[lastREG]

I have passed FAR, AUD, and BEC in the first try with scores in mid 80’s.

REG on the other hand is giving me lots of stress. I studied first time using Becker and got 74. Second time around, I added Ninja MCQ’s and end up getting 73. I am planning on taking REG in JAN 2015. If I fail this time, my FAR score will expire.

Could you please give me some tips on what else to do for REG? I am not sure what different to do for REG. For JAN’15 test, I have added Becker Final Review and Ninja Notes as well.

FAR: 85 (Becker)
AUD: 88 (Becker)
BEC: 82 (Becker + Ninja 10 Point Combo)
REG: 74, 73, 91 DONE!!! (Becker + Ninja Notes and Ninja MCQ's)

[nevertoolate]

@lastREG – I'm still very green to this exam. I failed REG and started studying again last night. I am taking a slower approach to the material and taking detailed notes on all the topics that I feel I need work on. Then I re-watch the videos. That is the painful part but I don't want anything to get by me. But when I did MCQ's after the sections I scored 100's in all of them. It was not from memorization but a better understanding of the material. I will be taking Jeff's advice, along with others on this forum, to take detailed notes. I will re-write them as I continue my studies. It's a very slow process, and a bit painful as I wish I could speed it up, but I'm making sure to keep in mind that I need to treat it like a new exam. Not sure if this helps, but it seems to be helping me out in understanding the material much better now that I have a base from the past exam.

REG - 68, 81
FAR - June 2016
AUD - 58, 63, 84
BEC - 71, 79

CPAexcel (Gold), Ninja Audio, and Ninja MCQ

"Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful"

[Lucky11189]

I failed REG multiple times before finally passing last year. My grades kept going down – 74, 69, 67, 65, 63 and then an 85 after which I passed the other three exams consecutively all in the 80's. What took me over and above was adding Ninja Audio and taking handwritten notes from those videos and from my other studies. I realized reading was not enough and that if I truly wanted to understand something, I had to write it down in my own words. I think many people can vouch for the fact that writing notes really helps things stick.

Also, if you can still find them, use the previously released regulation questions. You can usually google them. I'm pretty sure in 2014 they were even nice enough to split the multiple choice into medium/hard difficulty.

Good luck!

FAR- 84 (August 2014)
REG- 85 (November 2013)
AUD- 85 (January 2014)
BEC- 83 (May 2014)

[lastREG]

Thank you!

It seems that I did all this for my second try and end up getting 73. I re-watched all the videos, took notes for each chapter (6-7 pages each), made summary notes for each chapter (1-2 page each), made overall summary notes of 2 pages for all 8 chapters, and understood all MCQ's.

I am panicking because I used the same study method for all other 3 tests and end up passing them. However, my methods do not seem to work for REG 🙁

FAR: 85 (Becker)
AUD: 88 (Becker)
BEC: 82 (Becker + Ninja 10 Point Combo)
REG: 74, 73, 91 DONE!!! (Becker + Ninja Notes and Ninja MCQ's)

[nevertoolate]

I'm sure you'll do great! I've read countless comments on this forum and from friends that it takes several tries to pass a section of the exam. It looks like you a right there and and just need a slight push over the hurdle. Keep pushing through and you are bound to get those extra points!! The third time will be your charm!!!

REG - 68, 81
FAR - June 2016
AUD - 58, 63, 84
BEC - 71, 79

CPAexcel (Gold), Ninja Audio, and Ninja MCQ

"Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful"

[Mamabear]

For my retake I didn't touch the test bank until I had read the entire tax portion of the Wiley book. I read a section, then worked the MCQ from the book for that section and took notes on the ones I got wrong. I went through all the sections that way then I started working in the test bank a couple of weeks before the exam. Quizzing right after you read is not as beneficial as quizzing after you've gone through all the material once. I narrowed down my weak areas and them hammered those until the last couple of days before the test. It's tempting to keep going at your strong areas to build confidence, but it doesn't help you much. You really need to focus on your weak areas. I will suggest that you get very active in the study group on here. If you can explain it to someone else then it usually means you understand it. Doing MCQs and SIMS is great practice, but it may not mean you truly understand the material. Explaining to others really tests your knowledge. You can do it. You just need to add a little more to what you are already doing to push you over the edge. I really think quizzing and doing flashcards in the study group threads pushed a lot of us over the hump in Q4. Take a look at that study thread to get an idea of how it works. Good luck!

CPA Exam - Finally DONE (November 2014)
BEC (08/10/13) 80
AUD (08/24/13) 65 (11/13/13) 85
FAR (04/12/14) 81
REG (07/19/14) 69 (11/29/14) 87!!

