[jeff]

Welcome to the Q2 2017 CPA Exam Study Group for REG. 🙂

AUD - 79
BEC - 80
FAR - 76
REG - 92

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS)
NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE | Another71

[thelatebloomer]

@greenolive: There are definitely topics currently in Ninja MCQ that are not on the exam. Commercial paper is one of the biggest ones off the top of my head. I don't think you will suffer too much from the difference, but if you want you can look at the differences in curriculum and restrict it to only those questions. Overall, it's still a great value. I would go through every question from your main study material before you start Ninja MCQ. If you want to do Wiley instead of Ninja, it probably doesn't really matter if cost isn't an issue. However, I like the cost of Ninja and the questions seem to be more challenging than the ones for Wiley based on average scores. If you really put the time in you can pretty well secure a pass if you do two full sets of questions and you're scoring well by the end. However, I take my time to understand the questions as much as possible and I don't take any time for notes.

BEC: 88 (expired)
REG: 77 (expired)
FAR: October
AUD: TBD

Wiley CPAExcel + Ninja MCQ + Ninja Audio + Ninja Notes

[CPA788]

Good times @thelatebloomer! Thanks for the report back. I can't help but spend time on SIMS practice because SIMS have been my downfall so much lately. They used to be my strong point. I have my text next Friday. Recon back here in Aug to see how this all turns out! Sounds like you got over that 75 hump for sure.

BEC - 74, 77 (Becker only)

FAR - 72, 71, 78 (Becker+NINJA)

REG - 69, 59, 69, 72, 76 (Becker+a private tutor+NINJA+Gleim free trial+seriously anything else I could review)

AUD - 77 (Becker only)

CA candidate

BEC - 74, 77
FAR - 72, 71 (retake 7/29)
REG - 69
AUD - Q4 '16

CA Candidate

[Floreat]

@thelatebloomer: Thank you for sharing your experience. It sounds to me like you're looking at a pass. I think you should affirm it every day – can't hurt. I had to laugh when you wrote that the SIMS got “interesting”. That is such a gracious way of describing them.

I have a couple of questions for you, if you don't mind. Did you take the 15 minute standard break after testlet 3? And how did you figure out how to navigate the AL? That's a challenge I'm currently having. It seems there should be a methodical and efficient way to use it, but I just can't figure it out when I do practice SIMs.

Affirming a pass for you on REG and positive thoughts for you as you work with FAR. You're getting it done!

FAR: 80 (10/28/2016)
AUD: 85 (2/6/2017)
REG: DSIT (Dragon Slayer in Training) (5/2017)
BEC: DSIW (Dragon Slayer in Waiting) (7/2017)

[greenolive]

Thanks a lot @thelatebloomer I will definitely keep an eye out for whats not on the exam anymore in Ninja. I wonder why it is not updated yet though. I like it a lot so i will stick with that then! Good luck on FAR! Im sure you passed REG!

AUD - 92
BEC - 92
FAR - 90
REG - 89

"Don't think about what can happen in a month. Don't think about what can happen in a year. Just focus on the 24 hours in front of you and do what you can to get closer to where you want to be."

[thelatebloomer]

Thanks for the positive vibes everyone! Well one thing is for sure, it's out of my hands at this point. 🙂

@CPA788: I'm sure if you do enough sims, you'll at least have a lot of confidence going into them which would be a big advantage.

@Floreat: Yeah, I took the break after the 3rd testlet to use the restroom and get a caffeine boost. I don't think there's a secret to becoming familiar with it. You can either get good with searching and/or have a good idea of the names of the different sections and where things are. I think it just comes through repetition and a lot of reading. I think I actually started to enjoy reading through the tax code. Pretty sick, I know! I can tell you some things that might help. When you search for something, a lot of times you'll get a long list of results. Look for the section headings that actually make sense for what you're trying to find. Then after clicking the heading, hit “search within” and it will zero in on where it shows in the text. Then pay attention to what section you're in and you can go back up through the tree and look at other articles if you think you're close. A lot of times I'll use a keyword that gets me close to what I want, then I dig around it and find it. The tax code seems to often use exact phrasing that is not always what you find in the review materials, so the trick is to find words that you know are very specific to the topic. If you can't find it, the wording may just be slightly different. At that point you'll have to use broader terms until you get close. It's really a lot of trial and error. And if you have to, you can always google what you're looking for, and google's search algorithm is much stronger and it will often find the section you want on the law.cornell.edu site, and you can make a mental note of why you couldn't find it. Also, the text can be so specific and verbose you really have to “read between the lines” and pull out the essentials of what it's saying. Good luck!

BEC: 88 (expired)
REG: 77 (expired)
FAR: October
AUD: TBD

Wiley CPAExcel + Ninja MCQ + Ninja Audio + Ninja Notes

[Anonymous]

Hello I am schedule to sit for the Reg exam on May 4th. Do you think 4 week is enough time to study? I am studying 3 hours during the week and 6 hours on Saturday and Sundays.

