Order of Exams

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    Topic
  • #199959
    okie87
    Participant

    Advice on what order to take the exams? I am starting with BEC and thinking about FAR next, then AUD and finishing with REG…

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  • #757417
    Anonymous
    Participant

    I'm new to this, but I'm going with the following: BEC, AUD, FAR, and REG.

    Do NOT quit! There's more in you and if you quit you'll never see it. Show you that you can do it.

    AUD Passed  78
    BEC Passed  79
    FAR Passed  77
    REG Passed 76

    I'm tired of operating in fear and mediocrity. It's time to try. It's time to do. It's time to go.

    #757418
    pickanicken
    Participant

    I would start and end with the two exams you think will be hardest for you. I say this because I think motivation is highest when you first start and then once you know you are about to be done. I am ending with FAR because I know it will be the hardest for me, but I also know that since it will be my last exam that I will work my butt off to guarantee I pass.

    REG - 81
    BEC - 83
    AUD - 86
    FAR - 78 (Done!)

    #757419
    lswang
    Member

    Separate FAR and REG- Tax vs. Book gets really muddled when you're studying so much in such a short amount of time. I took REG after FAR and failed it. Then I tacked REG on at the end and bumped the score 21 points. And I recommend getting FAR out of the way first because it's just so much.

    FAR | 81 - July 21 15
    REG | 66 - Oct 1 15 | 87 - Jan 7 16
    AUD | 90 - Oct 29 15
    BEC | 86 - Nov 25 15

    #757420
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Most people recommend FAR before AUD, since AUD is basically about auditing to make sure people are in compliance when preparing their financial statements, and FAR is about preparing financial statements, so it's helpful to have learned how they're supposed to be done in FAR before trying to audit compliance in preparation in AUD. (Otherwise, it's like trying to learn how to be a science teacher without having ever learned science, only having studied grammar…you can learn how to teach, but without knowing science, it's hard to teach science!)

    BEC and REG are more independent.I'd do REG away from AUD and FAR, since tax rules and financial accounting rules are so different, but if you do AUD after FAR then you're already not doing REG in between the two.

    Other than that, it doesn't really matter much.

    So @okie87, your order was my personal order – BEC, FAR, AUD, REG. I did BEC first because I thought it would be the easiest for me and I wanted something easier to start out with. It worked fine for me and I'd have no qualms recommending it, but at the same time, any variations on it that keep the FAR followed by AUD part are probably equally valid (so, BEC, REG, FAR, AUD, or FAR, AUD, REG, BEC, etc., would all be fine too). I liked my order, so yours that's the same sounds good, but there's a lot of flexibility with it too – the FAR/AUD duo is really the only one that there's strong mostly-universal feelings on.

    @KGREEN, I'd strongly suggest that you consider switching FAR and AUD in your order, for the reasons discussed above. Everyone is different, so if you've got strong reasons to want to stick with AUD first suit yourself, but as a general thing FAR first is the better plan.

    #757421
    monikernc
    Participant

    people do them in all possible combinations. you do need far knowledge for aud but if you are an auditor taking aud first makes sense.
    bec is kind of out there but it does call on far and audit a little bit.

    AUD - 93
    BEC - 82
    FAR - 76
    REG - 88
    How have you been?
    Ninja book and MCQs and the forum, all first try! 2016
    Licensed State of Montana April Fool’s Day 2020
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    Experience was the worst part of the journey for me. You?
    If you want things to change you have to do something different.

    FAR 7/25/15 76!
    AUD 10/30/15 93
    BEC 2/27/16 82
    REG 5/23/16 88!
    Ninja Book and MCQ and the forum - all the way!!!
    and a little thing i like to call, time and effort!
    if you want things to change, you have to do something different

    #757422
    pickanicken
    Participant

    I'm in the middle of studying AUD and have not taken FAR yet, so I can't really comment on how much overlap there is between the two exams. However, I do feel like I am doing fine and scoring well on quizzes without any FAR experience. I'm assuming the overlap is just with financial statement understanding and journal entries.

