[mgoloubenko]

Hello everyone!

Hope all of you are doing well and making progress in your studies. I am currently working on REG, which if I pass Audit ( pleeeeeease let me have passed Audit) may be my last exam. I have heard that it is recommended to supplement Becker for REG with the Wiley Test bank. Since my goal is to finish this whole process before I start work in January, I figure I would consult the forum on the best way to take down REG on the first try. I am finishing off R3 tomorrow, and have the exam scheduled for the 29th of November. So should my approach be to nail the MCQs for Becker & Wiley, and use Wiley for SIMs or did people find other material helpful for REG SIMs? Specific Becker modules that I should spend extensive time on? Any REG tips would be really appreciated, the majority of my friends who took REG last quarter actually failed it so I’m already a bit apprehensive.

As always, thanks!! (:

FAR 4/9/12- PASSED
BEC 7/13/12- PASSED
AUD 8/16/12- Ughhh 71, Rematch: 90!!!
REG-12/6/12 PASSED

USC MAcc- Fight on!

They say good things come to those who wait, but only those things that are left by those who hustle.

[Anonymous]

mgoloubenko I think you will be fine, I've seen some of your value-adding posts since I've been on the forum. In February 2012, I (barely) passed REG on the first try using only Becker and studying for 1 month. I do think the SIMS played a huge role where I lost points…not necessarily bc Becker wasn't enough, but bc it was my first exam and I didn't have prior knowledge about some accounting concepts that you have no doubt already seen since you have already taken BEC and FAR. One of the SIMs I had..I dstincly remember the subject matter not being touched in the Becker REG sections, but I have since seen in Becker's BEC & FAR sections…which means you have too & it should be fresh…you know how to research question by this point too…and the MC's are on par with Becker, you will do fine! Best of Luck!

[Anonymous]

Nail the SIMS from both BECKER and WIley. DO not nail the MCQ's from Wiley because I think Becker does a great job for preparing you for the MCQs. Know very well Becker 2011 Chapters 3, 4, 1, 2 (in that order) — And do NOT skip the Supplemental sections because I saw so many Q's that Becker skipped for lectures.

I cannot stress this enough-know and understand the sims from Wiley and Becker!

[mgoloubenko]

Thank you both very much for your wise words. Appreciate it! Did you feel that it was true that the exam is definitely tax heavy as opposed to business law? I know it's divided 50/50 between the modules ( 4 tax, 4 law) but it certainly does not seem that business law is nearly as heavily emphasized. REG is making my head spin a little the first time through the material just because all of the greater/lesser, %'s of AGI, differences between personal and corporate tax. But reading has helped me reinforce those concepts and I KNOW they will be tested all over the exam because the AICPA loves to focus on the things people struggle with most hahaha ugh.

FAR 4/9/12- PASSED
BEC 7/13/12- PASSED
AUD 8/16/12- Ughhh 71, Rematch: 90!!!
REG-12/6/12 PASSED

USC MAcc- Fight on!

They say good things come to those who wait, but only those things that are left by those who hustle.

[mena je twa]

mgolou –

It will all come down to 40% of simulations. As i have said before, if you get a weaker in simulations, 99% of the time they will not pass you. It has happened to me 3 times. ( i paased with a 78, after getting a comparable on simulations )

Also, when i failed with a 74 and weaker in simulations, i had all the rest of the topics on MCQ's , stronger. Just a fyi….

Most of us will do comparable or stronger on MCQ's, and some weaker too whether you have becker, wiley or any other joker.

It will be simulations which will decide your fate!!! Being very frank with you.

Licensed CPA, Texas - 2012

[Anonymous]

when i took the exam (passed) I had much more tax questions than bus law. I do remember the questions standing out most were in regards to basis for the different flow through entities and “special transactions”, i think that was the name of the section in my Roger book.

Good Luck!!

