[Anonymous]

I know most people have the issue of forgetting material for FAR since there is so much but I just wanted to tell you my problem. The first few sections of FAR I spent a lot of time trying to fully understand the material and be able to answer almost all the mcq’s right. Even after I did that I would still forget most of the material after a week or so. Now when I am studying for the other sections I find it difficult to motivate myself to fully understand the material because I know I will forget it anyway. Does anyone else have this problem?

I was thinking about just understanding the basic ideas from each chapter and then in my final review (about 2 weeks) is when I focus on all the details and really fully understand the material in depth. Opinions on this?

[Spartans92]

I am on the same boat. I believe everyone feels the same way for FAR because of the amount of material being covered. I am seeing my average increasing as I move onto other sections. Like you said, I forget earlier material as well. But I am sure when you start reviewing things will pick up faster. I am worried since my test date is coming up but all we can do is pound out the MCQ and SIMS. One thing you can do is do more progress test after you finish a chapter so keep things fresh. Good Luck!

BEC- PASS

[Nessie]

Annuity & Spartans where are you at? Half way done or more? I am right there with you…Almost at the end of Far-4, I think after I get to the halfway mark next week, Im going to spend a day or two doing full review of the first 5 chapters and treat it as an exam.

Going back now and doing light review is very helpful because by the time you get to your final review, it will be your third time looking at the material.

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

Becker self-study, Becker Final Review & NINJA MCQS

[Anonymous]

I think many people experience the same feeling about FAR. It is incredibly important to keep moving forward, and not get stuck on a topic that you have not fully understood.

I reserved a Sunday every 3 weeks to do a 2-3 hour light review and 2 weeks for a final review. I remembered some of the topics and did not remember anything at all for some of the stuff during my second pass. Overall, everything will make more sense at the end, and your scores will improve accordingly.

The most important thing is to give everything you got, stay calm and accept the fact that you can't learn/remember every single detail. Do your best, remember the concepts and you will pass.

Hope these help.

[Andyred04]

As comfortablynumb stated you really do just have to keep moving forward. Make sure you save yourself ample time at the end of your studies to hit MCQs. At first it will feel like you forgot everything from the beginning of your studies but as you do more and more questions and read the explanations for why you missed them it will all start coming back to you. Ninja Notes really expedited this process for me as I was able to read through those in a couple hours and that helped piece everything together for me.

FAR: 80 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
REG: 87 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
BEC: 87 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
AUD: 8/27/16

PA Candidate

[Olintos Apprentice]

Don't get lost in the weeds on your first pass through the chapters. FAR is a beast, and depending on your education, your first pass may be familiarizing yourself with the material rather than truly understanding it. I was surprised by how much I had to learn on my first pass through. The final review is where you hunker down and solidify those concepts so that they are ingrained come test day and you will recall them. I took 10 days for final review – 1 day for each chapter.

FAR: 89, 2/29/16
AUD: 97, 5/9/16
BEC: 92, 6/10/16
REG: October 2016

[TheHoundThatRides]

If I finish a chapter, I do enough MCQ to make sure I have a good grasp of the chapter.

The next day, I do a MCQ run through of that material I learned the previous day. This encourages retention. You have to see something a lot for it to really stick. Then I start new material.

If a chapter is amazingly difficult for me to grasp I don't get too hung up on it though. This is even more true for material that isn't heavily tested.

BEC - 78 (August 2015)
FAR - 80 (November 2015)
AUD - 73, 67. (Ok I gotta confess I was even more lazy this time around)
REG - August 27th, 2016

[Excel14]

I have gone through 8 units in Gleim, and as I have progressed, I've had much less time to review, and had to focus more on the current material (it has gotten very intense). I agree with those who feel that they've forgotten most of it later on, and can only hope that it clicks/sticks whenever I do finally get time to return to reviewing this stuff.

