[GottaPassEmAll]

I’m taking REG in 2 weeks while working full time, and I just watched my first lecture last night. The only thing I have going for me is I’ve been working in public accounting for four years… is there any hope of passing? I realize the recommended study time for REG is ~100 hours so I’ll likely end up having to ditch the lectures so I can complete the MCQ… and I’ll need to study something like 6 hrs/day during the week and a total 20 hrs on the weekend. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

*shrug* It's possible. My biggest advice may sound counter-intuitive: Don't count too much on your experience in the field. Pretend you've never seen this stuff before and tackle it from the ground up…but with enough dedication, you should be able to do it.

And…6 hours/day, 5 days/week, and 20 hours on the weekend, for 2 weeks, is 100 hours. So you can meet the standard recommendation even with a 2-week time frame, if you can actually keep up the hours that you listed. 🙂

[GottaPassEmAll]

@Elisabeth Good idea. To be honest, I'm not feeling confident that my experience in tax alone will be enough to help me pass this test. I'll still need to put in a ton of hours for REG…

[Anonymous]

You should be in good shape. 🙂 I've seen people think that since they've been doing this for x years, it will be easy, and that's always a huge disappointment. 😐 But there's nothing in this that can't be learned. Whose curriculum are you using? If it has a book, I would prioritize reading the book (as dry, dull, and boring as it is) to get a general grasp of the concepts. Books can be 10000x more annoying than lectures, but usually are much quicker. Then drilling the MCQs and SIMs, and focusing on understanding why a wrong answer is wrong, should put you in a pretty good position.

If your curriculum doesn't have a book, I would suggest getting the Wiley book. I don't have mine in front of me to know the page-count, but just reading (not doing the problems), I would anticipate that you could have it read in the first week, and the drill MCQ and SIMs like there's no tomorrow in the second week. Without a book or lectures, it would still be passable, but much harder and depend much more on your current knowledge! (There are people on here, though, who passed with solely test banks, no lectures or books…) And Wiley is as dry as they come, but it covers the information and best of all is CHEAP!

[NotAnother74]

I just took REG. I too am working full time in public accounting big 4 and I just took PTO for a whole week and studied about 10-12 hours a day for 9 days. I used the Wiley book and the Becker book to supplement. I have the 2010 Becker books and I was leary about relying on a 2010 book for tax, but I should have used just Becker. Wiley is VERY, VERY detailed with the contract law stuff. Particularly the UCC, secured transactions ect. Becker was way more consise and was more in line with what I saw on the exam. I guess Wiley will over prepare you a little bit.

Anyways, I read every module in the Wiley book. What happens when using the Wiley study guide is you read a concept and then you work the designated questions at certain points during the module while reading so that you apply what you just read about to see how well you retained it. Which is good IMO. It makes reading a very long task though. It took me an entire day to get through the individual module which was like 40 pages, but 217 questions. That was rough to get through.

Then, by the time I got through the book and all the questions, I had forgotten the first 25% of material related to the secured transactions, but luckily, I pulled out my outdated Becker book and luckily the contract stuff was the same just a lot more concise and it saved me…I think. I haven't passed, but it saved me in the sense that I felt better going into it.

I just took the exam Monday, so hopefully I'll know on the 22nd. Just study hard and get a good basic understanding of the items and I think you'll be fine.

F AR - 76
B EC - 82
A UD - 77 (lost credit)/Retake 2/25
R EG - 80

[GottaPassEmAll]

@Elisabeth I'm very nervous, but I have to stick to my schedule… I'm using Becker. Lectures take up so much time but they seem to have really helped me in the past. Unfortunately I won't have enough time to watch all the lectures, so I'll probably stick to the text/MCQ like you're suggesting.

@NotAnother74 Wiley worked alright for me on BEC, but I tried using it for AUD and I failed 2x. Then I switched to Becker and my score improved by over 20 points… I'm starting out using just Becker on REG, but maybe I'll dig up my Wiley book if I have time to work extra problems. I hope you'll have some good news on the 22nd! Wish I could take time off like you did but that's not an option for me as we're nearing the 9/15 deadline. I'm impressed you could focus on studying 10-12 hrs/day.

[Anonymous]

If you honestly think you can study 6 hours a day through the week, then you probably have time for the lectures…and if that's by far your best method of learning, then if I was you, I'd rather do lectures for, say, 85% of the material, than read for all of it! Lectures aren't my best method, but if you tried reading for Wiley and failed, then maybe the lectures are key for you.

Also, is there any chance you could schedule the exam a bit later? I understand that between work-schedules and NTS dates, it might not be an option, but if it's just the $35, an extra week could make a huge difference in how you feel going into the exam!

[GottaPassEmAll]

I would love to have an extra week but I'm too busy at work plus I'm going to be gone for 3 days over the weekend and that will take me away from my studies. So that kind of defeats the purpose of adding an additional week :

[gobias]

I doubt you'll pass, honestly.

Give it a shot if money is no object. If it is, hold off until October.

If you're determined to try: focus on R1-R4. Give the Blaw chapters a skim, but the majority of your time should be dedicated to tax.

F - 86
R - 90
A - 97
B - 91

[Anonymous]

You will fail but it'll be good to go through it – a run through of sorts…

[GottaPassEmAll]

gobias and dbk – I agree with you both. I don't see how I could pass with only 2 weeks but I'm interested to see how close I get.

[Anonymous]

I still think you can do it. 🙂 You'll have more hours into it than many people who study for 6 weeks, and it will all be fresh in your mind. Stay optimistic…worst you can do is take it in October, and that would have to happen even if you decided not to try. But if I honestly didn't think you had a chance, I'd say that…but as it is, I honestly think you've got a shot! I'll be curious to see your reports as you prepare, when you take it, and most importantly, when you get your score!! 🙂

[Anonymous]

I haven't watched a single lecture for any of my exams so in my opinion, that doesn't hurt you at all. It will be tough, but if you put in 3 full days of studying right before the exam (in addition to the other days), it is very doable. Personally, after doing other sections I feel the recommended hours for each section is overkill (mainly because there is no way 99.9% of people remember what they first studied a month+ ago).

[jkpoker1]

You might fail but who knows. All that matters is a 75. I imagine if you can log in 40-70 hrs, depending on how smart you are. You honestly might have a chance to pass. I honestly don't believe you need 100 hours to pass any part of the exam. Just make wise use of your time and learn topics you are weak on. Good luck.

Quest to be a CPA

BEC-74 (7/13),
REG- ?? (8/13)
AUD-TBA
FAR-TBA

[MintsRGood]

I love a good hail mary!!!!!

Study like a crazy person for the next 2 weeks and give it your best shot. We all know that 2 weeks isn't enough time to give yourself a solid chance to pull this off, but honestly sometimes taking a section with a “why the hell not” attitude relieves the pressure. That was my attitude on BEC as I crammed it into the last day of the window last quarter and pulled out a 76. CLEARLY, REG is a completely different animal than BEC but you get the point! 😉

At least you won't flip out if you don't pass and you have given yourself a great kickstart to prep the right way for October.

Why not, right?

Good luck!

REG: 75 DONE 🙂
AUD: 61, 71, 68, 92 DONE 🙂
BEC: 76 DONE 🙂
FAR: 72, 74, 79 DONE 🙂
Licensed Michigan CPA 🙂
-Some people dream of success...others wake up and work hard for it!!!
-The cowards never start and the weak die along the way!
-You better work, b***h!
-Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.-JFK

[Author]

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