How to Pass the CPA Exam. How to Study for FAR Section. How I passed FAR in 7 wks w/ score of 90.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ส.ค. 2022
- In this video, I will talk about how I studied for FAR section of the CPA exam and passed in 7 weeks with the score of 90. As you know, FAR is the biggest section of the CPA exam, and has the lowest pass rate. In this video, I share the tips and tricks of how to study for FAR that helped me pass quickly with a high score.
I passed all 4 sections of CPA exam in just 2 months with the average score of 89, at the age of 49. And I wanted to share how I achieved it, so I can help people pass the exams too.
Below are the scores by section:
- FAR: 90 Jan 22, 2022
- BEC: 90 Feb 14, 2022
- AUD: 88 Mar 9, 2022
- REG: 88 Mar 30, 2022
(2 months & a week from the 1st section, 4 months including study time for the 1st section)
I plan on sharing more videos that can be helpful for CPA candidates, so please subscribe ;-)
Instagram
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1) How to Pass the CPA Exam: Step-by-Step Study Method
• How to Pass the CPA Ex...
2) How to Pass the Exam: Memorization Techniques
• How to Pass the CPA Ex...
3) How to Pass the Exam: How to Make/Save Time
• How to Pass the CPA Ex...
4) How to Pass the Exam: How to Stay Motivated
• How to Pass CPA Exam. ...
5) How to Pass the Exam: What to Do on the Day Before & the Day of the Exam
• How to Pass CPA Exam. ...
6) How to Pass the CPA Exam: How to Study for REG
• How to Pass the CPA Ex...
7) How to Pass the CPA Exam: How to Study for AUD
• How to Pass the CPA Ex...
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Just passed BEC (92), this video made me realize that I need to rethink my study plan. Thank you for your insights!
Wow, congratulations!!! Glad that it helped!
Thank you for this, good sir.
Really thanks fir making the requested video
I’m going to follow your advice and take FAR first. Thank you again for all your videos!
Thank you for your comment, and good luck! Please let me know anytime you have any questions :)
Super like your video!! especially you put the challenges and solutions 👍👍
Thank you for your comment! And I'm glad you liked it :)
Your videos has been such an inspiration for me to try harder to complete this exams. I am half way through but facing FAR (the beast) and REG(the complicated). I hoped for momentum by taking BEC and AUD first. I am so ‘stealing’ and adapting your strategies. Thank you once more
Thank you for your comments, and I'm glad to hear that my videos are helping. And best of luck on your CPA journey!!
Hi sugar, I have been watching your video as I take my exam. I just finished far 03/25. I feel really good about mcqs even completing the schedule as you’ve mention. However sims kicked my butt, this is my last exam and if I fail it’s because of the sims haha.
Thank you for your comments. I've always thought the sims kicked my butt, but ended up passing, so you never know! My guess is that the hard ones are the dummy ones.
I must see this before exam on last 13 Dec 2023. I am not confident. I hope a miracle will happen.
I was never confident after the exam either :)
I wish you the best!
I have watched your videos over and over, and I want to say THANK YOU. It is a good source for the motivation I needed to take on this herculean task. However, I did like to consult you further as my exam is approaching, and yes, I took your advice to start with FAR. Is there a way I can email or phone you? I will appreciate if you could respond to this.
Thank you for your comments. You can email me at mizzotini@gmail.com
Thanks so much for the video! Do you think Ninja by itself is enough to pass? I have 10 years experience in FP&A so familiar with a lot of the concepts but need to get in the weeds and do a lot of practice questions.
Thank you for your comments and questions. I thought having a second set of questions helped me a lot. I did many questions, so I ran out of them on my main course, so having the second one was important for me. I didn't wanna do the same questions twice because I wouldn't know if I got better, or I just remembered the correct answer.
Hi, When you take notes do you write them down or everything is just excel and powerpoint? Did you follow the smartpath from Roger or you just kepted working till you got like 80% on every chapter?
Thank you for your question. Yes, my notes were pretty much all in powerpoint. I used smartpath, but just to see how I compare against the benchmark, and didn't really work till I get to 80% on every chapter. I didn't want to focus too much on weak areas because I was afraid that I get weaker in strong areas. I hope that answered your question, but please let me know otherwise. And good luck on your exam!
Hi, Thank you for informative video.
I also use Roger and I have a question regard Govt. Accounting:
How did you study for reconciliation from Fund F/S to Govt-Wide Stmt?
Why I'm asking this is, Roger doesn't seem cover this part in detail so I wonder how you studied this part.
