Alright, here's a step-by-step breakdown on what I think the best course of action for you would be:
Step 1: Choose a Review Course – Before you even register for the test, take a day or so and shop around all of the different review courses that are out there. There are a lot of good ones out there such as Becker, Wiley, Yaeger, Gleim, ect.. With that being said, there are literally 100s of stories for each review course saying how great or terrible they are. Although I have only used Becker to review, in my honest opinion, it really just comes down to how dedicated you are to passing the CPA. If you put a solid 100-150 hours in to studying ANY of the sections, I really think you can pass, regardless of what class you use. One thing to point out though is that some of the courses cost a lot more than others (i.e. Becker I believe is around $2,500 to get all 4 parts while others you might be able to get for under $1,000). Since you said you are on a tight budget, you will probably want to check out some of the major courses and see which one is the cheapest. Again though, I wouldn't really associate greater cost for my review course to mean better success on the CPA. It's really more about how much effort YOU put into it.
Step 2: Register with Your State to Take the Exam – After you order your review course, make it a priority to get registered with your state to take the exam. It could take 3-4 weeks (or more…) to get your Notice to Schedule (aka NTS – the document you need to have to register to sit for a section of the CPA). If you need more information on how to sign up in your state, there should be information available on http://www.aicpa.com that gives specific instructions on how to do this (and/or they will give you a direct link to your states Board of Examiners website).
Step 3: Choose a Test to Study For – Similar to step 1, everyone is going to have their own story on which test was the hardest and which was the easiest. With that being said, in general I think most people would agree with this ranking system for the four tests:
‘Easiest' Tests = AUD and BEC
Hardest Tests = FAR and REG < — These tests are #1 and #2 in the number of pages you will be required to read in your review course and also will require you to remember the most calculations/formulas
In general, I would suggest knocking out the hardest tests (FAR and REG) first. This is mainly due to the fact that if you have trouble passing your last 1-2 tests, you don't want them to be the ones that are the worst to study for. On the other hand, you might actually be more comfortable doing one of the ‘easier' tests first (I would recommend AUD since it has the least amount of material) just so you can get comfortable with the review and test format.
With the above being said, I would suggest taking the tests as follows: AUD > FAR > REG > BEC.
Step 4: Study for the Test – The best way to study for each test (using a review course) I believe can be best broken down into five sub-steps like this:
1) Watch the video lecture for one chapter (i.e. about 100 pages in Becker) of the section and highlight the main points discussed in your textbook.
2) Get a notebook and re-write EACH chapter in your own handwriting. Make sure to focus your notes around areas which you are weak in and/or don't understand well.
3) After writing out notes for the chapter, do all the required MCQs for that Chapter.
4) Repeat steps 1-3 for the remaining chapters
5) Once you feel comfortable with the MCQs you have done (hopefully are getting at least 75-80% in each section) do some of the final simulations that are included within your review course. After completing these with a decent score (again 75-80% at least), you should be ready to take the exam.
Step 5: Test Day! – This is going to be different for everyone. Some people like to cram (like me) on test day. Other people have come to the realization that if they don't know something by test day, they are f'd anyhow. Figure out which type of person you are and apply accordingly…
Once you get to the testing center, try to have SOME things for the test memorized as you will be given a sheet of paper that you can dump all your thoughts on before you start the test (I highly recommend this).
Additionally, note that all 4 of the tests have the same general format – there are 3 ‘testlets' with 24-30 MCQs in them and then there is a set of roughly 6-7 ‘simulation' questions (or 3 ‘writing simulations' if you are taking BEC) that you need to get through within 3-4 hours depending on what test you are taking. The MCQs are generally worth 60-70% of your score, while the simulations are worth 30-40% of your score. With that being said, I cannot stress enough how important it is to get through the ENTIRE test. This means that you really need to be diligent while you are answering your MCQs. If you don't know one of the MCQs, move on, it's NOT the end of the world. In the final analysis, missing one or two MCQs is worth MUCH less than missing 1-2 simulation questions because you didn't have enough time on the back end to finish them.
Finally, my last bit of advise is that once you leave the testing center don't stress out or go all emo because you think you failed. This is easier said than done, but to be totally honest most people that pass their first few parts (or all of them…) think that they failed the test after walking out of it. From personal experience, after walking out of my first test (AUD) I totally thought I failed. When I found out a month later that I got an 85 on AUD, I was totally surprised I did that well. Anyhow, just don't beat yourself up for a month when there's nothing you can do anymore to effect the outcome of your test.
After spending a good 30-45 minutes typing this out, I'm going to take a break. I'll come back here and update this later (if needed). Good luck!
AUD - 85
FAR - 78 (lol@ FAR Sims)
REG - 85
BEC - August
.