美国华人自己的CPA博客
在美国的华人为了能够令自己得生活过的好一点,或挑战自我,努力去考CPA.但又有几人能明白大家的心情呢
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Financial is also a very hard section for the CPA exam. I am viewing the lecture right now and going to take in the late April. There are so many materials in it and I need some help. There are total 9 sections in the Becker's FAR review, and I am struggling with the following sections:
1) Basic theory, especially matching principals.
2) Consolidations. Not the whole thing but such as intercompany transactions.
3) Investments, like bonds.
4) I don’t know the outcome of the government and non-profit yet.
Can anyone of you can tell me do these materials appear in the exam a lot. I think governmental will be a big section since no simulations on these sections but multiple choices.
If you have any difficult points in the FAR, also can post them into the Blog and let’s solve them together.
Please support this Blog.
got my result letter today and I have finally passed all the four parts of the CPA exam with the grace of GOD.
It's been a journey of about 6 months - studying full time all my own at home with my laptop... what a life!!, but it finally paid off!!
Having said that, I still have to pass the Ethics exam and get my experience signed off in order to obtain certification.
My CPA exam experience has been one disappointment and three cheers - I passed BEC, FAR and AUD in the first attempt, REG second attempt.
I used CPA Excel as a review course to study all material and didnot have any big surprises (i.e. questions coming from material not covered by review course) except a few questions in BEC. I like the course because it splits the material into small lessons and you can attempt MCQs and Yes/No questions after you have read a lesson. I found it better than only just reading the material and attempting questions related to the material after a long gap. CPA Excel has a good forum as well where you can clear your doubts regarding the material with experienced professors. The only 2 drawbacks with CPA Excel I think is
1) a lot of typos
2) The simulated exam is not based on AICPA assigned % on the material i.e. for example, I attempted a simulated REG exam, and most of the questions were from Biz Law (but in the real exam only 20% is biz law)
For people still taking the exam, i would like to share my experience on each exam and tips I can suggest:
1) BEC - This is supposed to be easiest exam. A few (about 4-5) questions came from the material that was not covered in CPA Excel. I think I scored well in the financial management and cost accounting calculations. I had to guess some of the questions from IT. I think a good preparation technique for this exam is to familiarize with the material, especially the theory. The Accounting topics shouldn’t be new for a BS Accounting student.
2) AUD - We have to master the art of answering MCQs in this exam. I Practiced, Practiced and practiced a lot of MCQs - the reason being you find particularly in this exam 3 or all 4 answers may seem strikingly correct - however, we have to pay attention to "what the question asks". Simulations could take longer than other exams, as they are theoretical. I think I did well in the simulations as reflected in my score. A good technique is to practice lots of MCQs and understand how the answer was obtained. CPA Excel suggested to memorize the standard audit reports and I did not find this useful at all to be honest!!
3) FAR - It has a dauntingly huge syllabus, but I tried to understand the basics of every section (for example, the adjustments for Accounting for Income Taxes, the components of a pension cost etc). I didn't get questions from some of these topics. I also spent on Non-Proft/Govt section - and guess what I got quite a few questions from this part. I feel the simulations for this section can generally be long and hard, as I had tough simulations; I must have done well in the MCQs and not that well in the simulations as my score suggests as compared to AUD. A good technique is to practice a lot of calculation MCQs as well as know the basics of Non-profit/Govt section – a few questions are a must from this section – can be bonus marks – CPA Excel is quite good at highlighting these.
4) REG - The first time I took it, I didn't know that Tax was about 60% and Biz law + Ethics 40% - ended up spending a lot of time on Biz law probably 3 weeks and left 1 week for tax. When I went to the exam, I was totally blank maybe due to anxiety and thought I had answered only a few questions correctly, but thought I did well to get a 68.