Thank you. Looking forward for next video! :)
Thank you for your comments and questions. I also thought Roger's text was very light on the reconciliation. I first tried to see what I can learn from looking at the financial statements. There is a set of financial statements in the textbook that are all interrelated. At the bottom of the balance sheet of governmental funds, there is a reconciliation which ties to the government-wide statement of net position, and you can see what kind of items are there. I also google searched and tried to learn from other sources. Since I was using Kesler's program, so I might have asked a question or two to the tutor. I don't know if this helped, but let me know if you have further questions :)
Hi Sugar - Thank you for putting your time and efforts in creating these detailed helpful videos for us CPA candidates. I have a question though. When you said you watched all lecture videos first before jumping into MCQs, do you mean ALL chapters videos at once? If so, how can you remember to even do MCQs in random order? I don't quite understand this approach because I have really short term memory even in my early 30's. Looking forward to your response!!
Thank you for your questions. Yes, I meant all chapters videos at once. I wasn't able to remember much of it, so I would get only about 60% correct in the beginning. But by reading explanations and textbooks, and taking notes on the questions I missed, I would learn and remember.
This approach would let you allocate more time on more important areas and the areas of your weakness. If you study in the traditional approach, you would be allocating more time on the earlier chapters and less on the later chapters.
I hope it makes sense, but please let me know if you have further questions.
@@sugarcpaus2091 Thank you for your response. So, my experiences are still limited and pretty sure I would only get about 20% correct in the beginning. Do you think this is still an effective approach? Or do you think I should take quizzes every 3 chapters then slowly move up to all chapters at once?
I think you can try that approach, and see how it works, and adjust in the later sections. As a matter of fact, on my first section, which was FAR, I initially was doing by chapter until about one-third of the way, then decided to switch to my approach, so you can even change the approach during the section.
When did you start to practice simulation during the FAR review? Is it after MCQ or at the same time?
Because I didn't know what I was doing when I was studying for FAR, I started practicing simulations quite early, in the third week, but in other sections, I started when I felt comfortable with MCQ's. And I continue doing MCQ's after starting simulations.
Hey Sir, after taking AUD yesterday and listening to your suggestion, I’m gonna prepare BEC. I only have 11 days to do so. It would be very helpful if you can also shoot a BEC video. I’m gonna take in 10 days and not sure whether this is enough time for me to do so. Again, thank you very much for your sharing!
It may take some more time, so let me give you a brief preview of it. BEC overall is heavy on "application", so you need to know all the math and formulas. "Application" is especially heavy in economics, so you need to know things like price elasticity and monetary and fiscal policies, how things move when something happens. Understanding "why" and "cause and effect" will be helpful there. If we look at the blueprint in further details, "analysis" is heavy on financial management. Here, I wrote down the formulas and examples in my notes using numbers. ERM, internal control, and IT are mostly "remembering and understanding", so memorization techniques and mnemonics would be helpful. I wrote down more mnemonics on the scratch paper in BEC than other sections because it helps in written communications. That's kind of what I'm thinking about for the video. Hope this is helpful :)
Thank you sir, I really appreciate your help! Thank you so much for detailed explanation and your kindness!
Hope your study is going well! Just published BEC video, so check it out!
Hi Yanan, how did you exam go ? How do you think you did on it ?
@@yananli5300How did you do?
You made very helpful videos for CPA Canadians, and it is very encouraging for me. As my situation very similar as you, I will adopt your strategies to study exam. My problem is time constraints. Can you give some advice for how you speed up when do the calculations questions on exam. You mention that you use excel on the exam, I am wondering how you use excel to help you. I will appreciate If you can make a video for it.
Thank you for your comments and question. I actually have a full-time job now, so unfortunately, I won't be able to create another video. In terms of using excel on the exam, basically, I use it for everything, from writing debits and credits, to T-accounts, to doing math. It's much easier and better than using a calculator because you can fix the error very easily. I know it's hard to understand how I exactly did it by just reading this, but hopefully I'm making sense. Please let me know if you have further questions.
@@sugarcpaus2091 Thank you for the reply. I think your typing speed is very fast that is why you can excel. My typing speed is slow, using excel probably is not beneficial for me.
By the way, I would like buy CPA review course, which one you recommend if I only need more practice questions. I bought a CPA review course, but they don’t have enough questions , especially for simulation questions.
Can you give me some advice?
Thanks?
Sorry, I mistakenly put a “?” Mark after the “Thanks”
I'm sorry for my late replay. I suggest Ninja. They are cheap and good. Don't buy Gleim.
