[Anonymous]

You have my RESPECT and admiration. This is my first part and I am thinking — why are you putting yourself in so much stress! I would work on the homework and do okay and after a week I feel like everything I learned the prior week is gone. I am taking the FAR test on Monday and I feel so lost and unprepared despite the many hours of serious study. Right now I literally feel like throwing up! Sorry for the vent guys, I guess I am so frustrated at myself.

Those of you who take multiple parts in one window, golly .. I am kissing the ground you are walking on!!!

God help me.

[joshuahuskers]

Drill MCQ's as much as you can. Obviously with your exam being in two days, that's tough.

Some people say you'll only memorize the answers to the questions…and that may be true, but you will also memorize WHY you are getting them right or wrong. And that's the key.

AUD - 99 (7/31/12)
FAR - 90 (8/29/12)
REG - 10/2012
BEC - 10-11/2012

[momto5]

I thinking feeling lost and unprepared before taking FAR is quite typical. Brain is overloaded! Review as much as you can today, get a good night's sleep, then approach the exam as calmly as if it was just another practice exam. Just make sure to save at least 90 minutes for your SIMS (more if you can). Good luck!

FAR - 92 (4/27/12)
AUD - 96 (7/17/12)
BEC - 92 (8/30/12)
REG - 91 (11/12/12)

[Anonymous]

Those are perfectly normal feelings, especially for FAR. You will never feel 100% prepared for any of the exams as there's just too much material to remember. But luckily you only need a 75 to pass, and the “curve” is pretty substantial in my opinion. I walked out of FAR 99% sure I hadn't passed and ended up with 9 points to spare.

This is what worked for me for FAR and maybe some of these will help you, too…

– I did not do any MCQ's the last few days before the exam. Instead, I reviewed formulas, journal entries and things I needed to memorize (i.e. which section of the cash flow statement a transaction should be in)

– Allow as much time as possible for SIMS. An hour is not long enough! I had 90 minutes and still didn't finish.

– Don't get hung up on an MCQ for too long. If it's taking you more than a few minutes for a long calculation, just pick an answer and move on. Overall one MCQ isn't worth that many points, but you could easily waste 20 minutes trying to figure it out. I'm also convinced the AICPA includes at least a couple of unsolvable problems on purpose to throw you off and burn up your time.

– Recharge before SIMS. I kept a smoothie in my locker that was made with fruit and protein powder and chugged it on a quick break.

Good luck and remember to not let your nerves get to you during the exam. You may think it's going so bad that you just want to quit and walk out, but just push through it! This exam is as much about mental toughness as it is about knowing the material. If you prepared adequately, you will probably end up doing better than you expect!

[sarah210]

@cheska– I completely second what @apbadj said about the need to push through and not get bogged down in stress or by complicated problems.

For both of the sections that I passed, there were moments during the MCQs when I had to take a moment and take some deep breaths. Especially in BEC. I got to a very easy question on a topic I know backwards and forwards, and my mind went totally blank. I had a moment of panic and felt tears coming on. I had to just pause, take some deep breaths, remind myself “it's just a test. If you fail, you will just take it again and pass it then.” After that I was fine.

And all the stress and all the time spent, etc. is worth it as soon as you see your first passing score. When I pass this test, it will be the greatest accomplishment in my life so far and something to be very very proud of, which is what makes it worth it for me. Good luck!

REG- 53, 91
BEC- 88
FAR- 62, 85
AUD- 85

Ethics- 93

[Anonymous]

Thanks all: sarah210, apbandj, momto5, joshuahuskers for your advice and words of encouragement. It really helps knowing that you've been there and that you know the feeling. Good luck to us all!

[Sandra]

You'll be ok. As others have said, its just a test. You can retake it if need be. Figure out what works for you and how you learn best and follow that, regardless of what anyone else tells you.

I cannot learn a lot through MCQs, so for me I don't do them until the VERY end and I only go through them once. Its way more important for me to focus on the material. Some people learn a lot through the MCQs, others really benefit from writing their own notes. Figure out where you fall and go with that. Jeff has his “ninja way” which works for many poeple, but I think many people try to follow something without really thinking about what will work for them.

I have felt really overwhelmed going into every test. Because of my test schedule I could always use an extra day, week etc, but once you walk into the test center you have to totally let go of that. If you're anxious you will make dumb mistakes. As someone else said, if you need to take a minute or two and just “get centered”. I walked into REG completely freaking under prepared and had to chill myself out, then was able to reason my way through much of the test.

If you totally don't know something try to think about it logically instead of panicking. The good thing about accounting is that a lot of the detail is sensible if you understand the “bigger picture”.

I think FAR is the test with the biggest time retraint. Keep yourself on pace, but again don't panic. I think lots of people get frazzled by the sims. Remember that you can use the literature for that. It was less helpful for FAR for me, but once you get to REG and AUD you will be using it more.

Lastly- don't read too much into other peoples test experience. Before I took my first test I was ridiculously afraid of the sims. All of the tests I've taken so far had sims that I would say were really pretty fair. Everyone is an individual and has different perceptions.

[Author]

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