Yes, I am having the same problem.  I am really frustrated and scared about this.  My new name is '24 hours" because what I can recall is what I covered in the last 24 hours.  When I wake up tomorrow, its like I should be working for Goodwill or something.

I'm on knowledge consumption overload.

kj_nyc wrote: Yes, I had the same problem.  I did get more comfortable with the material after going through everything 3 times.  Well, not quite 3 times for everything, and the 3rd run through stuff was quick and selective.  We'll see how well prepared I was in a couple months.  I just had my exam this afternoon, and there were a few simulation questions on something that my Bisk material had only 1 sentence on and even after looking it up in my company's research materials afterwards, I think some of the questions were inadequately worded enough that you couldn't determine the accounting treatment for sure.  Arghhhhh.  But it's time for me to cram for REG now and stop thinking about FAR for a while.

KJ, I know you did well on it.  Your postings show you really know the matierals.  You passed, I'm sure.

Thanks for the kind words, oldog new trics. I really pray it went all right. So much for focusing solely on REG. I read maybe 1/2 way through the first REG chapter but kept thinking that I should contact the AICPA Examinations Team about one problem in my second simulation that had a significant ambiguity. So I wrote something up, looked around for some free internet faxing sites, and faxed it over. FYI, if any of you find a major problem with a test question, you need to fax or mail the AICPA Examinations Team within 4 days of your exam. Email me if you want info on free faxing sites.

So here was my experience yesterday. Time was definitely an issue.  My goal was to average 40 minutes per multiple choice testlet and have 1 hour per simulation since I am slow and not good at simulations.  I spent 40 minutes on MC testlet 1, 41 on testlet 2, and about 60 minutes on testlet 3. A few of the MCs in testlet 3 really stumped me, and I know I got at least 1 of them wrong after I came back and looked it up (and this is another case where there was only a few sentences of coverage in Bisk that did not directly address the topic, and I got a better idea of the correct answer after using my company's research tool).  A couple of the other stumpers I think I got after the 2nd or 3rd pass after the solution all of a sudden hit me.  I had just under 1 hour 40 minutes left for the simulations. I think I used 55+ minutes on the first and then had only a little under 45 for the second. First tab on the 2nd simulation took a while, and I started looking at the other tabs and saw that there were just 35 minutes left.  Yikes, better take care of the written communication! Spent maybe 12 minutes on the written communication, struggled through a couple other tabs, and then there were only 4 minutes left. Oops, I hadn't done the research question! So I scramble to punch in some search terms, and luckily I think I round the correct paragraph. Then I scrambled to check each tab over at least once, even if it was just very quickly.

KJ, it sounds like the questions were harder on testlets 2 and 3, which means you did well on testlets 1 and 2.  Your sim strategy to maximize points was good, and you got the first sim nailed.  Everyone who passes the exam walks out feeling like they should go home and locate the FAR study materials again - it's a good sign.

I have a question on the second sim.  Did you move over to the research tab because you had covered everything you could on the other tabs, or because the research tab is worth more in points?  I suck at the research tab, so I was thinking I would let that go on both sims if I ran short of time.  Guess what I'm asking is how many points is the research tab and is it worth burning 10 minutes on? 

I think the research tab is worth only 1 point. On the second sim, I had already made one pass at all the other tabs but was feeling very shaky on most of them and wanted to spend more time to figure things out. But there were only 4 minutes left and I noticed I still hadn't gotten to the research tab. I figured I could either give it my best shot and likely pick up at least 1 more point, or spent more time looking over the other tabs where I was shaky and not be sure if I'll get any more points. The research tab is just the luck of the draw for me. I was lucky that I was able to find the answer in about 2 minutes for this one, but on my AUD exam that I took in May, I think I spent 20 minutes on one research tab (but I did have the luxury of time then, so it was well spent).

Well I wouldn't say I got the first sim nailed, although I sure hope I did.  And I don't think MC testlet 2 was harder than testlet 1 ... hmm maybe by a little bit, but not materially so.  Yes, testlet 3 was noticeably harder than the others, but from what I have heard other people describe, there should be more noticeable differences in level of difficulty if you are doing well in the MCs.  However, I did experience otherwise on AUD, the only other section I've taken so far.  There was no difference between testlets 1 and 2 in difficulty, and testlet 3 was only slightly more difficult. Some of the AUD sims were quite tough, but I had plenty of time to triple or quadruple check all of them because I had spent only 30 minutes on MC testlets 1 and 2 each and 35 on testlet 3, and AUD is 4.5 hours. I ended up passing AUD with 99. I don't understand why FAR is only 4 hours and AUD 4.5. It should be the other way around.