[Boate]

I’m basing my study preparation and alotment of time based off of the amount of MCQ per section and the outline Becker provides. Per Becker the outline states that 65% of the exam will cover individual, corp. S-corp, and partnership tax (Chapt. 1-4), 17% is ethics and professional legal responsibilities (Chap. 5) and the last 18% is covered in the final 3 chapters and is business law. I’ve been spending an abnormally amount of time on chapters 1 and 2 for individual tax and according to Becker, I’m a week behind in my review, is this ok to spend much more time on the first 4 chapters than the final 4. Obviously I will study those chapters but the topics and phase outs and the exceptions to the exceptions are just so much that I’m nervous I won’t be able to finish my studies and be well prepared for my exam on the 28th. Any study suggestions? I’ve already worked the MCQ and I don’t want to continuously work them because I’ll memorize the answers so I’ve just been rereading my notes and now re-writing. I’m hoping that Sat. and Sun. I’ll be able to get a good grasp on Chapt. 3 but who knows with the difficulties I’ve run into with just Individual taxation.

Here we go Again

AUD: (65)(66) 77
REG: (66) (48) destroyed me mentally.....
FAR: (68) (66)(69)(71)
BEC: (63) 75

"Greatness is not some precious thing, it is no more unique to us than breathing. We are ALL capable of it."

[Tasia]

If I were you, I'd focus more on the first 5 chapters since chapter 5 is also very important (17%), not just the first 4. That's what I did. I should have spent more time studying in general (hence my 73), but I felt prepared knowing the material in the first 5.

Also, I basically never practiced any sims and I scored comparable in those on my fail report. The only ones I did practice were a few of were the research ones to make sure I knew the ropes of how to search out answers in the research tab.

Basically, if you are very familiar with the first 5 and still pretty familiar with the last 3 chapters (know mostly the main topics from these chapters and they should be easy points), then you will be fine. And as long as you know the material and can answer MCQs, you should be able to apply that knowledge to the sims without having to spend a huge amount of time (if any) practicing sims. My advice is pound MCQs and material from the first 5 chapters, don't really worry about the sims, and still go over the last 3 chapters on a regular basis and do a decent amount of MCQs to be familiar with those topics as well.

Again, this is just what I did, and you may not want to take my advice since I only got a 73, but any advice helps!

BEC - 78 (8/30/13)
REG - 73 (1/31/14) - 76 (4/7/14)
***GETTING MARRIED 7/19/14***
FAR - after the wedding
AUD - also after the wedding

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11

[Tasia]

If I were you, I'd focus more on the first 5 chapters since chapter 5 is also very important (17%), not just the first 4. That's what I did. I should have spent more time studying in general (hence my 73), but I felt prepared knowing the material in the first 5.

Also, I basically never practiced any sims and I scored comparable in those on my fail report. The only ones I did practice were a few of were the research ones to make sure I knew the ropes of how to search out answers in the research tab.

Basically, if you are very familiar with the first 5 and still pretty familiar with the last 3 chapters (know mostly the main topics from these chapters and they should be easy points), then you will be fine. And as long as you know the material and can answer MCQs, you should be able to apply that knowledge to the sims without having to spend a huge amount of time (if any) practicing sims. My advice is pound MCQs and material from the first 5 chapters, don't really worry about the sims, and still go over the last 3 chapters on a regular basis and do a decent amount of MCQs to be familiar with those topics as well.

Again, this is just what I did, and you may not want to take my advice since I only got a 73, but any advice helps!

BEC - 78 (8/30/13)
REG - 73 (1/31/14) - 76 (4/7/14)
***GETTING MARRIED 7/19/14***
FAR - after the wedding
AUD - also after the wedding

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11

[Boate]

All advice is welcome and a 73 is soooo close, you knew the stuff that's 1 MCQ. Must've been pretty rough starring at that 73 knowing you were so close!! I'm sure you'll nail it when you retake it! Thanks for the advice, I really neeeded it as I'm still trying to find the right study patterns since I failed AUD twice with essentially the same score =(

Here we go Again

AUD: (65)(66) 77
REG: (66) (48) destroyed me mentally.....
FAR: (68) (66)(69)(71)
BEC: (63) 75

"Greatness is not some precious thing, it is no more unique to us than breathing. We are ALL capable of it."

[Boate]

All advice is welcome and a 73 is soooo close, you knew the stuff that's 1 MCQ. Must've been pretty rough starring at that 73 knowing you were so close!! I'm sure you'll nail it when you retake it! Thanks for the advice, I really neeeded it as I'm still trying to find the right study patterns since I failed AUD twice with essentially the same score =(

Here we go Again

AUD: (65)(66) 77
REG: (66) (48) destroyed me mentally.....
FAR: (68) (66)(69)(71)
BEC: (63) 75

"Greatness is not some precious thing, it is no more unique to us than breathing. We are ALL capable of it."

[Tasia]

I think I am going to change up my study pattern after I retake REG on April 7. I am taking AUD on May 30, so I will have roughly 8 weeks for that section.

This is my plan for AUD studying with Becker: truck through an entire lecture one night, then scan through the notes I took that night before I go to bed no matter what (re-reading your notes after a lecture actually improves memory by 50%), then the following night, re-write some notes and go over the notes from the lecture the previous night again. The third day in the week, I will truck through another entire lecture, re-read through the lecture notes again before bed, then go over them again the following night. That's 4 days. On the 5th day (Friday night) I plan to go over both sets of notes again and incorporate my Ninja flashcards for those sections. On the 6th day (Saturday), more notes and MCQs from those sections all day. Then I typically give myself Sundays off. That should leave me with 3 to 4 weeks of solid review and MCQs. Maybe something like that would help you in retaking AUD again? Just a thought – that's what I plan on doing! 🙂

BEC - 78 (8/30/13)
REG - 73 (1/31/14) - 76 (4/7/14)
***GETTING MARRIED 7/19/14***
FAR - after the wedding
AUD - also after the wedding

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11

[Tasia]

I think I am going to change up my study pattern after I retake REG on April 7. I am taking AUD on May 30, so I will have roughly 8 weeks for that section.

