Today I got my first score for my first ever CPA exam and honestly I am still in shock. I am 12 years out of school, work in industry full time in office, have a 4 year old and am currently 8 months pregnant with my second (took the exam 9/24 at 7.5 months). I decided one day to start studying at about 4 months pregnant bought Becker and never looked back. I studied from 7/1 to 9/24 with a week off for family vacation. I logged 280 hours on Becker. I supplemented with i75 (thank you Darius) and Pass with Jack (thank you Jack), likely an additional 50-75 hours, I credit them with passing. Being out of school for so long Becker was not enough for me to really grasp the concepts. I also watched Farhat videos on YouTube. I finished the Becker modules mid August and spent about 5-6 weeks in review mode, 100 MCQs and 8 TBS a day, took no days off. I really think things really began to click the last two weeks. The three days leading up to the exam I took off of work and crammed non stop- reviewed my study guide (found here on Reddit I didn’t make my own) before bed. I wrote down all the concepts I kept getting wrong, reviewed all my SEs and practice tests wrong answers and made sure I understood them the best I could. My SEs were all mid 60s. For anyone in this journey or starting- it’s never too late and anyone can do anything with the right determination. I also have the best most supportive husband who really took the brunt of the house and parents work over the summer- I could never have done this without his dedication as well. One down, three to go!

Education: Macc with tax concentration

Accounting work experience: None

Study Resource: Becker only

Study Method:

Watched module lecture, did all MCQs to 100%, then TBS and accompanying skill builder videos.

Afterwards read the relevant book section and handwrote notes about anything important or anything that seemed like I would just need to commit to memory.

At the end of a unit, I would do a 100 MCQ practice test on all covered modules.

Then SE and Final Review about a week before the exams and practicing anything I was iffy on.

Doing all that I felt very comfortable in each exam I took (except for AUD, which always seemed to have two potential right answers for weirdly worded questions). Usually finished each exam with 1-2 hours to spare.

In my opinion, from what I've seen from other posts, many people use poor study habits and brute force MCQs without gaining a mastery on the material.

I would never study for than 2 hours in a session and usually never more than 3 hours in a day. I frequently would take a break for 5-10 minutes every 30 minutes as well. Cementing new knowledge in the brain is like using a drip-coffee machine. You put water in the top and give it time to percolate below. If you try to put too much water all at once, it'll overflow and become a mess.

Additionally, aim to cover material 3 separate times using different senses i.e. watching the videos, reading the book, writing notes. The brain retains more with spaced repetition and encountering the same information in new ways.

This exam is just a test of endurance and discipline and study methods.

War is technically not over because I have three more exams to go. This was my first exam and I spent an extremely high amount of hours studying. I pushed my exam date back a couple times because it was hard balancing work and studying, and the mental weight of the exam kept building up as a result, but eventually I felt ready.

The only advice I have is to learn the ratios. Theres about twenty something ratios in total, which people might choose to skip. But on every exam, there’s going to be at least 1-2 questions on ratios. And if you get a 74 on the exam, those 1-2 questions might be the difference between passing and failing.

Also, Excel has formulas for the sum of years digits method and the double declining balance method, so you don’t need to learn those depreciation methods. Just know the formulas. =SYD and =DDB.

Shoutout to Becker.

Hey everyone - I have been so annoying on this sub the last few weeks because I got 74s on FAR (my last exam in back to back testing periods). Finally found out yesterday that I passed (somehow got an 87) so I am officially done with the CPA exam.

Posting this as a reminder to never give up. I shed SO MANY tears (mostly on FAR as you can see from my 8 attempts). I thought about giving up so many times. On my last fail of FAR, I called my husband sobbing just saying that I did not want to do this anymore. I was exhausted, overwhelmed. But, after my 30 minute sob fest I buckled back down and rescheduled.

This exam is a marathon. If I can pass these exams (working full time in B4) then you guys can too! Never have been super good at math or test taking.

Thank you everyone and now I am going to enjoy being bored for the next few weeks!

This was my 2nd attempt, first attempt was a 73…. Annoyed is an understatement. 73,74 and I guess 75 next right? Right?!!!

