[Anonymous]

Sometimes I am a little curious about how others study, and I have occasionally seen in other forums an area for members to have their own space to post. I kinda wish another71 had something like that… therefore, in the spirit of getting things started, I am offering up the idea and a ‘starter’ log of my Reg study experience. There isn’t a need to comment; I’m not asking for replies, just laying out my experience here in case anyone is curious.

My status: so far, while working, I have been able to mostly finish one chapter out of the 8 in the Becker book. I am scheduled to take Reg, my final exam part, on Monday, October 10. I have off from work from now until then, so I can study full-time. This means I have 11 days of full-time study to finish 7 more chapters and review. Can it be done?

I had decided to take advantage of the time off to see my mom and brother, whom I haven’t seen in a year. No exciting plans, just the opportunity to catch up a little bit in between my study sessions. Other than that, I foresee no distractions.

General notes: I read a chapter, do half of the related MCQ (every other question), then I do the second half of the MCQ from a previous chapter. If I have enough time after getting through all of the chapters, I do some kind of review, but the review varies depending on how comfortable I am with the material and how much time I have.

This is what I did today:

Woke up normal time for me, but it is late in the day out here on the East coast. Chapter 2, first section: while sitting on the floor and working at a low table, finished writing my notes on notecards. Break: Went out for lunch with my mom. At a desk, did half of the MCQ for this section: 87%. Really had a hard time focusing, though, goofed around on the internet a lot. Also, my mom came in and talked at me for about an hour. Break: Dinner. (Granted, I had a late lunch, but yes, that means it took me about 4.5 hrs to do 40 questions. This is not an auspicious beginning. On the other hand, gotta nail the concepts!)

Chapter 1, section 3 (Ind’l tax: gross income): while sitting a desk, went through the second half of the MCQ. Score on 1st half was 78%, when I finished the 2nd half, overall score was 79%.
Chapter 2, section 2: while sitting on the floor, read about half of this section. Tired, bored, giving up. Start fresh tomorrow.

[Anonymous]

9/30/16 – 10 days until test

I have an old version of the book, so I need to update all the figures to 2016. Today I did that for the second half of chapter 2. The rest of the day:

Learn ch 2, sec 2 (tax calcs and credits)
– Finished reading
– Made index card notes (3:30-5:30, 7-7:30) Except for the sections that either I knew I would never memorize the income figures (retirement savings contribution credit), or that I didn’t understand how it worked(general business credit)
– 1st half of MCQ (7:30 – 7:40), 5 q’s, 100%

Review Ch 1, sec 4 (EE stock options)
– 2nd half of MCQ (7:40 – 7:50), 3 q’s, 67%

Learn Ch 2, sec 3 (ind’l tax: other taxes)
– Read (maybe 25 minutes, I don’t know, people keep talking to me. Visiting family was a mistake.)
– Made index card notes (11:00-11:35)
– 1st half of MCQ (11:35-11:45), 6 q’s, 100%

Review Ch 2, sec 1 (adj’s & item. ded’s)
– Review notes (11:45 – 11:55)
– 2nd half of MCQ (11:55 – 12:55), 1st half was 40 q’s @ 87%, at end was 80 q’s @ 85%)

Learn Ch 2, sec 4 (tax standards & research)
– Read (12:55 – 1:15)
– 1st half of MCQ (1:15 – 1:20), 11 q’s, 100%

Review ch 2, sec 2 (tax calcs and credits)
– 2nd half of MCQ (1:20 – 1:25), 1st half was 5 q’s @ 100%, at end was 9 q’s @ 100%)

Chapter 2 is essentially done. Internalizing some of this stuff & keeping it categorized in my head is a little time consuming. I expect chapters 3 and 4 to also be rough, but I think chapters 5-8 will be easier. I am hoping for 2 days each for the next 2 chapters and 1 day each for the remaining 4. We shall see…

[Anonymous]

Wow

[Anonymous]

10/1 – 9 days until test

Holy smokes, this chapter (Becker Reg 3) is kicking my butt. The AMT and Dividends Received Deduction are new to me. I had wanted to finish this section (half of the chapter) today; I was able to finish reading and taking notes, but I never got to the MCQ. I hope to be able to make it up tomorrow, as it looks like a good part of the second half of the chapter is conceptual stuff.

