[Martin]

A little background info. I’m a very average student (3.0 GPA) and I finished college 13 years ago, I struggled a lot to pass FAR, and Im taking Audit for the second time before the cutoff. I got a 72 on my first try. The only knowledge I have for either REG or BEC comes from reading books 13 years ago, so they are equally foreign to me. I only have private accounting experience and I pay someone to do my taxes. If you were in my shoes, and you have 50 days to prepare full time, which of the 2 would you take?

Through God all things can happen!

“You never fail until you stop trying.”
― Albert Einstein
When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people;as I grow older, I admire kind people.
“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”

FAR= 72-84
Audit= 73-82
BEC= 74-75
Reg=77

[Mamabear]

What is your definition of “full-time”? The reason I am asking is because I read a post recently where someone said they were able to study full time but were only studying about 5 hours a day during the weekdays. That's only 25 hours a week and I studied 20 hours a week while holding down a full time job. If that is the case then I would shoot for BEC. It's not that REG isn't doable during that time frame, but it is a lot of material with all the different sections. If you are talking about full time as in treating it like a job and putting in 40 hours a week of studying then I would definitely take REG. That is more than enough time to prepare and destroy REG. The only advice I have if you are talking about treating it like a job is that you may get burnt out. Don't forget to take breaks like you probably would at a real job. It's easy to get into the groove and forget to get up and take 15 minutes to clear your head. Studying can be more intense than working because there are so many interruptions during a regular work day (taking a phone call, answering someone's question, responding to an email) that you may not have while studying. Don't worry about the “average student” thing. You've passed FAR. You can pass the rest of them. Good luck!

CPA Exam - Finally DONE (November 2014)
BEC (08/10/13) 80
AUD (08/24/13) 65 (11/13/13) 85
FAR (04/12/14) 81
REG (07/19/14) 69 (11/29/14) 87!!

[Martin]

Mamabear, thanks for responding. I will treat it like a full time job, but Im not the fastest shooter in the west. I'm a very slow learner,so I guess I should go for BEC.

Through God all things can happen!

“You never fail until you stop trying.”
― Albert Einstein
When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people;as I grow older, I admire kind people.
“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”

FAR= 72-84
Audit= 73-82
BEC= 74-75
Reg=77

[Mamabear]

I wouldn't count REG out. If you treat it like a job and put in 40 hours a week for 6 weeks that is 240 hours. How many hours did you put in for FAR? I had to study a lot of topics and points over and over until I got them, but I still got them in under 240 hours. I was a good student in school (the second time around), but these tests are so different. School is so detail oriented and this test is more broad. You won't have to know every JE, but make sure you know the important ones…kind of thing. I hope that made sense.

CPA Exam - Finally DONE (November 2014)
BEC (08/10/13) 80
AUD (08/24/13) 65 (11/13/13) 85
FAR (04/12/14) 81
REG (07/19/14) 69 (11/29/14) 87!!

[Anonymous]

i did REG full time recently in a month, but I guess a big difference for me was that I have taken a couple of tax classes in my life and I was surprised with how much I have retained from those classes. Also, I have interned in tax at the big 4 and recognized almost every form that showed up in my material. I think its doable if you study every day and like mamabear says treat it like a job. You will probably go a little crazy though like I did, but thats when you know your studying is working.

[Martin]

I need a confidence boost. Far pretty much destroyed my confidence,and Audit just made me feel like I have a learning disability,and Im not even done with Audit. I know REG is doable, but I just wanted to see which of the two required less time to prepare. I cant sustain more failures, and I dont have that many weeks to prepare. Thank you guys!

Through God all things can happen!

“You never fail until you stop trying.”
― Albert Einstein
When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people;as I grow older, I admire kind people.
“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”

FAR= 72-84
Audit= 73-82
BEC= 74-75
Reg=77

[Anonymous]

Hi Martin – I know Im a little late responding to this question but Im currently studying for BEC and the material is the worst of all the other parts. I think that REG would be more doable than BEC but I guess that would depend on the subjects you like. Anyways, did you decide which one you are doing next?

[Dantrick]

Which did you choose? I would have chosen BEC.

[Author]

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