[mastump317]

Has anyone studied for an exam and passed studying more than 8 weeks, like maybe 12 weeks, and come to the conclusion that you do retain information past the 8 week mark?

[Bear-Bear]

FAR took me 11 weeks. I was REALLY struggling to retain information. The whole experience was awful, but I passed on my first attempt (barely).

[reallytired]

I am in the same boat with @bear-bear, it took me 12 weeks to get through the information in FAR (worked part time for most of the studying and ended up quitting about 2.5 weeks before my exam). I took a solid 2 weeks to review and barely passed (77%) as well. I take REG next week and will have studied 5 weeks. AUD will have 4 weeks and BEC will also have 4 weeks.

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

[Bear-Bear]

I will add the caveat that part of the reason it took me so long was that it was my first section, and I hadn't yet learned how to weed out the unnecessary study info in CPAExcel. For FAR, I did ALL of the questions, including the “supplementary” ones for most of the section. This GREATLY increased the amount of time it took me to get through the already HUGE amount of information. Every section since, I barely touch the supplementary items at all, and I have been the better for it.

[monikernc]

all but FAR for me. BEC took an astonishing 12 weeks but i was actually ready in 10 then could not find a seat and didn't really want to pay another reschedule fee.
aud and reg were between 8 and 9.
crazy long but my goal was no retakes and to learn not memorize. i passed all on first attempt. i had to do consistent reviews of completed material throughout. >5,000 mcqs for all but far. far i was very, very lucky and got by on what i had learned in school.

FAR 7/25/15 76!
AUD 10/30/15 93
BEC 2/27/16 82
REG 5/23/16 88!
Ninja Book and MCQ and the forum - all the way!!!
and a little thing i like to call, time and effort!
if you want things to change, you have to do something different

[Bear-Bear]

@monikernc – Clean sweep like a BOSS! That's what I'm hoping for next weekend.

[monikernc]

i think you have a good chance of doing it Bear… you seem to have the study plan down that works for you.
it feels as good as you hope it will – sometimes i miss “visiting” the material everyday but not the angst.
stick with it and keep reminding yourself you are taking it to pass. good luck to all of you.

FAR 7/25/15 76!
AUD 10/30/15 93
BEC 2/27/16 82
REG 5/23/16 88!
Ninja Book and MCQ and the forum - all the way!!!
and a little thing i like to call, time and effort!
if you want things to change, you have to do something different

[mastump317]

The reason I asked this question was I have FAR scheduled in 5 weeks. I am going through old Roger videos-a little outdated but 85% still relelvant. I plan to also go through the NINJA book to take care of possible updates.
But my concern is with the SIMs- I feel you need a deep understanding of the material in order do the sims successfully. Given how long it takes me to even get through a video, with taking notes, to where i have a “deep understanding”, I don't have a lot of confidence about passing FAR on OCT 1. When I reschedule the last week of Sept due to overtime, Oct 1 was the only other date available.
If I had it to do all over again I would schedule FAR further out. I have already lost the money, so I might as well go. It will take another 3 weeks to see if I have passed, but I honestly think I won't, and will probably continue to study FAR into the end of December, scheduling next attempt first part of Jan.

[reallytired]

When I was studying, I didn't look at a single SIM and it saved me tons of time. I solely focused on the materials and the mcqs. 5 weeks is plenty if you put your head down and focus! What you need a deep understanding of is how the journal entries work. That was the most useful tool I had: make a JE for everything.

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

[MOAC]

I did study for more than 3 months. I wanted to sit for the far in May but ran out of May slots, so I had to schedule a date in July. I slowed dieb then picked up my revision from 2nd week of June.

FAR May 2012 81 (lost credit, didn't sit for other sections.)
FAR 86 Aug 2015
AUD 85 Nov 2015
BEC 84 Dec 2015
REG 78 Mar 2016

Passed ALL sections in first attempt!!

[Pavilion]

I spent twelve weeks on FAR. It was my first section and I was working part-time and finishing my Master's. I went through one chapter a week, and then spent two weeks reviewing and taking the final exams (I use Becker). I passed on the first try. I don't think I really needed all twelve weeks. I only spent a month each studying for the other sections.

FAR 04/27/16 85
BEC 05/26/16 84
REG 07/19/16 84
AUD 08/27/16

[monikernc]

register for browse access to the codification at http ://www.fasb.org it is free and you cannot search but you can review the structure and how it is organized. it is very structured but then linked across topics. do some sims and find the cited source in the codification. dig around to be familiar. i practiced sims for aud and reg, knew fasb from school assignments and it saves you time and keeps your confidence up to not do it cold during test

FAR 7/25/15 76!
AUD 10/30/15 93
BEC 2/27/16 82
REG 5/23/16 88!
Ninja Book and MCQ and the forum - all the way!!!
and a little thing i like to call, time and effort!
if you want things to change, you have to do something different

[Nessie]

I did Aud in 7 weeks- got an 80 Reg in about 8 or 9 weeks-got 88, and FAR in about 12, to 13 weeks and got 80.

