22 point increase in one month studying for Regulation. Went from a 56 to 78.

After studying for close to 150 hours I failed Regulation the first time around, I have zero tax experience. So I was worried about this section. I was using Yeager CPA review as my primary source and I did use Wiley test bank and ninja notes as well as CPA review for free questions for both my attempts. The first time I took the exam, that was on 30th of Nov 2012 and I got my score on Dec 7th 2012. I got a 56. I started studying the day I got my result on the 7th of Dec and retook the exam on the 4th of Jan 2013 and I got a 78. Three main factors helped me increase my score. One studying smarter instead of studying harder. The second was pure luck. I got horrible sims the first time around and the second time around I got “easier sims”. Or it could be my prep made the sims seems easier. Lastly Ninja Audio was a big help. I was very skeptical about paying 97 dollars for each part, but I was discussing with my father ( about study strategies) and I told him about them, but I didn’t see the point. 5 min later he bought them for me before I could even say anything. So I guess my father deserves a lot of credit as well 🙂 I guess he really believed in you Jeff.

I am a slow learner and I take a long time to grasp concepts that have calculations involved in them. In general I see a lot of advice on this forum, where people say to hammer out mcqs with a focused frenzy. This theory did work for me for FAR and BEC. But in REG it back fired spectacularly, due to my OWN fault. Even though I had read in the forums and ninja notes about grasping the concept of calculating “basis” for passing the Reg exam, as I was going through my Mcq, I really had not mastered the differences between calculating basis between S-Corps, C-corps, Partnerships and property transactions. So by the time I had finished doing questions on S-Corps, C-corps, Partnerships and property transactions, I started applying partnership basis to c-corps and s-corp basis to c- corps. By the time I had done recommend yeager wiley questions, the wiley test bank questions and the CPA review for free questions. I was so confused and started mxing and jumbling everything up.

ONE: For my first attempt when I went through the Yeager videos, I did not take my own notes because I figured I had the ninja notes I don’t need to take my own notes, first big mistake, at least for me. Ninja notes are awesome for the Business law and ethics part. Meaning you can watch the yeager lectures without taking too many of your own notes and ninja notes will suffice. Don’t get me wrong though, for the tax part the ninja notes are a great review IF YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON. But if you don’t understand what is going on in the first place, studying with them will seem pointless for the tax part ( again I am talking about myself here, I believe I am a below average candidate so for me once I understood what the hell was going on the ninja notes were good review for tax).

TWO: I was like screw it, I am only studying from one main Source for Mcq’s. And I choose the Wiley test bank ( buy it from another 71.com, Jeff sells it much cheaper than Amazon or Wiley ). So this time around I would watch the Yeager Videos, pause after couple of minutes and make my own notes. In addition I kept a separate notebook where I would write down the basis calculation for each part. For example what increases basis? what decreases basis? how does it affect the transferor? how does it affect the transferee? what affect does it have on the corporation, what affect does it have on the partnership? What is the difference in calculating basis for a partnership vs s- corp ? How are they similar? How are they different? In addition I would sometimes try to answer mcqs questions but saying how the answers will be different if this was a s-corp instead of a c- corp, or whatever. I hope you get what I am saying.

THREE: The first time around I didn’t do any wiley tax sims for the most part. I only did individual tax sims, mainly because I though I didn’t need to all the sims in the wiley test bank. BIG mistake. First do the mcqs in the chapter. Second work all the mcqs you got wrong. Third work all the mcqs for that chapter again, yes all. Then DO THE SIMS FOR THAT CHAPTER. Do not be lazy about this, it WILL COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU. Unless you can do the sims for that chapter you have NOT MASTERED THE MATERIAL. Just worry about the tax sims if you do not have much time.

FOUR: I broke the exam down in 6 main areas in order to review to keep my head straight.

– Individual Taxation ( one section )

– Corporate taxation (S and C) Partnerships and Transaction in property (one section)

– Other tax issues: gift, estates and trust. (one section)

– Federal Responsibilities and Securities act was one section. (one section)

– Contract, Sales and Commercial paper I lumped together in one section. (one section)

– (Agency, debtor creditor relationship , sales, bankruptcy, regulation of employment and environment, secured transaction and business structure) I lumped it together in one section.

You may Notice I left out Property NOT Transaction in property. The test bank goes into way too much detail for property questions the Yeager recommended questions in the Wiley book should be good enough. Don’t waste your time doing all the property questions in the test bank. Note: You have to do all the transactions in property questions. I hope I did not confuse you.

FIVE: Be smart how you use the wiley test bank. For example you will notice I lumped Corporate taxation (S and C corp) Partnerships and Transaction in property in one review area. First go individually through these sections. Till a 75 % accuracy at a min. Then combine Corporate taxation and partnership and test yourself, 20 questions at a time till you are getting 80% right in each practice session. Then add transaction in property. Study the above mentioned six areas in step 4 separately.

SIX: For each Individual chapter. Work the mcqs, then the sims, then listen to the ninja audio. Then read the ninja notes. Then again listen to the ninja audio this time having the ninja notes open in front of you. Then listen to the ninja audio whenever you want to reinforce concepts. Finally get the ninja flash card app the drive the point home. It’s the same thing as the ninja notes but it’s good for memorization.

SEVEN: Have rich parents, who are doctors, who will buy all this ninja stuff for you. Seriously though don’t try to be cheap like me, first time around I was like man I paid for this yeager review and I bought the ninja notes. Screw the audio and the flash card app. But I have to grudgingly accept ninja audio is GOOD REINFORCEMENT.

EIGHT: Do not study at home. Home is a place for chilling, your thoughts will distract you, go to your public library or find a college lib or go to Starbucks make sure you get those ear plugs that block out noise. Actually use a stop watch to time the number of hours you actually study. Not the amount of time you sit on the table and stare out of space and dream about what you will have for dinner. If you want I can even post the topic and number of hours I studied per day but that will be overkill. I hope that was helpful.