[nalratoss]

I passed my last section of the CPA exam in June 2018 and got licensed in October. As the dust settles and I’m about to start my (another) busy season coming January while collecting my CPE credits, I think it’s time to give everyone some tips for all four sections of the CPA exam.

I don’t think motivations are needed. You know long before you registered for the exam that this is going to be a long and excruciating journey. What you need are tips and advice that help you along the way.

My first exam was FAR. I took it 3 weeks before I graduate from grad school. I initially started with Roger CPA before moving on to Gleim. Gleim was much harder than Roger CPA. While Roger gave you some basic intros to the topics, Gleim’s questions are somewhat closer to the actual exam in terms of difficulty (that is for all 4 sections). FAR is really a comprehensive exam, basically they’re gonna throw you the kitchen sink you’ve seen in Intermediate Accounting I, II, and advanced accounting (basically business combination and consolidated financial statement). The only topics you probably never touch based in your college is Government Accounting and NFP accounting. Most college accounting textbooks don’t cover them. Neither my undergrad or my graduate school professors ever taught me Government or NFP so be aware, this is the area that you will need to focus on.

Here’s the tip: if you feel like you don’t have enough time for NFP or Government, please consider postpone the exam date until you’re comfortable with Government and NFP. Their accounting is a bit different from the usual accrual based accounting you learned in college so take the time to get comfortable with the new material. In the 2017 Gleim FAR book I used, government and NFP were in the last three chapters (some people studied till the final 3 chapters before realizing there are way more materials in government and NFP than expected), yet I spent a week on them going over the materials. The only other material I find challenging in Gleim FAR is some advanced topics on receivables. In general, FAR is about comprehensive knowledge. I initially budgeted 1 1/2 month for FAR, but end up spending almost 2 months on FAR.

Next two exams were AUD and BEC. I took them after already working at the firm for 3 months. I decided to gamble so I took them within a span of a week (lol). I had a great audit professor in college so AUD concepts are no strangers for me. Besides，I’m an auditor. That’s what prompted me to go for two exams in one week. I studied AUD for one month and BEC for 1 1/2 month. The only part in AUD where I find slightly challenging is the internal control questions where they ask you which part has a weakness. Be sure to understand the differences between Preparation of Financial Statement, Review, Attestation, etc.

As for BEC, the hardest part is memorizing all these equations. Please don’t underestimate BEC. Some chapters in Gleim BEC were extremely challenging: Cash Flow for Net Present Value, and the final 3-4 chapters which are all about cost accounting (variances). It’s basically stuff from your college Cost Accounting class but I never like them. There are some parts of BEC you should find it easier than the rest: IT, Economics, etc. Overall BEC isn’t bad.

REG was my last exam and I began to review REG materials right after my busy season. I gave myself two months for the test yet I still felt rushed for the exam. Compared to FAR, REG was more detailed in every topic. This is where the Gleim textbook start to overwhelm me—I spent almost 3 days per chapter because there were so many concepts involved. Like I said, Gleim prepares you well to the degree of overpreparation, so if you feel frustrated, keep in mind that you are already using a more comprehensive and inclusive textbook than others. I didn’t pay enough attention into taxation class in college (for instance I never understand the differences between capital gain, section 1231 gain, section 1245 gain and section 1250 gain), so I felt REG was harder than FAR. Pay attention to differences between taxes on C corp, S corp and Partnership, as well as individual taxation.

Some general tips for test takers:

1. I found Roger videos to be helpful when I couldn’t understand some abstract concepts in Gleim. I definitely watched the entire government and NFP videos of Rogers FAR section. Consider it to be a nice complement to Gleim if you’re financially capable to do so.
2, Make sure to leave enough time to review your materials. You never know you may stuck on a chapter for longer time than expected, or you may get sick or feel like you don’t want to study for one day and want to take a day off.
3. Knowing the exam is curved. If you find a topic difficult, there’s a great chance that other test takers feel the same. Keeping a positive mentality, but keep putting in the effort.
4. Some people take the mock exam. To be honest, I only took the FAR mock exam of Gleim and got 73. The rest three I rushed through the mock and of course the results were ugly. Why did I rush? Because I didn’t have time and felt reviewing the materials was more rewarding than spending 4 hours doing a mock. 4 hours is so physically stressful that I don’t want to devote that time on a mock, unless it’s the real test. So I was never in the “real exam” mentality while doing all four mocks. If you don’t want to take the mock, you don’t have to. If you do take the mock, don’t keep the mock score bother you too much. Remember, whatever helps you develop a confident mindset, do it. During the late review stage of the CPA exam, being confident is more important than how much or how well you’ve reviewed the CPA material.
5. The Gleim questions could be frustrating. Sometimes they won’t let you move on to the text chapter unless they “pass” you. Like I said, don’t get mad at a bot. It’s on the difficult side as a CPA review material.

That’s all.

Thanks everyone for the help along the way. I started my journey in March 2017. I thought about giving up the exam since I had a bad experience in FAR as well as the extra score report delay of Q2 2017, but when the score was out in August I decided to wrap up the remaining three. REG was the last and the most daunting one and I barely escaped with a 75. I feel so blessed sitting here writing this post. Some time in the future I will frame my CPA certificate and put it on my desktop at my firm for decoration:)

Good luck everyone.

FAR-80

AUD-77

REG-75

BEC-82

 

I'm done done!

[TommyTheCat]

thats a lot of words

AUD - 85
BEC - 89
FAR - 91
REG - 97

[jeff]

Thank you for the tips and taking the time to do the writeup on what worked for you!

-jeff

AUD - 79
BEC - 80
FAR - 76
REG - 92

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS)
NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE | Another71

[Author]

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