[skiw97]

I am really pleased with my decision to take the exams in the following order, and this is coming from someone who majored in accounting, and then worked in heavy financial statement/SOX audit (no tax)

FAR – longest part, yet I had so much experience with f/s’s, did’t do any practice exams or supplemental questions, but studied a TON and barely squeaked by with a 78. I think if I did the supps, practice exam, and took this last I would do better, but hey it was my first exam and getting FAR out of the way is HUGE.

BEC – Thought this would be easier then it was, a ton of problem solving but was able to relate to quite a bit of B3 and B5. I studied so much I was expecting to get a 99, walked out feeling like a 65-75. This test stinks, 90 questions when all the becker material is so broad, I hate to say this, but it should either be 120-150 questions or there should at least be simulations for B3 and B5. I feel like the test was a crap shoot and you just get what you get. Way to many questions in the bank to only test you on 90. I did all supps here, and went through all questions and marked ones several times.

AUD – great break from math and was familiar with 95% of the material through work experience. Studied a TON, but took the last weekend off and went on a 3 day binge as I could not take waiting for my BEC results anymore, which thankfully came through to me on Sunday. Raced through the exam in 2 hours, didnt check any work in MC’s or simulations. If you work in Audit, there is no reason why you shouldnt nail this exam.

REG – I think I would have been too intimidated to take this exam first… auditors here “Tax” and just point the finger to the tax team. However, since I am now “good” at studying and am familiar with how the tests go, this is the least stressful out of all of them (audit would bother me bc I didnt agree with a lot of answers/explanations as I have so much real world experience). I was still intimidated the first time I went through the lectures, q’s, etc, but its gotten much better as I complete my final review. Take it Thursday.

Just wanted to share…

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FAR 11/13 - 78, BEC 1/13 - 82, AUD 2/23 - 94, REG 5/15 - 86

[Anonymous]

I am in auditing and took in the same order. 3/4 done, currently studying for REG.

[Anonymous]

I took the exam in almost the same order FAR, AUD, BEC, REG, and I agree that taking FAR first and REG last worked out well. I saw AUD items on both BEC and REG. And all of the exams build on what's covered in FAR. Getting FAR out of the way first is a good confidence booster, and it's like a boot camp for learning how much studying is required for all parts of the exam. By the time REG rolls around last, which takes almost as much studying as FAR, you know how to apply yourself and you are familiar with your chosen study materials.

[Halfwaythere]

I took a different approach that worked well for me. I started in audit in September and took the exams in this order: REG, BEC, FAR, and AUD. My rationale was to get the exams least related to my day to day work out of the way first and work my way into the stuff I would be practicing every day. So far it's worked out well, still waiting on my last score, but since it was AUD I feel pretty confident. No matter what order you take them in though I think the important thing is to find a study strategy that works for you and stick to it!

REG-95 BEC-93 FAR-90 AUD-99

[The GaJone]

That's a good idea, Halfway.

I personally wanted to do FAR first to get it out of the way. I knew after going through the FAR process that every exam after that would not seem as bad. After that, I went with AUD because since it's the longest test, I figured it would be one of the toughest ones, but it was definitely the easiest by far. If I could do it all over again I would switch AUD with REG, because I took REG on April 19th which meant there was little time for me to study since it was busy season. BEC I saved for last because I thought it would be the shortest and easiest, but so far it's a little tougher than I expected, and I'm not even to the 5th section yet in Becker which apparently is the worst section by a mile.

Also, I had no clue the sign-up process worked the way it did. When I signed up through the NASBA site, I checked the boxes for all 4 parts because…well, I wanted to take all 4 parts, obviously. However, I did not know that you had to take all 4 parts within a 6 month window once you received your NTS! That definitely changed my plans for this thing going in!

FAR: 81 (1/20) AUD: 88 (2/27) REG: 91 (4/19) BEC: 75 (5/20)

[Author]

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