[SponsoredByDunkinDonuts]

Becker Question –

I’m trying to plan my review period and I want to allocate my time based on which chapters are going to be the most difficult to master and how long it will take me.

Your input would be really helpful! Thanks.

 

 

AUD- 99 (11/26/2014)
BEC- 81 (1/12/2015)
REG- 85 (2/28/2015)
FAR- ?? (5/18/2015)

[jsch8912]

@Sponsored You should definitely look at the difference between US GAAP and IFRS, pensions, leases, NFP/Governmental Accounting. I don't know if you're using Becker, but Chapter 2 is a very important chapter because it covers intermediate accounting and basic journal entries. Hope this helps

[hunter32]

I think if I had to rank them in importance/difficulty both taken into account it would be:

Chapter 2

Chapter 5

IFRS (covered throughout book)

Chapters 8/9

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 1

Chapter 10

That's my personal opinion.

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

[MaLoTu]

Government and Nonprofit is heavily tested and IFRS can be surprisingly heavily tested. It is really a crap-shoot what they are going to test you on. I had the most random things come up on my exam, literally things that got the equivalent of a “honorable mention” in the Becker book! Try to focus on your personal weaknesses.

[SponsoredByDunkinDonuts]

Thanks everyone for your replies

@hunter I see you used Becker + NINJA MCQ, and this is the first exam that i've also purchased the MCQ. How did you incorporate them together?

AUD- 99 (11/26/2014)
BEC- 81 (1/12/2015)
REG- 85 (2/28/2015)
FAR- ?? (5/18/2015)

[Anonymous]

Of the chapters on which I made a legitimate, concerted effort (most to least difficult):

F3 – Business Combinations (new concepts for me)

F5 – Leases (I was already familiar with bond accounting; learning leases took longer, but this became one of my strongest areas with practice)

F2 – Revenue Recognition & Foreign Currency Accounting (mostly the long-term construction and forex stuff)

F6 – Pensions (similar to leases, took some time to learn, but once I did, I became really strong at pension questions)

F4 – Working Capital

F7 – Equity & Cash Flow

F1 – Standard-setting

I kind of sped through governmental, not-for-profit, and the random stuff in F10. I do not advise that approach for those who haven't taken FAR yet. Governmental and not-for-profit will be heavily tested.

Otherwise, my advice is to practice journal entries over and over and over. They will help you reason your way through MCQs, and you will most certainly have Sims that require journal entry preparation. The Becker book is not great at incorporating journal entries, so you will have to be proactive about this.

[Anonymous]

simple answer – know it all, and know it all well

[Anonymous]

You need to know FAR inside and out, but if you were to ask me what the most important chapters in Becker were.. I would say:

1. F8 and F9 – Government and NFP. Know it like the back of your hand. These 2 chapters account for up to 24% of the exam/MCQ.

2. F1 – Lots of easy questions here. Understands the basics of the P&L as well as reporting requirements. Lots of easy points here. Framework and standards account for up to 23% of the exam/MCQ.

3. F4 and F7 – You need to master these chapters. It's essential you know the basics of equity, cash flows and assets.

4. F3 and F5 – Most likely you're gonna get 6 sims on FAR (not including research). Good chances you might get 1 or two on these chapters.

5. F2 and F6 – Lots of straggler points in F2. I would understand the basics of Pensions and Income tax, I don't know if you necessarily have to master it. YMMV..

6. F10 – Lots of material, I would read over the differences in IFRS. Honestly it's the luck of the draw. The main stuff here is obviously IFRS. You might get 1 or 2 IFRS questions or you might get a dozen. Like the poster's above already mentioned, the CPA exam is a crapshoot.

EDIT: I just noticed that you asked what the most difficult chapters where haha.

For me, it would definitely be the IFRS concepts, F2 (Since there's so much material) and F6.. I still don't understand pensions.

[Author]

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