FAR - 8/31/16

[Cruzer]

I agree with you @ipadminihalf. I reviewed and actually read 3 of the SAS standards sections for AUD and it helped tremendously when it came to looking up things on that exam. I think I ended up smashing the SIMS out of the park because of the use of AL. I am skeptical about using it much on FAR exam next week but I just got a free basic subscription to the FASB ASC standards so I will definitely skim through them before exam day so I know where things are located.

[Author]

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