[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post ever on another71!

I am scheduled to take my first exam section (REG) on July 31. I am a bit behind in my studying so I am not sure if I will pass REG on the first try. I have FAR scheduled on October 11 and AUD scheduled for Nov 18. If I end up not passing REG, should I schedule a re-take of REG at the beginning of October (since September is a dead month) and just cancel the FAR exam? Or should I just study for FAR and retake REG at some later date?

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Austin

[hvansaders]

It really depends. Are you working full time? How far along in the material are you? If you aren't working full time and you are at least 75% through the material I think you still have enough time to finish the material and go through a solid final review, especially with two full weekends until your exam.

Since this is your first exam, if you dont pass, I would just move forward with the other two exams and then come back to REG. I would at least try to give this your best shot though and cancel any plans and put in as many hours as you possibly can from now until the 31st. You may end up passing and not have to worry about this scenario at all. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I am currently not working, and I am about 85% of the way through the material. These last two weeks will be all out study mode, so hopefully I can pass REG on my first try. If I do end up not passing, or just missing it by a few points, wouldn't it be better to re-take REG while the concepts are still fresh in my mind?

[Anonymous]

I don't like to jump around. If found out in September that I failed AUD and retook it in November before moving on to FAR. I just don't see the point in losing that knowledge I had already gained. The only time they logic may not apply is if you are planning on sitting for two in the same window and you have to move on because you can't retake it until the next window anyway, but since you aren't planning on taking anything else this window you might as well retake REG on OCtober 1st (even though the wait for the score would be lengthy) and take something else at the end of November so you don't lose too much time. However, I think that is all a moot point because with two weeks left of FULL time studying, you can definitely pass REG.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, I am sure hoping so! I just figured I would cover my bases in case I don't pass REG the first time. Man I sure hope I pass, because if I don't then I would have all of August and September before I could even attempt it again.

[Anonymous]

If you're studying full time then you could fit in BEC or AUD before 08/31 if you started studying right after taking REG. It's very doable because those have a lot less material than REG or FAR. That's what I would do if I was working. Knock out as much as you can as soon as you can, but make sure you get quality studying in.

[syoung123]

I'm also taking REG as my first exam on the 31st, and only about 65% through the material. I just took individual and corporate income tax over the last year, so I wasn't too worried, but I'm getting a little more anxious now. I'm still on track to finish the material sometime next weekend, which will leave me 5 days for review.

I also take my time with the material, completing at least 40 mcq's in the ninja test bank after each module, in addition to the one's Yaeger tells me to do. Everyone seems to think lots of MCQ's are the key, so I'm trying to keep doing them on the material I covered so it stays fresh.

I procrastinated a little too much at the beginning, but hope to not repeat that mistake. I'm hoping I get enough studying in to pass as well!

REG (July 2014) - Pass
AUD (Aug 2014) - Pass
FAR - (Nov 2014) - Pass
BEC - (Dec 2014) - Pass

Licensed Colorado CPA (February 2015)

DONE!!!!

[Anonymous]

Syoung123 – I wish you luck on your first section..hopefully we can both pass REG the first time!

CPAMom- I thought about scheduling BEC in August, but I will be going back to school for one last semester to get my 150 credits, so I didn't want to overdo it (I will be taking 16 credits). I will start school near the end of August, but in the end it comes down to the amount of time I put in studying and I realize that, so it's back to the books!

[Anonymous]

Me personally, I don't apply for an NTS more than one at a time. The reason…life happens. I've had to push two of my exams to the 6 month expiry date because something comes up that I can't control.

The fees are a little more when you pay for one at a time, but at least I have more flexibility in regards to scheduling.

[Anonymous]

Well I am going to hope for the best… my head hurts because I have been studying so much. I think I will go to bed dreaming about AMT Adjustments and Accountant's Negligence lol. I also just got my wisdom teeth removed, so that has not helped much either.

Would you recommend that I spend the majority of my time redoing practice questions in Becker, studying flashcards, re-writing notes, or jump into the Wiley practice questions that I have not yet started? (I bought the book with good intent, but fell behind in my Becker Schedule)

[Mamabear]

I vote you jump into more questions. It helps to see as many MCQ as possible, IMO. And don't forget the SIMS. Those are no joke from what I hear.

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]

The title of this thread was misleading as I thought you already failed REG. I suggest not getting ahead of yourself by assuming you failed it. Once you leave the test, wait to see how well you've done first, then plan accordingly.

[Kimboroni]

It's trickier when you test early in the window, since it's so long before you can test again. Keeping fresh for a retest instead of moving on makes so much more sense if you are testing at the end of the window, since that's only about a month more that you will be studying that same material. But this way, that's 3 whole months of the same stuff, which to me is a recipe for burnout. It would probably be better to stick with what you have scheduled and deal with REG again later. But you might not need to– you still have a lot of time. 2 weeks of full time studying is great.

I remember mulling over this problem when I had FAR on 5/21 (it was supposed to be on 5/9, but the test center system was down that day) and already had REG scheduled for 7/9. It ended up not being a problem since I did pass FAR, so it was wasted effort thinking about it. I hope you pass and end up not needing to deal with it also. Just put your efforts into passing it this time as that's a better use of your time than worrying about what might happen in some hypothetical situation. You can do this.

AUD 84 (1/9/14-Wiley books/TB + free materials)
FAR 83 (5/21/14-the above + NINJA 10 Pt Combo Lite)
REG 84 (7/9/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC/Notes)
BEC 76 (10/5/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC)

Disclaimer: My ninja avatar is not meant to imply that I have any affiliation with this site other than being a forum member. That's a pic of a T-shirt that my daughter gave me for my birthday. 🙂

[005]

I'm a big fan of focusing on one exam until you pass it. I feel like jumping around can be overwhelming and you don't retain information from the previous time you studied as well.

BEC - ✔
REG - ✔
AUD - ✔
FAR - 11/29/14

CPAExcel, Ninja MCQs, and a sh*t ton of coffee

[Author]

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