Hi, just wanna get your opinion. Should I schedule my 2nd exam now eventhough I am not yet done with my 1st one. Thanks
Thank you for your question. How are you doing on MCQ's on the 2nd section? I usually scheduled my exam when I started feeling comfortable with MCQ's, (say constantly exceeding 70%). I hope this is helpful, but please let me know again if you have further questions :)
@Sugar CPA US - Did you find the morning study schedule to be effective in studying for the examinations, and would you recommend the morning study schedule, as compared to other times in the day? Thank you for your time.
It worked for me really well as I was able to concentrate with no interferance from my family or friends, and my mind was very clear without having to think about what happened during the day. And I took the power nap during the day, so that I was also awake during the day. I almost never studied at night.
Would you recommend all lectures completed first as a group then all class questions after as a group to be faster? how long would you spend on the class questions? How critical were the class questions to do during your process?
Thank you for your questions. I don't think it's particularly that important. I did them after finishing the videos of each chapter, and there are only 3-5 questions per chapter, so I probably spent just 15min or so on per chapter. After moving on to the MCQ step, I do thousands of questions, so those 3-5 class questions aren't that important. I just did them to get an idea what kind of questions there are.
@@sugarcpaus2091 Thank you!!
Hi! I’m planning to take FAR in 2mths. Did you use Roger for all 4 exams or just for FAR? Your videos have been very helpful, THANK YOU!
Thank you for your comments and question. I did use Roger for all 4 sections. I also used Ninja as the supplement test bank which was also very helpful.
What/Who is Roger ??
Sorry may be a stupid question
Hi, how do you think Rogers MCQS and sims and Kesler’s prepared you for the FAR exam? I’m about a month out from exam would you recommend another week of getting through lectures, 3 weeks of MCQS/SIMS and then a week of final review? Thanks for all your guidance during the process.
Thank you for your questions. Roger's MCQ's and sims are great, it has good level of difficulty and the same look and feel as the actual test environment. I used Kesler for BEC/AUD/REG, but not for FAR, but it has different types of questions which are really difficult, so it helped a lot too. I also used Ninja for BEC and AUD which was great too.
Are you just starting now, or have you already spent some time studying? And do you work full time or not? If you just started and work full time, one month may be a little too aggressive for FAR.
Thank you for the response. I have started and made it through modules 1 and 2 with roughly 80 percent of the material left. I think it is definelty pushing it as I do work a full time job. Here’s the predicament I am in is if I don’t try and pass FAR/REG before 10-31 I will then lose AUD. I took REG back in January and scored a 70. So I wasn’t sure if squeezing FAR in on 10-8 and REG in on 10-29 was even feasible? Or if I should just focus on FAR to give me best shot at passing and let AUD expire. It has been a challenge finding extra hours! Thank you.
I see. I really respect those who work full time and take the CPA exam, as I thought it was difficult enough without having a full time job. It's really a tough call, but I think it will cost money if you let AUD expire, so it probably makes sense to try to squeeze them in. I think if you take short-cuts, it is feasible.
Do you by chance still have how you worked out MCQs/SIMs daily and can share how to details? I think I need to add a system of getting correct versus wrong to create notes off of. Is this how you created the PowerPoint slides? Thanks again.
Basically, for all questions I got wrong, I read the explanations and textbooks and took notes using PowerPoint. I also took notes on questions I got correct by luck. I still have some of my notes and working files :)
Hii, can you make a video on the use of Excel ?
Thank you for your question, and I apologize for the late reply. I actually started a new job, and had to put a pause on the TH-cam videos. I will when I finish the job and restart TH-cam again.
Hi @sugarcpaus2091 . Any suggestions regarding taking notes w/o essentially re-writing the textbook?
Actually, my memorization technique video talks about note taking technique, so I suggest you watch that, and if you have further questions, please let me know again.
Hi,
What was your frequency of review of past chapters (so that the previous syllabus is still fresh) ? Daily or thrice a week ?
I didn't review past chapters. My approach is to finish watching all videos as quickly as possible, then start MCQ's on random basis from all chapters.
@@sugarcpaus2091 okay okay got it. It is very difficult for me as there are lot of chapters in beckers. So I do each chapter then MCQ and then while reviewing whole module I practice SIMs.
Hi
Can you please share your notes pdf/ppt if possible?