[Ninja03]

Parent company X and subsidiary company Y file a calendar year consolidated federal income tax return. Company X reported a $120,000 tax loss, which included a $10,000 dividend from Y. Company Y reported $140,000 of taxable income, which included $30,000 of dividends received from less than 20% owned stock investments. Neither company took into account any applicable dividends received deduction. What is the group's consolidated tax loss for the year?
A. $7,000
B. ($4,000)
C. ($11,000)
D. ($20,000)
Explanation
Choice “A” is correct. Because X and Y are a consolidated entity, X should not include the $10,000 dividend from Y in its income. This brings X’s loss to $130,000 [($120,000) – $10,000 = ($130,000)]. The consolidated taxable income for the year, prior to consideration of the dividends ­received deduction, is then X’s $130,000 loss netted with Y’s $140,000 income, for preliminary taxable income of $10,000. The dividends ­received deduction on the $30,000 dividend received by Y is limited by the taxable income limitation to 30 percent of consolidated taxable income before the dividends ­received deduction, or 30 percent of $10,000, or $3,000. Consolidated taxable income after the dividends ­received deduction is therefore $7,000: $10,000 of consolidated taxable income before the dividends ­received deduction less the $3,000 dividends ­received deduction of $11,000.

My question is why not answer C (11,000)? My logic is that after you combined X& Y, you get taxable income 10,000. Then, you would take dividend deduction of 70% of lesser of dividend received or taxable income. However, in this situation you would create a loss, so you disregard the lesser (aka, you would still take 70% of 30K), which gives you 11,000 loss.

Can any ninja help me with this? Thank you so much!

AUD -76

FAR-81

BEC-89

REG - 72 retake 5/4/17

[Stryker]

I remember getting tripped up on that MCQ as well. I also thought that since a loss wold be created you could take the whole deduction.

AUD - 83
BEC - 88
FAR - 77
REG - 85

 

 

[jeff]

Post in the FB thread to enter the drawing for a free NINJA MCQ section. HIYA.

AUD - 79
BEC - 80
FAR - 76
REG - 92

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS)
NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE | Another71

[CPA788]

I'm sorta baffled about why they came up with the 30%, the TI/dividend? Don't tell me that's part of the rule. I'm definitely on board with your approach.

BEC - 74, 77 (Becker only)

FAR - 72, 71, 78 (Becker+NINJA)

REG - 69, 59, 69, 72, 76 (Becker+a private tutor+NINJA+Gleim free trial+seriously anything else I could review)

AUD - 77 (Becker only)

CA candidate

BEC - 74, 77
FAR - 72, 71 (retake 7/29)
REG - 69
AUD - Q4 '16

CA Candidate

[CPA788]

Also BREAKING NEWS

The CBA website is down, like, not in the usual score release day type of down. Like, maybe they are launching a new site? One can hope.

*update – boring. it's down because they're moving offices. Maybe they need a larger office because they have hired the staff they actually need to process candidate apps. Again, one can hope. End rant.

BEC - 74, 77 (Becker only)

FAR - 72, 71, 78 (Becker+NINJA)

REG - 69, 59, 69, 72, 76 (Becker+a private tutor+NINJA+Gleim free trial+seriously anything else I could review)

AUD - 77 (Becker only)

CA candidate

BEC - 74, 77
FAR - 72, 71 (retake 7/29)
REG - 69
AUD - Q4 '16

CA Candidate

[Chief71]

@Ninja03 did you pull that question from Becker or the Ninja MCQ? I've seen the exact same question on both programs, one says the answer is (11,000) and one says the answer is 7,000. The 7,000 answer makes no sense to me.

I've seen some other questions where Becker and Ninja MCQ disagree on the answer to the exact same question. It's not very reassuring.

BEC: 83

REG: 71, 4/11

FAR: 5/25

AUD: --

[mojojojo]

Hey folks,

Does anyone here have a clue as to how the sims are evaluated? I use the 2017 Wiley CPAExcel and their scoring method for sims seems very unfair to me.

Each question within a testlet is apportioned an equal score. Suppose you have a testlet with 2 sims. Q1 has just one line to be filled in(Like finding the appropriate section.), and Q2 has about 10 answers. According to wiley, a mistake in Q1 takes away 50% score of your testlet! The remaining 10 answers in Q2 will only give you 50% in the testlet. That one line answer could pull your total aggergate score by 16-17 %!!

I've been I'm scheduled to take REG next week but such scoring is pulling down my confidence. Is this how CPA is graded?

[RandomRandy]

For the people who took the new exam, did you feel prepared with Becker? I know they completely revamped the study material based on the blue prints and am wondering how good a job they did.

FAR: 74 1/15/16, 72 7/2/16 -_-
BEC: TBD
REG: TBD
AUD: TBD

"Nothing is impossible to him who will try" - Andy Bernard

[Shelby]

Becker CPA-06524:

Which of the following terms best describes the relationship between a corporation and the CPA it hires to audit corporate books?
a. Master and Servant
b. Employer and principal
c. Employer and independent contractor.
d. Employer and employee.

Not going to lie. I ALWAYS want to pick A when this question pops up just because it makes me giggle.

[Author]

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