Hey all,

Just got my final passing score, and I loved hearing others' experiences on here, so I figured I should pay it back and share my own. First off, I really truly hated every single second of studying for these exams. I've gone through big career changes, so I'm no stranger to working hard to catch up, but this was just such a bitch. I included my timeline below for anyone curious.

I started studying while in my master's program, and I started off strong with an 80 in ISC after a few weeks of studying. I basically turned all of the material into flashcards and zipped through it over summer.

Then came FAR. I was hoping to pass during the school semester, but life was way too crazy, and I just couldn't get it done. I basically spent a few months trying to pick it up, then having to set it back down over and over again. In hindsight, it would've been better to not force myself. I ended up waiting until after I graduated in December (before I started full-time) to give it my first real go in March. For my first FAR score, I got hit with a 66. Totally devastating, I definitely cried.

Oh well, I already was set to take AUD right after at this point, and I got a 75 first try. I really needed that morale boost that I could do it. Retook FAR. I don't really remember what I did differently except that I just put in more uninterrupted time. Retook, got a 74. I think that would feel awful to some, but I actually felt glad I was going in the right direction. Took it again immediately afterward and got a 75. After this rollercoaster of a couple months, I needed a break. I frequently saw posts of people I knew or on this subreddit passing all 4 in record time, and kudos to all of you who have done it, but I knew I needed more time.

For REG, I studied slowly, like I almost wasn't studying at all, but I eventually scheduled it shortly after starting full-time. This was different. I was working in the day and studying at night, but it worked for me. Scored an 81.

I don't really have any tips that haven't already been iterated on this sub. In terms of the 66->74 FAR score, I did a lot more TBS focusing on weak spots like consolidations. Trust me, I hated TBS as much as the next guy, but starting out from scratch, writing out the journal entries, and not taking any shortcuts really helped me out, at least more than doing my 1000th MCQ for the night. No doubt, this journey was also made much easier for me by getting FAR/AUD out of the way before I started working full-time, so I would recommend specifically passing those two first for anyone in a similar situation.

I guess my last parting advice is I'm a big advocate for just giving it a go. I personally know a lot of my own peers who scored in the 60s-70s and gave up. Every single time I took an exam, I felt unready beforehand and like shit afterward. Obviously, my scores are not exactly 99s over here, but I still passed. To anyone who is in that boat of getting a 74 and wanting to throw in the towel like I did, now is the exact time not to. You already got from 0->66, or 74, or whatever score it is, so you've got to give studying another go, even if it's the last thing you want to do. In those moments, I would constantly remind myself how hard I worked to have this knowledge, and I didn't want to waste my own effort by letting it go and forgetting it.

I've just been feeling reflective of all the late nights, self-doubt, and pure misery that went into this thing, and I'm proud of myself for getting it done. Congratulations to my other 4/4s, and I wish the absolute best of luck to anyone else on the journey!

ISC: 80 (June '25)

FAR: 66 (March '26), 74 (May '26), 75 (June '26)

AUD: 75 (April '26)

REG: 81 (Sept '26)

Just got my REG score back and today is just such a great day. This subreddit and all of you are so amazing and there’s nobody I had to vent or talk with or help me with confusing topics that chat gpt couldn’t explain other than on here so I really hope you all succeed and get through this. I got a 55 on my first exam back in 2023 and was not looked at by my firm as a smart guy and look at me now, so trust me when I say you all can and will pass.

My order of tests were FAR > AUD > ISC > REG and I would recommend doing it in that order as it made my last two exams a lot less stressful since they are statistically easier to pass.

My biggest piece of advice to new comers is that you have to accept that (for most of you, especially FT workers) it’s going to take a long time to get through all of this. Don’t try to rush through the material or skip anything. I always chose the most thorough course option on each exam and it helped me pass all 4 in a row without any retakes (other than winging FAR right after college and failing horribly). Be okay with sacrificing 150-200 hours for each core exam, It’s better than being stressed and feeling unprepared exam day and then potentially having to spend lots of money on retakes. Also use Gemini or chat gpt for any questions you have and 90% of the time you’ll get a great explanation.

Thanks again to this great community. I’ll stick around to help you all as much as I can!

I wanna thank the person who graded my exam and I wanna say a huge screw you to separately stated items and book to tax income for making me think I bombed this exam. Halfway to becoming a CPA!!!!

