[msgolds]

I don’t know about any of you all. I definitely did not find FAR to be an easy exam, but it was fairly straight-forward to me. There was not a whole lot of ambiguity. I guess partially because there are more calculations (which I love). I’ve been struggling with Audit because it is ALL concepts. Is anyone else the same way? What sorts of approaches have you used for Audit in order to get past the ambiguity?

BEC - 90 PASSED
FAR - 84 PASSED
AUD - 93 PASSED
REG - 84 PASSED

I DID IT!!!!

Using Becker Self-Study

"If we were put here to carry a great weight, then the very things we hate are here to build those muscles."

[Anonymous]

Haven't taken FAR in 15 years but Audit is a pain….the best of the right answers sometimes applies.

But I have your solution:

Wiley meet Ms. Golds

Ms. Golds meet Wiley (printed book)

It's what I used. Do those MCQ's at least 3-4 times and you will be fine.

[Peanut]

@msgolds, I couldn't agree more. I hate AUD 🙁

@CPApending, you had mentioned the Wiley printed book. Did you read the entire book? Or just work all the practice MCQs and SIMs?

AUD 81 (X4) Previous scores 59, 72, 72
REG 80 (X3) Previous scores 59, 60
FAR 75 (X2) Previous score 67
BEC 79 (X2) Previous score 58

[msgolds]

Thanks for the advice 🙂

BTW, just wanted to clarify that I'm not a “Ms.” MS are my first and middle initial, I am in fact a male 🙂 I never realized how misleading that user name can be until now!

BEC - 90 PASSED
FAR - 84 PASSED
AUD - 93 PASSED
REG - 84 PASSED

I DID IT!!!!

Using Becker Self-Study

"If we were put here to carry a great weight, then the very things we hate are here to build those muscles."

[lateralus ag]

Mr. Golds:

I felt EXACTLY the same way as you did. I actually LIKED FAR…..not the process so much, but the material. It's what I consider “real” accounting. AUD? Hell no. That's not accounting, that's AUDIT. So I struggled as well. But, like I did for REG and FAR, I followed Becker to the letter, did my MCQ's and SIMS, did my final review, and I passed with a better score than I did with FAR.

My advice is to not spend any more money and do the Becker stuff until you are blue in the face….then do it some more.

You'll be fine. I felt very comfortable with the material when I went to take the exam. Felt like crap AFTER the exam, but I always do!!

FAR 88
REG 89
AUD 89
BEC 86
DONE!!!
Using Becker Review and Becker Final Review, and Ninja Audio for BEC

[Anonymous]

It really depends on the person. I only took Audit I in college, but so far AUD has been the easiest section for me. I walked out of prometric knowing I had passed. FAR and BEC-I felt like throwing up the entire time..

[Anonymous]

@Peanut,

I read every word of that book, took notes, typed the notes and made note cards. I didn't even touch CPAExcel for Auditing notes. I did some of the MCQ's for Auditing from CPAExcel but most of that grade came from Wiley.

Now I realize how relying on Wiley and that brain dump of information really hosed me on REG. I'm now going through CPAExcel for the REG tax portions and it is so much better organized and prepared. Wiley was just like trying to read the phone book. I tried the exact same approach to REG using Wiley and was slaughtered.

[msgolds]

It's ironic because I Audit for a living (albeit government audit, not financial statement). Then again, one of the instructors at our training facility failed Audit recently, despite teaching an Audit class! So it is tougher than people think.

BEC - 90 PASSED
FAR - 84 PASSED
AUD - 93 PASSED
REG - 84 PASSED

I DID IT!!!!

Using Becker Self-Study

"If we were put here to carry a great weight, then the very things we hate are here to build those muscles."

[Anonymous]

AUD is no fun. I can't just memorize a calculation and call it good. Makes me think 🙁

[Keely]

I haven't taken FAR, but I felt the same way as you about AUD. I was really frustrated with the concepts, and I thought there was no way I could possibly pass having no auditing experience and my auditing class in college had been over five years ago. However, I studied less than half the amount I studied for BEC (plus I used Wiley test bank for BEC) and pretty much presumed I'd failed coming out of the exam, yet ended up scoring three points higher on AUD than BEC. Becker will teach you what you need to know for the exam. MCQs were so similar, it was laughable on occasion. As for sims, that's what I thought killed me. They were so vague.

Definitely know the audit risk formula like the back of your hand, and understand what (and why) different things affect it. That's my advice!

BEC: (4/2012) 88
AUD: (5/2012) 91
REG: (8/2012) 82
FAR: (1/2013) 78 🙂

VA CPA #42010

[Author]

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