[myleen28]

To begin with, I was laid off from work end of February this year. I was planning to study the whole month of March and take the exam on April 2nd. But I was distracted by job applications and job interviews so I resched my exam to April 16th. When I accepted a job offer, I resched again my exam for May 5th and asked the new company to give me a 2 weeks before starting to have a solid study time and just a day off on the day of exam. But this 2 weeks I’m also busy doing some last minute errands before starting a new job. I’m also trying to catch up some time with my toddler (I’m a mom to a 4.5 y/o very curious boy). Not to mention I’m also experiencing a hard time remembering the first chapters I have studied and the challenge of grasping the business combination (F3 in Becker) which took me 2.5 weeks to finish the lecture and all the (tons) MCQs. Every time my confidence shakes, I check the available seat in the prometric website. Today I have decided to take the July 2nd schedule. I feel relieved but sad at the same time. Please tell me I’m normal so I won’t feel guilty. Any advice?

FAR - 7/02/16
REG - TBD
AUD - TBD
BEC - TBD

[Spartans92]

I honestly think you should keep trying and stick to a date. Pass or Fail you get the experience.. Postponing the exam is just as bad as failing it. Plus, you never know what you will get at the end. I suggest you just continue on with the material and push forward despite feeling shaky on some concepts. I think it is safe to say we all experience that as long as you understand the big picture. I also think it may be the case until final review. I am finally seeing a lot of the material tying together and how things flow which I initially had some issues with while learning. I think you may have heard about the changes coming up next year. Def, want to finish as many as possible before they kick in. Good Luck! Stick with July 2nd for now.

BEC- PASS

[marqzho]

I've been approved to sit in March 2011.
I got my first NTS on Aug 2014. I paid for FAR and REG.
I scheduled to take FAR on Oct 2 2014.
Then rescheduled to Oct 14 2014
Then rescheduled to Oct 24 2014
Then rescheduled to Nov 6 2014
Then rescheduled to Nov 23 2014, Jan 12 2015, Feb 7 2015, Feb 27 2015
End up going in there on Apr 4 2014, unprepared and scored a 59 🙂
And I no show the one for REG

Just wanna say… You are not alone ! 🙂

REG 90
FAR 95
AUD 98
BEC 84

[Zackpasses]

I agree with Spartans92 – you will never feel fully prepared – every exam I have felt shaky on several concepts or wish I could have studied more. There has not really been an exam where I felt like it came back to bite me. If you have put in the work you will be surprised how much comes back as you are going through the exam. That said, I think it is also important to be confident going into the exam. I actually pushed FAR back two weeks leading up to my exam. At that point I had not studied Govt or Nonprofit and knew that they were topics I needed to brush up on in order to ensure a passing score. I also did not have a family to worry about nor the strain of a new job. So for me two weeks was adequate time to get through the remainder of the material and review. Every person is a little different so do what works best for you.

Since your exam is scheduled so far out now I would almost suggest taking a little time away. It is easy to get burned out on a topic or study things so early that by the time you are getting tested on them its been 7-8 weeks since you have even looked at that material. I would start back in mid May and time it so you finish the material with a solid week or two for review. Especially with a topic as expansive as FAR.

FAR - 8/16/15 - 82
AUD -10/26/15 - 87
REG -01/28/16 - 80
BEC -02/27/16 - 74 (very sad), 4/16/16 - 77

[myleen28]

Thank you so much Spartans92 and Zackpasses! Your words are very motivating. Yes, I will stick to this July 2nd no matter what. I think things will get back to normal mid May after a month of adjusting to my new job. For now, I will dedicate some time to catch up with my son before disappearing again on weekends. I owe him a lot of time since I was working long hours for my previous company after the announcement of their acquisition last July (I should be an “Acquisition Method” expert by now!). I will be back in the grind mid May. I couldn't thank you enough! Good luck to you also! Please visit this forum again. I will post some updates or questions when I'm back to study mode.