The key thing with FAR is review, leave a good 3 weeks for review and then a very final review for about the last 5 days. I have never practices SIMS for any of the exams. Your retention will increase the more intensely and more frequently you review.

My thoughts regarding FAR…5, 6 or 8 weeks are useless without going over the material a 2nd or 3rd time- that is the key to passing.

REG Aug 20/15: 88
AUD: Feb 29/16: 80
FAR: Jun 10/16: 80
BEC?

Becker self-study, Becker Final Review & NINJA MCQS

[gigabyte2001]

I started with a goal of passing each exam on the first try and not losing my mind in the process. I made up my mind that I was not going to go through the stress & agony twice and I just can't stand to pay twice for what I consider to be legalized extortion in the form of all the application & testing fees, even though my company is footing 100% of the bill. My boss & his boss (CFO & CEO respectively) laugh at me about refusing to pay an extra $50 application fee that I don't absolutely have to pay.

I'd already studied for & passed both parts of the CMA exam using Gleim so I was familiar with their materials & process and frankly it worked well for me then. So, I bought the entire full premium Gleim system and put a one-year ish plan together. I only study for one section at a time. I work full time so I'm studying nights & weekends. I wanted a “reasonably comfortable” pace to avoid stress/anxiety as much as one can. I take about 3 months per section which includes a few days of no studying around the middle. Then a full week break in between sections. It's slow and methodical, but it allows me some flexibility when other areas of life need my immediate attention and helps me keep my sanity. I try to review for 2 weeks vs. Gleims suggested 1 week plus that gives me a week of spare time if everything else goes belly up etc.

I purposefully took what I thought would be the most difficult for me first because I didn't want to pass 3 parts and get stuck & lose credit (paying for the same thing twice.) I actually thought Audit would be hardest then FAR but I found FAR to be more difficult to study for than Audit in reality. I'm now studying for BEC which seems to cover many of the same things that were covered in the CMA so it's going pretty easily for me and i'm about 25% done with the material. I have a Master's in Tax so I expect REG to be easier than the others. Lastly, I have 15 years working experience – 5 in public accounting mostly taxes, plus 10 in industry.

This process is working well for me. 87 on Audit, 82 on FAR first try with both tests. I will say I do not get much test anxiety in a testing situation and I've always been a fast test taker. I have a process for testing where I go through each testlet, all questions and answer everything I know for sure & don't have to spend time on first, then go back for a second pass & answer what I know but takes a moment to calculate & so on until I'm left with questions I just don't know & have to guess. That allows me to get all the “easy points” out of the way quickly and not run out of time.

I'm usually absolutely sure I'm going to fail the dang test the last 2 weeks before it. Gleim's adaptive learning technology will absolutely convince you of that. When I finish the test I have no idea if I aced it or bombed it. I'm sure the AICPA designs it that way on purpose!

B - 11/11/16
A - 4/16/16 87!!
R - 2/17/17
F - 7/26/16 - Waiting for 8/23

[sancasuki]

FAR was 8 weeks. I remember conceptual stuff but forget how to do complicated calculations/formulas as time goes by. I hated intermediate financial accounting, so I hated FAR. I actually liked the government and not-for-profit stuff more than the rest of the crap. FAR is just totally disjointed. At least REG is business law and tax. And AUD is auditing. FAR is just ugh.

The biggest issue is the first round of reading the book and doing the assigned MCQs/Sims really was not enough practice. Wiley really gets into all the details of every possible little thing that you could be tested on. 1200 pages is just overkill. For FAR they did give lots of examples which was good, but the MCQs were often really weird exceptions/twists to the rules. So I would finish reading the lesson and be all ready to practice what I just learned. Then I'd get to the MCQs and was like WTF!!! Not very good practice at all. When I was doing Ninja as review, I had a few freak outs when I realized I did not have a good handle on things at all. And I would miss questions because my attention to details sucks, I like to skim.

Anyways, somehow I managed an 88 even though I ran out of time on the exam and left one sim completely blank. I was guessing big time on several others and one sim I totally bombed. I had no time issues with REG and AUD. What I learned from FAR is that passing (75) is probably 50% correct. So you don't need to be all that great to pass.

[So FAR So Good]

FAR took me 11-12 weeks, but I was VERY deliberate. I did one chapter per week, and studied 15-20 hours per week. My study routine consisted of watching lectures while taking VERY detailed notes, which would often mean 9-10 hours spent going through lectures that should only run 3-4 hours. I felt this helped me really let material sink in, so that when I got to the MCQ and Sims things really clicked. I didn't actually write any notes until I understood the material I was writing, that way I wouldn't just be “going through the motions” and copying things word for word. 10 weeks of this and 1-2 weeks of review where I reviewed/re-wrote my notes and finished lots of MCQ and Sims really helped it sink in.

F - 91 (6/5/2016)
A - 7/30/2016
R - 10/8/2016
B - 12/10/2016

[Author]

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