[rahee]

Hi guys, I need some advice. What is the best way to study for reg for someone who has no tax experience? I really want to pass in 2018, and am planning to take it in Dec. I work full time, and I know things are going to get busy starting October. Currently I have Becker and NINJA.

My question is what is the best strategy to get through the material? I have “restarted” studying a few times now, ie. I get up until Chapter 2, realize I dont understand anything, and then go back to Chapter 1 and redo. I am obviously not progressing by doing this. How can I retain information?

Any advice on strategy and time management is appreciated. Thanks!!

[Anonymous]

Do 2 chapters per week. Read a module and then do the module’s MCQs. Then move on to the next module. Don’t get caught up with any one MCQ. Becker MCQs were harder than the exam IMO.

At the end of the week do a brief review of the 2 chapters and redo about 10 MCQs per module for review. Make sure to note problem areas to come back to at the end of each week.

On the way to work listen to lectures or skills lectures for any non-calculation sections. I found the last 2 Becker chapter’s skill lecture were a productive and efficient listen that probably helped me with Ethics and BL MCQs.

I did the sims for the first 6 chapters after I had been through all the material. Plus make sure you do the AICPA practice exam Sims. This is a must.

[murano]

Farhat Accounting Lectures
I watched his video and it's free. It's really helpful.

[cpa1234]

I took reg after my first tax season, but the only thing tax season helped me with was being familiar with what was on every schedule, since I was looking at the schedules all the time. Without becker I wouldn't have know 95% of what was on the exam. I studied 6 weeks while working full time but normal hours (40 a week). It's 8 chapters in becker. I finished all the material after 5 weeks then did a lot of review and sims the last week. I was doing about 2 hours during the week, and 8/10 hours during the weekend.

For me, I watched the lectures and wrote lots of my own notes and did the MCQ for each module, the skills practice never helped me. I just powered through to see all the material at least once. Don't get too hung up on understanding everything 100% the first time. Some information sticks more than others. When I finally got through all the material once, I went back and did all the pre-tests. If I scored well (75%+) or completely understood why I got things wrong I moved on. If I didn't score well on the pretest I went back to my notes and reviewed them well. So after doing all the module pre-tests and my second reviews of the modules I didn't know, I did lots of progress tests over and over again. I didn't do the mock exams, I'm sure others have said it on the forum before that they sometimes create fear instead of confidence. And I did all the sims during the last week of review because it was like a third review of all the information, but also great simulation practice. I passed first try so it definitely worked for me. Maybe it will for you too! Cause I really had no confidence in tax at all. Thought this would be my hardest one.

[rahee]

Thanks guys!! So when you guys studied, did you write your own notes? Or did you make additional notes in the book? I feel like I'm wasting a lot of time rewriting numbers/phase out amounts that will change depending on the year, but I'm not sure how else to make sense of the concepts. Does this make sense? One of my coworkers said that he didnt read the book at all and only did multiple choice and that was enough for him to pass. Should I focus more on note taking/theory or should I focus more on doing as many multiple choice questions for application? TIA!

[cottonkandi]

I have 3 years of tax experience and studied for the test for 14 days. I looked at the forum and I observed what people focused on during their studies, 1) Property transactions; 2) Basis of every kind, including liquidating and nonliquidating distributions; 3) Entities C-Corps, S-Corps, and Partnerships.

All I can say is for 1040, look at the form see where everything goes and know how taxable income is determined. For entities, I basically knew what the income (separately and nonseparately) and deductions and how basis is determined. For property transactions I looked at the basis calcs for every kind of transaction, including items under exclusion. I reviewed all the entities and then one day I took time and reviewed how basis works for each type of entity, knew how they are the same and how they are different. Knew the difference between liquidating and nonliquidating. Knew what kind of income is report through pass-throughs. Look at K-1's for partnerships and S-corps. Know the elections and how liabilities affect basis. For example, liabilities does not get added to basis in S-corp where as it is added to Partnership's basis. Knew the at risk basis for S-Corps and partnerships. Knew the difference between inside and outside basis. Studied built-in-gains. Knew how property distribution affects basis, it's treated differently for each type of entity. I have to say the Ninja Blitz videos helped me reinforce alot of these details after I learned them from the Becker book. I only did Ninja MCQ's and Supplemented with Becker MCQ's. For the tax, I was trending around 75% – 90% and I only had time to do the MCQ's once. For two days before I took the exam, I only did SIMs from Ninja.

My score is probably a reflection of the fact that I didn't study BLAW, ethics, or estate/trust entities because I didn't have time to cover them. I just skim through some areas like agencies, contracts, and bankruptcy and did a little bit of MCQ's.

I took the test on a whim that I might pass with little study based on my tax experience. I'm glad that I followed my intuition.

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Hi @Rahee, I made notes and did lots of multiple choice when I was studying for REG. I would try to go through 2 chapters a week, and leave yourself a week and a half to 2 weeks to review well. It's ok to not grasp every detail the first time around- that's what the review stage is for. If you have questions, post them in the REG study group, and I'll answer as many as I can. Good luck.

[Author]

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