Thank you also Marqzho! So I'm normal! 🙂 Together let's get back and attack this exam with a vengeance. 🙂

FAR - 7/02/16
REG - TBD
AUD - TBD
BEC - TBD

[TheHoundThatRides]

I kept rescheduling FAR cuz I never felt ready and I kept forgetting early chapters and I had no idea how hard the exam was. I probably did reschedule 4 times at least.

I finally said “enough” and decided to take a short section to get a taste for the CPA exam. I buckled down and passed BEC in 3 weeks. It taught me how to study for the exam, what degree of difficulty to expect, and it calmed my nerves about diving into FAR. I passed. Another important thing I learned is that the grading for the exam is more generous than you would think. I guess A LOT…..

I then took a cram for FAR (cuz I had already seen the material, I had just forgotten it) and focused on heavily tested material. wasn't even nervous after I took the real exam. I had faith in the studying I had done and the mysterious generosity that the AICPA places into grading. I passed.

So yeah. Just study with dedication, trust in your abilities, and jump in even if you're not feeling ready. Commit!

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

[the LAST Coffee]

For retake on REG, I scheduled it back in December 2015 and did some review for a few days and left on 2 weeks vacation in January and started reviewing again after procrastinating too long a week before the retake on Feb 1, 2016.

6 solid days of review and I was working too, so really, a whole weekend and 2 hours a night = 15 hours of review.

I passed.

You'll never feel confidence going in and eventually you need to just do it.

FAR 84 (AUG '15)
BEC 83 (AUG '15)
AUD 79 (OCT '15)
REG 71, 78! (NOV '15, FEB '16)

[FIFOisbetterthanLIFO]

Ya you have to bite the bullet and start hacking away. The exam only gets uglier the longer you stare at it and think about it without doing something about it. Schedule the exam and don't give yourself more than 7 weeks to study a section. Get through all the material within 5-6 weeks and review hardcore your last week or two. You got this.

FAR - Passed (82)
BEC - Passed (76)
AUD - Passed (89)
REG - Passed! (81)
AICPA Ethics

Licensed CPA

[Anonymous]

I have had a similar situation to you. I started my venture into the CPA exam last memorial day, it was the first day I picked up the book. Off the bat I'll tell you I expected to be done by December 2015 (which was also when I finished my last semester at school)… That didn't happen LOL. I expected to take my first test in end of July, because I had my summer off I was able to bust it out and get it done.

Next was FAR it was supposed to be in beginning of October but because of school getting in the way I kept delaying scheduling because I didn't feel ready until I finally did and I got lucky and in about 5 days notice I got my appointment for the morning after Thanksgiving. I didn't feel too ready but enough to give it a stab before I lost my NTS and I passed with an 85! (mind you I did buckle down in the library the whole month of November after delaying for 3 months).

Now I was aiming to take REG in January but started an internship which will soon turn into a full time position (first week in May) and for the last 5 months I have really let myself slip. My employer has been giving me half days for the past few weeks until I start full time again so I can study. I still haven't scheduled the exam yet but realize I need to spend all my time working on getting this done. So, sorry for the long writing but this has been my only break from studying since I left work and I plan to continue like this for the next couple of weeks. I will schedule my exam probably in the next few days when I start feeling more confident after reviewing the first few chapters that I totally forgot already.

BOTTOM LINE: In my opinion never take the test unless your ready. I feel more comfortable waiting until I know Im ready and trying to find an open exam center within the next week.(I'm in NYC and can travel so I have taken both parts in Jersey bc sometimes I can't find an NY center in such short notice). However, I feel that a huge reason why people fail the exam is because they're not totally ready and they just try to stick with their date. But you also don't want to delay forever because once you pass the first test don't forget your on the clock.

[Tncincy]

Feelings are funny, but you can use them to gauge the reality of where you really are….you know if you have put in REAL time of study and nailing the mcq's kinda give you a picture as well of ready or not. So get ready, don't waste any more money or time……Simply get ready. I agree with FIFO, it gets uglier the longer you wait…..Good luck.

It begins with a 75
Been here too long as a cheerleader....ready to pass

[Author]

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