[Anonymous]

Can somebody here tell me how they studied for REG and passed? I’ve been studying this part for a month already and my brain is having a lot of difficulty retaining all these tax rules. I finally comprehend something and commit it to memory, but then when I study other stuff, my brain keeps flushing out the material I previously remembered. I’m scheduled to take REG at the end of August, so I have about 2 more months of studying and honestly, I just don’t know how I can memorize all this stuff in 2 months. I don’t know how anybody can possibly think that REG is easier than FAR. FAR was a joke compared to this. That is how much I’m struggling with REG. I passed FAR and AUD and I’m so scared that I may be stuck because of REG. I’ve studied about 80 hours for REG so far and have barely retained anything. I’m really in a hole.

Can somebody help me out and give me some tips on how I can tackle this beast? My life depends on it.

Thank you, in advance, for the help!

[Anonymous]

CPAMan: This is my personal experience.

I used Yaeger. I listened to all CD's, answered only the questions/problems assigned (no more, no less) and used Jeff's NINJA notes. When I answered my MQ's….I made sure to understand why the answer was right and the others were wrong. As for the Yaeger CD's—I would listen to a section, work the problems & study the material….then move on. Then, 5 – 7 days before the exam, I would go into FULL review mode.

When studying…..I tried to make sure I “knew” the information rather than memorizing it. There was only minimal topics/formulas that I actually memorized. I studied all topics, but I made sure I really focused on the tax topics.

Set a time frame to study before your test in August. If it takes you two weeks to study individual tax….that's okay, but make sure you're able to make that time up on something else b/c you don't want to be cramped for review time later.

I think you’ve got adequate time for studying if you’re taking it in August. You can do it!!!!

[Anonymous]

What did you do to get an 87 on AUD? I'm taking it in August. You can have my REG score….if I can have your AUD. Ha!!!!

[Anonymous]

AUD is another piece of cake compared to REG. AUD has so little material. I was able to review all chapters in a week and I did it over and over until the concepts finally sunk it. Then did LOTS of questions. I studied for AUD in only 2 months. And now here I am studying for REG for one month already and I feel like I just want to jump out the window. I watched all the Yaeger videos already, but like I said, my brain is flushing things out due to overload. This is insane. If I could, I would trade my AUD score with your REG score and I'll just take AUD again next window, lol.

[Anonymous]

The first time I took REG (in February) I worked all of the way through the Becker lectures, MCQ, simulations, etc. I took about 2.5 months to study it and I scored a 71. I did really well on the BLAW items, but I had forgotten all of the tax information (or at least I forgot enough of it).

The second time (in May), I tested only a month after taking Audit. I went back through all of the lectures (though it was nice to just LISTEN and not be so focused on highlighting, etc) and questions. As I was going through, I made sure to write down the topics I knew I would need to review again before I tested. Unfortunately, I ran out of time and wasn't able to make it through all of the lectures this time. I made through all of the tax lectures (and did most of the questions) and I made it through the sections of the BLAW lectures that I thought would be most likely tested. I didn't do very many of the BLAW MCQ. I walked out of the exam feeling completely defeated. I thought I did HORRIBLE. The testlets didn't seem to get more difficult and either I knew the answer or I had absolutely NO CLUE. There was one item in the SIMS that I had never even heard of before. I took a complete guess on it, but made sure to at least fill out SOMETHING for all items.

At the end of the day, in my experience, I think that a lot of your “luck” on REG is determined by what test you get. Two of the topics that I know completely bit me on the first time around, weren't tested at all on the second time around. I found that it was important to go through the BLAW lectures once, but remembering the tax info was the most important. Rather than trying to remember everything, make notes on the most important things to be sure to go back through right before the exam.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I agree with asleephere.

Don't get me wrong…..you better understand the BLAW, but tax issues are VERY important.

Luck is also part of it, as well. There were several questions on my exam that I was thinking…”seriously, this is too easy.”

