Carolina is a NINJA CPA blogger.

Hello NINJAs,

After four months of studying, I finally took FAR again (4th time, although I don’t count the first because I didn’t study at all).

It took me more time to finish studying this time around, but I had so many obstacles in my path that didn’t allow me to study at a faster pace.

I also wanted to make sure that I understood the concepts and I didn’t want to rush to take the exam without the proper preparation.

This time I did everything differently, from taking more time to understand the concept to managing my anxiety better.

During these months, I completed all the NINJA MCQs, read the [A71 product=”notes”]NINJA Notes several times, completed some of the SIMS, listened to the NINJA Audio almost every day, and rewrote my own notes.

Although I tried to reach the review phase of the MCQs, I couldn’t, but I was able to answer all the questions at least once and my average trending score was 88%.

However, my average score was 57%. This had me worried a little bit because that’s a huge gap between the average trending and the average score. I lost count on how many hours I studied. I would say that I studied about 180 hours or more.

The last few days before the exam, I felt a lot better than before, which is weird because I’m used to feeling anxious and super stressed out, but I now realize that I was feeling better because this time I knew I had prepared myself better. I reviewed my notes again and did more MCQs (especially on my weakest areas).

On the morning of the exam, I didn’t feel that well. Around 10am, I started feeling like I was going to have another anxiety attack, so I decided to do some relaxation exercises to help me control my anxiety.

Thank God, I didn’t get one of those horrible anxiety attacks that I have gotten in the past. I was able to get it together by the time I got to the testing center (although I still wanted to throw up and run).

Finally, I was face to face with the beast. This time around I felt more comfortable. This time I didn’t find it that hard, for almost everything I saw in that test was familiar.

On the other hand, I don’t know how I did because I found the second testlet a lot harder than the first and third testlets. The simulations weren’t that bad this time around, but they were still bad. I just hope I passed.

Waiting for my score will be nerve wracking. Why do we have to wait this long?

Right now, I don’t know if I should take a break and wait for the results or just start with AUD because, as I said before in a previous blog, I don’t want to jump to another section until I pass FAR.