I started at 9:30 this morning, and it's now 12:50am. Between breaks and interruptions and me just staring at the page dumbly, I have no idea how much actual study time I got in today.

[Anonymous]

10/2/16 – 8 days until test
I needed to finish ch 3 today to stay on schedule, but I didn't even come close. Yesterday was tough, both because of the topic I was learning and because my mom, whom I am visiting, was watching my nephew, whom I have not seen for over a year. It’s very hard to ignore a kid who wants attention when he’s cute and you haven’t seen him for a very long time!

Today wasn't much better. I had to run to the store for a couple of things, spent a little time meeting some of my mom’s friends (can’t be rude) and went out to dinner with my brother and his family. (Again, I haven’t seen these guys for over a year!)

Did the 1st half of the MCQ for ch 3, sec 1 (C Corps). Took me 4 hrs for 78 q’s?! (78% correct). That includes stopping and reviewing information after getting a question wrong, and sometimes taking more notes. But it also includes time staring at the wall. (But it doesn’t include breaks when I walked away from the computer.) Also:

Review ch 2, sec 3 (ind’l tax: other taxes)
– Review notes (8:50 – 9:05)
– 2nd half of MCQ (9:05 – 9:15), 1st half was 6 q’s, 100%, at end was 11 q’s at 91%

Learn ch 3, sec 2 (small biz corps/S-Corps)
– Read (9:15 – 10:05)
– 1st half of MCQ + notes (10:35 – 11:20) 21 q’s at 67%

I would like to push a little more and get through this, but I find I am just staring at the computer screen, and I have to keep jump-starting my brain. Only one week left, which is scary, but I am not getting much done. I'm going to call it a night.

[Wannafree]

Keep going ! Following u

WannaB

[Anonymous]

I'm on the REG struggle bus too right now. Remember R6 – R8 is only worth 20% on the exam, so if you get short on time with those sections it's not the end of the world. You've got this!!

[Tncincy]

Hey good luck, you seem to have a good pace going….spend your time wisely and don't leave anything out (learned that the hard way).

It begins with a 75
Been here too long as a cheerleader.....time to pass

It begins with a 75
Been here too long as a cheerleader....ready to pass

[Anonymous]

Hey, you guys, thanks for the encouraging words!

Yesterday I went with my mom and my brother to spread my dad's ashes and to take a trip down memory lane. This should have only taken about half a day, but (a) I took a nap afterwards, and (b) it was my last day out there and I wanted to spend the evening with my mom. So I got zero point zero zero work done. No, wait, I lie. I reviewed flash cards a little in the car until I started feeling queasy. So I studied for maybe 15 minutes. Does that even count?

I didn't get a chance to do my daily update yesterday because I had to pack, so I thought I would pop up into another71 now and get caught up.

Today I woke up at 4:30 am EDT, which is 1:30 am PDT, my home time zone. Got some studying done on the plane, but just reading chapters, no MCQ. Finished reading chapter 3, read most of section 1 of chapter 4 (which is half the chapter). Got home, got lunch, finished that section, took a shower. I am super sleepy, but I'm going to switch from coffee to a sugar-free RockStar, and see how much more information I can shove into my brain. If I want to stay on schedule, I need to finish chapter 4 today. That probably isn't going to happen, but as @allison213 said, if I run out of time, the last chapters are less heavily tested.

I am also liking chapter 4 much better than 3 (Becker). This is at least material I have seen before. I still need to memorize all the rules about basis, but at least it doesn't take as long to understand what they are talking about. I found chapter 3 very difficult.

I will do the usual update tonight! But as of now, counting today, 10/4, I only have 6 days to go!