    REG - 81
    BEC - 83
    AUD - 86
    FAR - 78 (Done!)

    #757423
    Jdn9201
    Participant

    I did BEC first because I thought it'd be the easiest for me and wanted to get one done quickly without having to kill myself studying. I did REG next because I work in tax, so I thought it'd be the next easiest for me. I did AUD next because I thought it'd be the hardest for me and thought it'd be too much pressure to put that last. I chose FAR last because I've been working for several years and have a pretty strong background in financial statement analysis, JE's, etc. I have had SIMS on my exams that some people would call FAR related. I had no problem with them because I have my work experience to fall back on. If I were fresh out of school, I would have done FAR first.

    BEC - 88 8/29/15
    REG - 82 11/14/15
    AUD - 83 1/8/16
    FAR - 80 2/29/16

    #757424
    Soon2baTXCPA
    Participant

    I would take FAR, AUD, REG, and BEC. Taking FAR first because it gets the most challenging exam out of the way. For me, I didn't want to risk losing credit for everything else, because I couldn't get through FAR. Also, an understanding of FAR helps understand AUD. REG so far seems to be good spaced out as another poster mentioned, because of the book/tax differences. Then once you've gone through the fire, there's BEC which I don't think is quite as bad as the other exam.

    #757425
    amandafaith15
    Participant

    I took REG first because my last college course was Special topics in Taxation and I wanted to get tax over with.

    Then I took AUD because I thought it would be easier… not so.

    Now I'm studying for BEC and saving FAR for last.

    I would probably still do REG first, then BEC, then FAR, then AUD.

    I still passed AUD without taking FAR before it, but I wish I had taken FAR before AUD. It probably would have helped me out a lot on AUD.

    What it really comes down to is how you'll be motivated. Will taking the “hardest” exam first motivate you? Or will starting off “easy” motivate you. Based on that chose the exam order based on your strengths and weaknesses.

    REG -73 (8/2015) 81 (10/2015)
    AUD - 73 (11/2015) 84 (1/2016)
    BEC - 84 (2/2016)
    FAR - 77 (6/2016)

    #757426
    SaveBandit
    Participant

    I was REALLY glad I had taken FAR before AUD when I walked out of AUD. That's all I'll say about that.

    I also took FAR first because I thought it would be the hardest for me. Well it turned out that wasn't the case at all. There's no way to predict which section you think you will struggle with the most.

    AUD - 94
    BEC - 86
    FAR - 85
    REG - 90
    If you pray enough, you can turn yourself into a cat person.

    4 for 4

    FAR 85
    AUD 94
    BEC 86
    REG 90

    #757427
    leglock
    Participant

    far aud reg bec

    i took aud first and had an easy simulation that required far knowledge, but the problem was i hadn't had the far material for over a year and had forgotten it and therefore blew that easy sim. plus, why not start the 18 month clock with getting possibly the most daunting of all sections out of the way.

    #757428
    Claudia408
    Participant

    I chose FAR last bc if I ever had problems passing the other 3 and lost credit, FAR is the biggest beast and I didn't want to lose credit for that one! However I do think taking FAR next to either BEC or AUD is a good idea. I think REG is least “accounting” heavy and don't need to know as much accounting except for the book tax differences.

    BEC 65, 71, 75
    AUD 62, 70, 78
    REG 67, 66, 65, 66, 64
    FAR 68, 64, 73

    BEC - 75 (3x)
    AUD - 78 (3x)
    REG - 67, 66, Aug 1
    FAR - 54, Sept 8

    #757429
    TracyJ
    Participant

    I'm doing FAR, AUD, BEC, 2 week Vacation, REG 🙂

    FAR 87
    AUD 94
    BEC 85
    REG 8/16

    #757430
    TracyJ
    Participant

    I'm doing FAR, AUD, BEC, 2 week Vacation, REG 🙂

    FAR 87
    AUD 94
    BEC 85
    REG 8/16

    #757431
    Yaz88
    Participant

    FAR-AUDIT-BEC-REG…

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