This is my plan for AUD studying with Becker: truck through an entire lecture one night, then scan through the notes I took that night before I go to bed no matter what (re-reading your notes after a lecture actually improves memory by 50%), then the following night, re-write some notes and go over the notes from the lecture the previous night again. The third day in the week, I will truck through another entire lecture, re-read through the lecture notes again before bed, then go over them again the following night. That's 4 days. On the 5th day (Friday night) I plan to go over both sets of notes again and incorporate my Ninja flashcards for those sections. On the 6th day (Saturday), more notes and MCQs from those sections all day. Then I typically give myself Sundays off. That should leave me with 3 to 4 weeks of solid review and MCQs. Maybe something like that would help you in retaking AUD again? Just a thought – that's what I plan on doing! 🙂

BEC - 78 (8/30/13)
REG - 73 (1/31/14) - 76 (4/7/14)
***GETTING MARRIED 7/19/14***
FAR - after the wedding
AUD - also after the wedding

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11

[CPA soon]

@Justanothercandidate, Business law is about 40% of the exam. While I was solid on taxation, I failed because of doing poorly on business law. Don't expect to pass if you only focus on Tax, business law is on the exam for a reason.

FAR - 71, 68, 74, (8/31/14) 78 ✔
REG - 67, 71, 71, (10/18/14) 78 ✔
BEC - (11/29/14) 86 ✔
AUD - 73, (4/4/15) 86 ✔

I can't believe this is over! 2 years and 3 months..

[CPA soon]

@Justanothercandidate, Business law is about 40% of the exam. While I was solid on taxation, I failed because of doing poorly on business law. Don't expect to pass if you only focus on Tax, business law is on the exam for a reason.

FAR - 71, 68, 74, (8/31/14) 78 ✔
REG - 67, 71, 71, (10/18/14) 78 ✔
BEC - (11/29/14) 86 ✔
AUD - 73, (4/4/15) 86 ✔

I can't believe this is over! 2 years and 3 months..

[Tasia]

According to Becker, it says business law is 17% to 21% of the exam, not 40%. As an argument, however, I would say that the simulations are likely to test heavily on tax topics, so multiple choice is probably where you'd see the most business law. So in light of that, the multiple choice questions may be 40% business law. And again, using that logic, 60% of the exam is multiple choice, and if we are estimating that 40% of multiple choice questions are business law, then 60% x 40% = 24%, so we're back to Becker's estimation.

My advice to you is really focus on those first 5 Becker chapters! Don't completely blow off the business law chapters by any means. Be familiar with those topics as well to be able to get some easy points in multiple choice on exam day.

BEC - 78 (8/30/13)
REG - 73 (1/31/14) - 76 (4/7/14)
***GETTING MARRIED 7/19/14***
FAR - after the wedding
AUD - also after the wedding

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11

[Tasia]

According to Becker, it says business law is 17% to 21% of the exam, not 40%. As an argument, however, I would say that the simulations are likely to test heavily on tax topics, so multiple choice is probably where you'd see the most business law. So in light of that, the multiple choice questions may be 40% business law. And again, using that logic, 60% of the exam is multiple choice, and if we are estimating that 40% of multiple choice questions are business law, then 60% x 40% = 24%, so we're back to Becker's estimation.

My advice to you is really focus on those first 5 Becker chapters! Don't completely blow off the business law chapters by any means. Be familiar with those topics as well to be able to get some easy points in multiple choice on exam day.

BEC - 78 (8/30/13)
REG - 73 (1/31/14) - 76 (4/7/14)
***GETTING MARRIED 7/19/14***
FAR - after the wedding
AUD - also after the wedding

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11

[Anonymous]

Just study it all, I mean it couldnt hurt right? The number one reason people fail this exam is because of insufficent preparation. Why would you skip what becker calls 45 hours of material? Becker also told me cost accounting was a huge part of BEC and it was maybe 7 questions…dont trust everything becker tells you.

[Anonymous]

Just study it all, I mean it couldnt hurt right? The number one reason people fail this exam is because of insufficent preparation. Why would you skip what becker calls 45 hours of material? Becker also told me cost accounting was a huge part of BEC and it was maybe 7 questions…dont trust everything becker tells you.

[Angela]

I am also spending a big amount of time on chapter 1 and 2 now… My suggestions for you is to move on to chapter 3 and 4 which will be more complicated and chp 1 and 2. It is reasonable to forget (I do too) but if you practiced enough, you will pass! My friends told me that many questions are about calculation and practice is very very important. You will be more familiar with the steps of calculating certain things during practice. Business law is not as big as the tax regulations but there will be questions on those and no one know how many… If you don't have enough of time, just do as much as you can. Good luck!!!

Audit 92 2013
Far 80 2014
Reg: May 2014

[Angela]

I am also spending a big amount of time on chapter 1 and 2 now… My suggestions for you is to move on to chapter 3 and 4 which will be more complicated and chp 1 and 2. It is reasonable to forget (I do too) but if you practiced enough, you will pass! My friends told me that many questions are about calculation and practice is very very important. You will be more familiar with the steps of calculating certain things during practice. Business law is not as big as the tax regulations but there will be questions on those and no one know how many… If you don't have enough of time, just do as much as you can. Good luck!!!

Audit 92 2013
Far 80 2014
Reg: May 2014

[Author]

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