[thebalticnations2013]

Blog Post:

https://thebalticnations2013.blogspot.tw/2015/09/aicpa.html

I used Becker as my study material and Wiley Focus Notes as supplementary. The preparation method for the four sections were similar. First, I went through the material by listening to the courses and taking few notes. By doing so, I could get a big picture of the exam and then I directly start doing the practice questions. After all, the courses included too much information and it was sometimes difficult to filter the main points. After finish doing the questions, I went through the reading materials to review the main points found when doing the practice questions. After reading through the materials, I did the practice questions again. I paid special attention to those questions done wrong in the first time so I could clarify the concepts I had misunderstood. By doing all the practice questions twice, I was familiar with all the materials. Then, I did the Becker final review and the final exams. In my opinion, Focus Notes were easy to carry around and they were more informative than Becker flash cards.

FAR 95

FAR was the first section I took. I spent 1.5 months preparing while doing school at the same time. Since my major was accounting, the topics in FAR were relatively familiar. Note that government and NPO accounting accounts for up to 20% of the questions in the exam, but most students have not taken related courses. I took government and NPO accounting in my masters program which made my study for the CPA less stressful. Among the four sections of the exam, FAR is the section that Becker gets the best grasp of. The MCQs and SIMs in Becker were really similar to those in the real exam. However, the real exam has less complex calculations. Thus, if you can score a pass score in Becker, you will likely pass the real exam.

BEC 94

BEC was the second section I took. This is the section that many say is easy. Some even say two week preparation would be enough. I studied for 27 days, half of which I studied full time. The BEC section includes topics that range from economics to IT. The nice part of BEC is that there were no SIMs. Instead, there was a 15% writing part. The economic part of BEC was basic and was not a problem since I had taken economics courses. The calculations were related to cost accounting and financial management. Compared to Becker, calculations in the real exam was also relatively easy. The formulas mentioned in Becker were sufficient to answer the questions in the real exam. The hard part was IT. IT included a wide range of topics that Becker couldn’t even cover. I just memorized the points mentioned in Becker and simply guessed through the questions that I haven’t seen before.

REG 91

I went to Europe for summer school while studying REG so it took me 2 whole months to prepare. According to many who have gone through the four sections, REG is the hardest one. REG covers tax law, business law and ethics. Since I took all three courses in my masters program, I originally thought REG was fine. However, after taking the exam, I found myself totally wrong. The uncertainty of whether I would pass made me anxious for the whole week before score release. Do not underestimate REG! The exam went to every detail in the regulations. At first glance of the questions, I knew what topic it was trying to test me. However, there were many twists in the concepts which made it difficult to choose an answer. The SIMs were super detail orientated and much harder than those in Becker. I was looking up the authoritative literature til the last minute. I recommend that candidates go through Internal Revenue Code and AICPA Professional Standards while studying so that you won’t spend a lot of time looking up information during the exam. Also, pay special attention to ethics since it consists of a significant proportion of the exam and the ethics MCQ choices could be really misleading.

AUD 92

Audit is the last section I took and my preparation time was one month, half of which I studied full time. Since I took AUD after REG, preparation was less stressful. I originally thought I have forgotten those audit concepts learned in my junior year in college. After studying for the CPA exam, I found out that I still had some impression of what audit was about. Compared to some portion of business law, which I studied for the first time, AUD was much easy to comprehend. Studying Becker would be sufficient to pass AUD. Note that AUD is based on FAR, so it is highly recommended to take AUD after FAR.

[FutureCPA8]

This was tremendously helpful.

I recently failed FAR and was so distraught I took a sick day from work (don't judge me, you have to understand I clearly truly want the CPA…I am also a 22 year old woman. Psychologically, my emotional side of me isn't helping my current situation. It could also be the tax season stress since I have lately been working 6-7 days a week, but who knows.

Thank you. I'm going to keep trying.

FAR - 01/30/2016 - 57,
REG - 02/27/2016 - ?
BEC - 04/30/2016 - ?
AUD - 05/28/2016 - ?

[Anonymous]

so which baltic nation r u from? latvia, lithuania, & estonia are all wonderful. congrats on passing the CPA Exam.

[Tncincy]

Congrats on passing….Many of us are waiting to say the same. So since you have passed keep your fingers crossed for the rest of us. I like the scenarios you have provided, Thank you for sharing.

It begins with a 75
Been here too long as a cheerleader....ready to pass

[thebalticnations2013]

Thank you for all the positive replies. It may be difficult to study for exam while working or doing school, and especially it is busy season now. Hope these tips help!
BTW I am not from the Baltic nations but rather from Taiwan. I named my username thebalticnations2013 because I traveled there in 2013 and fell in love with those places haha.

[Author]

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