FAR Retake - Hopefully this helps someone else!

I tried to post this yesterday.. something happened so I'm posting the full thing.

So I had a FAR retake recently still don't have a score. Had a 74 on FAR this year... Here are my thoughts...

  • MCQs
    • I used Gleim and did 100+ MCQs for 2 weeks of final review. Avg Score ranged 73-83%.
    • Every 300 questions I analyzed my results and did groups of 20 mcqs on weak areas.
      • eg. Staying sharp on NFPs, Bonds or Inventory calcs, Deferred tax topics.
    • I felt confident during the exam. I'm positive that I didn't answer all 50 correctly.
    • I think with avg scores of 78% on random sets of 50 MCQs in Gleim you're ready.
    • A few shit post rants on internet advice:
    • 1. There are posts about the MCQs being 'easier on the exam' or 'less complicated'. I disagree...
      • You will see questions like this in prep software.
      • "Which of the following is a governmental fund?"
      • General, Enterprise, Internal Service, Private Trust
      • "How many of the following funds use the modified accrual basis of accounting?" followed by a list of funds that you have to count.
      • A. 3 B. 4 C. 1 D. 0
      • it's arguable that the first question is 'easier'... it's not. You either know it or don't. and you need to know all of the topics to some extent in your prep software.
    • 2. This next one makes me mad because it can happen with basically every single topic.
      • You will see questions like this in prep software...
      • What is cashflow from operating activities? And the question provides you with Net Income, AR increase, AP Decrease, Gain on sale of Equip and depreciation.
      • TECHNICALLY you could also see Non-Cash Compensation, Deferred Income, or Changes in Provision for Contingencies...
      • I don't think it's reasonable to expect candidates to know 50 financial ratios or the more than 20 non-cash adjustments that could impact operating cashflows. That's particularly insane considering just based on the size of the exam you may not even see ONE question on it and in real life you will simply look it up.
      • I don't think there is a way to prepare for this without having a photographic memory or spending the rest of your life preparing.
      • Intentionally doing this to candidates, IMHO, is professional hazing and it's embarrassing for the profession. I have prepared dozens of practice questions adjusting operating activities. I understand the concept, can apply it and certainly feel confident in a real world environment to do it. HOWEVER, the fact that questions could force me to have to GUESS and subsequently get the question wrong... simply because some smarty pants question writer thinks its cute to put things that NOBODY studies into an MCQ absolutely boils my blood.
  • SIMS
    • I did 3 sections of the 15 in Gleim. I scored between 74% - 80% on the first attempts.
      • Advice on Preparedness:
      • MCQs gave me the understanding of the concepts to understand the prep sims.
      • I should have done the entire test bank... I will get into it in a second.
      • I felt familiar with the format and how to approach the questions to some extent.
      • I don't feel like I did well on the sims as a whole in the exam.
      • A few shit post rants on internet advice:
      • 1. Posts that say "doing SIMs is like doing a bunch of MCQs" is simply not true in 2024.
      • I'm ashamed to say that I had to take FAR 2 times this year but I have seen 14 sims in real life. The subject matter is the same as MCQs kind of.. more on that in a minute. BUT the application is ABSOLUTELY different.
      • It is a mistake in my opinion to think you can dissect sims into MCQs. I think in the exam it's a waste of time. Like the above exam question example I wrote... if it was a list of MCQs that were obvious you could just work down the list. The exam is not like that. You will need serious reading comprehension to assess what you're looking at.
      • 2. Posts that say "don't waste too much time doing sims, the sims you will see on the exam will be completely different..." these statements are simply not true in 2024
      • Again, not proud of spending 5 months this year studying to attempt 1 exam, and I'm still not successful... however, the Gleim software for sure STARTED to prepare me for sims. My mistake was that I bought into the advice above and it ultimately led me to have a rough testing experience 2 different times.
      • MCQs will teach you how to book Treasury stock transactions, Asset purchases, Changing depreciation estimates prospectively.
      • MCQs will not (in my experience) teach you how to read 10 mins worth of documentation, determine IF a fake person that you can't talk to made a mistake, assess what they booked, and how to book the correction.
      • There are topics that you will NEVER be able to guess your way through... I didn't practice how to build a consolidated set of financials. I didn't practice how make the journal entries for every elimination that could happen between companies.
      • I will be doing as much work on sims going forward as MCQs. I will be doing the entire sim test bank. Please don't make this mistake of under studying this. I budgeted 18 mins max per sim... that's not enough time when the sims are this f**king dense.
      • Intentionally doing this to candidates... again... is unnecessary and not helping our profession. I have been an accountant, sr accountant and a controller. Giving candidates questions where the candidate has to be skeptical of literally every sentence because the question designer isn't assessing your understanding and application of the topics is gaslighting. It makes you question what you have learned through studying for months... I literally want to pass these exams out of spite over a professional requirement at this point...