What should I do after fail twice FAR…help me!

  • Creator
    Topic
  • #182097
    nickole
    Member

    I have a bachelor degree in accounting outside US so I study CPA all by myself. That’s why I didn’t spent too much time to review at first time.

    I took first FAR in July. I studied one week to finish the book and video, and then took two weeks to complete all the Becker exercises. The first score is 67 and I’m disappointed but I think may it’s because my review time was too short.

    So I decide to take another time, I studied from September to November for 7 weeks. This time, however, was even worse than the first one !! I’m so disappointed and even feel lost. The first time I finished Becker and second time I did exercises of Wiley textbook. I didn’t do the Wiley test bank but I used it to do the simulation test.

    Do anyone could help me with this situation? I’m wondering if I should continue to take the third time or I should take another section test such as Audit?

    I don’t have too much time to prepare it because I’m graduating soon, does the CPA really help me finding a job?

    feel so bad now…

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 40 total)
  • Author
    Replies
  • #475184
    Guti
    Participant

    From what I have seen here,many of the candidates take about 14 months to pass all four parts if they are working, and some take even longer. A good percentage take longer than 18 months and thats why their credits in some cases have expired. The ones that are not working take about 6 to 12 months. It also depends if you are a new graduate, or if you have not touch a book for a while. I dont know how you were expecting to pass FAR (lots of material) in three weeks for your first try. On your second try, you probably got discourage cause you dint pass it the first time around. Are you taking Becker?

    FAR-84
    AUD-
    REG-
    BEC-

    #475252
    Guti
    Participant

    From what I have seen here,many of the candidates take about 14 months to pass all four parts if they are working, and some take even longer. A good percentage take longer than 18 months and thats why their credits in some cases have expired. The ones that are not working take about 6 to 12 months. It also depends if you are a new graduate, or if you have not touch a book for a while. I dont know how you were expecting to pass FAR (lots of material) in three weeks for your first try. On your second try, you probably got discourage cause you dint pass it the first time around. Are you taking Becker?

    FAR-84
    AUD-
    REG-
    BEC-

    #475186
    tough_kitty
    Member

    I'd recommend Roger CPA review. And it's not about weeks. It's about hours and efficiency. I spent about 150 hrs studying for FAR. This time included watching lectures, reading textbook, taking notes, and practicing about 1,500 MCQs in Wiley Test Bank by topic 3-4 times, until I got 80-90%.

    FAR: 81 (May 2013)
    BEC: 81 (July 2013)
    REG: 83 (August 2013)
    AUD: 82 (November 2013)
    California CPA since 1/30/14

    #475254
    tough_kitty
    Member

    I'd recommend Roger CPA review. And it's not about weeks. It's about hours and efficiency. I spent about 150 hrs studying for FAR. This time included watching lectures, reading textbook, taking notes, and practicing about 1,500 MCQs in Wiley Test Bank by topic 3-4 times, until I got 80-90%.

    FAR: 81 (May 2013)
    BEC: 81 (July 2013)
    REG: 83 (August 2013)
    AUD: 82 (November 2013)
    California CPA since 1/30/14

    #475188
    Study Monk
    Member

    Hey tough Kitty,

    I am going to take Roger for one of my sections because you can now take his classes for college credit. I am already deep in the becker materials for FAR. I am probably going to take Roger for audit or regulation. I am wondering if you had to pay for one section which one would you choose. I am leaning towards REG because I have no tax experience, but some people say that Becker doesn't prepare you well for audit. Any suggestions?

    I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

    "Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

    #475256
    Study Monk
    Member

    Hey tough Kitty,

    I am going to take Roger for one of my sections because you can now take his classes for college credit. I am already deep in the becker materials for FAR. I am probably going to take Roger for audit or regulation. I am wondering if you had to pay for one section which one would you choose. I am leaning towards REG because I have no tax experience, but some people say that Becker doesn't prepare you well for audit. Any suggestions?

    I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

    "Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

    #475190
    Study Monk
    Member

    nickole,

    I studied probably more than 150 hours for FAR and I ended up pushing my test back to January because I didn't feel prepared. I will probably get another 150 hours in before my exam. I am 7 years out of college and 5 years out from working in accounting so I am definitely above the norm in hours required. However I have read about people who claimed over 200 hours studying for FAR who failed. Tough Kitty I believe recently got a masters in accounting so she probably can put less hours in than the average candidate with all that recent academic knowledge.

    I think you need to log more focused hours in. One of the reasons I pushed my test back was that I didn't do enough actual questions and I got a wake up call in how much time I need to go through all the homework questions. The general consensus is that you need to do a lot of questions to pass these exams. The next month I plan to spend about 80 percent of my study time doing questions. I hope to understand the concepts behind every homework question by the time i take my test. I have done some computational questions 3 or 4 times in some of the earlier chapters. Good Luck!

