[jportrait]

Hi future CPAs,

I am strating my CPA journey with Becker today. I am planning to sit for the FAR and AUD in November.

My plan is to start with FAR and I can push at least 3 hours a day to it. I am willing to go at my own pace.

After finishing FAR, I’ll start with AUD and do the same.

I am planning to review both within September and October then sitting on November.

I am still debating it I should get the flashcards and Final Review. So, should I?

Tell me what do think I should do and if my plan it good enough.

Thank you all

[pshustler]

If you start with AUD right now, and put in the same time you were thinking about putting into FAR, you could probably sit for AUD in this period. Then you would have a full 3 months for FAR if you count the dead period and the next testing period, as it is much more material than AUD. I'm studying for FAR now so I cant give much advice there. With AUD, becker does a great job, and the flash cards are very helpful with AUD too. I supplemented with Wiley Online Test Bank. I really hit AUD hard the last 2 months or so and felt very well prepared with the stuff I mentioned. Best of luck to you on your journey.

BEC - 86
AUD - 94
REG - 88
FAR - 89

[Peanut]

@Jportriat,

Welcome to the journy! I am using Becker as well. I purchased both the flash cards and the final review for all sections. You might get mixed reveiws on the flash cards. I am personally someone who loves flash cards and I really think they help drill the information. It is also wise to make your own flash cards as well, especially for the journal entries in FAR. I'd also recommend the final review for each sections. Since each section is a wealth of material, the final review helps to condense all of the information into a summary. The final review comes with a few hundred extra questions as well. Also, there are several other threads relating to Becker Material, and each section of the exam, browse through them for more ideas as well! Good luck!

AUD 81 (X4) Previous scores 59, 72, 72
REG 80 (X3) Previous scores 59, 60
FAR 75 (X2) Previous score 67
BEC 79 (X2) Previous score 58

[SoonToBeCPAChick]

I also used Becker for all four parts. I did not purchase the final review, mainly because I tried to leave about 2 weeks prior to the exam to review everything. I did purchase the flashcards and found them helpful for all exams. I would take them to the gym and study in between sets. One person asked if I was in summer school (this was last summer). I did have to supplement a lot of my own flashcards, but I liked to use flashcards as notes, instead of flipping through pages of notes, I would write down a sentence or two on a flashcards.

As far as taking both exams in Nov, I agree with another post that you can definetely take one prior. I think if you want to start with FAR, which is a good idea, as I found AUD easier to study after taking FAR, you can definetely take it beg of October, the take AUD end of nov. However, I have not had experience studying for exams at the same time, so maybe ask that question in a another post. I am sure people have done it.

Good Luck!

FAR 10/1/2010 =====> 90
BEC 10/28/2010 ====> 81
REG 2/2/2011 ======> 82
AUD 5/28/2011 =====> 92 ===========>DONE!!!!

[jportrait]

@pshustler

@Peanut

@SoonToBeCPAChick

Thank you all for your valuable advice. My original plan was to take the FAR within the 1st week of October and the AUD within the 4th week of November.

The problem is, I'm sitting for both exams at an international location (Dubai, UAE) since I work at a Big-4 firm there. If someone is sitting at an international location, only the last month of the test window is available. So. I can only take them both on November.

So, my new exam taking plan is to take FAR within the 1st week of November and to take the AUD within the 4th week.

I don't think it's a major problem since I'm taking at least 2 months off work to study prior to the exams and also studying now for more than 3 hours/day.

My current overall plan for studying is as follows:

1. View a lecture and highlight and write my own notes as it runs, but minimal notes for now.

2. Read the whole material relating to the lecture, but working on HW problems for every topic as soon as I finish reading it and taking notes.

3. I will not move to another topic until I get at least 75-80% on my HW.

4. Do the simulation(s) relating to the topic.

5. Do the supplemental questions for the whole lecture.

6. Will take a progress test every 2 or 3 lectures.

7. During the final review before the exam, I'll make sure that I have time to take at least 2 Final Exam simulations.

Tell me what you think and thank you again for your advice.

[Author]

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