[sonn21]

Should I take FAR or REG first

Situation: I just graduated and applied to sit for the exam, it will take a long time to get approved since I’m waiting on my degree to get posted, then transcripts sent, then them actually approving me.

I am going to start working in a big 4 firm in September, but until then I have absolutely nothing to do but study for the CPA exam. I am using Becker, I have all the materials, just waiting to get approved to sit.

My question is, should I use this valuable study time to take FAR first or REG??

I know everyone says FAR is the hardest and given the free time I have before I start working it would be best to study for it. However, I just finished taking corporate tax at school, and the material is still fresh in my head, Should I take REG? I’m pretty confident, but then again I’ll never have study time like this again so would it be wise use it for FAR??

B: 78
A: 71, 90
R: 86
F: 84

[mangos]

FAR

FAR (5/07/13): 96

[J]

Agreed; FAR first. I actually took a different route (BEC first), but that was due to particular circumstances in which I only had a couple of weeks and limited time within those weeks to study, and after a quick review thought that BEC – for various motives – would give me the best chance. Additionally it worked out well; I kept putting off the CPA exam for several different reasons over the year and a half prior to starting and knew that getting one under my belt would catalyze my movement on the remaining sections.

With that said, FAR encompasses many parts of the other three sections, so in theory studying, taking, and passing FAR should make the other three slightly easier (i.e. lots of FAR concepts show up on BEC, lots of AUD is really FAR, especially some of the simulations, and once you know GAAP rules, it's easier to learn tax rules (for REG) by concentrating on similarities and differences. Furthermore, as FAR seems to get the general consensus award for being the most difficult (and again, this can vary for every candidate), it should be a *relative* downhill ride from there.

[Faintear]

I'd say FAR first. One of the biggest section and it will be a little smoother ride once you get FAR out of the way. FAR also help builds up your Accounting fundamentals which will leak over to the other sections.

[rachenyc]

FAR. I took FAR first because its the most material.

FARE--78
AUDIT--88
REG--81
BEC--75

DONE!!!!

[ORcpaHOPEFUL]

FAR! Not only is it a beast of a test but it also gives you a really good understanding of topics that will help on other sections of the exam 🙂

FAR: PASSED!! 64, 68, 79 on 2/27/13!
AUD: PASSED!! 73, 93 on 4/5/13!!!
BEC: PASSED!! 75 (phew) on 5/24/13!
REG: PASSED!!! 77 on 8/7/13 I AM DONE!!!!!

Experience: got it!
Ethics Exam: PASSED on first try (what a waste of money)

[rockrlz87]

hands down FAR. while studying for REG recently it not only referred to stuff learned in FAR but also knowning stuff from FAR I was able to relate things. one thing that is common between both in partnerships. Additionally, never try and take FAR and REG together. My suggestion is pair FAR with AUD/BEC and once you pass FAR move onto REG. If you pass the first of AUD/BEC move on to your next one of those 2. Only time FAR/REG should be taken near each other if its your last two parts which would mean you failed FAR 2-3 times at that point.

BEC - 5/2012 - 79
AUD - 10/2012 - 77
REG - 7/2013 - ???
FAR - 12/2012 - 80

[mangos]

@rockrlz87: strange you say that, I'm going FAR -> REG -> BEC ->AUD.

Why not take FAR and REG together?

FAR (5/07/13): 96

[Anonymous]

Looks like you'll be taking FAR first. Good luck!!!

[Anonymous]

i did FAR BEC REG and just took AUD

it worked out well….i just wanted to get FAR over with and out of the way. everyone has their opinion on order but i think the general concensus is to take FAR first. interestingly enough, i liked the FAR material the best out of all the sections, it was just so much damn material

good luck

[rockrlz87]

@mangos: It's more related to if you plan on taking both in the same window or don't plan on taking a break between exams. Let me give you a couple of scenarios.

#1) Say I plan on taking FAR early July and after I take my exam, I start studying for REG and plan on taking that end of August. Well if I failed FAR and had started studying for REG, than I might get confused when I start restudying for FAR in Sept for an October test date.

#2) Say I plan on taking FAR at the end of May (for arguement's sake lets just say Memorial Day). I don't want to waste time after taking FAR by waiting for my score, and I start studying for REG. Well I start studying and get thru 2-3 chapters and the scores come June 7th (or even 10th as official projected date). I need to drop something that can be covering the same sort of topics and thus confuse me when I need to stop that and go back to FAR (as FAR is fresh in my head and I want to take advantage of that).

Now if you take FAR and plan on going on vacation or something afterwards and won't loose any study days, I would surely take REG after FAR. However 1 day of studying can mean a pass or fail on exam. All it takes is 1 point less than a 75 to fail.

BEC - 5/2012 - 79
AUD - 10/2012 - 77
REG - 7/2013 - ???
FAR - 12/2012 - 80

[Author]

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