Second time, I shifted my focus to Tax and Ethics (60+15%) - I prepared about 150 odd flashcards - went over them again and again, however spent too little time on Biz Law - after I took the exam, I was sure about most of questions from tax but not sure about the Biz Law.. I think my score suggests I did extremely well in Tax MCQs and not that well in Biz Law. Questions in the Biz law section of my first attempt came from all parts of the section, however in the second exam, most of the exams came from a topic that I did not review the second time. Simulations were hard as well, not as hard as FAR. The research part was tough but not as difficult as FARE. A good technique is to know the basics for each section – Tax/Biz law/Ethics.
Cheers everyone and good luck
Did you get your FARE score?
There is no exam questions on that website. You have to be really familiar with the AICPA database which you can find everything on that website. Try your best to research base on index not by key word. You will be fine.
Thank you for your response.
I will take FAR in July. I am nervous about research section because i didn't put so much time on it.
Can I find solution about the exam questions from the websit you give to me?
How come nobody mentioned anything on AUD Simulation?
好,先从复习过程心得和考试联系起来说一说:
如果说REG BECKER 的特长是不过不失,评分85的话,FARE可以说是”超男超女”了, champion of the American Idle!!!! 100 分. 覆盖率达100%,不是说一样的题,而是题型和出题方向. 我这次把所有的题都做了1.5 次,考试的感觉还可以. 我相信你们做3 次就一定能行.
再说说考试的出题难度吧:
第一个MC容易啊, 40分钟不到便完成了. 谁知道下面的两个MC 越出越长,都不知道是我对题目不熟悉呢呵是故意的. 计算不多,但一定要清楚背后的GAAP. 1.5 分钟一题, 准可以提前完成,见不会的千万不要多想,否则到SIM的时候就彻底完蛋了,简直就是全军崩溃. 有一点搞笑的是,同一个问题用不同的方法问了5次啊!!! 三份MC都问了,回来对了答案都对了.还有同一份MC前后两题竟然互通答案了(甲的答案可以在乙的问题里找到).奇闻啊!! 我的第一个SIM 特长,但我早有准备了(是这个回忆录的重点,下面再说). 第二个SIM 短一点.
到SIM 了,经典啊.
两个SIM竟然和我BLOG上的表格列出的重点一样. 具体问什么我不能说了,天机不可泄露啊.
综上所述, (老土的政治课本) 就算我FAIL了,估计是73 ,74. 如果想拿CPA考试的单科状元,做5 次题. 想混出点名堂的就做2-3次.想连中四元的话( 中国历史上只有不到10人连中三元,县试,省试,皇帝老子的试都考第一) 四科一共做20次吧. 你们可能又说是废话了,可这是个事实.
出题方向我的BLOG上都有,不出左右. 中奖的机会比买彩票的机会大一点. 请容许我再说一句废话, 中奖率可不比大陆前一阵子炒股票的大啊! 垃圾变成金子的股票每天都有. 看来我要开一个股票BLOG. 点中两三个就成名成家了.
我已经UPDATED那个表格了,BLOG的首页可以看到.
CPA Exam Candidates: Free On-line Access to Professional Literature Package
This is the web link to it:
http://www.cpa-exam.org/cpa/literature.html
You need to sign up for the CPA exams first before you can use it.
How do you find stuff about research section?
Do you have specific website to find these materials?
I did not finish FARE second sim research part, because I did not split. What is strange is that I did not split for the first sim either, but I was able to transfer. Anyway, good luck to you. :)
终于考完FARE，下面是我的experience.