    I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

    "Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

    #475259
    Study Monk
    Member

    nickole,

    I studied probably more than 150 hours for FAR and I ended up pushing my test back to January because I didn't feel prepared. I will probably get another 150 hours in before my exam. I am 7 years out of college and 5 years out from working in accounting so I am definitely above the norm in hours required. However I have read about people who claimed over 200 hours studying for FAR who failed. Tough Kitty I believe recently got a masters in accounting so she probably can put less hours in than the average candidate with all that recent academic knowledge.

    I think you need to log more focused hours in. One of the reasons I pushed my test back was that I didn't do enough actual questions and I got a wake up call in how much time I need to go through all the homework questions. The general consensus is that you need to do a lot of questions to pass these exams. The next month I plan to spend about 80 percent of my study time doing questions. I hope to understand the concepts behind every homework question by the time i take my test. I have done some computational questions 3 or 4 times in some of the earlier chapters. Good Luck!

    I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

    "Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

    #475191
    tough_kitty
    Member

    Study Monk! Long time no talk 🙂

    Well, I think that Roger's lectures for FAR were the best. He shows an easy way to solve the complicated questions about bonds and pensions. His 4 hrs long lectures on governmental accounting were way better than the govt acct class I took! I'm pretty sure I'd have needed way more time to study for FAR if I didn't have those lectures!

    His lectures for other parts were OK too but most topics in REG and BEC are self-explanatory. I took an individual taxation class at a community college so I learned the 1040 form from scratch. Therefore, I'm not sure I'm the right person to comment on Roger's REG lectures. I guess they were good but it was mostly memorization and practicing Wiley TB. So, if you don't have Wiley TB, I say, get Roger for REG.

    As far as AUD, I watched lectures in September and then didn't touch my books until late October because I changed jobs. It felt like it took me roughly 3 weeks to study for AUD (maybe 70 hrs total vs planned 100) so I'm really surprised I did that well. I did like the lectures but no one will explain all the evidence topic in detail – I mean, Roger explained it but I forgot it all since I took a long break from studying.

    To sum it up, I'd invest in FAR lectures unless you already covered all the theory with Becker and you feel comfortable about it. So, if you are deciding between REG or AUD, perhaps it would be a good idea to watch some of your Becker lectures and see which ones are more confusing and make your decision based on that.

    Good luck!

    FAR: 81 (May 2013)
    BEC: 81 (July 2013)
    REG: 83 (August 2013)
    AUD: 82 (November 2013)
    California CPA since 1/30/14

    #475261
    tough_kitty
    Member

    Study Monk! Long time no talk 🙂

    Well, I think that Roger's lectures for FAR were the best. He shows an easy way to solve the complicated questions about bonds and pensions. His 4 hrs long lectures on governmental accounting were way better than the govt acct class I took! I'm pretty sure I'd have needed way more time to study for FAR if I didn't have those lectures!

    His lectures for other parts were OK too but most topics in REG and BEC are self-explanatory. I took an individual taxation class at a community college so I learned the 1040 form from scratch. Therefore, I'm not sure I'm the right person to comment on Roger's REG lectures. I guess they were good but it was mostly memorization and practicing Wiley TB. So, if you don't have Wiley TB, I say, get Roger for REG.

    As far as AUD, I watched lectures in September and then didn't touch my books until late October because I changed jobs. It felt like it took me roughly 3 weeks to study for AUD (maybe 70 hrs total vs planned 100) so I'm really surprised I did that well. I did like the lectures but no one will explain all the evidence topic in detail – I mean, Roger explained it but I forgot it all since I took a long break from studying.

    To sum it up, I'd invest in FAR lectures unless you already covered all the theory with Becker and you feel comfortable about it. So, if you are deciding between REG or AUD, perhaps it would be a good idea to watch some of your Becker lectures and see which ones are more confusing and make your decision based on that.

    Good luck!

    FAR: 81 (May 2013)
    BEC: 81 (July 2013)
    REG: 83 (August 2013)
    AUD: 82 (November 2013)
    California CPA since 1/30/14

    #475193
    Study Monk
    Member

    thanks tough kitty!

    I am leaning towards reg because it has more material than audit.

    I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

    "Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

    #475263
    Study Monk
    Member

    thanks tough kitty!

    I am leaning towards reg because it has more material than audit.

    I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

    "Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

    #475195
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I have spent around 4 months studying for far and have def studied more than 200 hrs prolly closer to 300. I took alot of time to understand the material though since I either forgot everything or never learned it in the first place

    #475264
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I have spent around 4 months studying for far and have def studied more than 200 hrs prolly closer to 300. I took alot of time to understand the material though since I either forgot everything or never learned it in the first place

    #475197
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Oh and im taking the test for the first time on Saturday, this is my first cpa section, I have no idea what to expect and dont really feel prepared

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 40 total)
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