[Anonymous]

@CPAcandidate- Many people have done what Phil Yaeger said when he told us to ONLY do the questions he assigned and do not do any other questions. It seems to have successful results because people (including you) have done that and have passed. But I have to wonder, if you're only doing those questions only and not exposing yourself other fresh questions, how are we supposed to get more practice? I'm just trying to figure out why this method is so successful because I'm afraid that if I just keep doing those same questions, I'll end up getting used to those questions only and thus, fail the actual exams when I get brand new questions.

[Anonymous]

Trust me—-I'm as hard headed as they come. Lol! I usually look at Gleim, Wiley test bank & cpareviewforfree.com. This time I didn't. ONLY what he told me to do from the text.

[Anonymous]

So, you're saying Phil is right? Do ONLY those questions he assigned and understand the reasons for the correct answers and I should be ok?

[lr_cpa]

I'll second the others about only focusing on what Yaeger said to focus on. I had never had a tax course so I kind of went over board in my preparation, but when I got in there to take the exam I felt like I could have just studied what Phil suggested and scored the same. Also, I don't think I had but one, maybe two, Blaw topics. But of course that will vary. My advice would be to study all of the tax stuff in Wiley the most and make Blaw secondary. Also the professional responsibilities and tax return preparer info showed up a lot. So make sure and know that.

REG 5/27/11 86 1st attempt [CPA excel questions, Yaeger Audio, Wiley book]
FAR 8/04/11 90 1st attempt [used CPA excel as primary, Yaeger Audio, and Wiley book]
AUD 10/01/11 90 1st attempt [used CPA excel with Wiley as supplement]
BEC 11/29/11 84 1st attempt [using Wiley with CPA excel as MCQ supplement]

DONE

[Anonymous]

Doing what Phil said to do worked for me. Others may agree/disagree. I will say this….I was very hesitant, at first, but it paid off. Use Jeff's NINJA notes, too. They are GREAT!!!!

[UAcpa]

One thing that I have found that is essential to my success has to do with going back and studying a little bit of the old material each day. I either do this before I start on what I plan on studying that day or after I wrap up. I will take an hour or two and go back to what I covered a few days ago. It keeps everything fresh. I know that doing things this way I have been able to nearly recite almost every chapter in the book to myself since I keep everything so fresh. I do this when I review. I will review two chapters in a day and then move on to the other two, but go back to the previous two I reviewed to ensure that I am not letting any tid bits of info slip away.

[J.]

I use the Becker Review and I have a feeling it is very similar to the the other reviews. In Becker they take you through each section with hours of lecture and problems. Once I finished those the first time I started to utilize the quizes more frequently tackling sections of 24 questions at a time and mixing it up from one section to another. This really has helped me not get bogged down on one section for too long and start to retain more info across the board. There is a lot of material and by the time I finished going through all of the sections the earliest one was always a little gray in my mind as well. I am also the type of person who can only study in 3 hour segments before I start to gloss over. Try taking breaks in between study sessions.

Good luck to you and me on the next round. We can do it!

AUD 81

FAR 83

BEC 75

REG 72

[Anonymous]

Ok, it took me a week to fully understand and go through the Individual Taxation module. I did all the assigned questions on my Wiley book and got some questions right and a lot of them wrong. I learned from my mistakes by going back to my notes and reading the explanations in the back. I then decided to do a few questions from cpareviewforfree.com and got most of the questions wrong. And to be honest, a lot of their questions looked foreign as if I didn't study a thing!! Sigh!!! I don’t know if I’ll ever get this. This is demoralizing. I’m going to lose my FAR and AUD credit because of this part. I’m on the verge of just giving up!!

[J.]

I felt the same way when I started going through the material. Keep at it! Your persistence will pay off! It will take hundreds of MCQ before you start to immediately recognize what the question is asking. There is so much material and it is sooooo detailed that persistence will log it into your brain.

[Anonymous]

CPAman hang in there dude—it will get better with practice. You have 16 months until your FAR and AUD expires so that shouldnt be in your mind right now. Your scores indicate that you know how to study for, take, and pass these exams–so have faith in yourself and work hard and you can pass it.

[Author]

Replies