Brent is a NINJA CPA Blogger.

I walked out of FAR retake number three feeling drained and also uneasy about my performance. I felt that this was the hardest of the three test I have taken.

The first two retakes were very similar and presented topics in a comparable format. This time around however, there seemed to be such a wide spread of topics covered, the majority of which were not ones I recognized from my review materials. I also had many more questions that required calculations than before.

My goal for this exam was to go into the simulations with a minimum of an hour and half remaining. Unfortunately, I did not meet this goal and only ended up having an hour to complete the remaining simulations. I did not take any breaks over the duration of the exam.

The simulation section of the exam covered topics I was much more comfortable with than the exams before. I was given two research questions, which I was quickly able to find the answer they were looking for. This allowed me to make up some time but I was still in a rush to get through each question.

I followed my new strategy for completing the question in full before moving on to the next one. I also used the Authoritative Literature to quickly look up topics to verify answers or the treatment for a certain procedure the exam was asking for.

Overall, I feel that my performance on the multiple choice questions was not as good as my previous attempt. This exam featured more questions that I hard time settling on an answer, and on a few questions I had to simply pick one and move on because I was wasting time trying to pick apart the question in order to come up with the correct answer.

I will now be moving on to prepare for BEC, which I have already scheduled for August 30. My biggest fear at this point is that AUD will expire (May) before I pass each section and the last thing I want to do it retake it.

I will continue to review for FAR until grades are posted, at which time I will reschedule it or rejoice and clear my desk free of all the review materials I have accumulated for it.

Best wishes to everyone out there studying. Keep on it and NEVER give up!