The thinking goes that if you take it while all the tax specialists are busy, they won't ruin the curve for you (or whatever you want to call it). Think about it this way, if you were really good with tax and were already working at a firm and taking the exam, when would YOU schedule your REG section? If it were me, I'd take it the last half of April, early May, when all those returns are fresh in my mind.
@chrispbeck
I believe REG will be my next section too after FAR. I'm gonna try to get it in by the end of the month if I can figure out how to get a new NTS.
I'm not sure there is any “right” way to do it, especially since you took FAR first. I did FAR, AUD, REG, BEC. That seemed to work pretty well. I'd probably say do whatever will be harder for you. When that 4th test came around, I was pretty glad that it was the easiest (for me) section.
Third quarter ought to be just like fourth and first. I would just avoid the last half of Q2 if it were me. You of course are free to do whatever you think is best. It won't matter anyway unless you're on the “bubble”.
Also, I have not had BEC yet, but there is some FAR stuff for sure on AUD. If you're taking AUD next, and your state requires the ethics course, you'll be at an advantage if you do the Ethics course right before you sit for AUD. It shouldn't take more than 6 hours. Half of the ethics course is independence and similar topics, and there were questions on my AUD section that came straight from the Ethics course and were NOT in my review material.
Also, I agree with Mini about saving your easiest for last. If you can tell which one you'll stress over least, save it. The momentum of having so many sections behind you will help.
I don't know if the format is different state to state, but the one I took was the AICPA one. You can get a textbook, but I got the disc because it's searchable. Takes a few hours. 40 questions. Passing score is 90. You get three tries before you have to pay for it again. The disc comes with a scantron, but after you've figured out all your answers, you can enter them at a website it gives you and get your score instantly. It's really easy to get a high 90s score if you're willing to put enough time in to make sure you've found the exact answer for each question.
.