[Jacquelyn]

I lost credit in REG and my rematch for it starts tomorrow, now that I just found out I passed FAR. When I passed REG the first time, I was fresh out of graduate level tax class and wasn’t working full time. Now, I haven’t looked at tax/law in 21 months, and work an accounting job full time.

Is Becker the best for REG? How about Gleim? I have used both in the past, but want opinions from you. Thanks!

B 71, 74, 84*
A 74, 72, 69, 74, 87*
R 80* ... lost credit... 82* done forever!!!
F 68, 68, 74, 78*

Yep, I've gotten five 74's! Wah!

[RGlazier12]

I can't speak to any material other than Becker, however, I just passed REG on my first shot through exclusively using Becker. I'm fresh out of school (graduated Spring of 2012 and went to graduate school for Summer through Christmas to earn my last couple of credits to be CPA eligible), and I'm currently waiting for my start date to come up this summer to start in public accounting, so I've been pretty much exclusively studying day in and day out (about 5 hours a day).

All that said, I got way off schedule with REG, and really pounded through the last three chapters with less than three days until my exam appointment. I did well in school in Tax, but I'm more of an Audit guy, and will be going into that section of the field, so studying for Tax was extremely tough because I found it so boring. HOWEVER, I do think Becker's materials are outstanding, and really hit hard on the topics that showed up on the test repeatedly. I did think that Becker's simulations were either overly simple, or in other cases, far too complex, but in the end you cannot beat the PassMaster MC questions in the Becker materials. I did roughly 100+ MC a day on average, and felt confident going into the test, even given the fact that I basically blew off three chapters worth of material by skimming it.

Again, I have limited experience so far testing, however I'm for 2 for 2 using Becker, and thought I crushed AUD, and felt confident enough in REG to not worry a terrible amount. You cannot go wrong with Becker in my opinion.

Good luck!

CPA Candidate - Becker In-Class Study

AUD - January 10th, 2013 - PASSED 95
REG - February 28th, 2013 - PASSED 81
BEC - April 11th, 2013 - PASSED 85
FAR - May 30th, 2013 - PASSED 85
ETHICS - May 2013 - PASSED 95

[Jacquelyn]

@RGlazier12 thanks! Dang great job on audit!! I felt I crushed it too… but after many attempts though 🙂

Did you feel the MC question wording by Becker was similar to exam? And mc depth was equivalent?

I think I better bite the financial bullet and just buy the $1,100 Becker materials. Thanks again and best of luck for you.

B 71, 74, 84*
A 74, 72, 69, 74, 87*
R 80* ... lost credit... 82* done forever!!!
F 68, 68, 74, 78*

Yep, I've gotten five 74's! Wah!

[SammyJ]

I think Becker overall is the most reliable source, although it may not be most cost effective. However in your case, since you are right there, I would just find a way to get the Becker books and play it safe. I think I remember you posting something like a month or two back! Congratz on passing FAR, I knew you could do it! If I remember my post on your thread, I told you that REG is your test. Everyone has one exam where they just excel in. REG is that exam for you. So you do your thang and knock it out and cross that finish line.

FAR-81!!
AUD-69, Retake: 84!!
REG-86!!
BEC-81!!
Education- Done
Ethics- August 2013
Experience- 7 Months of CPA Experience and counting!

[Jacquelyn]

@sammyj

Yes!! I remember that post! It was so inspirational, as I was at VERY LOW moment about my cpa future. Thank you kindly for it, and for your Becker opinion. I am going to order the materials and just deal with the credit card bill slowly. It will be worth it. How is your cpa battle coming along?

B 71, 74, 84*
A 74, 72, 69, 74, 87*
R 80* ... lost credit... 82* done forever!!!
F 68, 68, 74, 78*

Yep, I've gotten five 74's! Wah!

[RGlazier12]

@Jacquelyn

I think in general Becker tends to go above and beyond the complexity of questions you will see on the exam, and I definitely think that was the case with REG. There were a number of Becker questions I can remember being confused about what the line of questioning even was, and I think an instance like that on REG is few and far between, but you never know with tax related questioning, since there's always another way of saying or terming something it seems like in the tax code, etc.

I definitely would just bite the bullet, and hit the Becker materials hard. I see that you are on your last section, so I think in your situation it would be best to over prepare and kill the thing.

Again, best of luck!

CPA Candidate - Becker In-Class Study

AUD - January 10th, 2013 - PASSED 95
REG - February 28th, 2013 - PASSED 81
BEC - April 11th, 2013 - PASSED 85
FAR - May 30th, 2013 - PASSED 85
ETHICS - May 2013 - PASSED 95

[Anonymous]

Jacquelyn: if you used Beckers before and have your login i would order it online because i ordered my reg through becker website and it gave me a return student discount 50% off even tho its the first time i ordered REG

[neika822]

@Jacquelyn

I replied to your post in the other thread. I'm really bad with tax, and I passed Reg last quarter (by a teensy margin). But I used Becker and supplemented with NINJA and Wiley. I think if you use what you have and supplement with at least Wiley (to see new questions), you should be fine! You seemed to do really well with Reg the first time around! Good luck!!

