[Anonymous]

Hello,

First time poster here but I have been lurking on this website for almost a year. I’m using Becker 2011 to study for REG. I am not 100% sure if this is the time for me to even think about a new course though. Here is the thing – I found out on Friday that I’ve failed REG again for the THIRD time. I’ve got 69, 70, and now 68. Needless to say I was very disappointed. Since I’ve started studying, last October, I’ve never passed a single section. I picked up other sections while waiting for the scores, but I’ve switched it back to REG once I found out I failed it.

I thought I really prepped well this time – I really wanted to pass just one section 🙁 I spent about 9 weeks, making notecards myself, listening to NINJA audio, and got 80%+ on all my homework and progress tests. I’ve been using just Becker 2011 materials (which will expire soon). I think I spent Mon – Thurs 4 hrs/day, then spent about 6 – 8 hrs/day on weekends. I felt pretty good about the Becker materials but obviously I was wrong.

I don’t think I can blame the age and the time I’ve been out of the school, (about 10 yrs) since a lot of people here who are older than I am are doing better and passing the sections. I’ve been so deflated, lost, and embarassed this whole weekend. But I don’t think I want to give up yet though. Still, I think I’ll buckle up and try REG yet AGAIN – for the fourth time – in October.

What suggestion do you have for this old fart, who has never done any tax work and don’t remember a thing from school? I definitely want to get something to supplement Becker, but I’m not so sure what to get. I was thinking about buying Becker Final Review, but I also hear a lot of people saying to supplement Becker with Wiley. I think I need detailed explanations whenever I am working MCQ’s – sometimes I was spending more time trying to understand Becker’s solutions because I just didn’t get it. (Especially in partnerships and estate taxations.) Does Yeager explain all the Wiley questions on the whiteboard? I watched a sample on their website and I’m still not sure if this is the way to go quite yet and want to hear if anyone is using Becker and Yeager together for REG.

Many thanks in advance for your help.

[Sandra]

I use roger CPA review and really love that review course. I passed FAR and just took REG. I didn't really put in the study time (about 50 hours or so only) but felt like I had at least seen all the material even if I didn't remember the details. It could be that I just got really lucky but I felt like the SIMS were really pretty fair too and a lot of people on here have talked about how unprepared they felt with Becker.

[Anonymous]

I hope I don't come off as harsh. I'm just trying to be honest with you, but simply changing review material will very likely not be the difference that makes you pass. Becker is definitely enough for you to pass. This is on you. You just need to change your study habits. From the beginning of your review, you have to be very precise and make sure you learn the small details as well. Learning from the multiple choice is not as effective as learning from the initial book material because you are liable of just memorizing the question, and the little tidbits you do learn from the multiple choice may only be applicable to that one multiple choice in the homework and not to any other questions. I'm also convinced that Becker is one of the best, if not the best, review materials. The book covers everything you need to know to pass the test, and they present it in the most digestible manner possible. My strategy is to watch the lectures and then go back page by page and make flash cards on everything from the major ideas to the small details that are testable. I then study the notecards until I know each of them by heart, but the simple making of the flashcards definitely instills most of the stuff in my head in the first place. Only then do I start the multiple choice. With this strategy, I was able to score high 80s to 90s on most every Reg homework the first time. Granted, I haven't received my score back yet, but I anticipate that I passed (fingers crossed).

[Shay]

Haven't taken REG yet.

Try to stay focus on each section. Don't move on until you pass one. I becker was enough for me. Again it all depends on study habits. Also since u been out of school for long, u might want to supplement it with something

Don't study for longer than u need, because you can over kill it. Try to stick to one study material. U tried few diff study material.

Does your 2011 becker has final review exam, test?

No one gets over 70% on HW on first try. Ur 80+ score is good. Make you are NOT memorizing answer. Reason your answer why. Because REG all a lot of limitation Rules!!

[snowbrick]

cpawant,

If it makes you feel any better I have failed REG multiple times and I passed AUD & BEC on the first try and FAR on my 2nd. I wish I had been smart enough to do REG first and get it out of the way. I'm exploring doing a different review program just to try something different as my Becker License has expired but I may end up going back to it. Keep at it as I think you will start to see the benefit of cumulative studying. I also think that the varibility in any given test can help you get the score you need as well.

