Parth is a NINJA CPA Blogger.
Hey NINJAs!
It’s official: My first attempt at slaying the FAR beast has reached the history books. Because this attempt also marks my first time sitting for any part of the CPA Exam, I wanted to share some thoughts on my testing experience.
Having a Prometric Testing Center on my college campus made travel quite simple. As I was walking from my campus apartment to the testing center, I did my best to focus on positive thoughts in relation to my chances of doing well on the exam.
I reached the testing center about an hour before my scheduled appointment time. I had read about the numerous procedures that take place when checking in for a CPA Exam Appointment, but I don’t feel that the reality of these procedures sunk in until I performed them today. I would almost liken the procedures to the ones I experience when going through airport security, but that’s probably an exaggeration.
Soon after getting seated at my testing station, the multiple choice questions started flowing. I don’t think I found large amounts of trouble with most of the questions; however, I did run into a number of situations where I second-guessed my answer choices.
Additionally, I don’t feel that the MCQs captured much of the areas I dreaded the most during my FAR review. I managed to finish the three testlets with a good amount of time to spare.
The Task Based Simulations presented a different challenge. Each of the simulations I received came across as straightforward at first glance. This impression made me believe that perhaps I was missing one or more tricks within each question. I did my best to identify any tricks and to utilize almost the entire time I had left over.
It feels good to say that I’ve completed one exam, regardless of the fact that I won’t know my score until late February. Continuing to dwell upon the mistakes I might’ve made during my FAR exam would most likely serve as a distraction to studying for my next part (AUD).
I’m excited to move forward with AUD because I really enjoyed [and learned a lot from] the audit class I took last semester.
Study hard everyone!
How many hours and how long did you study for FAR? Was there an approach that you suggest or recommend ?
I spent about 6 weeks studying for FAR, converting that into hours I'd estimate about 216 hours [6 weeks * 6 days/week * 6 hours/day]. The approach that I used was a hybrid of the NINJA method and the method included with my review course. I described my methodology in an old blog post: https://www.another71.com/ninja-cpa-blogger-parth-2/. I personally believe that re-writing my notes helped the information stick in my head the most. I hope that answers your questions!