[Need a 75!!]

Hello everyone,

I was hoping if you could please share your experience on how long did it take you to prepare for FAR while studying full time?

I know most of you are working full time but I was very fortunate to get some time off from work before starting at my new position in Public Accounting. My goal is to complete as much as my CPA exam before busy season.

For FAR, how many Sections did you finish per day (If using Becker, did you finish 1 (F1) section per day?) Did you plan 5, 6 or 7 weeks of study?

How many MCQs and SIMS did you complete per day? I feel like I spend so much time trying to really understand every single topic that I’m not sure if I’m being efficient with my time.

Can you please share your experience, much appreciated. Thanks!

[reallytired]

I was lucky enough to have a few months off too! For FAR, I spent about 200 hours on it, some will say that's a lot but I felt it necessary as I have always struggled with financial accounting. I got a 77, so clearly the 200 was perfect. I usually did about one chapter a week because I fully utilized Becker by reading the book, listening to the lectures, taking notes on everything highlighted, doing all mcq and taking notes on ones I got wrong, and then perusing the flash cards. I did not touch a single sim to be honest, and again people will disagree with this. As I went through each chapter, I wrote down every journal entry I came across and put a description of it next to it. I also did the same with each formula. The week before, I rewrote the entire thing to really let it sink in. Good luck to you!

B 10/29/16
A 10/1/16
R 9/2/16
F 7/26/16

[Substantive Testing]

I believe if you study full time, you should grasp the materials in a month. If you work full time with accounting background, you should do fine in 2 months. As for me, I came from Finance and started a public accounting job, so took me 3 months to understand everything, including Journal entries from 0 to 100. If you are studying full time, I would say ideally 2 weeks doing purely multiple choices, and you want to have around 2300 attempts averaging at least 70%. As for SIMS, I would say at least take one of each topic just to figure out the nature of the beast.

[Need a 75!!]

@SubstantialAssurance – Thank you so much for the advice!

@reallytired – So great to hear from someone with the same experience! When you say 200 hours, how many weeks did you study for (1 section per week, 10 weeks)? I've been studying non stop for a month so I still have F7-F10 left to complete. I realized Ive been spending so much time taking notes and by the time Im doing MCQs Im exhausted…

Thank you so much for your advices 🙂

[Anonymous]

After finishing lectures and hw once- I think you need solid 4-5 weeks to review. My score isn't that great but going in I knew I was ready to tackle the beast.

[ninjacpa_hck]

full preparation prob 6 weeks. materials cover a wide range of topics and any topics honestly all of them have a chance to be tested..

[letsrun4it]

I've done 92 hours on Ninja MCQ, Watched every Roger video, done all the roger questions….so it's well over 200 hours here. I think I'll pass but damn this is not an easy subject. I think Full Time you need 2 months

BEC: 85
REG: 74, 78
AUD: 86
FAR: October?

[letsrun4it]

If there are 20 sections in your study prep material I hope you plan on going through all 20 in the first half of your studies. Cause you'll need at least half your study time to just do full material MCQ.

BEC: 85
REG: 74, 78
AUD: 86
FAR: October?

[sancasuki]

8 weeks.

[Lou]

Personally, if you're studying full time, 6 weeks with Becker.

I would say 3-3.5 per chapter, 30-35 days so give or take 4-5 weeks. And then I gave myself 9 review days. Worked for me. I made a schedule and put it in my calendar to keep myself accountable.

FAR- taken 8/11/16....now the wait begins
AUD- scheduled 9/8/16
BEC- scheduled 10/9/16
REG-scheduled 12/10/16

Live a few years like most people won't, to live the rest of your life like most people can't.

[Anonymous]

I studied 300 hours and earned a 77 (too close!). However, this was my first CPA Exam and I learned A LOT during this process. I have never, ever seen an exam like FAR. I would recommend at least 200 hours of study, especially if you have not taken Intermediate 1,2,3, Advanced, and Gvot/NFP. I had never taken Govt/NFP, so I spent A lot of time on those 2 chapters in Becker. Goodluck and just Grind through the material. Also, don't forget to Review and do your Practice Tests.

[neaux]

About 3 1/2 weeks of study for FAR, studying 4-6 hours a day.

I shared a similar goal to you. I was almost able to get all done the most recent summer, but fail short by failing REG (all my fault). Don’t let others’ experience deter you from reaching for more.

AICPA recommends 300 – 400 hours of study time. This means you can pass all 4 parts in 3 months averaging ~4.5 hours a day (400 hours), which is not a lot. Remember it is a review so you could get by with less by cutting studying/reviewing time where you are more comfortable, and the topics that are still fresh on your mind.

If you want to most efficient. You should find out what you don’t know that well, and work on those items first. I’m not sure when you start work, but you should take complete advantage of your time off.

[Anonymous]

@neaux2135, I remember when you posted a while back about attempting all four parts in one summer and people were saying that was a bad idea. Awesome to see you were able to prove them wrong and knock out three tests in under a month!

@lblacker I'm glad you found FAR to be doable in six weeks with Becker. I only left myself five weeks to study for FAR (it was supposed to be seven but I had to push REG back two weeks) while working full time. My plan is to cover 2 chapters per week, 3 the week of Thanksgiving since I have time off, and then have a few days of review. Hopefully it works out as well for me as it did for you.

[Need a 75!!]

Good Morning everyone 🙂 (It's AM in CA)

Thank you so much for all your advices! It's been very helpful to read your feedback and also motivating to continue with this process.

@neaux2135 Wow,that is very impressive! Congrats on passing 3 exams! Only one more to go, you got this!!

I go back to work on 01/03 so I started studying full time for FAR on 10/01. My plan was to complete FAR by 11/08; REG 11/30 and hopefully BEC 12/10 and then Audit at the end of February or March 10. As of today I'm almost done with F7 (SE, EPS & Cash Flow). I should be done with it by end of day or tomorrow morning) Cash flow wasn't easy for me while in school so Im hoping this time, I finally get it.

I know once I get back to work on the 01/03 is going to be busy but Im hoping that some of the experience I will gain help me with for my AUDIT exam.

When I first put this plan together I was convinced that I can do this but studying for FAR made me doubt it since there is so much. I do understand the material but its hard to remember all the JE. Like I studied Pensions and it wasn't too bad but I wish I had more time to practice and remember all the JEs…

@neaux2135 going to your FAR exam, did you feel 100% with all the topics?

Happy Studying!

[Pokey]

@neaux2135 = superman/supergirl !! WTH Freaking awesome!. I have an added question to ask as well. Did you take notes? listen to audio? flashcards? read book? I know everyone is different but I finally started a new study plan (I work full-time).. My Plan:

Weekdays: 2-3 hours
Weekends: 8-10 hours

I read a subsection of a chapter in the book first, work MCQs for that subsection, write notes on questions/terms that stump me, then take a practice test for that full chapter. This is my plan now since I have failed 4 times on other sections and before I didn't have a book to follow nor have this structure.

Any advice would help me/us would be so great!

AUD - 74 (3x), TBD
BEC - Sept16
FAR - TBD
REG - TBD

[accountingisfun]

Didn't pass but when I took it, but working full time I studied on and off for about 1 month going 2-3 days at a time of not really studying (every week – NOT RECOMMENDED)… And then took 2 entire weeks off and crammed as much as I could.

Those 2 weeks are when I feel like I learned everything but I was doing 1 chapter every day.

With all that being said – if you're not working I think a full month off would be enough to take the exam, but that'd be a full month with minimal breaks and legitimate dedication to studying.

If you think life will get in the way budget a little extra and aim to be ready in 6-8 weeks instead.

[Author]

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