BEC (2/28/16) ----- 78
FAR (09/10/16)-----
AUD
REG

CIA, CGAP, CFE

[Jdn9201]

I agree that doing MCQ's periodically on material you've already covered helps to retain it. I did MCQ sets every 3 chapters, and sometimes I'd do prior chapters at random just to make sure i was still remembering what I had studied early on. I realize that the time is going to vary by person, but honestly I think one of the reasons why some people have issues with retaining what they've learned in earlier sections is they study over too long of a window of time. I only studied FAR for 3 weeks, and one of the reasons I did so was because I was worried about memory retention. It was an intense blur of time, but it gave me less time to forget what I had learned. It also backed me into a corner and forced me to be focused because I didn't have time to lose from not being motivated, etc.

BEC - 88 8/29/15
REG - 82 11/14/15
AUD - 83 1/8/16
FAR - 80 2/29/16

[Spartans92]

@Nessie, I am on F-8 going to finish it later this evening. I think i will start a mini review from ch 6-9 this weekend so I am keeping them fresh. I can't wait to be done with FAR and move on to another section. I agree not to get stuck on some minor things and neglect other chapters. I did not quite understand F-2 but just kept going forward after 3 days on it. Sadly, I don't think I recall anything from prior chapters except vaguely on leases, bonds, annuities.. Bet it is a nice feeling to have FAR done on the signature. 🙂

BEC- PASS

[hasy]

I'm not really good example of this since I practically spent 4 months studying for FAR. But what I have done for last 2 months is review each chapter between learning new material. I work full-time and I study about 3 hours after work's done. I listen to audio for old chapters on the way to work. Weekends are new material and you need more time to understand it.

Roger has a lot of MCQs for each section so when I finish 1 chapter, I would do half of his questions. When I review it again, I would do the new questions or any questions I missed from the first look. Additionally, do a set of 30 MCQ each day of ALL the stuff you learned. Could be new questions, could be not. The point is to keep looking at them until you've retained them. The material WILL come together. It has to because some chapters build on each other. You need to know equity method for consolidations.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved - Helen Keller

-

BEC 80 (10/23/15)
FAR 72 (4/2/15); 83 (7/11/16)
REG 52 (4/28/15)
AUD (9/9/16)

Roger + NINJA MCQ + WTB

[Spartans92]

@hasy, that is true. I noticed for cash flow becker briefly touched on equity method as well. Whenever I hear familiar terms or topics I have learned I will look it up and refresh my memory so I can see how things tie together. That does help somewhat so I know it is important and emphasize it more when reviewing.

BEC- PASS

[Anonymous]

The same problem I had, so here's what you do.

After studying the material and answering the questions for each chapter, PDF / save the questions (You can do this in Becker, not sure about others) onto your hard drive. Do don't need to save ALL the questions, but include a good mix of “easy”, medium and hard questions. Now every few days, go back to these questions and re-do them. Sure, after a while you may start to memorize the answer for these questions, but have enough discipline to actually solve the problem. After a while you can replace these questions with others you've taken from practice tests.

Also, I recommend spending time doing practice tests on ALL chapters you've done up to that point. So say you're on Chapter 7, I would do a 30 question practice test for Chapters 1-7. That way, it'll be harder for you to forget material.

Always spend an hour or two every few days on previous MC so that you won't forget the key concepts for each chapter.

[Martin]

I was going to tell you guys almost the same thing Club 300 told you regarding cumulative tests every few days.

The only thing I would do different is change it to 60 questions instead of 30, so that if you are finishing ch7, you will get at least 10 questions on each chapter from 1 to 6. Once you are done with Ch7, now review Ch1 to Ch7 by doing 70 Mc from ch1 to ch7. So by the time you are chpater 10, you are doing 90 MC questions from ch1 to ch9 (always 10 questions per chapter)

Through God all things can happen!

“You never fail until you stop trying.”
― Albert Einstein
When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people;as I grow older, I admire kind people.
“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”

FAR= 72-84
Audit= 73-82
BEC= 74-75
Reg=77

[Author]

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