[sarah210]

You've totally got this– I only used Becker (second try) and found it to be perfectly sufficient. For me, I have the tendency to want to blow off “little” topics that don't seem like they are important… estates, or trusts, or professional responsibilities, etc. My piece of advice, is to not blow off ANY subject in the book. I felt like I was tested on everything. According to Becker, I think the breakdown is:

20% b-law

20% ethics/responsibilities/how to file things

60% tax

It's deceiving to have 4 units on b-law, I think. I definitely reviewed for tax stuff twice as long as I reviewed for b-law stuff. I did the online Becker REG class in 4 weeks, then reviewed b-law for 1 week and tax for 2 weeks. I did a ton of those 10 question practice tests to keep the material fresh. I also wrote really detailed notes while I was listening to the lecture the first time through. (I watched the tax lectures twice). The ninja notes are really helpful for the b-law stuff. Good luck!

REG- 53, 91
BEC- 88
FAR- 62, 85
AUD- 85

Ethics- 93

[Anonymous]

@mgoloubenko

We're in similar situations. I'll graduate in December and start working in January as well, with REG (hopefully) being my last section. Everyone's input has been helpful!

One extra question for those with REG experience: How familiar should I be with the tax forms? Do simulations require you to input information into forms?

[mgoloubenko]

Very helpful! That's what I've noticed on all of these exams with SIMs, for most people it's not the MCQs that break you but rather the SIMs. Sometimes Becker can deceive you into thinking you know something well, but then when you see it in the form of specific scenarios in the SIMs it throws you for a loop. I want to avoid that unpleasant surprise lol. For those of you who received weaker on SIMs, and later on went on to pass- what did you do differently the second time around?

FAR 4/9/12- PASSED
BEC 7/13/12- PASSED
AUD 8/16/12- Ughhh 71, Rematch: 90!!!
REG-12/6/12 PASSED

USC MAcc- Fight on!

They say good things come to those who wait, but only those things that are left by those who hustle.

[Anonymous]

I'm taking it on Nov 2nd and it's my last one as well.

I studied using the same exact method that yielded me 3/3 so far. Frankly speaking I feel like this is simply a memorization exam. I haven't scored <90% on any single section in Becker R1-R8 [Which is MUCH higher than what I scored on BAF]. It's a lot different from the rest because there isn't really much of an application as much as it is you being able to remember the rules.

On the other hand this is the only exam I've felt extremely nervous about, not worried about failing much as I have 14 months to pass it before any of my credits expire so there's no time pressure. It's just that I'm assuming from what I've been reading about the SIMS that they are monstrous, and my imagination needs very little to know what to expect. (A huge information tab with a corporate or individual AMT calculation for example would be an ideal nightmare scenario for me).

Overall I kind of feel ready for the MCQs but the SIMS are tripping me out. I'll admit that my FAR/AUD SIMS where I happened to score stronger/stronger were somewhat lucky streaks because I got extremely difficult SIMS but on topics that I understood perfectly or somehow reviewed/stressed hard the night before.

Basically regulation sucks. I don't think I'm going to do anything different to review the upcoming 10 days. I'm just going to keep reviewing my notes and hoping that I can wrap this up in 2012.

I just wish I'd scored in the 75-79 range before to have an idea of what kind of performance I need to put in to walk out knowing I scored in that range. No idea what to expect when I walk out. All I want is 75.

Good luck on whatever you end up doing, not sure how this helped or how it was relevant lol but just throwing my intake.

[Katydid]

I took REG on 10/15 for the second time. The first time SIMS kicked my ass. During my second review, I wrote notes on R1-4, paying much closer attention to R3-4 as I felt strong on the personal tax areas. I also made detailed flashcards for all the little nuances to each credit, adjustment, etc. and the differences between S Corps, partnerships, estates and trusts. I did not take notes on R5-8, I rewatched Olinto and I think that helped a lot. He's very easy to follow and he covered certain things that before, just wouldn't stick. I went through all homework in Becker one more time but found that a lot of them I remembered so it became counterproductive. I purchased the Wiley Test Bank and in the last two weeks started doing a lot of those questions. I also tried to do as many simulations (both in Becker and Wiley) as I could in the last several days before the test. I would make additional notes on the SIMS I did not do well on.

Hope that helps. And I hope it's good advice. I still don't know how I did on the exam yet 🙂 But I do have to say I felt much more confident walking out of there the second time than I did the first.

B-74,84 (Expires 1/31/14)
A-79 (Expires 7/31/13)
R-72,83 (Expires 4/31/14)
F-80 No more expiration worries, I'm Done!

[Author]

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