[matt]

Hi – I’m posting this because I want to see if I’m in over my head.

I started studying yesterday for FAR using CPAexcel. I also have the WTB and Ninja notes and audio (listening to the audio right now at work).

On day 1 I struggled with the first section on GAAP, accruals, and converting from cash basis to accrual basis. What scares me is that I work in software revenue accounting. I defer and accrue revenue all day long. This shouldn’t have been as hard as it was.

I’m starting to wonder if I’m in too far (no pun intended, but intended). Should it have been tough? CPAexcel it should have taken 1.5 hours and it took me a little over 2 hours.

Please help calm my nerves!

FAR: 89
BEC: 88
REG: 81
AUD: 76

CPAexcel, NINJA 10 point combo, & NINJA MCQ

"Pain is temporary, it may last for a minute, or an hour, or a day, or even a year...but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit however, it will last forever."

[I'm, Ron Burgundy?]

1. Welcome to the CPA Exam

2. We've all been there.

3. You're not “in over your head”

4. It's hard, it has nothing to do with what you do all day long.

5. Pay absolutely zero attention to how long the book/instructor says this will take. I'm sure you'd have a hard time keeping up with Tony Horton on your first day of trying to do P90X. This is no different. Take your time learning the material and be consistent.

6. It's common to completely bomb your homework at first, most of this will seem quite foreign. Just keep with it and you will be amazed how much you will learn through repetition.

7. It's common to completely bomb an exam, or even worse come within a couple of points of passing. However, as I said, this is an endurance race.

Remember these words of Vince Lombardi and keep going forward:

“Life's battles do not always go to the faster or stronger man, eventually the man who wins is the man who believes that he can.”

Good luck, keep calm and carry on.

"If you're going through hell, keep going"
- Winston Churchill

"I've missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost over 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot, and missed. I've failed, over and over and over again in my life. And that is why, I succeed."
- Michael Jordan

BEC: (54), (72), 80 (losing credit on 02/02/15 - nervous)
AUD: 78
REG: (74), 91
FAR: (71)

[I'm, Ron Burgundy?]

1. Welcome to the CPA Exam

2. We've all been there.

3. You're not “in over your head”

4. It's hard, it has nothing to do with what you do all day long.

5. Pay absolutely zero attention to how long the book/instructor says this will take. I'm sure you'd have a hard time keeping up with Tony Horton on your first day of trying to do P90X. This is no different. Take your time learning the material and be consistent.

6. It's common to completely bomb your homework at first, most of this will seem quite foreign. Just keep with it and you will be amazed how much you will learn through repetition.

7. It's common to completely bomb an exam, or even worse come within a couple of points of passing. However, as I said, this is an endurance race.

Remember these words of Vince Lombardi and keep going forward:

“Life's battles do not always go to the faster or stronger man, eventually the man who wins is the man who believes that he can.”

Good luck, keep calm and carry on.

"If you're going through hell, keep going"
- Winston Churchill

"I've missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost over 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot, and missed. I've failed, over and over and over again in my life. And that is why, I succeed."
- Michael Jordan

BEC: (54), (72), 80 (losing credit on 02/02/15 - nervous)
AUD: 78
REG: (74), 91
FAR: (71)

[jlough]

Matt— I am using CPAExcel too and I went over on the times on almost every FAR lesson. Don't stress out over it too much. Just go at your own pace, make sure you are understanding the materials, and keep a steady study schedule. If you find you are spending too much time on the lessons, re-evaluate your study techniques. Make sure you are being productive with your time (for example, if you are taking too many notes from the reading, try to focus on jotting down the most important concepts that you need to remember)

Also, if you are taking FAR in May, you will have plenty of time. Just take it a little bit at a time.

F- 7/13- 84
R- 10/13- 79
A- 11/13- 99
B- 1/14- 86

Licensed in PA- 3/20/2014

This exam ALMOST defeated me back in 2006-2008, but I came back and WON!

