[Anonymous]

Hello Friends,

I am new here, so i need your help. I was a decent student in undergrad (finance and economics with a few accounting courses)…..ended up working in government and felt that a CPA would help me excel given that a lot of opportunity is present in reporting and regulation. I noticed that all the big money makers in my Agency are CPA’s. Anyway, so I set out last September to complete my required coursework in accounting (24 hours, including aud, tax, yada yada)……..i will be done with my classes in August……that following are what I have taken:

Sep – Dec2012 – cost accounting; intermediate I

Jan – Apr2013 – intermediate II, taxation I (personal income), fraud examination (counts towards CPA credits), gov/non-profit

May – Aug2013 – auditing , taxation II (corporations and tax)

ANYWAY:

i plan to study for 6 weeks to two months for my first exam and wanted some opinions and logic on how i choose the course…….

I was told to start with what will be one of the middle two (in terms of perceived difficulty) and am also taking into consideration that I will have just finished the auditing class…….

How hard is the AUD exam; will it be a review + some new material if i decide to start studying right at the middle of August and take the test in October? is the AUD exam like the course? I think my teacher is pretty good, straight forward and geared towards the CPA exam……

My other idea was to take REG: given that in my most recent two semesters, I took taxation (like 60% of the test) and auditing (which discusses ethics and law – 40% of the test)…….

GIVE ME YOUR THOUGHTS PEOPLE!!!! I am looking forward to knocking these four tests dead by the middle of next year!

[mangos]

FAR.

FAR (5/07/13): 96

[MBA MST CPA]

When I was starting out, everyone told me to take the section that would be hardest for me first to get it out of the way. I thought about it and decided to do the opposite. I figured that passing the first part that I attempt would give me a confidence boost and motivate me tackle the other parts. Likewise, if I failed the first section I attempted, I would be more likely to give up. Additionally, I was concerned that I might not pass all four parts within 18 months and, if the clock ran out and I had to re-take a section, I would be more likely to re-pass the part that I found easiest.

Everyone's strengths are different and not everyone will struggle as much with the same section. I would suggest that you take a couple practice tests covering each section to see where your strengths are and which sections are going to be hardest for you. After that you can make a more informed decision as to whether you want to go my route and tackle the easiest first or go the more traditional route and get the hardest part out of the way.

REG - 11/5/2012 - 80
BEC - 1/17/2013 - 76
AUD - 2/22/2013 - 70 4/5/2013 - 75
FAR - 5/28/2013 - 75 - Done!!!

Question: What do you call someone who only gets 75's and 76's on the four parts of the CPA exam?

Answer: A CPA

[MintsRGood]

I'm in the same camp with MBA/MST/CPA! If you see a 75+ on your first try it will motivate you to power through because that 18 month clock starts ticking! I started with REG first because I've worked in public accounting for several years and prepare the bulk of the 1120/1065/1041 returns at my firm as well as complex individual income tax returns. REG can be a nightmare for some, but I'd rather compute gain realized/gain recognized or partnership basis before dealing with auditing any day of the week!!! Start with what you are good at and go from there.

Be sure to pick up a review course! There are many out there and pretty much all have a demo you can review before busting out your Visa. Make sure to understand your best learning style and match up accordingly. Just because someone else loves ABC review course doesn't mean it will be the best for you! There are tons of posts on A71 about review courses and exam batting orders. This site is a goldmine for resources!

Good luck!

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

[Faintear]

Depends on how much study time you are giving yourself in between each section. With bigger gaps (>6 weeks), I'd say it's better to study for the bigger sections, FAR and REG. Smaller gaps (4-6 weeks) would be good for AUD and BEC.

You are giving yourself 6 weeks to 2 months to study for the first exam and I think that amount of time is perfect to tackle one of the bigger sections, FAR or REG.

I took mine in this order, FAR (8 weeks) > AUD (7 weeks) > REG (9 weeks) > BEC (6.5 weeks)

I did like my order. Taking FAR first allowed me to immediately take out one of the biggest sections, and learning about FAR first is perfect to set up a foundation of Accounting that will definitely help out the other sections. There are definitely some overlap in material. Taking BEC last was also beneficial because at this point, I'm almost at the end of the journey and I was completely exhausted, and BEC had a bunch of material coming from the previous section so it made it a little easier to study for.

Good Luck

[gobias]

I can only speak from personal experience, but burnout has been a major concern at the end for me. If I were taking FAR last I would be in deep shit because I'm nowhere near as focused as I was when I started. You will get tired too. It's just a matter of how much.

I know most people think FAR and REG are 1a and 1b, but I think there is a significant gap between the two.

If you don't take FAR first, take it second. That's all that matters from a scheduling standpoint in my opinion.

F - 86
R - 90
A - 97
B - 91

[Anonymous]

If I had to do it again, I would do AUD, BEC, FAR, REG.