AUD - 76 (lost credit), 71, 82!
BEC - 84 (lost credit), 80
FAR - 67, 76
REG - 44, 64, 52, 72, 70, 54, 64, 67, 78!

[lrj]

If you aren't making headway with review courses, I would try something totally different.

(this is the same advice I offer in another thread)

After 3 fails, you should have a good handle on your weak areas. Don't use CPA review or MCQs for these (those will only frustrate and confuse you), go back to the textbook. Reread the relevant chapters, do end-of-chapter analytic and short-answer problems so that you develop a better understanding of the subject. Once you've done that, do ~60 MCQs on that area. If you are getting ~80% right, congrats, move on. If not, go back to the textbook.

Doing huge numbers of MCQs will not help you understand the material better, it will reinforce the understanding you do have. Reserve that strategy for keeing yourself fresh on your strong areas.

FAR 92 1/3/12
AUD 93 2/2/12
BEC 89 2/28/12
REG 86 7/16/12

Waiting on REG

[Anonymous]

Sandra – I didn't think the SIMs were very easy for any of the tests I took so that's pretty great. I might have to take a peek at Roger.

cardinalhoya – This was a great advice and you are totally on point. I made my own notecards as well for every chapter but maybe they weren't as detailed as it should have been. I also really didn't study them in detail like you did either. I think this time I'll go back to the book as you said, and fortify my notecards. I do think Becker's a good book and a good course. I am just thinking maybe I am memorizing the way to solve the questions and I was hoping for fresher materials to apply / test what I've learned. Thanks for your advice!

Shay – I didn't get all the homework questions at 80% in the first try! 😛 I have about 85 – 90% questions after doing them for… goodness… like 3 – 4 times redoing them. I normally take Becker final exams 2 weeks before the test day and try to go back to the weaker areas. Looks like my weakest area is definitely partnership and estate taxes. This is very true – I sure need to remember all the limitation rules. I've forgotten all of them now.

lrj – Congratulations on passing your exam! That must be very exciting. I think I do know where I'm the weakest, and I was doing whole lot of MCQ's for those areas. I will go back to the book.

Thank you again everyone for your advice!

[Peanut]

Dear old fart,

Kidding, I had to, you said it first! 🙂 First off, do not buy a new review course!!! I bumped my REG score 20 points,and have failed this exam a million times, a new course will not work, I promise. This is what I did my final REG take. I watched the Becker lectures, since I had already taken REG twice (and for you 3 times) you know what is important and what is now. While you watch the lectures, take very intense notes! Note taking might not work for all the sections, but for REG I found it essential since there are a lot of minor details. Watch the lecture while taking notes, re read your notes then slam the Becker MCQs. Do that for all the chapters. Then, the biggest most important thing, BUY THE WILEY TEST BANK!! I think it's only about 80 bucks, but you NEED new questions. You've seen Becker's questions 934092384 times, the Wiley test bank is KEY. I am serious, you will be able to dominate this exam if you have some extra practice questions. The third thing I did differently is I rewrote my notes. With the notes, don't go loco on taking notes. I've seen people take 20+ pages for each chapter. You've taken REG 3 times, you do not need a thick stack of notes. 3-5 pages front and page per chapter is great. If you just have 2 1/2 pages for a smaller chapter, I would think that's okay too. Good luck!! Let me know if you have any other questions. REG was my biggest beast out of these exams! It took me almost 11 months to pass my first section, I can completely relate to how you feel.

AUD 81 (X4) Previous scores 59, 72, 72
REG 80 (X3) Previous scores 59, 60
FAR 75 (X2) Previous score 67
BEC 79 (X2) Previous score 58

[Anonymous]

LOL – I know I totally did! 😛 We have a study group in the office with a lot of young, fresh outta' college folk and a group of people who are 30+ and still trying – and we call ourselves the farts. One of the test takers is much older than I am. I hope she's not reading this post.. Age aside, many congrats for passing your exam Peanut! This is very exciting. I read your posts here and you definitely encouraged me to keep on going.