[jlough]

Matt— I am using CPAExcel too and I went over on the times on almost every FAR lesson. Don't stress out over it too much. Just go at your own pace, make sure you are understanding the materials, and keep a steady study schedule. If you find you are spending too much time on the lessons, re-evaluate your study techniques. Make sure you are being productive with your time (for example, if you are taking too many notes from the reading, try to focus on jotting down the most important concepts that you need to remember)

Also, if you are taking FAR in May, you will have plenty of time. Just take it a little bit at a time.

F- 7/13- 84
R- 10/13- 79
A- 11/13- 99
B- 1/14- 86

Licensed in PA- 3/20/2014

This exam ALMOST defeated me back in 2006-2008, but I came back and WON!

[matt]

Thank you both for your comments – glad to know I'm not the only one who felt like I'm walking into a tornado!

FAR: 89
BEC: 88
REG: 81
AUD: 76

CPAexcel, NINJA 10 point combo, & NINJA MCQ

"Pain is temporary, it may last for a minute, or an hour, or a day, or even a year...but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit however, it will last forever."

[matt]

Thank you both for your comments – glad to know I'm not the only one who felt like I'm walking into a tornado!

FAR: 89
BEC: 88
REG: 81
AUD: 76

CPAexcel, NINJA 10 point combo, & NINJA MCQ

"Pain is temporary, it may last for a minute, or an hour, or a day, or even a year...but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit however, it will last forever."

[Anonymous]

It's completely understandable that you would feel like you are in over your head. I felt the exact same way when I started studying for my first exam. The books are huge, the wording is weird, some of the concepts were never discussed in my classes. In fact it has really taken me 6 months and studying for 2 exams and a retake to determine what the best study methods are for myself. You just have to keep going. You are doing it the way I wish I had. You are taking FAR first and you are giving yourself 5 months to study for it. That way you pass the one with the most number of topics first and you have plenty time to figure out how you study best. You can do it. Don't doubt yourself. Just attack the topics with a vengence and keep at it until you understand each one. Google topics that you don't understand after reading your text if you need more clarification and make use of the FAR study group on these forums. It really does start to come together after you stay at it for a while. Good luck!!!

[Anonymous]

It's completely understandable that you would feel like you are in over your head. I felt the exact same way when I started studying for my first exam. The books are huge, the wording is weird, some of the concepts were never discussed in my classes. In fact it has really taken me 6 months and studying for 2 exams and a retake to determine what the best study methods are for myself. You just have to keep going. You are doing it the way I wish I had. You are taking FAR first and you are giving yourself 5 months to study for it. That way you pass the one with the most number of topics first and you have plenty time to figure out how you study best. You can do it. Don't doubt yourself. Just attack the topics with a vengence and keep at it until you understand each one. Google topics that you don't understand after reading your text if you need more clarification and make use of the FAR study group on these forums. It really does start to come together after you stay at it for a while. Good luck!!!

[Wolfchicken]

Your not alone. It's a normal feeling. I do suggest not studying so far in advance since your exam isn't til May though. Especially for FAR. You will forget things since there is so much to learn for that exam. I studied for a little less than 2 months for FAR. Good luck!

BEC - PASS
FAR - PASS
Audit - PASS
REG - PASS

[Wolfchicken]

Your not alone. It's a normal feeling. I do suggest not studying so far in advance since your exam isn't til May though. Especially for FAR. You will forget things since there is so much to learn for that exam. I studied for a little less than 2 months for FAR. Good luck!

BEC - PASS
FAR - PASS
Audit - PASS
REG - PASS

[Zaq]

One thing most people will agree on is that studying for the CPA exam will make you feel completely stupid at times.

Consistency is the key. Put in the hours; you'll get the results.

FAR: 50, 76!
REG: 74... (ouch baby, very ouch), 76!
AUD: 65, 91!?
BEC: 80! Aaaand doneskies!

May 2012 to August 2013. Can't believe it's over.

[Zaq]

One thing most people will agree on is that studying for the CPA exam will make you feel completely stupid at times.

Consistency is the key. Put in the hours; you'll get the results.

