[Anonymous]

We all know that all of these exams are brutally hard. But some are harder than others. Want to know your thoughts just out of curiosity.

Mine is (from easiest to hardest):
AUD < BEC < FAR

I have not taken REG so I can’t put it on the equation yet…

[Iceman6]

Audit took me the most tries to pass but FAR was the hardest just due to the amount of stuff they throw at you and you have to know

AUD - 79
BEC - 77
FAR - 78
REG - 80

After 4 long years, I'm done.

[HoosierCPA]

BEC/AUD/FAR/REG

AUD - 80
BEC - 82
FAR - 78
REG - 89

...

FAR - 78
REG - 72,74,71...please just go away REG nobody likes you!
BEC - 82
AUD - Aug 16

[AndrewE]

No such thing as easy with this exam.

1) BEC 2) REG 3) FAR 4) AUD

Maybe my refusal to re go through the material when I failed AUD made it harder than it had to be. To each is own. Still have nightmares about it.

BEC – 77 (Becker) Q4'16
AUD – 70 (Becker) Q4'16, 75 (Becker + Ninja MCQ) Q1'17
REG – 73 (Becker + Ninja Audio) Q1'17, 81 (Becker + Ninja Audio + Ninja MCQ) Q2'17
FAR – 78 (Becker + Ninja Audio + Ninja MCQ) Q3'17

AUD - NINJA in Training
BEC - NINJA in Training
FAR - NINJA in Training
REG - NINJA in Training

- e

[tskits75]

AUD<BEC<FAR<REG

No tax experience thats why I have REG as the hardest.

AUD - 92
BEC - 79
FAR - 79
REG - 76

If I can do it, anyone can!

AUD - 92
BEC - 79
REG - August
FAR - TBD

[Anonymous]

They all are very difficult, but from least difficult to most difficult.

BEC<FAR<AUD=REG

BEC – A REVIEW of your Undergrad studies if you payed attention in your Business 101 classes. Econ was stupid easy for me.

FAR – Only because it was another Review for me. I had seen a lot of the material before and love debits and credits. However, studying for this exam Sucked due to the amount of material.

AUD and REG = TIE
Both of these exams have given me the most trouble.

AUD is way too conceptual for me and I had only taken one Auditing class during my undergrad. Too many MCQ's staying choose the “best” or “least” answer.

REG is the true Beast of exams with crazy amounts of random information that makes no sense. Then, add B-Law to the mix and you will hate your life even more.

[CPAcandidate3]

For me easiest to hardest

BEC/AUD/FAR/REG

If I didn't work in financial accounting FAR definitely would have been the hardest.

AUD - 83
BEC - 82
FAR - 86
REG - 82

Rogers + NINJA MCQ

[Fratty Redneck]

AUD, REG, FAR, BEC

I'm 0/3 on BEC and 0/1 on FAR, so BEC gets the nod as the hardest.

I passed AUD and REG on the first try.

REG 75 2/10/17

AUD 77 5/31/17

BEC 54, 73, 72, 93 12/8/17

FAR 59, 86 2/26/18

Licensed CPA and IRS EA

[benjo768]

BEC – AUD – REG – FAR

had a decently not-that-bad time with BEC & AUD, REG was bad but not super bad.

FAR was a whole different level of awful. Man I hate that test. Never. Again.

That said, they all were very difficult, don't think i'm trying to undersell the difficulty of any of them. Put in the time and you'll get the score.

[LawGuy]

It's interesting how the answers to this question are so different. I have only taken FAR and BEC, and I'm studying for Reg now. I'm a tax attorney with an LLM so I thought Reg would be a breeze but it's still pretty difficult! Calculate AMT? Give me a break. I skipped all the lectures for the business law chapters, but it still took me a while to get the hang of the MCQs since they often test nuances I'm not familiar with off the top of my head.

I anticipate that my difficulty assessment when I'm finished will be: BEC < AUD <REG < FAR

AUD - 86
BEC - 85
FAR - 81
REG - 92

Excelsior!

[jc1103]

AUD – AUD just seemed intuitive to me. I had a great audit professor who actually helped develop the audit system for one of the Big 4. The way he taught audit really helped me on the exam. It also helped that I had done an internship too in audit. During the SIMS, I could also look up the answers straight from the AL. (86)

BEC – The new SIMS were a pita but not too bad! I was surprised to get a 95 on BEC because I knew I had one question wrong for sure – and if I had studied more efficiently, I would've gotten it right haha.

FAR – FAR was long and tedious but I think they were aware of this and was a bit lenient on the grading. 87

REG – REG was a beast and my score shows it. Out of all four, it is the most difficult I have taken. I walked out of the exam feeling pretty depressed. I got a 77 so I am not depressed at all (: I'm so glad to be done and I feel so blessed!

It's finally over!!

AUD - 86
BEC - 95
FAR - 87
REG - 77

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. 

All four done. Praise the Lord!!

[OG_Loc]

BEC AUD REG FAR

AUD - 82
BEC - 84
FAR - 75
REG - 82

Using Becker and Ninja

[Scared-cpa]

AUD / BEC / REG = FAR

"The more I practice, the luckier I get."

FAR - 67, 82 (Expires 07/31/18)
AUD - 68, 79
REG - 75
BEC - 82

Wiley CPAexcel + Ninja

I cannot believe I am done.

[Valar Dohaeris]

Easiest to Hardest

BEC, AUD, REG, FAR

AUD is trickiest. You can literally have two MCQ answers correct and one be the “better” answer.
FAR is the hardest. I don't get how people dispute this. FAR is 4-5 semesters of college coursework.
REG is baby FAR. It could be just as hard is REG went deeper into the tax code.
BEC is easiest. A sophomore/junior business undergrad can pass BEC.

AUD - 81
BEC - 83
FAR - 83
REG - 84

CPA

Finance Manager

Experienced in Big 4 audit, regional audit, and technical accounting consulting

BEC - 85
AUD - 81
REG - 84
FAR - 7/24/16

[Anonymous]

I changed my above rankings. After earning a 65 on REG, I rank REG as the Hardest – without a doubt.

If you don't work in Tax or have a super solid Tax/B-Law background – yikes. I got checked big time!

BEC<FAR<AUD<REG

[seju52179]

REG < BEC << FAR <<<<<<<<<<<<< AUD

AUD was by far the hardest subject for me, because I kind of have dyslexia when I'm under pressure.
I miss reading or skip reading key words like “not” and “except” in MCQs because I'm constantly thinking about time.
So for me…
REG was easy except for BLAW
BEC was easy except for Computer Info Sys
FAR was easy except for Government
AUD was just hard..I barely passed with 75 (I passed because I got stronger on Simulation and got weaker on general principles and forming conclusions and reporting)

I do well on calculations and all but my weakness is reading and word problems.

AUD - 75
BEC - 81
FAR - 76
REG - 75

“Of course it’s hard.  If it were easy, everyone would do it.  It’s the hard that makes it great.”        -Tom Hanks

[Author]

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