Just received the score detail in the email this morning and it looked like I bombed the SIMs as most the sections just said “comparable”, including MCQ. But that's obviously not comforting since everything was just “comparable” except Ethics section. I was surprised to find that “federal tax process” was found weak. I guess this is the ancillaries that I might not have read carefully enough. (and definitely did not have any notes / notecards created)

I totally agree that I need to go get Wiley test bank pronto. I just peeked at the MCQ's for Becker for chapter 1 and I really didn't even have to read any questions to think what the answers are.

Now, watch the lectures AGAIN…! UGHHHH… The thought of watching Gearty is dreadful! To be honest I have not watched any of the lectures since the exam 1. I've been going back to the books and making notes / notecards. At this point I should go right back to the beginning – and one thing about taking notes is that it definitely keeps you awake throughout the lecture.

Thank you so much for your advice! And I am soooo happy for you Peanut! I hope someday I can say the same – I'm done!

[Mikey89]

Yaegar all the way! Phil is too funny.

Reg 4/18/12 78
Far 7/30/12 74, 74, 75
Bec 11/11/12 74, 78
Aud TBD 51, 71, XX

[Anonymous]

I failed REG twice before finally passing it the 3rd try. Becker is def. enough and I used 2011 version to pass it in 2012. I believe key to passing (at least for me) was to read the text 2-3 times, work all the MCQs/SIMs at least 2-3 times, if not more. I supplemented with Wiley testbank and that was a life saver…Becker is def. enough, but I believe Wiley MCQs were very helpful. Due to time crunch, I only did tax related MCQs/SIMs and I thought that was sufficient. Becker did a great job with blaw and didn't require supplements (for me).

Also, read the ethics/legal responsibility section at least twice. It's listed as ancillary material in 2011 version. It's pretty basic once you read it couple times and it'll def. help you on the exam day.

Lastly, make sure to use research tab on SIMs that you aren't familiar with.

Keep at it, REG is hard but def. doable. Good Luck!!

[Anonymous]

I feel like a lot of people rely too much on just doing problems and rereading over and over again. Sure, you'll probably eventually get there if you end up doing thousands upon thousands of problems and rereading the book multiple times, but you know what? That's extremely inefficient. It's way more efficient and effective (in terms of being able to pass with a good margin) to sit down from the beginning, memorize, and learn everything that could be tested including the smaller details the first time around even before you start the multiple choice. And, while it is a lot of effort to do that, it really doesn't take THAT long to do. I'm able to watch a lecture, reread/make note cards, learn/memorize those notecards, and finish all of the homework/simulations for the chapter in 1 full study day (=8 hours of studying). Then, right before, the test I just have to do a quick review and refresh myself on the questions I struggled with initially which only takes 2 days before the test, and I'm ready to go.

[Anonymous]

REG was my nightmare child. I switched review courses. I worked problems until I had them all memorized. What finally put me over the edge was the NINJA audio. You have to find out how you learn. Everyone is different. Take a learning style inventory test online and find out what works for you. I have to hear it to learn it. I think my final score in REG can stand as a testament to this. I listened to Jeff about 7 times from beginning to end. I constantly had my headphones in. It worked for REG and I'm hoping it will do the same for BEC. Good Luck to you!

[Anonymous]

@cardinalhoya..do you work or just study?

[lrj]

CPAWant2be,

Good luck!

Ultimately, I think the key to studying for this is not getting discouraged. The material can be dry, you're always going to be spending most of your time studying whatever areas you're weakest in, and there's a lot of pressure. So having some variety helps–some reading, some lectures, some sims, some MCQs, switching up the subject matter from day to day, anything to lighten the monotony.

FAR 92 1/3/12
AUD 93 2/2/12
BEC 89 2/28/12
REG 86 7/16/12

Waiting on REG

[Anonymous]

Thanks for this post! I got really helpful tips.

I am gona try peanut’s strategy! thanks peanut and congratulations. You have DONE IT!! Finally you are free from CPA jail!

Go & enjoy the freedom !!

[Author]

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