[Abby]

Hey everyone,

I am scheduled to take BEC next Friday the 9th. I have had my Becker study materials since last August and I have been studying off and on. I also have the Ninja assault package. I work at a small CPA firm in the Midwest and I am the only full time staff in our office working on the partnership, corporations, etc returns. I am under a lot of stress with the mandatory 55 hour minimum per week while also trying to finish wedding planning for my wedding on June 23 and honeymoon the week after!

I have little faith in my ability to pass BEC as I have not gotten through the videos or MCQ’s for B5 or B6 and one of those sections is the IT section. I have been reading the Ninja book on that topic though. My plan for now is to just take BEC before my NTS expires on March 25th then reapply for BEC after the score release on March 20th. I will retake BEC right away the end of April if I fail then try to take AUD the beginning of June. Should I then schedule REG for September 10th and FAR for December 10th?

I want to get the exams done this year so I can hopefully get a significant raise January 2019, gotta pay off the wedding somehow! lol. I did just graduate in August 2017 with my MBA so the topics covered in BEC are all still fairly familiar. I spend a majority of my job doing audits so I am not super worried about that exam either. Any and all advice on how to study, when to schedule exams, etc. would be greatly appreciated!!

[Recked]

No offense but it sounds to me like you piled a little too much on your plate.
I could not imagine trying to work 55 hours a week, PLUS studying for the CPA, PLUS planning a wedding.
Sounds like a recipe for 3 mediocre outcomes trying to do them all at once.

[Abby]

No offense taken Recked! Should I just take the rest of tax season off from studying and pick back up after April 17th?

[Recked]

If your NTS expires anyway there is no reason not to take the exam. You might get lucky.
I would try to do an hour or hour and a half a day. Maybe one hour before work, then 30 minutes at lunch until your exam. Take the rest of tax season off.
I would study and sit for FAR from April 16- June 20th.
Do your wedding and honeymoon, and then see where you are at when you get back.

FAR should be #1 as it has the most possibility to ruin your life.

[Bourne]

Call off the wedding and honeymoon. Don't get tied down

[Recked]

LMAO! So much truth from Bourne today!
I can't use the same image 2 posts in a row, but I really want to.

[Abby]

That sounds like a good plan, Recked! Thanks for your advice. I want to pay for my NTS for the exams I plan to take in the next 6 months so I can save the $75 application fee. Are you saying I should only focus on passing BEC before the wedding then worry about the rest July and afterward once I get back from the honeymoon? So you don't think I will start to forget things I learned in undergrad and my MBA if I don't try to study and get this exam done asap.

Also, which review course did you use and did you watch the videos then answer questions or read the book/watch videos then do all the mcq's at the end? I feel like maybe it's taking me so long to study because I am watching the videos/taking my own notes by hand then attempting the MCQ's in Becker. Is this a bad approach?

[Recked]

I would sit for BEC before March 10th, and then sit for FAR before you wedding.
Something is going to have to lose in your equation. I would study at work if I were you, or before work. Make sure your studies take priority over work, your best alert hours should be invested in you, not making your boss money. Tax season you have to grind the taxes or you'll lose your job, but the rest of the year you should be able to get away with some slacking at work.

Remember you have score release delays the rest of 2018.
April 16th – June 9th study for FAR and sit June 10th right before your wedding.
You will get scores for FAR at the end of June anyway.

I was out of school 15 years, so forgetting what you learned is an under statement.
For FAR I did the correct study method, watched the video, skimmed the book, did the MCQs, moved on to the next chapter.
AUD I did in 3 weeks by watching all the videos with limited notes, that took about a week, and then I spent 2 weeks doing 1000 MCQs and the Sample AICPA exams.
REG I casually watched the videos waiting for FAR and AUD score release. On the 19th of Dec I got passing scores for both and then went full bore on REG for the next 4 weeks. Again I watched all the videos, then did massive amounts of MCQs and the AICPA sample tests.
BEC was a 4 week frenzy, again, watched all the videos, then hammered MCQs and AICPA sample.
I recommend cramming/stuffing all the videos as fast as possible, except for FAR, because FAR is just a beast.

[Go.For.Broke]

@Abby it does indeed sound like a lot is going on with ya! It's good that you're planning and thinking through it all with intentionality.

I think others have helped you well. All I want to add at this time is that I think it'd be good to take a month or so off from studying after you get married, to spend time really getting to know your spouse better and “learning” how to be married to one another. It's a very special time. If you can take a few weeks to focus on that, and then jump back into studying and still take a section on Sept 10th (I think you said), that's great!

Best of luck to you.

[Author]

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