I am currently studying for cpa full time and following the same timeline as yours. So it will help me a lot
Thank you
Thank you for your question. I can send you a sample page if that is ok with you. If so, please email me at mizzotini@gmail.com
I didn't get the Research questions codification part. Can anyone please elaborate. 8:31
1) Understand how FASB codification is organized (i.e., starting with general principles, then presentation, assets, liabilities...), 2) usually the correct answer for 2nd layer is 10 or 20, and third layer is 25, 30, 35, 40, or 45, and 3) if you practice enough, you will start seeing the patterns. I think I just repeated what I said in the video, but hope this helps...
@@sugarcpaus2091 thanks for replying
Hi sir, your video is really inspirational. I started doing the MCQ in random order for FAR after spent the first 7 days on video lectures. It’s day 4 for starting MCQ. However, my score lies between 30%-70%, which is quite discouraging. May I know how’s your starting score for FAR MCQs? Also, why do you choose ppt to take notes instead of word doc? Thanks
Thank you for your comments and questions. FAR was the very first section I took, and I don't have a good record of my practice scores, but I was scoring very low and was very frustrated at the beginning. It got gradually better and I was able to constantly exceed 75%. The reason I used ppt is just because I am more of a ppt guy, and never liked using word doc :)
@@sugarcpaus2091Hi Sir, thanks for your reply. It's been six days of doing the MCQs, and although the score still fluctuates, I'm gradually achieving more 70% accuracy. However, I keep failing certain types of questions. Thus, I'm considering starting to take notes. When did you start taking notes? I’m not a very good note takers. Is there any tips for it?
You're welcome. That's great that you are making progress. I actually started taking notes as soon as I started the MCQ's. If you haven't seen my memorization technique video, that may help you how to take notes and how to use your notes to memorize things. Those techniques really helped me.
How did your week schedule look like? How many days would focus on watching the lecture for a chapter? How many day would you focus on MCQ’s and Sim before moving on to the next chapters ? When would you take notes?
Thank you for your questions. If I would do it again, I would spend the first 5 days just watching all the videos on 1.5x speed w/o taking notes. Then spend the next 15 days doing MCQ's. And this is where I take notes too, on the questions I missed or got correct by luck. Then, for the next 15 days doing both Sim's while continue doing MCQ's, and also watch cram lecture videos. If I can get my average MCQ score to around 80, then take the mock exam. If the result of mock is ok, then take the exam within a week, meanwhile, continue doing MCQ's and Sims. So, that's a total of about 6 weeks. This is different from what I did, because I was very inefficient at the beginning. Hope this makes sense, but let me know if you have further questions :)
@@sugarcpaus2091 what are cram lectures? Are they lectures from MCQs that you click when you get the answers wrong?
Cram lectures are the short version of the lecture videos that Roger has. Those are not from MCQ's. Maybe it's a unique feature of Roger, but I'm not sure. Does your review course have something like that?
@@sugarcpaus2091 I am using Becker. When you do the MCQ’s there is a lecture bottom you click and we tell you what page the question is derived from or what lecture to listen for the key points.
I see. That's a nice functionality. Don't worry about cram lectures, because I don't think that was a critical part of my process. I just watched it on my exercise bike.
Interested to know your thoughts regarding the different test course providers? Would you recommend Becker as well, with UWorld CPA? Thank you for your time
I don't think you need 2 review courses. Do you mean as a supplemental test bank? I loved UWorld because of Roger, but based on what I heard and read, Becker is probabaly better. Just don't buy Gleim as a supplemental test bank.
@@sugarcpaus2091 Thank you for the response. Based on your videos and the trial period, I went with Roger CPA, in 2024 updated version, a lot of the lecturers are not Roger himself. And so, was thinking about needing Becker since every one recommends Becker. would you recommend Becker?
Also, when you went through the Roger CPA course -> did you go through the lectures chronologically from Ch 1 to Ch 14 for example? Or, did you approach them a different way?
Thank you for your time
Best Regards
I see. To me, I needed the lecturer to be very energized and funny because I'm kind of ADHD, so I can't concentrate otherwise. If other lecturers are good and if you are not ADHD, would think Roger is still good, but I don't know. I never used Becker, but they all say Becker is really good (but of course expensive).
@@sugarcpaus2091 Thank you for your response. Also, would that be a Judo gi or jiu-jitsu gi (in your profile picture)? I wanted to ask since I also train jiu-jitsu. Did you also train specifically during the CPA study period?
Also, did you go through the UWorld lectures in-order or did you skip around from here to there? Would you recommend going from order, or does this not really matter?
Thank you for your responses,
Best Regards
@@sugarcpaus2091 Also, you had mentioned there was one provider that you did not recommend. Would this test provider be Becker?
Thank you for your time
Best Regards
When doing mcqs in a notebook would u rewrite the question so u can refer back to it or just what u did to work out the problem?
