[Anonymous]

Just curious what other candidates think. Thus far BEC has been the most variable for me – super easy topics (economics & some finance) to hard subjects (Cost and IT). However, I have not taken or started studying for REG, so I was curious what others think. Thanks!

[Iceman6]

In my opinion it was BEC, mostly because I spent 80% of my time doing MCQ. Hammering every topic until my eyes bled. Also, cost accounting is the worst. I failed then first time and had stronger WC so the next time I did even more MCQ. It's good you're knocking it out before the changes though

I'm in tax so REG felt a little easier due to that

[SomeSomeCPA]

REG by far, no pun intended. You can pass BEC in 2 weeks by hammering MCQ and having a good formula cheat sheet on exam day. No way you're doing that with REG with the amount of Taxation and BLaw to memorize, unless like the poster above you work in tax.

FAR: 39,59,TBD
BEC: 74,79
AUD: 77
REG: September

[RE2PECT]

Depends what you mean by “worse”. I hated studying for BEC more than any other exam. I sucked at cost accounting and all the problems where you had to solve for “x” because it had been over 10 years since I took a math class. I felt my first two attempts were focused more on a particular topic and the questions I got weren't even covered in my review courses. Make sure you don't overlook the WC. Both times I failed was because I was weaker on it. You don't have to practice them, but go over a few examples to get your format down. The one good thing, like others have said, is that you can study for it a lot quicker than every other exam.

REG on the other hand, was my favorite exam to study for since you can relate to a lot of it in real life. There's just so much information and memorization that it can be overwhelming at first. The sims are also harder than FAR or AUD in my opinion. There's no drop downs and you have to enter all your calculations manually. Business law is a pain too. There's way too much information to cover for only 20% of your score, but you can't overlook it because you'll probably get a bunch of mcq's.

FAR: 75 Roger & Ninja (notes/flashcards/audio/MCQ)
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, retake 8/29
REG:

[Anonymous]

BEC seems to have been more of a pain in the butt. It was all over the place and no real method to the madness. It was one of those exams you don't want to leave any stone unturned.

REG on the other hand I am studying for now. I have always been intimidated when I would finally have to study and take this part of the exam. I am coming to find it is mostly memorization and pattern recognition for the most part. Many questions are repeats of themselves and not very tricky if you know what to look for. With that said, I am taking this part of the exam in a little over a week and am definitely crunched for time. It's a lot of material I wish I could take more time to study for given how relevant it is to learn and be knowledgeable about.

[slackergurl]

REG was definitely more difficult for me. I passed it last August and have made it known that if I don't pass FAR this year, I'm quitting because I will NEVER take another REG exam.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all of your feedback guys. Yes, BEC has probably been the strangest to study for due to the randomness of the material. And, I too am not a huge fan of cost accounting, although I have gotten much better at it. It's still a pain in the ass and burns me out after rolling through hundreds of Cost questions! But, economics was stupid easy for me.

I believe REG will have more material to study but, less complicated computations. Personally, I did not find my Federal Income Tax 1 class to be that difficult while in undergrad. But, Federal Tax 2 (Corporations etc) was much much much harder. And, I am positive the CPA Exam will cover areas of Tax that i have not covered yet.

Anyhow, Goodluck to everyone. These Exams are Brutal, but seem passable if you study your butt off in an efficient manner. I think passing FAR on my first attempt made me overconident. Now, I am back to reality!!

“There is NO such thing as an “Easy” section of the CPA Exam.” At least that's my experience thus far!!✌️

[Author]

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