[Anonymous]

With FAR looming for me next week, I am thinking about what to take on next. AUD or BEC? Which do you think I will hate the least? FAR is bumming me out and I am looking for something “easier” after this exam. (That’s a relative term obviously.) I do not have an audit background.

What do you think? I do not have an NTS yet, but will plan to take one of those in mid-October.

[WantToBeDone]

I have an audit background and thought AUD was the easiest of the 4 exams. However, I'd imagine AUD is pretty tricky without an audit background. It's a ton of theory and many concepts can be foreign if you're not familiar with them.

BEC came naturally to me because I like the economics of it.

Both are easily half the amount of material than REG or FAR.

BEC - 80
AUD - 85
FAR - 76
REG - 75

[Anonymous]

I thought AUD was a lot easier than BEC, but there are plenty of people on this forum who would beg to differ. BEC is econ, cost acct., finance and IT. If you were strong in those subjects, you might want to take BEC. Otherwise, I'd stick with AUD.

[mmcgrad1]

AUD is a lot more memorizing theory. BEC is a lot of calculations. If you don't want to do many calculations after FAR I would suggest AUD.

NIU CPA Review Correspondence is awesome!

I passed all four sections on the first attempt

[MyLifeisCPA]

I feel if you have conquered REG & FAR. Either of the 2 (BEC or AUD) would be a slower pace but I would say AUD. To me it was easier than BEC.

BEC-Passed
AUD-Passed
REG-Passed
FAR-Passed (I AM DONE!!! THANK U LORD!!!!)
Licensed Texas CPA - 10/2012

[Mrs.Beanie]

Personally I feel that the FAR and BEC information sort of go together and studying BEC after just finishing FAR might help you a little. I have AUD experience and I got a 68 and have to retake it. I am currently working on BEC.

FAR - 80
AUD - 68, 82 -> I'm Done!
REG - 75
BEC - 73, 81

[rhine500]

AUD next, 100%. You are auditing financial statements, so a lot of the material/concepts come from FAR. So do AUD while FAR is still fresh in your mind.

FAR: 92
AUD: 99
BEC: 90
REG: 95

[HeyPawl]

I had zero auditing background and that is why I scheduled AUD first (thinking it would be the hardest). However, like others have posted, it was very much memorization and logic. That said, I guess many things are memorization and logic. To me he biggest difference I have found in AUD and FAR review is the depth FAR goes and vast amount material to remember. I would recommend AUD next.

AUD - 82 (July)
FAR - 85 (Aug)
BEC - 82 (Oct)
REG - 75 (Nov)
DONE

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the input everyone. I suspected audit might be the best choice.

wow @rhine500 impressive scores. what's your secret?

Good luck to everyone testing soon!

[rhine500]

I've seen many people with better scores but my secrets:

a) cigarettes & coffee. a cigarette break on the hour every hour

b) take good notes

c) cram the last 4-5 days, using a & b

FAR: 92
AUD: 99
BEC: 90
REG: 95

[Author]

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