[Anonymous]

I’m preparing for my FAR retake, and I must say Bob Lennett’s videos and Ninja notes have been a major help with my understanding of the concepts. I am getting better with multiple choice questions, but my biggest worry is being a better test taker with this type of test. In the past I have screwed up tremendously with time management.
I am following the advice of Roger CPA review as far as how much time should be spent on each testlet/seconds per question, but I’ve made the mistake in the past of spending too much time on MC and then freaking out at the simulations and losing even more time. For BEC, my strategy for MC was to go through all the questions that didn’t have calculation first, and then do calculations last. That worked for BEC, but I doubt it will for FAR since there may be more calculation questions, and I assume those might be worth more points on FAR. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[Recked]

I would go through them in order. Skipping around sounds like it would waste time, and also leaves room for error of a missed question.
45 minutes per MCQs testlet, 40 if you can manage it.
The more time you leave for SIMs the better off you will be.

Be wary not to get sucked into any question for too long. Either you know it or your dont.
If you do all the calcs and your answer does not match a given answer, try to do it once more, and then mark it, guess and move on.
Only revisit if you have left over time at the end, but keep it moving.
The BEC sims felt much more light and fluffy compared to FAR.

[mpr]

I agree with Recked.. go through in order, if your answer doesn't appear give it another shot and move on. but I surely wouldn't tell myself I can only spend X amount of time on each question.. then you will rush and make silly mistakes. don't focus on the clock. just hammer out the answers and keep going.

[Tncincy]

@recked Is your in order meaning topic by topic?

It begins with a 75
Been here too long as a cheerleader....ready to pass

[Anonymous]

I agree with @recked I just walked out of far in 2hrs 40min. Just go in order and try a couple of times then guess and mark if you dont know and go back at the end. I thought all the sims were pretty straight forward. Gleim and the sample test were good proxies.

[Recked]

In order… in reference to the exam, 1-33.
As in, don't just do the non-calc questions first, and then revisit the questions that require calculations.

Well done to finish FAR in 2.40. Either you really knew your stuff, really thought you knew your stuff, or you had a friendly exam.
Good on you! Now you only have to wait 3 months for the score!

[satyakatiwal]

@AF , did SIM match Analysis or some application were there too ?
U mentioned straight forward, so less documents to go through?
In one of the webinar they gave conflicting answers about Excel during MCQ , did u see Excel during MCQ ?
How many SIMs u could finish?

[Tncincy]

Thanks Recked, I was thinking study wise for mcq's but thanks for clearing things up.

It begins with a 75
Been here too long as a cheerleader....ready to pass

[Anonymous]

Following the blue prints for SIMs was very useful. Only 1 was outside of analysis, likely making it the pretest. I only felt the need to use excel for 1 sim. Pretty sure it was there for mcq though. This was my first test so maybe the new layout was helpful.

[satyakatiwal]

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience. I am taking on 9th.
Do u feel Gliem was good for MCQ and SIMs both ?
I am doing SIMs practice on Gleim.
God bless you.

[Anonymous]

I felt gleim was good for both. The MCQ were harder on gleim.

[satyakatiwal]

Thanks a lot,you made my evening. God bless you. Any are to focus like Bond , pension, lease , inventory, consolidation, NFP . LOL

[Eric]

@AF thanks for sharing your experience. I’m using Gleim too. Please could you tell me how you study for it. I’m planning taking the exam on 5/31 and I’m only on unit 3 of the book. How did u study it please?
Thanks and I wish u the best for the rest.

[Anonymous]

I’d like some advice for my studying. I’m doing my retake on May 4th, I’ve been studying since Mar 8th. Got a 70 on FAR in February. I am going through and reading all of the lessons (Wiley) and then was doing the multiple choice after each. I feel like this is eating too much time tho and have switched to just reading. I’m doing topics I know better first and saving the stuff that was harder, have more calcs for the end so I can really focus and learn close to the test. I also am reading through my condensed notes weekly and ninja notes weekly to refresh. My plan is to keep reading, doing this until 2 weeks before and then switching to mcq’s, sims, notes and flash cards. Is this a good strategy???

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys for the advice on not skipping through questions. I'll practice my time with the mock exam and hopefully it gives me a better feel for it. @aaromero806 I would suggest that you try working more MC questions versus reading. Being able to apply the concepts and knowing how to work through the MC is what's going to help you in the exam. I personally don't read the book when I do a retake. It may help to read over particular subjects that you are completely lost on, but reading the whole book may be a waste of time.

[Author]

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