For the most part, I wrote down the concept instead of questions or answers. In some rare cases, I wrote down questions and how to work out the problem when it's complicated. I also wrote down a lot of debits and credits as well as T-accounts for FAR section.
Do u still have like a template of your notes? I have the exam in 17 days and want to make sure I’m fully prepared.
If you send me an email to the following address, I can send you a sample page from my notes. mizzotini@gmail.com
@@sugarcpaus2091I sent an email thank you 😊
How many MCQs did you practice at the end?
Thank you for your question. I did all of Roger's 1700 MCQs, and I don't have access to Gleim, but I did at least 300, so I did more than 2000 MCQ's in total.
Thank you for your video. How many chapters do you shuffle for Multiple choices? Mine has a total of 861 MC, and 161TBS. I would like to pass FAR in November. Some parts MCs are under 80% correct rate. Thank you !
Thank you for your comment and questions. FAR was my first section, so I didn't know what I was doing in the beginning. If I would do it again, I would just go through all the videos first, and then do MC's on all chapters. Just like I did in other sections. Hope this answered your question, but please let me know if you have further questions.
@@sugarcpaus2091 thank you for quick reply to me . 3 times at leastI reviewed each chapter. I will keep MC and TBS. When did you solve past AICPA releases problems? How many years did you do ?
I only did 1 year of AICPA released questions. I didn't know where to find the rest. And I did it about 7 days before the exam. I believe most of the review courses questions are from the past exams, so by doing many of them, I was probably doing many years' worth of questions.
@@sugarcpaus2091 Thank you for your advice. I have about 10 years of AICPA-released questions. Some of them are included in MCs. I will do the released questions later. How about mock tests? when did you take them? I appreciate your help.
For FAR, I did the mock 2 or 3 times. First one about 2 weeks before the exam, second and third ones between 7 to 4 days before the exam. For other sections, I only did 1 about 5 days before the exam.
Good evening Sugar CPA. Great video. How many hours do you think you spent studying on FAR compared to other sections? I heard on average people spent around 110-120 on BEC, 140-150 on REG and AUD, and 170-180 on FAR. How accurate do you think that is? I am starting my study journey next week and applied to take BEC and REG and should have my NTS in the next few weeks. Also, can you please create a video for BEC? I am planning of starting studying for BEC as my first exam. Thank you.
Thank you for your comment and questions. I probably studied about 140 hours for BEC and AUD, 150 hours for REG, and 300 hours for FAR. I am working on BEC video now, but will probably take about a week. Any reason you are taking BEC and REG together? Those two don't have much in common whereas BEC and AUD have a lot of overlap, so my recommendation is to take BEC and AUD in sequence :)
@@sugarcpaus2091 Thank you for your response. Wow, that is a lot of hours for FAR. The reason why I choose them first is that I am very interested in tax and BEC is the easiest exam so I wanted to start with it so I can have confidence going forward. I was planning on doing FAR last so I can switch BEC with REG as the first exam and then take AUD right after BEC.
FAR was my first section, and I wasn't very efficient, so I spent more time than necessary. Also I could've spent less time and got 75 instead of 90, because that all you need.
As long as AUD and BEC are back to back, you can take advantage of the biggest overlap between the sections. There are some overlaps between FAR and BEC, as well as AUD and REG, but those aren't as significant as AUD and BEC. I hope I'm making sense.
@@sugarcpaus2091 Thank you for your response. Following your reasoning, I decided to take BEC first followed by AUD, and then REG. I am going to study for BEC for about 25 days which will give me enough time to get a new NTS to schedule AUD.
I think that will make it easier for you. I will publish BEC video later this week, so look forward to that :)
How do you use excel worksheet for MCQ and SIM?
I have Excel worksheet open at all times, and put the question # in column A. Do the math, using column B to whatever the number of columns I need to use to do the math. After one question, I keep going down the worksheet, so I usually end up using about 50 rows, if not more, when I do like 30 questions at a time. I hope I'm making sense, but please let me know again if you have further questions.
@@sugarcpaus2091 Cool! Great idea. How about T accounts. It's one row formula or you use more rows for that?
Multiple rows and columns, just like how you would write it on the paper. I don't do any formatting because we have no time for that, so it's quite hard to see, but it's still good to do it on Excel.
@@sugarcpaus2091 thank you!
What source can I use to practice MCQ?
I think any of the major review courses such as Becker and Roger can be a good source. Ninja can be a good supplemental test bank.
@@sugarcpaus2091 Thank you for your response