R - *77*(02/'13)-Becker & NINJA
A - 71('11); *87*(04/'13)-Becker & NINJA
F - *76*(08/'13)-Becker & NINJA - "server upgrade" survivor
B - 60('11); *82*(10/'13) -Becker & NINA

DONE, DONE, AND DONE.

CPA in Massachusetts; issued 01/24/14

[MustPass1988]

Personally, I don't recommend Becker for REG, but it really depends on your learning style. For me, a lot of the concepts in REG were very foreign- I have never taken a corporate tax class and took business law my sophomore year of college

(I graduated 2 years ago). So for me, I needed a course that actually explained the concepts and Becker doesn't do that- I would say if you have a decent handle on the concepts and are good at teaching yourself, then Becker is probably the way to go. If you want a review course that doesn't focus as much on highlighting parts of your book but actually teaching you the material and making it applicable, I would highly recommend Rogers. I used Becker for REG the first time around and got a 53. I then bought Rogers, restudied and retook it, and scored an 83. I also supplemented with Wiley focus notes & Ninja audio but I really think what helped me was that Rogers made the material much more manageable (instead of 7, 120 pg chapters, Rogers has about 23, 20 pg chapters). His lectures are entertaining and since the chapters are shorter, the lectures are much shorter than Beckers (4 hrs vs. 45 min) and he does a very good job at explaining concepts.

AUD: PASSED [81]; Expired, retaking August 23rd
BEC: PASSED [83]; Expired, retaking July 11th
REG: PASSED [83]
FAR: FAILED [64]; Retaking May 23rd

[NJ-NH]

I used Yaeger – Phil is really boring, but I guess his help, my study technique of writing notes and doing MCQs and reviewing my notes many times helped. Just took REG in February and I left Prometric feeling good. Got nervous about that bec many fail when they feel good but turns out I scored 85. I had two friends who used Becker, both failed REG the first time and passed the second time around. I know many (most?) people use Becker and do well, so you're probably safe with them especially if you're used to their style.

FAR -2/12 82
AUD -8/12 84
REG -2/13 85
BEC -5/13 86

[kwin]

I used Gleim for all 4 of my sessions and I like it alot. Reg was my first exam and i passed it using Gleim. I like it because 1) it was wayy cheaper and 2) it has alot of practice questions.

Since you had already passed it once, i would say just do as many MCs as you can daily to refresh your memories. Oh, and don't forget your Simulations either!

REG-76
BEC-81
AUD-79
FAR-70, 72, 81

You haven't failed until you give up

[Lisa]

I always used multiple sources to study for each section. But for REG, Becker put the topics together best for me, in terms of their on-line (video) classes. For example, the CARES, SUPORT mnemonic really clarified and strengthened my understanding of dependency exemptions. Also, for the law portion, Peter was very good at explaining how to tackle those complex questions, while both Wiley and Gleim went through this topics throughly, they did not integrate the material in a way that helped me to understand those complex problems….Now having stated the above, I find the MC's and SIMS in the WIley and Gleim books to better prepare me for the actual exam. Good luck to you!!

AUD 8/04/11: 78
BEC 1/9/12: 73, 4/04/12: 80
FAR 10/25/12: 80
REG 02/25/13: 79
Ethics 100%
VA License Issued 3/2013

[Goods]

I think Becker did a decent job preparing me for REG. However, if you have the extra money I'd recommend picking up the Wiley Test Bank and Jeff's Ninja Audio/Notes. I've used Becker for FAR, AUD and REG but have supplemented with Wiley and Ninja Audio. While Becker's MC test bank is pretty legit it doesn't have near the breadth of questions as Wiley. Having failed FAR twice before I passed I realized that I needed to supplement Becker's review course. I'd rather spend the extra money than re-take a section because Becker didn't provide enough exposure to the material. My 2 cents.

FAR - 72, 69, 88 (Nov 2012)
AUD - 89 (Jan 2013)
REG - 85 (Feb 2013)
BEC - 83 (May 2013)
Ethics - Passed

Becker, Wiley TB, Ninja Audio

[SammyJ]

@ Jacquelyn

I found out my last score BEC was a 81! I'm done! Forever! Come join me! :p

FAR-81!!
AUD-69, Retake: 84!!
REG-86!!
BEC-81!!
Education- Done
Ethics- August 2013
Experience- 7 Months of CPA Experience and counting!

[Jacquelyn]

thank you everyone! I just placed my order for Becker. I have the 2011 version of GLEIM for REG and my notes from grad school that I think will help to supplement Becker. I will probably end up buying GLEIM for their online simulation wizard as well. That is what (I think) there me over the curve on all of my close-to-passing exams.Thanks and best of luck to everyone! A71 is such an amazing support system!

B 71, 74, 84*
A 74, 72, 69, 74, 87*
R 80* ... lost credit... 82* done forever!!!
F 68, 68, 74, 78*

Yep, I've gotten five 74's! Wah!

[Jacquelyn]

@SammyJ

CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ahhh that is AMAZING news!!! You should be so proud!!! Yes, I am going to join you here in a few months 🙂

B 71, 74, 84*
A 74, 72, 69, 74, 87*
R 80* ... lost credit... 82* done forever!!!
F 68, 68, 74, 78*

Yep, I've gotten five 74's! Wah!

[Author]

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