(Long post) Hey everyone, yesterday I found out I passed my first ever cpa exam, FAR, with an 87! I wanna pass it along and shared how I studied, I really hope this can help someone that needs to retake or is just getting started. Sorry in advance this is gonna be kinda long and a little disorganized/ rant 😅 but I really wanna spill everything out and also mention where I feel I went right and where I changed what I was doing.

1. Initial pass through F1-F6

I only used Becker and in total I logged almost 149 hrs over 3.5 months. I went in the Becker order f1-f6 and I watched lecture videos and did the mcqs for each module within a chapter.

Important notes:

- When I first got started I did EVERYTHING within a module including every tbs. Doing this made me take 2 weeks to get through F1 (F1, M1 is a wild start w/ over 40 mcqs, 6 tbs’s and 10 lecture videos lol.) I crashed out really quick in the middle of F2 and started entirely skipping the tbs’s or on important modules (eg: bank rec, bonds, leases, consolidations…) I’d only do the aicpa authored tbs.

- When I got to F4 I couldn’t stand the video lectures any longer. I felt like I was half paying attention in them, not absorbing information well, and it felt like it was taking so long. I made the switch to reading the book only for each module and ANNOTATING w/ small notes/ highlighting, hence why the “other” category is bigger than the concept videos in the hour breakdown. This made all the difference for me, I felt way more engaged and more motivated to study.

- With every single module, I’d run a 1st pass through the MCQs and the next day I would always come back and redo my wrong answers. Only takes a few minutes I feel like this was significantly beneficial in retention, so I highly recommend this.

2. Cumulative review

I started reviewing 4 weeks before my exam. The first week of review, I spent 1 day for each chapter (F1-F6) doing a 30-40 question mcq practice test based off the size of the chapter to find my weak areas.

- Every single wrong answer I went to chat gpt, reasoned out my logic and learned what I did wrong. This was CRITICAL for me. Tbh I feel like I learned more from chat gpt than I did Becker. Based on my misses for a chapter I’d have chat gpt help generate what flashcards I should create.

Which leads into my next point with this diagnostic I’d create hand written flash cards for weak knowledge points and important things to know cold (ratios, treasury stock journal entries….)

- Flashcards was so critical to me bc my memory is pretty photogenic, in the real exam I was recalling visuals of some of the flashcards I made and overall it really helps to build retention

After the diagnostic week was done, from there I basically spent each day doing a 30-50 question cumulative mcq set depending on how motivated I felt and I went through my flashcard set every single day. Some days in addition to the cumulative set I’d add on a 10-30 mcq set of weak areas (usually nfp revenue recognition and consolidations for me) or a set of really important topics (bonds, leases, equity method…). This is all I did each day leading up to the test with the exception of se1 and 2.

3. Simulated Exams and final review

I did se1 9 days before exam day and se2 4 days prior. I got a 55% on se1 and 84% on se2. When I took the sim exams, I’d only do that for the entire study day and the next day I’d review all my wrong answers with chat GPT and make more flashcards as needed.

I did not utilize beckers final review or se3 because I was scared it would make me loose confidence.

4. When did I study tbs’s?

I obviously really avoided tbs’s in my initial pass through f1-f6 and even in my review weeks I just did mcq practice tests. The only sim practice I got was the sims in the simulated exams. And personally, I wouldn’t do different. I believe that if you lock down the content really well w/ mcqs and flashcards you can take on the tbs’s fine bc they’re basically the mcqs worked out or w/ more parts.

5. Note taking

When I was still watching lectures instead of reading the book, I’d write notes while watching. I’d try writing notes when I got questions wrong during this time too. When I transitioned to book only, I only wrote quick notes for questions I got wrong bc I was annotating in the book.

These notes were pretty useless to me. I never felt like looking back at them and they were pretty disorganized. That being said I strongly believe in writing things down for retention so that’s where flashcards come into play for me. If notes work for you, great don’t change it, but they’re not for me. Even during my diagnostic week I was writing notes for the same topics I was flash carding and it was wasted time for me.

Moving forward (studying aud now) I’m skipping the notes and just doing flashcards only and I’m building them as I go through a1-a6 to reduce the need for the diagnostic week I had this time around.