[Anonymous]

What did Nasba say you were weaker in? When I first took REG, I had 1 month to study and focused too much on business law.. I really took my time the 2nd time going through ALL the tax material. I read 6 pages or so a night and did all the MCQs in the book for just those 6 pages to really understand the info. After I went through a tax module, I would re-do all the SIMS, and printed out the additional Wiley test bank MCQs as well.

I reviewed every module, MCQ, notes and Sims 3 times before taking the exam again before I passed. Do the additional Sims and MCQs in an additional test bank if you can. It really challenges you especially when you've done all the questions in the book and may have memorized them.

[lastREG]

Thank you all! I feel much better after reading your suggestions. I will incorporate your suggestions in my study.

When I got my report- I was weaker in TAXATION ON PROPERTY TXNS, TAXATION ON ENTITIES, and SIMULATIONS.

FAR: 85 (Becker)
AUD: 88 (Becker)
BEC: 82 (Becker + Ninja 10 Point Combo)
REG: 74, 73, 91 DONE!!! (Becker + Ninja Notes and Ninja MCQ's)

[lastREG]

Thank you all! I feel much better after reading your suggestions. I will incorporate your suggestions in my study.

When I got my report- I was weaker in TAXATION ON PROPERTY TXNS, TAXATION ON ENTITIES, and SIMULATIONS.

FAR: 85 (Becker)
AUD: 88 (Becker)
BEC: 82 (Becker + Ninja 10 Point Combo)
REG: 74, 73, 91 DONE!!! (Becker + Ninja Notes and Ninja MCQ's)

[Anonymous]

LastReg- We are in a similar boat. I have only taken it once but was surprised that I did not do that well on the MCQs. I felt prepared so it's making me nervous a bit. I am taken Mamabear's advice. Apparently I am missing something so I am going to read everything page in the tax sections from the Becker books and answer questions using NINJA MCQs. I did fine on Ethics and BLAW. Hopefully I will have a few Ah Ha moments after going back through this stuff but if not I am in trouble.

[lastREG]

bcarmi4384- I am a bit nervous too. We can do it, lets have faith and work hard toward this beast 🙂

FAR: 85 (Becker)
AUD: 88 (Becker)
BEC: 82 (Becker + Ninja 10 Point Combo)
REG: 74, 73, 91 DONE!!! (Becker + Ninja Notes and Ninja MCQ's)

[Skynet]

Study the Taxes, Taxes, Taxes. I wouldn't worry about the Business Law too much. Majority of the mcq's and sims are on taxes anyways. Your study time should be devoted to 80% Taxes and 20% Business Law.

Also make sure you know Property Transactions real well. It will come up on a lot of mcq and sims.

[Anonymous]

My advice would be to quit adding more and more study materials. Becker MC and sims are way more than enough. I'd say do a “final review” of 50 random MC for each lecture individually, one at a time. Say for L1 you get an 80% without referencing any notes or the book, that would be quite good in my opinion and I'd say just do another one of 20 questions just to make sure you maintain that pace for the section. If you do, great, you can feel very confident with that content. Inevitably there will be some lectures that you probably only get 50% correct at best. With a sample size of 50 questions you'll know this isn't a fluke. Find these areas and figure out what is tricking you or what you're simply not understanding and do whatever it takes to correct it. After going through this process for all of the areas I'd do all of the sims.

In the end I'd bet you can do a final review of 50 MC covering all the lectures and get 75-80 percent with ease. That would be by far good enough to get a passing score with a reasonable performance on the sims.

CPA – 82 on REG…used Becker self review, didn't work any sims and did no final review (I hate taxes and didn't have the patience to do sims)

[mochiiiii]

I feel that the lectures in Becker emphasize the most important points in each chapter which give you the foundation of the chapter which makes up about 65-70% of the material. The “easy” questions on the CPA exam cover this portion. However as you do well, the test gets progressively harder and the the exam adapts and give you questions that are over material not emphasized in the lectures. My advice to you is to not rewatch the lecture because that takes way too long and you probably already understand the basics in every chapter. You should REREAD the book, multiple times and do the homework multiple choice as many times as possible until you score 90% on every section. It is okay to memorize the answers as long as you know why that answer is correct and why the other 3 answers are wrong. DO NOT rely on “test taking” skills to get the question right. For an example: you notice 3 of the answers are in the same category and the 4th answer is different so you choose the 4th answer.

Also, I think Becker did a bad job covering S Corps. It's too short for such an important topic. Also, do not underestimate the importance of B-LAW. Know how to navigate through the Authoritative Literature tabs. The answers to the sims, or how to solve the sims are VERY often in there word for word.

FAR - TBD
REG - 90 Q4 2014
AUD - 95 Q4 2014
BEC - TBD Q1 2015

[GotCPA]

it's your simulation. You can't pass reg with weaker on SIMS 40% of grade. You have to be at least comparable in SIMS to pass REG sorry to tell you

[Author]

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