[Broag]

I passed REG almost two years ago and lost credit for it earlier this year. I currently work in public, specifically tax. I was going to allocate 4-5 weeks to study (while working full-time) and take the exam Dec. 8th. I have Wiley lectures/book. If you were in my shoes, how would you most efficiently study to make sure you pass? Has anyone been in this situation? This could potentially be my last section.

REG - 79
FAR - ?
AUD - ?
BEC - ?

[jenpen]

I am in almost exactly your position, except I still have BEC next month. REG was the only one I passed on the first go. I also work in public, and while I do a little of everything, tax is where I want to end up long term. I lost credit in February, and my retake is tomorrow.

For better or worse – I just hammered MCQs for about 5 weeks. Did some reading on areas I was clearly weak, and then answered MCQs on them. You've already passed and (theoretically) know most of the general material, so review to get what you need. I learn better when just answering questions than reading a book and taking notes, so for me, this method has proven to work. Wile doesn't work for me, but clearly you have had better luck with it. Ninja materials have been my saving grace for this exam.

Good luck!

AUD - 56 - 68 - 61 - 9/8/16
REG - 75
FAR - 7/15/16
BEC - TBD

Wiley CPAexcel and NINJA 10 Point Combo

[Broag]

@Jennifer

Thanks for the quick reply. Yeah, I just want to make sure I'm using my time as efficiently as possible because I don't have a lot of it. Do you think doing like 200 MCQ to help me hone in on my weak areas? I also hate reading the text and watching lectures and they both would not be the most efficient use of my time. I actually don't like Wiley all that much. I've used Ninja for all my passes except for FAR (Becker). I've spent more $$ on study materials than I'd like to admit.

I think doing MCQ/SIMs and buying some supplement notes may be my best bet. I'll probably just YouTube my weak areas. I'm sure once I go over a lot of this stuff, it will come back to me. At least I hope!

REG - 79
FAR - ?
AUD - ?
BEC - ?

[jenpen]

I gauge my weak areas by where I'm trending on Ninja. I will answer enough questions to make it out the assessment phase and into the adaptive learning, and then I'll see where I'm at and the areas I need to beef up. Ninja gives you a pretty good indicator of where your weak areas are, which is nice. I don't like how the Wiley test bank shows the scores, so I don't rely on that much, but will bounce back to it when I feel like I'm starting to memorize stuff I'm seeing in Ninja. Usually that'll work to cleanse my palate and make me feel better.

Right now I'm sitting at around 70% for business law and entity taxation, so I've been working on reading up on those topics a little more closely to help any specific weak areas I may have within them. I'll let ya know next month of this method is successful for this topic, but it worked well on AUD and FAR, so I'm hoping to copy those results. 🙂

AUD - 56 - 68 - 61 - 9/8/16
REG - 75
FAR - 7/15/16
BEC - TBD

Wiley CPAexcel and NINJA 10 Point Combo

[Broag]

I did something to that effect for AUD. Hope it works out when I get my results at the end of December. Good luck to you on REG and BEC. BEC isn't as hard as some people make it out to be. I had ZERO background in Economics and IT and I passed. If you can write well, its like an automatic 15% boost to your score. The SIMS were manageable, too. Knock 'em dead.

REG - 79
FAR - ?
AUD - ?
BEC - ?

[jenpen]

Thanks! I took BEC last December and got a 70. I didn't have the time to memorize a lot of the formulas since I only studied for about 2 weeks, and that is what got me, I think. I'm planning on putting in much more time this go round and hoping to pass. Good to hear about the SIMs, though! I'll be looking at those in about a week.

AUD - 56 - 68 - 61 - 9/8/16
REG - 75
FAR - 7/15/16
BEC - TBD

Wiley CPAexcel and NINJA 10 Point Combo

[CPA2BEE]

REG is probably the exam that will change the most over a two-year period (if you haven't taken it in two years). You working in tax helps, but take something as simple as the exemption amounts for individuals – the answer to that will be different in 2017 than it was in 2015. Tax law is always changing so you may want to start fresh with REG.

Then again, you do work in tax so you may have more of an advantage on updates than the normal test taker. You probably have a decent feel of where you are at, given that you have taken REG before and work in the field. Trust your gut and if you've passed it before, I'm sure you can again!

FAR - 80
AUD - 82
BEC - 80
REG - 85

ETHICS - 90
EXPERIENCE - COMPLETE
Application for California license mailed 8/4/2016

[Broag]

Any other suggestions??

REG - 79
FAR - ?
AUD - ?
BEC - ?

[Author]

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