感觉像Alice一样，不是想象中的那么难，但是我知道自己在几个很简单问题上犯了几个基本的错误，大概还是概念不是很清晰的原因。
1. Becker 真得很好，基本上都cover 住了，而且有些题很像，就是换了个问法。最惨的就是这，我就给搞混了概念。
2.第一个testlet很简单，非常简单，第二个就有些难，第三个比第一个难，比第二个简单。我的时间安排有些问题，每个testlet我安排了40分钟，结果第二个和第三个就有些紧张，没时间review，匆匆答完。 sim实在是太简单了。第一个是最简单的，basic的东西，第二个比较麻烦，有些陷阱，要仔细看，但是也不难。结果我检查了3遍，提前30分钟就出来了。这个后悔啊，早知道把时间给MCO就好了，肠子都青了#··￥#%
而且，对于research问题，很容易找，基本上一下子就找到。可是我又犯错误了。找到之后怎么也transfer不过来，弄了快20分钟，没办法，又把instruction看了一遍，才知道，原来必须split screen，你才能transfer过来，我真的是stupid啊！
其实sim就是考那些东西，猜也能猜出来，所以大家不怕。但是要仔细，非常仔细。我一开始就因为不够仔细，取错了数，后来检查出来了。（我的老师教导我说，不到收卷，决不交卷，看来还是有道理的，要不然我怎么检查出来自己取错了数呢。）
3. 个人意见，不要去抠那些难题，尤其是一堆计算的，算来算去，没用。出的题都是简单的，但是要求你对基本的概念有很深的理解，都是在这上面变花样，可能难就难在这上面。
最后，good luck!!!
Here is my experience on the FARE test (4/23). I can assure you that I had started to wear a headband 24X7 in the worry that all the things I had learnt to prepare for FARE would split my head!!!
Anyway, I felt that the test did not have long and winded questions throughout the test. Testlet 1 appeared quite easy, Testlet 2 took more time than I had budgeted. T3 was probably not as hard as T2 (but more conceptual and/or nitpicky). I remember that in T3, I had marked 5 questions one after another. I had 80 minutes left for SIMS (I had planned for 90). Both the sims were OK.
Sim 1 was tougher not because of the material but just because the test wanted me to use their spreadsheet in a way that had preconfigured formulas. I was not sure if I found the Research material (spent about 3 mintues and then transferred to answer the closest I thought) - Took 40 mins
Sim 2 was quite basic and the research material popped out in 1 minute. The issue there was just one, one of the cells where I put a formula became RED in color (from orange) and I got a message "Data invalid, error). When I hardcoded the result in there, it allowed me to but the red color did not go away. The techs over there did not know anything about it. (I will send my issue to AICPA about it tonight).
I hit the "done button" 20 seconds before the 4:00 hour time limit. I took no break.
My view is that there are ten thousands of things that are there to know for FARE and they will ask you only 90. The time pressure creates some muddling in the mind during the test, especially as you get into T3. I recall one MCQ in T3 where the answer seemed too basic, but they tricked me on terminology.
My advise is to be thoroughly prepared for the unknown (if you don't want to take a chance) by "understanding" the General Rules and exceptions thoroughly and being able to apply them using predetermined shortcuts. If someone says "this area is tested heavily", don't listen - since an area that I have heard again and again is not tested heavily I got 4 MCQs and another 2 MCQs! And a third area that I was told is tested heavily was not tested at all. One chapter that I had mastered so well - only 2MCQs. Please give yourself about 2 days before the test to review each and every page in the book.
There were no real complex questions. They were a mix of concepts, right there (one small word in the Becker book in one page of the 1000 pages), and terminology trick questions.
Time will tell how I did. I will not be responding as frequently in the FARE site since my AUD test is scheduled in a month but feel free...
That is a great post. Thanks for your information, and have a great weekend.
Here is my story: I took FAR this Tue., feeling ok, not great but not too bad either. One thing really concern me is I didn’t get a harder testlet in the second one, so…..it means I didn’t do well in the first testlet, but good thing is the simulations are really simple, and I finished them. So, hopefully something good will come out.
For MQ, I don’t have a lot of calculations in my exam, very basic concepts, ratio is important. Questions are almost from every chapter. Becker did a great job by including all the points, no surprise at all. But Becker’s HW is much more difficult than the real exam. I didn’t do Supplemental Questions, I think it is fine to skip them if you don’t have enough time (Like me!). I even had couple of questions from Becker, not exactly the same, but really close (you will know).