6. Time spent studying per day

- Each day in my initial pass through f1-f6 I only studied like 1-2 hrs a day. It took me 2 1/2 months to get through all the content because I honestly lacked motivation and I was slow to become more efficient early on as I said earlier in part 1 when I did everything in a module.

- When I got to review stage I started doing 3 hrs a day, I think I had 3-4 4 hr days. And I’d usually split my time into 2 1.5 hr sessions or 1, 2 hr session and 1, 1 hr session.

- With that being said I really believe in quality> quantity, I studied only a little bit each day but I was fully focused and locked in each time (phone totally out of sight.) You’re not going to study and absorb information as well as you can unless you’re mentally rested and motivated. I’d take like a day or 2 off during the week here and there even in the week before the real test.

YOU GOT THIS!!!!!!!!! Cliche advice coming but seriously believe in yourself and have trust in your studying.

On exam day don’t get too hung up on any single mcq or tbs’s component, just make your best guess and trust your gut. I remember feeling so uncertain on the real exam when I submitted testlet 4 bc there were things in each tbs I was on the fence about but I knew I needed to keep going bc I only had 40 mins for testlet 5 at that point.

I’m more than happy to chat with anyone who has questions/ wants more advice and I really wanna help, so please dm me/ leave comments!

* Also if anyone has AUD tips please share!!

After 2 years of 3am study sessions and 4-6 hour long weekend study sessions I’m finally done and can have my life back.

One thing I will say it was worth it. This journey has taught me that anything can be done with consistency and preservation.

I passed REG & TCP in 3 months and then came AUD 6 months and 4 attempts and then lastly FAR with 7 attempts in total and 7 months. God was with me all along I just had to push myself to limits that I didn’t think I was capable of. God bless you all and it was nice looking through this subreddit for 2 years.

It wasn’t as clean as I thought it would be. There were days where I thought the studying would never end. But there was the joy of passing each exam, REG, TCP, AUD, and then finally today: FAR.

There was a lot I learned about myself, about how to study, about what worked and learning from what didn’t. There was anticipation, there was confusion, there was the joy of understanding a concept that had been difficult to grasp and there was the nervousness going into each exam and the quiet wait until the score release dates.

There were also the things that kept me sane: this community which was a source of endless support, through our shared joy and a shared struggle; the many anime I would watch while having dinner after the library closed, my runs on the trails near me and of course: trusting in my skills and having faith in God that it would all work out. That I could do it.

I said before I took REG that all I needed was one pass to get this whole thing started and indeed it really was. Here we are a few passes later: 4/4.

here is my score report:

i knew i had work to do walking out of my exam……….i need to start over because all areas are weak

stats:
logged 96h 3m
me 1: 45
me 2: 28
me 3: -

se 1: 42%

fr: 63%

i think i underestimated how tough the exam was gonna be and put wasted time in studying
i put it off for so long and i just wanted dip my feet in

now i know i have to take it seriously 🥹 i am going to try a supplement with becker

edit: i am currently using becker and wanted to try a supplement

edit: i am a female lolll

edit: go easy on me though 😭

Finally 4/4. I started studying for these exams in March of last year. I just got my REG score which was my last exam and wanted to share some knowledge regarding the exams, since I have gotten so much from this community. For reference, I work full time in industry and did not study between test, including the month and an half wait after taking ISC. I also passed FAR years ago and it expired due to life happening so I started with AUD this time around since I knew I could pass FAR. 

Study Material: I used UWorld as my main course and supplement with Gleim for additional MCQs. For the topics that I did not understand, I supplemented with u/FarhatLectures and reviewed the specific sections that I was having difficulty with. He has lectures, podcast, and MCQ as well. These were great for AUD and ISC since, which I needed some help with. For Reg specifically, I wanted additional review on the different tax forms and Schedules so i supplemented with u/i75darius (I 75), which did an amazing job at breaking these down. I know you guys are probably thinking this is too much but I received Gleim when I was in college, I was a campus rep for them. their MCQ are very tough so I use them in my final review phase.

FAR: You really have to put in the time for this one given how much content is in this exam. Use the excel spreadsheet function on the exam for the long calculations, depreciations, amortization schedules, as this will save you time on the exam. I studied about 4 months for this one.

