[Gary]

So I started studying for FAR yesterday. I am currently using the Wiley Jan 2016 study guide, as well as the Wiley Test Bank. I will more than likely purchase Ninja MCQ closer to my exam date (not scheduled yet, will be in November) I’m reaching out because I feel like there is so much material that I have no idea how to tackle it. Not to mention reading to me isn’t as helpful as jumping into the MCQ and learning by my mistakes (I always remember when I do something wrong, so that works best for me.) The problem is, I feel like by not reading I might miss some little details that are important for the exam. Did anyone else feel this way? How did you handle studying?

AUD 8/18/16
FAR 11/16
BEC 1/17
REG 2/17

[Valar Dohaeris]

I used Becker, and I started with the governmental and NFP material first, because it was completely foreign to me as I never studied that material in school. From there, I went back through the rest of the Becker chapters in numerical order.

I'm not sure if your material is organized by a chapter of material and corresponding MCQs, but I would just go through the book. I would caution that the amount of material is so great that taking interim reviews is key to retention.

BEC - 85
AUD - 81
REG - 84
FAR - 7/24/16

[GeauxAwayCPA]

@garydegiovanni It is a ton of information! I passed my first three exams first try using CPAExcel by just reading the lessons (no videos), doing the lesson MCQs after each lesson, and then saving the Diagnostic tests for last and I'd just kept doing those until I got above an 80%-85% on them all. And then I would start doing random 30 question testlets(with all topics selected) up until exam day. HOWEVER, that did not work for my first round with FAR as I failed with a 72. I think it had to do with the amount of material and the fact that I had never ever seen Governmental and Not for Profit(Pretty sure IFRS was also part of my downfall). Governmental and NFP feels like a huge cluster and I remember it being very hard to keep all the nuances and details straight! I say all of that because now that I'm going back through the information, I've been watching the videos, reading, and taking notes on the slides. I didn't think the videos helped me on the other exams and I only took notes on the MCQs I got wrong. But in studying for a FAR retake, I've found the videos and slides pretty helpful because they sometimes highlight the “hot topics” and also provide little diagrams of things that help to organize confusing information better in my head.

@Valar Dohaeris what are your suggestions for interim reviews? Just doing a few randomly selected 30 question testlets each day? I have CPAExcel and ninja notes and I've been reading through those pretty much every day. I've already gone through them 2.5 times. While definitely helpful for some big picture stuff, I'm a little concerned that I also need some interim reviews for the little details/tricks that come with the MCQs.

[GeauxAwayCPA]

@garydegiovanni dangit. I just realized you said you were using Wiley Study Guide so I may have typed all that in vain. haha sorry. I always get Wiley materials and Wiley CPAExcel confused when people refer to “Wiley” on here…

[Author]

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