[Anonymous]

The second half of Oct 4:

It doesn’t matter what I’m doing, I will wish I’m doing something else. When I’m doing MCQ, I can’t stand it. When I’m reading, I am counting down how many pages are left. I am dragging myself through this. I am so tired of studying and having this over my head. The only thing keeping me going right now is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Come Monday, I will (hopefully) be done with this mire of muck.

I am done with chapter 3, and I have read half of chapter 4. Still need to take notes & do the MCQ. I figure I am about 1.8 days behind.

Notes to help me remember some stuff I get mixed up:
– Accrual basis is required for C-Corp’s w/ > $5M avg gross receipts for 3 yrs ending last tax year
– Estimated tax pymts must be 100% of current return (as opposed to prev yr’s return) if Corp had ≥ $1M taxable income in any of 3 preceding tax yrs
– Exempt from AMT if annual gross receipts from prev 3 tax periods ≤ $7.5M (or ≤ $5M for first 3 yrs of existence, or exempt in first year)

Boring details:

Review ch 2, sec 4 (tax standards & research)
– Review chapter (2:55 – 3:05)
– 2nd half of MCQ (3:05 – 3:20), 1st half was 11 q’s @ 100%, at end was 21 q’s @ 95%)

Continue learn ch 3, sec 3 (exempt organizations)
– Take notes (3:25 – 4:00)
– 1st half of MCQ (4:00 – 4:10), 9 q’s @ 89%

Review ch 3, sec 1 (C-Corps)
– Review notes (4:15 – 4:50)
– 2nd half of MCQ (5:20 – 6:45, 7:05 – 7:35), 1st half was 78 q’s @ 78%, final was 156 q’s @ 80%

Continue learn ch 3, sec 4 (multi jurisdictional tax issues)
– Skim section, no notes (7:35 – 7:40)
– 1st half of MCQ (7:40 – 7:40), 2 q’s @ 100%

Review ch 3, sec 2 (S-Corps)
– Review notes (8:35 – 8:50)
– 2nd half of MCQ (8:50 – 9:15), 1st half was 21 q’s @ 67%, final was 41 q’s @ 73%

Continue learn ch 3, sec 5 (other tax issues)
– Skim section, no notes (9:15 – 9:20)
– MCQ (9:20 – 9:20), 1 q @ 100%

Review ch 3, sec 3 (exempt org’s)
– Review (9:20 – 9:30)
– 2nd half of MCQ (9:30 – 9:35), 9 q’s @ 89%, final was 17 q’s @ 94%

[Anonymous]

I tried to post twice, it wouldn't take. Maybe it was too long? I will try again in the morning.

[Anonymous]

Yesterday I studied from before 7 am to after 10:30 pm. I guess with all the details I had about what I did, A71 thought the post was too long and it wouldn't let me submit it. So I will just write in general terms. That will probably keep it from getting too boring, anyway! 🙂

Yesterday was a pretty intense day; I didn't even take a shower. The property taxation took me a long time to get through, but I have that pretty much nailed now. I have about 85% of chapter 4 finished.

Today I am getting started at 7:45 am. I only have 4 days left to study, with over 4 chapters to go. My only saving grace is that I believe the last 4 chapters will go much more quickly. Time to get started!

[neaux]

Rooting for you! You will do well with your dedication.

FAR - 81, 7/4/16
AUD - 77, 7/11/16
BEC - 83, 7/23/16
REG - 63, 8/12/16; 87 11/4/16

NINJA saved my working life!

[Anonymous]

my biggest REG advice for you is, spend one to 1.5 days at MOST out of your 11 on Biz Law.

also don't go crazy trying to memorize phaseouts, etc and obscure items like corp AMT.

[Accountant183748]

Woot woot! You can do it! I love this!

[SomeSomeCPA]

To reiterate the poster above, absolutely do not spend 3 of your 4 last days on the 3 business Law chapters. Cram it all into one day, get what you can out of it and move on. Spend your remaining time reviewing Ch1-4.

Done! 9 tests over 16 months. Failed first 3 with Becker. Passed 4 of next 6 with Ninja MCQ.

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

[Author]

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