Becker was excellent for me. We get becker full course, including flash cards for about $1,250 – 1,300 if I'm not mistaken. I used the self study program which is completely done on your pc. The video lectures are really great and they will explain a lot of important topics for the exam. Also, those lectures are made by the best Becker lectures, instead of going to a live class, where the lecturers just put the same videos, on a huge screen for everyone to see at the class room (That's what my co-workers have told me about Becker Live classes here in Puerto Rico.
In relation to the exam order, you could take AUD first but I strongly you consider taking FAR up next, as it's the longest exam in terms of study time, due to the vast amount of material covered in that section, If you leave that one for last, your energy level won't be as high as in the first couple of exams. My study strategy for Becker was:
1. Watch the video lectures of the chapter and do the questions at the end of the chapter (about 13-20 per chapter), to access my weak points on that particular topic.
2. read the whole chapter, slowly and carefully to really get a better understanding of the material)
3. Carefully read the flashcards of that chapter a few times (I even slept with them a few times)
3. Then do the rest of the Pass master questions of the chapter. After this, if I still had any problems or doubts with a topic, I read that section of the book again and did some more mcqs.
4 After I completed this routine with each chapters. I went back again with the first chapter and read it all over again and do all the mcqs and followed that procedure with all chapters (all mcqs would have been worked 2x by now)
5.Now I do simulations for all chapters (I left them for last, when you will have a much stronger knowledge of the material)
6. Keep reading all the flashcards ( I had them with me at all times, including work, graduate classes, bed, car, everywhere, lol)
7, Do some more mcqs in your weak topics
8. Do final exams
9. Read specific portions of the book that are still troublesome.
10.Read more flashcards til test date.
I know it sound like a lot but every person will have a different strategy to tackle this beast of an exam. I just wanted to give each exam section my best shot at passing during my first try. I didnt want to use the excuse “I failed because I didnt sacrifice enough”. I assure you this exam is nowhere close to any exam you have taken before in college but that just means we need a different strategy than the one we used for college exam (which for me was, study the day before the exam). One thing I have learned over throughout my studies and working in a CPA firm is that, many people say things like “I want to be a CPA”, or “I would like to be a CPA” and most likely none of those will ever become CPAs. You know why? You truly need an extraordinary desire to become a CPA, to go through this pain and sacrifice and not everyone wants it THAT BAD. But the bright side is, those who do, will become, sooner or later, a CPA.
I did that with every chapter of every section of the CPA exam. For FAR in particular, you will have to be going back after every few chapters, so you don't forget what have read on the earlier chapters. Keep the material fresh on your mind at all times.
Now with AUD, a lot of what helped me was literally memorizing those flashcards in and out, including the standard audit report (Unqualified Opinion) and knowing how the wording changes and the paragraph placement when making a Qualified Opnion, Disclaimer or Adverse Opinion. I probably read each chapter's flashcards about 25-30 times. Also to your benefit, AUD is probably Becker's strongest course, as you will see many mcqs during the exam that were identical to the passmaster questions used in Becker.
I hope it will serve you somehow and if you need anything or have any more questions, feel free to ask me, anytime.
FAR 88 - BEC 86 - AUD 90 - REG 85