AUD and BEC should give you confidence and some of the material is repeated in FAR.

[Almost Done]

I have felt that FAR and REG shouldn't be taken first or last, because you don't want to repeat them, and you don't want either of them hanging on your back at the end. Also, AUD should be taken after FAR. So I would recommend taking BEC, REG, FAR, AUD. IMHO

BEC: Passed
REG: Passed
FAR: Passed
AUD: Passed

[Anonymous]

Everyone has their own opinion. The point is, have a plan for your first testing window and strictly stick to it.

I took Audit 1st in January because I didn't want to deal with all of the changes coming in July. Next, I took BEC at the end of February because that was the only section that I could squeeze in there with a full time job. When I found out that I passed both sections, I scheduled REG for April (just because I was doing my personal income tax return and I felt like doing that section next). I'm ending with FAR in July (hopefully).

[whitelilies04]

FAR. It's the biggest one and once you get it under your belt it is a gamer changer. Or it was for me. Then I did AUD, BEC as the material from each preceding exam made studying for the next a little easier. Now I'm onto REG, which I saved for last because I'm a tax person so REG is the most intuitive one for me. It's different for everyone but I like to rip the bandaid off and get the hardest one out of the way first.

FAR - passed, 11/12
AUD - passed, 5/13

[Anonymous]

@whitelilies04

Hey, that's the same order I'm doing. Except, I'm a 75% audit 25% tax person. REG shouldn't be too difficult, but I am at a disadvantage because logic isn't going to help me BS my way through the exam. I'm re-passing BEC tomorrow & will probably take REG on 8/31 (CA new CPA requirements only gives me 2 tries for REG so I'm going to make sure I pass the 1st time).

[whitelilies04]

@charlie310 – I'm also in CA and I need to get this thing DONE ASAP. I'm planning on taking REG in early July so I can retake in November if necessary (same with BEC if I didn't pass). Good luck to you!

FAR - passed, 11/12
AUD - passed, 5/13

[Anonymous]

I recommend taking FAR first. It covers the most material so if your 18 months starts ticking after taking the one that takes the longest to get through I think that puts you ahead. I also think burnout starts to set in and getting the one that covers the most material out of the way makes sense. As for confidence boost I felt like if I could get through the one that people refer to as the beast (for a very good reason) – then I could get through any of them. Best advice though is to go with your gut. What works for one person doesn't necessarily work for someone else. Welcome to the world of no life. Good luck!

[KatieM]

I am taking BEC first but that is because I took cost accounting last and my instructor said it was very helpful on this test– I have not found that to be accurate (enough) to make my choice a good one. BEC is difficult because it isn't really accounting but business.. so it can be a real struggle for a lot of people… however… some people have told me that I'm smart for taking it first because they lost credit trying to pass it LAST… by taking it first my 18 month clock starts after I pass it… then the other 3 which shouldn't be as hard for me ( I pray anyway)… will be passable in that time frame.

bottom line– there are sections that are covered in the other 3 sections on BEC.. which is why most companies will recommend you take it last… most of what I've heard is you start with FAR, move to REG, then AUD and finally BEC… I am going the other way– BEC, AUD, REG and FAR… LOL

BEC (2/2013-59) - 5/22/2013-2nd attempt
AUD-
REG-
FAR-

[jaredo155]

You will get a thousand different answers from a thousand different people on this, but I have to personally agree with BHDave10. I have taken AUD and BEC, and am now studying for FAR and I am very glad I did them in that order, because it doesn't feel so overwhelming where I have recently studied several of the topics already. People will tell you to take FAR first because it is the most material and it overlaps with others. The way I see it if FAR has the most material and overlaps with others, wouldn't you want to see that material for the first time on an exam that covers less material, so that when you are studying for FAR you are already more familiar with parts of it? I would say when you take REG doesn't really matter, but I would definitely take AUD and BEC before FAR.

AUD - 2/2013 - Passed!
BEC - 5/2013 - Passed!
FAR - 8/2013 - Passed!
REG - 11/2013 - Passed!
"Do or do not, there is no try." - Yoda

[TaRenee]

@jaredo155 I agree with your statement 100%

When you first start preparing for these exams, its kind of hard to say which study method works for you… it took me going through REG and AUD to get my study schedule together and “how” I should study.

And FAR, being that there is overlap,in my opinion, it would be in your best interest to do all the others first, being that FAR is SO MUCH material!

That way you don't get too hung up on a certain section. A small hang up in FAR would cause more of a damper on your study plan then a hang up in any of the other sections!

REG [75] 02.27.13(1)
AUD [82] 04.15.13(1)
BEC [79] 05.29.13(1)
FAR [62] 08.26.13(1) [76] 02.24.14(2) - God is able!!! 🙂

Licensed NC CPA

[Author]

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