FAR: 50, 76!
REG: 74... (ouch baby, very ouch), 76!
AUD: 65, 91!?
BEC: 80! Aaaand doneskies!

May 2012 to August 2013. Can't believe it's over.

[Anonymous]

Hey, I use CPAexcel as well…a couple of things…1) I totally agree with that if you study until May you will likely forget everything you are doing now, anything over 2 months is just too much time to retain the information. 2) I've noticed some of their lecturers are better at covering all of the information in the text better than others, so sometimes if you watch the lecture and then do the questions and you are like “wtf” then go to the text and read it, compared to Becker the text and videos are much more concise and really only cover the “must know” material which makes it a shorter program but also relies on you to know a lot more, so if you don't have a strong basis on a certain topic there is definitely more time involved to get proficient on the harder topics…I noticed this the most in the cost accounting topics in BEC, haven't noticed yet in FAR but I've really just started. The KPMG lady does a great job in my opinion, but the Allen Bizel guy…he did a lot of BEC and I think he does some of FAR although I haven't seen him yet, he flies VERY high and I struggled to get much out of him to the point where I considered just skipping his lectures and reading the book and doing the questions anywhere he was involved. Anyway, the times they give you are just estimates like everyone says, I always do all of the questions in study mode first so when I miss a question I can see why and read the explanation, add notes if I need to, and tag any questions I miss, so when I'm reviewing I can do just tagged questions that I struggled with…very helpful tool (especially if you are going to study for 5 months!) If you are going to stretch it out that long make sure to go back and do the diagnostic tests for each section frequently so you don't forget the material as you are moving through the other areas. When it comes to FAR everyone is in over their heads so don't worry, there is a ton of material to cover, but if you over prepare I think you will notice the questions you do in the test bank are almost always harder than the ones you end up seeing on the exam. Happy studying!

[Anonymous]

Hey, I use CPAexcel as well…a couple of things…1) I totally agree with that if you study until May you will likely forget everything you are doing now, anything over 2 months is just too much time to retain the information. 2) I've noticed some of their lecturers are better at covering all of the information in the text better than others, so sometimes if you watch the lecture and then do the questions and you are like “wtf” then go to the text and read it, compared to Becker the text and videos are much more concise and really only cover the “must know” material which makes it a shorter program but also relies on you to know a lot more, so if you don't have a strong basis on a certain topic there is definitely more time involved to get proficient on the harder topics…I noticed this the most in the cost accounting topics in BEC, haven't noticed yet in FAR but I've really just started. The KPMG lady does a great job in my opinion, but the Allen Bizel guy…he did a lot of BEC and I think he does some of FAR although I haven't seen him yet, he flies VERY high and I struggled to get much out of him to the point where I considered just skipping his lectures and reading the book and doing the questions anywhere he was involved. Anyway, the times they give you are just estimates like everyone says, I always do all of the questions in study mode first so when I miss a question I can see why and read the explanation, add notes if I need to, and tag any questions I miss, so when I'm reviewing I can do just tagged questions that I struggled with…very helpful tool (especially if you are going to study for 5 months!) If you are going to stretch it out that long make sure to go back and do the diagnostic tests for each section frequently so you don't forget the material as you are moving through the other areas. When it comes to FAR everyone is in over their heads so don't worry, there is a ton of material to cover, but if you over prepare I think you will notice the questions you do in the test bank are almost always harder than the ones you end up seeing on the exam. Happy studying!

[matt]

Forgetting some of the materials is a concern of mine too which is why I'm listening to NINJA audio and will start copying the NINJA notes when exam time gets closer. I also told the CPAexcel program that I'm taking the test 3 weeks before I actually will. That way I'll have ample time to take thousands of MCQ in advance of the test.

My hope is the the notes, audio, and MCQ will refresh my memory on anything I may have lost in beginning phase of studying.

Has anyone else used this tactic?

FAR: 89
BEC: 88
REG: 81
AUD: 76

CPAexcel, NINJA 10 point combo, & NINJA MCQ

"Pain is temporary, it may last for a minute, or an hour, or a day, or even a year...but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit however, it will last forever."

[Author]

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