[jeff]

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

[Anonymous]

Opinions on the best SIM test bank for REG?

[that0neguy]

Question on how to approach REG —- I'm taking CPAExcel and have passed FAR, AUD, BEC first pass. All 3 of those areas I had fairly solid understanding since I was in public assurance for 3 years and corporate finance for publicly traded company for 3 years.

I have virtually NO experience with REG. This is the only exam where I cannot rely on experience. Additionally, I don't anticipate starting studying on a regulated schedule until around 4/18 and plan to sit for it on 5/26. I just had my second kid and want to spend as much time with her as possible over the next couple weeks and help out my wife. There's no benefit of taking it early since we find out all Q2 scores around the same time.

That gives 6-7 weeks of studying. My conundrum is, from now until April 18, if I have downtime, I wouldn't mind getting started on some Wiley assignments. I don't know if that's the best approach as it will be intermittent with no structure, but it would allow more time to absorb material. What I'm wondering is should I start studying now when I have downtime with no structured schedule and pick up remaining lessons beginning 4/18, or should I just stay out of it and dive in on 4/18?

I'm inclined to the former so I have more time to absorb material, but disorganization/lack of structure may affect retention on a new subject. Interested in others' thoughts.

[Floreat]

Hi, that0neguy. I think you should dive into REG now. I also think you can structure your study time – it just might be how you would normally like to do it. I suggest you carve out specific time periods per week that you can study uninterrupted. That might mean getting up an hour early every morning to study and following up with some concept review or flash cards right before bed each night. Maybe do that three days per week and then add an early Sunday morning session. Then when 4/18 comes,you've already made some progress. Congratulations on your new family member and best wishes on REG! I have a feeling you'll do well

Now for my whine/plea for guidance. I'm having a difficult time with REG. FAR was difficult, but most of the concepts were at least familiar from school and/or work experience. AUD wasn't a walk in the park, but it did seem to be rather intuitive, if that makes sense. With REG, the concepts are only vaguely familiar, but I have NO practical experience with them, sans my personal return. I'm having trouble remembering the nit picky details – and there are SO many of them. FAR bordered on the horrific, but REG does not seem to be a fence rider. It's all the way in.

Can anyone share how they are remembering the plethora of detail? Are flashcards they way to go? I'm afraid I'll have enough to tile my entire house if I go that route! But if that's what it takes, so be it.

For reference I'm using Gleim Premium. It worked well for FAR & AUD, so I'm hopeful it will prepare me for REG. Thanks in advance for any insight or suggestions.

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)

[Matt]

@that0neguy As someone who had almost no experience with the other three sections. The hardest part for me was getting enough of an understanding to be able to make consistent progress.

Though you'll probably have less of a problem then you think, you're very trained in that analytical line of thinking, I would suggest just making yourself familiar and identify any areas that ruin your day.

Though take what I say with a grain of salt, this is coming from a political science undergrad who sold insurance and (while somehow struggling through this and my masters program), gutted through the first three parts of the CPA).

FAR 74

[thelatebloomer]

@wei ng: the ninja audio is broken into the major tax topics and business law topics – dodd frank, commercial paper, and sales law will not be on the test. It seems to pretty much mirror the material from the ninja notes, as far as I can tell. I will tell you that I listen to it in the shower and on the treadmill like every day. When I first started listening, it was hard to follow all of the calculations in my head, but if you listen to it enough times it starts to sink in. I think the ninja audio / notes are really good at helping you “nail the concepts.” After that point, it's on you to do as many questions as possible.

@that0neguy: I don't think waiting that long to start is going to benefit you. There will never be a shortage of material to go through. The more reps you get with the material, the more the knowledge will just seem to stick when you're answering questions.

@Floreat: I think unless you're going to spend months/years really studying all of the topics in detail, you simply can't remember every detail. It's important to understand the concepts the best you can, and then all of the details will get worked out when you do MCQs. I only read the business law material and life happened and I couldn't reschedule, so I took it anyway for practice and ended up with a 60 because I simply bombed the tax sims due to doing almost no questions on it. On the second go around here, I feel very good about my overview of a lot of topics, but I'm still missing details left and right. Again it seems like if you put your brain through enough variations on the same material, you really start to understand it. Talk to me in 2 1/2 weeks and we'll see how I feel about it then. 🙂

[Anonymous]

@latebloomer, the $1000 can be reported as Misc Income (or Other Income) if not using the allowance method and expensing the bad debt.

[Anonymous]

Is anyone having trouble logging into CPA Excel? Looks like there were server issues a couple of days ago, but support states that the issue was resolved on March 20th…..

[RE2PECT]

@that0neguy- Congrats on the second baby! I had my first a few weeks before taking my first exam (FAR). If possible, I'd start reading the book just to get a quick overview of the material. If your review course has audio lectures I'd listen to them around the house whenever you have a chance. 6-7 weeks is doable depending on how many hours a week you plan on putting in, but since you have no tax background it may take a little longer. I only took one tax class and studied around 7 weeks, but wish I had at least 2 more for my first attempt.

If you read up on anything, I'd put extra emphasis into basis and distributions for corps, s corps, and partnerships. It's easy to get them mixed up and you'll most likely get at least one or two sims on them.

FAR: 75 Roger & Ninja (notes/flashcards/audio/MCQ)
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, retake 8/29
REG:

[HEPUNISH]

I am retaking my BEC exam and my NTS is valid till September 2017. Do i have to reapply for NTS ?and do i have to sent application to Board as well??

[celia]

Good morning,

Is there simulations from Business Law section in the new test format?

I got 73 and it was my 3rd times. After the exam, I felt much comfortable than last two exams and I could pass this time.
I missed 3 or 4 multiple questions and simulations wasn't hard even I had 20 minutes left. I reviewed all simulations again.

Next month, I'll move to Seattle from Boston and plan to re-exam on May in Seattle.

[jeff]

[Shelby]

Hi all – I'm frustrated and came on here to vent. Got a 73 on REG (after feeling like a rock star on the multiple choice questions I was blown away at the SIMS I got and it showed in the report I just received:

Here's my situation – I lose Audit 5/30/17. I lose BEC 12/10/17. I got 71 on FAR in January (I have passed FAR before but lost that credit a while ago) and 73 on REG in March. I MUST pass these 2 in Q2 to not lose AUD credit. However, as we all know – I won't find out until late August making me lose a WHOLE testing window in which there's a possibility I may be back down to needing to pass 3 exams (hope not though *knock on wood*. Then I'd have 1 testing window before I lose the other section. Brutal.

Anyway – why couldn't I have done better on the SIMS 🙁 🙁

[wng1885]

Trying to decide between the Roger REG audio or the Ninja Reg Audio. Can anyone provide input as to which one to get? I am currently using Roger REG book to study, with Ninja MCQ questions.

[iandevries1013]

Do we need to worry about phaseouts for Sims?

[Floreat]

@thelatebloomer: Thanks for responding. All of the details do seem impossible to remember. I'm only on chapter 7 of my materials and I'm overwhelmed by the detail. It's frustrating because my review system (Gleim) asks questions that require knowledge of the details (ie: PAL limits on losses when AGI exceeds $100K or that a QC has to be younger than 17 for the Child Tax Credit, but can't be older than 13 for the Child Dependent Care Credit). If I can't remember the details, I answer incorrectly and then my score goes down along with my confidence. It's really frustrating. I'll try starting each study unit by looking at the core concepts first and see if that helps. Best wishes to you on 4/6!

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)

[Author]

Replies