[Anonymous]

So… I’ve lurked this site for info quite a bit, but didn’t want to make an account till I finished school and my crazy cramming for Audit! (I just knew it would be a bad idea, since it was distracting enough without even being able to post… lol) Now that I’ve taken AUD today (whew?), I am taking the plunge into Another71. 🙂

I do have a question for this very CPA-savvy community about what you think is the minimum amount of time to “learn” all of REG. I’m much more of an audit person than tax, but got Becker, my smancy new Ninja flashcards, and want to try have only BEC be left for me to take after beginning work!

My situation: I just graduated in June and so am not juggling work plus studying, but have some trips planned this summer before starting full-time at one of the Big4. 🙂 I have a conference and another trip resulting in the two weeks between July 28 and Aug 11 blocked off. I got FAR done during school, crammed AUD into my brain all day, every single day for the past 17 days, and just took it today so now have…. 25 days until I have that block of 2 weeks where I can’t do much studying if any at all. So my question for you lovely people is…

A) Should I (can I?) cram REG in 3 weeks and take it somewhere on like July 26/27? Or–

B) Should I study all I can the next 3 weeks, take my 2 week break, and then do a “review” of 1 week or so before taking it on say, Aug 20?

Oh wait… Can you even register for an exam within the 30-day window without a fee? I know you you have a fee for moving it out of that window, but totally not sure if it works the opposite way. XD

Sorry for this confusion of a post! But figured I would ask those who have gone on before me, rather than flying blind like I have been up to this point. 😛 Thank you in advance for any help/advice you might have!

[koz124]

Everybody will probably have different advice, but personally I would not take a test after having 2 weeks off. Reg is by far my worst topic since I work in corporate accounting. With that said, if you can study full time I don't see why you couldn't fit it in in three weeks. It's all going to come down to how you study and retain information.

Studying with Wiley Review, Wiley Test Bank, Ninja Audio.
Retakes with Ninja MCQ only...awesome!
Far - 1/28 72, 7/22 79
Aud - 2/28 70, 8/14 83
Bec - 4/10 80
Reg - 5/30 64, 7/2 82

[JMOR]

If you have all day to study I would say that you have plenty of time to get REG done before your trip. It me 8 weeks for REG, but my situation is the complete opposite of yours. Nice job on FAR by the way.

REG - 86
FAR - 74,
BEC - 72,
AUD -73,

[Matt]

I can't answer on REG since I haven't taken it yet, but MAN do I envy you! Having finished FAR whilst still in school and (hopefully) having AUD down within a month after graduation––that's the dream!

I'm not sure if 22-23 days is enough for REG. I myself plan on spending about 30 full days on it. Like you, I took about 2.5 weeks of extreme AUD cramming in order to pass AUD on my first take, so I'm curious to see if others here think the difficulty differential between REG and AUD exceeds the 30-35% extra time you're planning to allot to REG (assuming you take it before your break).

Perhaps you're already dead-set on taking REG next, but might I suggest going with BEC instead as a possible alternative? BEC is generally characterized as being less substantial than REG, so it would probably better fit your limited time frame, if you want to test before your break. There's a good chance that after coming back from your 2 week break, you'll realize you've forgotten about 90% of what you had studied. This is especially likely when you learned the material via cramming it, which tends to not help in committing it to long-term memory (unless you have special autistic powers). So that is why I offer BEC as a possible alternative, though I can see why you might prefer to instead get REG out of the way first.

Edit: I forgot to say, there is no fee for scheduling within 30 days. In fact, I'm not sure if there's any fee at all, provided there's still an open slot left. The only fees I know of are rescheduling 5 to 30 days prior ($35) and 1 to 5 days prior ($88.20).

AUD: 88
BEC: 79
REG: 81
FAR: 72 » 74 » 88

Study method: 100% watching videos, including solving problems covered therein; no books, paper, or pencils

[Kimboroni]

There's no extra fee to schedule your test within 30 days. You can schedule for anytime you want (except maybe not within the next 5 days, if I remember right). It's only moving an already scheduled test that might get you a fee if it's close enough.

REG has a lot of material, so I don't think 3 weeks of even full-time studying is enough (unless you're a tax person). Best to schedule it near the end of August and study at least some while you're on your trips.

