[Excel14]

Okay, I’m asking those who have taken FAR, to please lie to me. :). Please tell me that these type of calculation questions such as the ones in Gleim, won’t be seen on the test. I obviously know there will be calculations, but many of these things take 2-3 minutes each (and some I’m not sure how to do them).

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

CIA, CGAP, CFE

[Skynet]

There is no such thing as certain calculation questions not being on the exam. You are going to have to take the hard way and try to solve those problems no matter what because it may show up on the exam. I had to spend numerous hours on the long and tough ones just trying to understand the concepts and calculation. There's no easy way out. You are taking a major risk not trying to work them which could mean a few points difference on whether you receive a passing or failing score.

[nadroj]

They will not ask you to calculate the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.

However, any calculations in the CSO are fair game. Also, CPA candidates agree not to divulge information about their exam questions, so people who say the exam won't test [something in the CSO] based on their test questions… can you trust them?

[Excel14]

@skynet:

Never said I'm skipping the tough ones, just that some of these are unbelievable. I'm trying to hang in there, but wow.

@nadroj:

Nobody was asked specific topics. My question was very general.

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

CIA, CGAP, CFE

[Skynet]

One trick you can use for these long questions is to read the last few sentences of the problem to understand what the problem is asking for. A lot of times, long questions like those contains nothing but fillers. If you know what they are asking, you can go directly and pull the info you need to solve the problem.

[Excel14]

@skynet:

Been trying to do that. I know you used Gleim, so you can identify with many of these “monsters”. I guess I'm venting, because I also feel as though I'm forgetting all of the early stuff too. I'm trying though.

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

CIA, CGAP, CFE

[jlee1086]

Only used Gleim free trial but I have to disagree here. As someone who spent a lot of time on those long questions, the first time I took FAR, I was blindsided that there were more conceptual problems than calculation-based. In the words of a wise Becker instructor, if you do see something that long on your exam, skip it and come back later. That said, there's some learning value in those long problems. Don't neglect them entirely but remember not to go crazy on those. In other words, don't torture yourself over those long questions at the expense of the concepts.

FAR 57 (11/2014), 64 (1/2015), 79 (7/2015)
AUD 68 (2/2015), 79 (11/2015)
REG 79 (1/2016)
BEC 81 (4/2016)

[Skynet]

Excel14 – It takes practice and repetition. I went over those problems many times in order to get the hang of them. In Gleim, multiple questions have come out of those long problems, so it gave me a lot of practice learning how to pull the relevant information to solve the number of questions that came from it.

[Olintos Apprentice]

It's worth it to dig into those long calculation problems because you will see more of them as you go along if you do well on the first and/or second testlet. The key is to read the last sentence of the paragraph questions to get yourself on the correct train of thought. Then go back through and sort out the relevant information.

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

[Author]

Replies