Brent is a NINJA CPA Blogger.
The unfortunate news came last weekend that I did not pass FAR. This made me feel slightly depressed, however not totally unexpected because I knew that I wasnt as prepared as I could have been.
I was just not able to put the same amount of time in that I did when studying for Audit. Tax season made studying tremendously more difficult due to working late nights and weekends, by the time I get home my brain feels drained and numb.
After talking it over with family and friends who reassured me that I could get through it, I am now going to put this attempt behind me and continue forward.
My overall experience on the exam was pleasant and there were only a few questions that I had not covered in my review material. My problem, which I knew was going to bite me in the rear since I started studying for this exam, was time allocation.
On each multiple choice section I spent an hour and 10 minutes. This left me with only 35 minutes or so to complete the simulations. When I got to the simulations, I completed the easier ones first and then went back to the ones that required a large amount of time reading and breaking down the problem.
It is amazing how fast time goes by and before I knew it I had only 3 minutes left and 2 questions with blank answers. The only thing I could do was randomly select an answer and pray for partial points. I did know how to work both of the problems and if I had the time I probably could have completed them correctly, so that reassured myself.
As discussed in my previous blogs, up to the test, I was able to get through all of the lectures in my review material but I was not able to completely go through all of the multiple choice problems. On some of the sections I was only able to answer around half of the questions before I needed to move on. This caused a major deficiency in my preparation, due to the fact that I learn the most in working the problems.
I am not going to waste any time and plan on scheduling my retake of FAR in April. After reading through some of the retake threads on the Another71 Forum, I have decided to start over from the beginning and work all of the multiple choice problems especially the ones I have marked from the first time around.
In addition to working the multiple choice questions, I have compiled a detailed set of notes from when I initially started studying that I will be using this time around and therefore will be skipping over the video lectures. My goal is to complete all of the multiple choice questions provided with my review materials and then move on to the Wiley questions which I will purchase separately.
At this point, I have already re-covered the first two sections of my review material and have been listening to the NINJA Audio daily, even before bed. I know I need to keep at it, and reinforce the concepts that are giving me the most trouble. Even though I failed the exam the first time around, sitting for it has given me the confidence that it can be beaten.
I can do this if I put in the time and so can you! Good luck to everyone out there studying and NEVER give up!
