cpa2bsoon, my email is in my profile. I will be glad to share your schedule. Perhaps it helps me structure a little bit better!

@spaztikenigma.. I agree with you except for no. 4 and 5. In my opinion, we can enjoy life, take care of other things and still pass CPA exam, without having to sacrifice everything. We do need to work hard, keep motivated and be discipline with studying. Also make sure to study the materials effectively. While preparing for FAR, I worked fulltime, did my hobbies & all fun stuff, took care of my family, but then passed FAR in the 1st try.

FAR -2/2/09- 86, AUD - 5/7/09, REG - tbd, BEC - tbd

Use Becker CD ROM only

Herlinid,  did you study a little bit every day? how long did it take you to prepare for FAR? how did you manage to do it all -work full time, family, hobbies? very impressive!

I am glad I am back on track!  I scheduled FAR and AUD already, and I promised my kids I will pass both exams! 

When my daughter sees me in a non-studying mood she says " I guess you already knows all your "Time Tables" mommy because you are not studying  :) ...  We play with flash cards (the formula & mnemonic ones) so they ask me questions to see how I am doing.

They feel happy because they are part of the process and I feel less guilty of taking their time.  I am inventing everything I can to make this whole thing work, otherwise I get discorage easily and this exam is definitly not for quitters.

Good luck everyone!!!

I just want to share my experience with you too. I failed FAR with 69 in my first try. I cried for a day or two really thinking that I could never pass this horrible exam. I sacrificed all my personal life, even Thanksgiving holiday and still failed. I felt very depressed. But I could not quit my dream to become a CPA so I decided to try one more time.

I did not do any lectures anymore, nor did I my study cards. I do not know why, but once I started using them,  I could not concentrate on anything, but my failure. So I just reread the whole FAR book and went through all my MC marking the most important  ones that reflected the most important concepts. I went through them over and over again untill I could calculate everything correctly. I also bought the Becker Final review and found it very helpful for the most important parts. It was also good because it's a nice summary of everything you should know for the exam and it's easier to memorize. If you can afford it, it's a good investment for FAR.

My exam was scheduled for Feb. 28.  The night before the FAR exam I got sick so could not study anymore, but I still decided not to reschedule since I would have lost all my exam fees. It was too late to reschedule…I went to the testing center feeling very- very bad.  I thought there was no reason to get nervous since I felt like no way I could pass it due to my health condition at that time. After my first testlet I got surprised because the exam questions were getting  much harder then I expected, the second and third testlets were just killers. My first sim was not pretty hard, but I decided to do the communication and research part first. I have no idea how I did on the calculation part. When I started my second sim, I had only 30 minutes, so I spent them on the communication and research parts. I spent more time writing the communication then I was supposed to, because I am not a native speaker so it is harder to me to write something in the professional language. I did not have time to do the calculation tabs so left them empty.  I left exam feeling no way I could pass this thing. Next day I was in the emergency room due to my health problem. As you see, I did not give myself a chance to feel like I could pass.

When I got my exam score envelope, I knew I failed so I decided to open the envelope after I took the BEC . I left testing center after I took BEC and opened my FAR envelope outside the testing center. My score was 87!!!!!!!!!!! I thought I would die of happiness. It was the best gift I ever got, especially because it was so inexpectantly!

Guys, do not give up, you can and will pass this beast. Just do more MC and spend your time reading the theory. I think, I passed because I read the whole FAR book, not just my notes taken for the first try. I got many theory questions on my second exam, but I knew the theory very good. I used only the Becker book and Becker Final Review and nothing else. So if you use it, you should be in a very good shape to pass this exam. Miracle does happen, you see that from my experience J  Good luck!