AUD 84 (1/9/14-Wiley books/TB + free materials)
FAR 83 (5/21/14-the above + NINJA 10 Pt Combo Lite)
REG 84 (7/9/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC/Notes)
BEC 76 (10/5/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC)

Disclaimer: My ninja avatar is not meant to imply that I have any affiliation with this site other than being a forum member. That's a pic of a T-shirt that my daughter gave me for my birthday. 🙂

[Anonymous]

@disneydebits

I'm taking aud on monday and it will be my first time/first exam I'm using Becker as well. Any advice?

[Anonymous]

Thank you SO MUCH everyone, for the fantastic advice!!!

@koz: thanks, I was fearing that for me as well, since I've only done corporate acctg internships and an audit internship thus far, and my masters program didn't spend a lot of time on tax!

@JMOR: Appreciate that – and I definitely feel for you working and studying! It was so crazy for me to study for FAR just while studying for midterms and doing group projects etc… I studied 2 months and a week for it, and I still walked out of prometric feeling like I'd been slapped in the face! I guess you never know though…. 🙂

@yawn: I know some people who have gotten 3 exams done while in school, so I felt kinda behind! Haha, but hopefully we will be in the same boat if we both passed our tests! *crosses fingers* I've thought about doing BEC instead, but would rather have a lighter topic for while I'm working I think, since I have no idea how much studying time I'll have… Granted, it might be more than I'm envisioning since my only internship was during busy season (and thus I have no comparison), but we'll see! ><

@Kimboroni: Good to know about the fees. I currently have my exam scheduled for Aug 20, so maybe I'll move it up if I'm feeling confident….? (doubtful, considering both previous experiences haha) Definitely not a tax person, but I'll try to be for this coming month!

[Anonymous]

@cpa8488: Have you taken any other exams yet? FAR was my only exam before this, and I would say compared to that AUD was less intense. The Becker mult choice really helped prepare for the AUD mult choice, so I would definitely work those over if you have time! For me, they got progressively harder (I spent 30 min, 40 min, then 50 min on testlets 1, 2, and 3, respectively), and the SIMs were kinda brutal, lol. I always tackle the research questions first, and then go through the rest. At least in comparison to FAR, it is something you either know or you don't know, so it's not like you are madly rushing with your calculator to beat the clock! Really, I recommend taking Becker's sample final exams, and reviewing your chapters if you have time. If you don't have time to review your whole book, the “Outlines” that are provided in the top right corner of each chapter's homepage are SUPER useful! I printed those out and reviewed them the day before as well. 🙂 Best of luck to you!!!

[Anonymous]

@disneydebits

NO its going to be my first exam I'm so scared!! So I have a question…. do you get 4 hours total and you have to manage your time accordingly between the 3 testlets and SIMS or do you have a time limit for each section? and I just looked at this ‘outline” thing you just pointed out I didn't even know that existed!! Thanks for the heads up I will definitely look over those as a quick review. How did you learn to ratios… there's like 15 of them!!?? I'm trying to just memorize the common ones and I usually plug numbers in to figure out the decrease/increase. I guess it's good if they got progressively harder that probably means you got a lot of them right 🙂 It sucks we have to wait a whole month till the grades come out!

[Anonymous]

Such great advice here. Personally, I wouldn't attempt REG knowing that Ill have two weeks of non-study time. I'm sure you can switch your strategy and cram BEC in there instead and save REG for when you actually have the time to commit.

@cpa8488. You get 4 hours for the entire FAR exam. So, you can allocate those 4 hours in any way you see fit. However, once you finish a testlet, you can't go back to check your work. Normally, people advise you to allocate about 45min per testlet, which leaves you about 105min for the TBSs. If you think it'll take you longer to finish the TBS, then you can attempt to finish the MCQ sooner.

[Anonymous]

@cpa8488: the first page of the course intro chapter of each Becker book has an overview of the test – with the total amount of time and the recommended amount of time to spend on each testlet. I would try to use that to guide you – but of course if you can save time, don't just waste it rechecking answers if you think you will need it for the SIMs. I liked having extra time at the end, so I could really think about them without rushing. I ended up finishing with almost 50 minutes left, so maybe that's a good sign? (maybe not – we'll see in a month! haha) AgentJohnny gave good advice, and yeah it's good to point out that you cannot go back to review testlets after you finish and move on.

@AgentJohnny: Thanks so much, I appreciate the input. I'm going to spend a bit of time playing around with my schedule now, and will see what it looks like! 🙂

[Author]

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