[Anonymous]

I havent passed any yet but thought i would start with FAR – this section is a beast? Just wondering if I should expect the same type of challenge with the rest of the exam!

[hunter32]

They are all hard in their own separate way. FAR to me is the most mentally draining due to the volume of the material.

BEC - 80 (Becker)
AUD - 92 (Becker+NINJA MCQ)
FAR - 87 (Becker+NINJA MCQ)
REG - 90 (Becker+NINJA MCQ and Audio)

[TheGuyCPA]

FAR is the hardest to study for, I wouldn't say it is the hardest exam though, however every exam may be different. All exams are equally hard.

FAR - 80
REG - 78
AUD - 88
BEC - 84

State of Illinois Licensed CPA as of September 2015

[Gatorbates]

BEC. Hands down.

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

It's finally freaking over.

[justgivemea75]

For me it was audit (go figure). All the stuff (i.e. reports, source documents, etc.) just sounded the same to me and it was a rote memorization test. I'm still convinced the only reason I passed it was because my SIMs leaned heavily toward FAR topics and I am quite good at FAR concepts (outside of gov/NFP/pensions). I actually thought the order (from least to most) was:

BEC > FAR >>> REG >>> AUD. I think I would have scored better in REG if I didn't try to take it during a YE and if they hadn't weighted the MC questions to a very specific part of the book that I didn't study that well.

FAR - 84
AUD - 76 (phew)
BEC - 88
REG - 77

DONE!

[Anonymous]

Don't hate me. I didn't think FAR was all that bad. I knew it was a ton of material so I apprached it accordingly.

Right now REG is giving me fits. I test in two weeks and I feel OK but not great. There's just too much information and the exceptions have exceptions. And since it's my last section, I just want to be done.

[shankysays]

I definitely struggled with REG the most. There are so many tricky topics, even the seemingly easy stuff (individual taxation) has a lot of exceptions, rules, phaseouts, etc. I would also be happy if I never have to hear the word “basis” again in my entire life. Business law is wordy and boring and nonsensical to me.

FAR is much more expansive and has some incredibly difficult topics, but it also has some really easy, slam dunk topics as well (fixed assets, investments, changes in principles/estimates for me, also gov/NFP because I work with those types of entities)

BEC - 72, 82! ✓
FAR - 80! ✓
AUD - 70, 92! ✓
REG - 74, 78! ✓

Licensed CPA 5/2015

[Last Chance CPA]

REG – FAR is the most mentally draining and disheartening exam. But don't sleep on REG. I thought I could manage REG like I managed BEC and AUD, and now I am about to take it for the 4th time tomorrow. Its difficulty creeps up on you like you never thought – e.g., basis vs FMV, C Corps vs S Corps vs Individual vs Partnerships, Property Transactions, etc. I would study for REG for the same amount of time as FAR. I actually have enjoyed studying REG the most though, which is quite ironic.

FAR – FAR, as everyone says, is mile wide but an inch deep. Get a solid understanding of the high level topics and don't ignore Govt/NFP. I am still glad I don't have to study for this section ever again.

AUD – I think its the language that gets you. Two answers always seem right. One word changes everything. RTMFQ. Read the question very carefully. SIMs require you to search the AL. Sometimes the exact answer is directly in the AL, not just for the research question.

BEC – I passed this exam on the first try. Ninja MCQ was perfect for this exam. I basically only used Ninja MCQ and WTB, but WTB doesn't have enough MCQs in the bank.

Good luck.

FAR - 76
AUD - 75
BEC - 75
REG - 76

Now I need some experience!!! And some networking...

[Mamabear]

REG was my hardest. Taxes were foreign to me and I didn't put in the work I should have the first time around. AUD has tricky wording so watch out for that. FAR is just enormous amount of material. BEC wasn't difficult for me because everything in BEC was familiar to me beforehand (business degrees). It really depends on your background and your strengths. Good luck!

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!!

[Anonymous]

FAR was tough and I thought after I finished that the rest would be cake but REG ain't no joke! I have some decent experience with taxation but the amount of limitations and phaseouts and quirky little rules they throw at you is ridiculous. No one working in taxation has all this stuff memorized! Half of it changes every year. I'm beginning to think it's too close to call between FAR and REG.

[Last Chance CPA]

@CTM – My wife's law school tax professor was like “I hate how they make you learn all this stuff when a computer will just do it for you”…

BTW – Phaseout amounts are not necessary to learn for REG. The test is conceptual in nature, and does not really test specific phaseouts. I would just learn the obvious ones – e.g., 179 expense, 10% AGI for medical/casualty, charitable contributions. I don't think they even test on IRA phaseouts?

FAR - 76
AUD - 75
BEC - 75
REG - 76

Now I need some experience!!! And some networking...

[Anonymous]

God I hope they don't test IRA phaseouts. I hate those things.

[Mika]

Do not worry about IRA phaseout

just me 2 cents

REG - 80 (02/13/2015) Roger + Ninja Flash Card + Ninja MCQ + Becker's Note
FAR - 84 (05/29/2015) Roger + Ninja MCQ + Some Wiley book questions
BEC - 77 (08/27/2015) Roger + Ninja MCQ + Half Wiley book questions
AUD - 87 (08/28/2015) Roger + Ninja MCQ + Half Wiley book questions

[greg422]

If you have experience in accounting in the real world, FAR isn't actually that bad. Sure, you need to put tons of hours in, but the exam was not very in depth. At times I thought it was actually too easy (I can thank NINJA MC for that).

For me, BEC gave me the most WTF moments. I have an MST so tax was manageable. AUD was a breeze, especially if you are confident with conceptual questions.

REG - 82
AUD - 97
BEC - 81
FAR - 84
DONE!

[Anonymous]

I've come across some questions in the Ninja MCQ's that blew me away. If the exam requires that much detailed knowledge of the minutia I'm in trouble.

@Last Chance, totally agree with your wife's professor! It's important to have a good general understanding of the code when preparing returns so you have an idea of what to look for in certain situations or can see when the software might be doing something screwy but having to memorize that many limits and hard numbers is ridiculous!

[Anonymous]

Hardest for me?

It's a tie between FAR, REG, BEC and AUD.

[Author]

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