For simulations, not hard, I have 4 tabs for each one, 30-35 mins should be enough for each one. But I spent a lot of time to try to figure out how to use the spreadsheet---this is sth I really can not explain to you, you have to “experience” it to understand what I am talking about, and I should not discuss that under AICPA either. But just be prepared and make sure to have enough time to do it.
Um……I think that’s about it. I hope I can pass it, but if not, I will just take it again. Good luck to all of you and if you have any other questions, please let me know.
P.S. Thanks for "Chunky" Cynthia and Kathy's supporting. Thanks a lot.
I took FARE yesterday. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it was still difficult. Questions were about 50% conceptual and 50% computation. I also feel that even the computational questions primarily focus on testing the candidates mastery of financial accounting concepts. For computational questions, I suggest skipping those you don't know. Answer the ones you know for sure, and go back to the others. Time management is critical with this part of the exam. I ended up running out of time on my second (harder) sim, because I spent too much time on my first (easier) sim.
I feel that my second sim was very difficult. The sim itself was pretty straightforward. However, it was made difficult by the fact that I had to pull information from tabs 1 and 2, then enter it in the cells on a tab 3. I then had to use the information from tab 3, to complete tab 4. I suggest allocating more time to the second sim, for every part of the exam. Maybe it's just me, but the second sim is always harder.
While each exam is different, I would suggest reviewing Governmental and Non-Profit accounting. These two topics make up a significant portion of the multiple guess questions. If you're using Becker, do a quick review of financial ratios, including Basic & Dillutive Earnings Per Share. Finally, you should know that you can and should use the research function in order to write your essay. I was able to get some really good essay ideas right from the FASB texts.
Hello Folks. I took the exam April 2nd and I wanted to share my experience. To begin with, this is my last section, I have taken all the other 3 and FAR is pretty unique. The first point I want to emphasize is time management. Time was never such a factor for me in the last 3. There are tons of questions and trust me u will not know the answer to all of them. U need to move on if you cant figure out the correct answer. There were some very long calculations that take a good 3 mins and others that take a second. Please know your NFP and gov't like crazy. I cant emphasize enough the need for time management and please practise sims before you get to the exam room. Its not enough to just know how to work it, you have to have seen it before to make it easier. The spreadsheet on the sims can lead to some confusion if you are not familiar with it. I spent about 15 mins figuring out how to work some spreadsheet.
You also need to get some sleep the night before the exam. Calcualtions can only be done efficiently when you are wide awake. The sad part is that for each wrong calcualtion you do, there is a supporting wrong answer.
The testlets also got progressively harder for me. There was a point where I was pretty upset because I kept getting very long calculations. Time management is the key. Preparing for SIMS is the easiest part. Once you master Becker SIMs i think u can pretty much work through most of the SIMS u will get after figuring out the linking of cells.
Thanks for your help, Your FAR advice are really helpful. Hope you love this Blog.
By the way, I am writing an article about the CPA exams, hope to publish it soon. I have to finish those crazy FAR homework first.
You won't get time-consuming MC question on exam. Ignore those really difficult ones on Becker if you do not have enough time to dig into it. I finished all my three MC testlets in 2 hours. Normally the first one is easy. They are straight forward. Make sure you go through those MCs you did not get right for the first time again in Becker.
If your screen gets frozen during the exam, do not panic. Give the computer couple minutes to respond.
Good Luck!
I had plenty of time for each simulation, like an hours left for each simulation. I think 45 minutes are enough for you to finish each simulation if you need more time on MC. Good luck.
May I ask you a question about simulation for FAR? How much time would you suggest me to spend on each simulation? 30 mins is it enough? Thanks.
Alice
WOW, that is a really good information. Thanks for the info, verified my previous researched. Please come again.