[IndianaCPA]

How would you rank the exams? I think they go Financial – Regulation – Audit – Business. Does anyone disagree? How long would you take to study for each of them if you were also working full time?

B 74, 79
A 62, 81
R 76
F 75

Done!

[Anonymous]

NYC Accountant what is your study schedule??

[UNC MAcc]

REG>> FAR >>>>>>> BEC

B - 89
A - 80
R - 78
F - 86

CIA, CFSA, MBA, MAcc (too many f'ing degrees and certs, I know, trust me)

[wannabeCPA123]

I spent the least amount of time Studying for FAR, and I passed on the first try. I didn't even complete at least 50% of the Becker homework.

I did all the homework for REG and even Ninja Notes Mobile MCQs, and that was mostly because I enjoyed Learning about Reg. So for me, REG was the easiest exam.

I just recently took AUD, and I don't know my score, but that was by-far the most straight forward. I finished the exam in less than 3 hours. Still, I don't know my score.

BEC was the hardest section that I took. Many of questions weren't covered in Becker. Many questions came from FAR.

So that said.

REG was the easiest to study for and to sit for.

BEC was easier to study for but had the hardest exam for me.

FAR: I didn't adequately study for FAR and just took my education guess on most questions and passed.

AUD: Seemed easy but only time will tell for sure.

FAR 78
REG 87
BEC 78
AUD 78
Passed all exams on first try! Good luck to everyone!

[gt5717b]

My personal rank would be:

AUD – Least amount of material, but trickiest questions

REG – Lots of material and lots of concepts to remember

FAR – Lots of material, but pretty straightforward accounting

BEC – Lots of subjects, but lesser of all evils

REG - 89
FAR - 84
AUD - 73, 86
BEC - 89

GA Licensed CPA

[impska]

I think they're getting easier. I chalk it up to being familiar with the exam and getting my study strategy down. And work experience.

I took them in this order: REG, BEC, FAR, AUD. I put them in order of my comfort level, the ones I felt would be easiest for me to hardest. I have a very strong background in tax and a pretty strong background in some of the BEC topics. Almost no background in FAR, but more than AUD!

REG felt traumatizing, but went fine. BEC felt easy. FAR felt easier. I'm studying for AUD now, it feels easiest of all.

Part of that is I've actually done quite a bit of audit work since starting my CPA journey, so I have a good frame of reference for FAR and AUD that I didn't have before. But mostly, I think I've honed my CPA-exam related study skills. I have cut my study time significantly for every test and yet maintained similar scores.

REG - 94
BEC - 92
FAR - 92
AUD - 99

[Lindrobe]

Hardest to easiest:

FAR, a lot of material, I have very little financial accounting experience

REG, a lot of material, I have tax experience, but mostly NFP tax

AUD, pretty easy for me and I have no audit experience

BEC, 90% of material covered in my MBA classes

FAR 12/3/14, 87
AUD 2/3/14, 90
BEC 4/1/14, 88
REG 5/27/14, 94

Licensed CPA, Indiana

"Successful people do things that unsuccessful people don't want to do"

[gerG]

Based on work experience and general comfort level with the topics, I decided to take them in (my own personal) decreasing order of difficulty: REG – AUD – FAR – BEC.

Both the preparation for and actual exam on AUD (82) was slightly more challenging than REG (86) and I felt pretty confident about FAR (91) throughout the study and test, even with significantly less time to devote to it. I'll start preparing for BEC tomorrow so I'm not sure where that will sit in relation to my expectations.

"I'm an idealist who has outgrown my idealism/I have nothing to do the rest of my life but do it/and the rest of my life to do it"
Jack Kerouac - Mexico City Blues

[Gatorbates]

BEC, FAR, REG, AUD, in my opinion.

Licensed Florida CPA:
B: 71, 73, 79
A: 83
R: 78 (expired), 77
F: 74, 74, 80

It's finally freaking over.

[jeff]

This post inspired a video 🙂

Full Post: https://www.another71.com/cpa-exam-difficulty-rankings-by-section/

AUD - 79
BEC - 80
FAR - 76
REG - 92

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS)
NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE | Another71

[Mamabear]

REG>FAR>AUD>BEC

CPA Exam - Finally DONE (November 2014)
BEC (08/10/13) 80
AUD (08/24/13) 65 (11/13/13) 85
FAR (04/12/14) 81
REG (07/19/14) 69 (11/29/14) 87!!

[jpowell31]

this thread is how i know the exams require luck because for me BEC was a breeze (and it's not like i didn't put the same effort into the other exams). but i know that these exams are pure mindgames and it's different for everyone and whatever was your experience is what you're going to think is hardest to easiest.

i've taken the other exams more than once and each was completely different from the first. there's so much to be tested on that i think there's luck in a) what you get on the test compared to what stuck in your studies and b) what you guess – you got a 25% or higher chance at getting the answer right…and c) what other people are doing – okay so “it's not curved” yet each question is weighted depending on how well everyone in the window did……….

BEC had less material so it was easier for me to wrap my head around just about everything before going in. i also prefer the writing section – if that's a weakness for you, it'll definitely bring your confidence/score down. i thought the material in AUD was the easiest but took it 3 times (granted i didn't know what i was getting into round 1, and round 2 i had a terrible testing experience but still a fail is a fail is a fail!) so what do i know?

-__-

[Anonymous]

I haven't taken FAR yet, but I'm through enough of the material to rank my order as AUD>BEC>FAR>REG. I've only taken two auditing classes (both online) and have no experience with audits and I was an undergrad non-business major with only enough general business credits to qualify to sit for the exam, so AUD and BEC were by far my most difficult areas.

Even with the large amount of material for FAR my studying has gone fairly well since I'm already familiar with most of the material. And REG I wish I had saved for last because I'm fond of both taxes and business law, so I genuinely enjoyed studying for that exam.

[Mamabear]

^^You enjoyed studying for REG?!–I may be willing to scrape off my fingerprints so you can take the test for me. Does that work for you? 🙂

CPA Exam - Finally DONE (November 2014)
BEC (08/10/13) 80
AUD (08/24/13) 65 (11/13/13) 85
FAR (04/12/14) 81
REG (07/19/14) 69 (11/29/14) 87!!

[MintsRGood]

AUD, FAR, REG, BEC.

Audit is the devil. That section made my life hell for months!!!! FAR is a just mountain of information. Even though I had multiple rounds with FAR including a 74 on my last section, I actually don't hate it. I certainty don't want to retake it for fun, but I don't feel bitter about it. However if AUD were a person, I'd run them over with my car. Enough said. 😉

REG: 75 DONE 🙂
AUD: 61, 71, 68, 92 DONE 🙂
BEC: 76 DONE 🙂
FAR: 72, 74, 79 DONE 🙂
Licensed Michigan CPA 🙂
-Some people dream of success...others wake up and work hard for it!!!
-The cowards never start and the weak die along the way!
-You better work, b***h!
-Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.-JFK

[Valerie_Jo]

For me it was hardest to easiest: AUD, REG, FAR, BEC

Damn you AUD!!!!

FAR: 84
BEC: 88
REG: 33 (winged it, bad plan), 77
AUD: 72 ,72, 81 FINALLY DONE!!!!!!

WI Ethics Exam Passed - 92!!!!

Licensed CPA in WI

[Author]

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