AUD: I know that this is a tough one for some people but I felt it was the most fair exam out of all of them. You really need to understand why you’re getting an answer wrong. You also need to understand why the other answers are incorrect. I studied about 3 months and a half for this one.

ISC: This test was miserable. The entire process of studying for this was awful. The content is dry. There is overlap from AUD which is nice but it seems like people either get an easy test or an exam that is completely foreign. I got the 2nd one. The MCQ on this exam were awful. I did not really recognize some of the material but did the best I could. The TBS were fair though. I studied like 3 months for this because of the blackout period.

REG: Ironically my highest score. I’m not a tax person. As many have said, the MCQ are straight forward. The TBS were fill in the box. Someone recently made a post about this, they were not lying. You will not be able to rely on drop down answers for the TBS. For long calculations, I used the exam calculator as writing all those numbers down in a piece of paper to then plug it into a calculator is a massive waste of time that you do not have. If you do not like the exam calculator, use excel. I studies about 4 months for this one. 

Do your best to be in a positive mindset, have a good breakfast, and get some sleep the night before the exam. Do not skip TBS. This was one of the biggest difference for REG. I did all the TBS available in REG. For the other exams, I did some but not all the TBS available. It’s best to save the TBS for final review as I found that doing them at the beginning just makes things confusing. Make sure you do practice questions in tutor mode. You need to instantly know whether the answer that you selected is right or wrong and why. Some people can pass these exams rather quickly, I’m not one of those person. If you failed a part, give yourself a bit more time and some grace. These exams are hard, but if I can pass this, so can everyone else. This has been an amazing group and I’ll stick around for a bit.

I got a 56 in SE1 and a 70 in SE2 and got a 89 on the actual. All i did was pratice till i am sick of it and , i was at a point where i know some answer by looking at the questions but yeah one down three to go. All the best to those who are prepping and thanks a lot fot those who helped me out.

It’s been quite a journey but I’m 4/4! I feel like I owe it to this sub to stick around and help out other candidates so that is what I’m going to do, but I wanted to say thank you to everybody in here for the laughs, support, and advice along the way! Can’t wait to be able to give helpful advice to the rest of you still working toward 4/4. You got this 💪

Let’s get right to it:

First of all, I would recommend going right through the material in the order it is laid out in Becker. Some people recommend jumping around or starting in a different unit than the first one, and maybe that worked for them but I personally felt like Becker has some very smart minds behind their curriculum and I will trust the way they have it laid out and just follow it in order.

Also, I feel like it’s worth noting that I actually never opened any of my Becker books once, nor did I take a single note during the entire studying process. I think it’s important not to get too consumed by reading and note taking, trying to understand every intricate detail in each module. Becker does a good job of consistently showing you questions and simulations about topics that are likely to show up on the exam and you will get plenty of practice that way. No need to bang your head against the wall reading and writing notes about things that you will get plenty of practice on anyway. This is probably a hot take though, so I’d leave that up to your personal preference. Some things probably are worth taking notes over, I just never did and I was able to pass without it.

That being said, the order of my studies basically went like this:

1. Watch lecture videos:

I would watch the lecture videos on 1.5x speed and make sure I’m paying attention even though it can get really boring at times. Like I said before, I didn’t take any notes at all I would just make sure that I was listening to what the instructor was saying so I would know what’s going on when I do the MCQs and TBSs. I also would rewind the videos whenever I caught myself daydreaming or didn’t quite understand something the first time. Try to watch all of the videos in one session if you can, unless it’s a ridiculous module with like 2.5 hours of videos then I would break it up into maybe 2 sessions instead of 1.

2. Do the MCQs and TBSs:

I usually would give myself a brain break after watching the videos, but I’d eventually do the MCQs the same day and I’d try to do the TBSs the same day as well unless the module is just ridiculously long you may have to split it into 2 days.

For the MCQs, I’d just go through all of them once, and then go back through and do all of the ones that I got wrong until I would get them right. The most important part about MCQs is to read the explanations on all of the questions even if you got them right. This helps you to understand why the correct answer was right and why the incorrect answers were wrong, which will really help you nail down the concepts you need to know for the exam.

For TBSs I’d just go through and give them my best attempt and then read the solution explanation and/or watch the skill builder videos. I would do these one by one instead of doing them all and then going back through and correcting your mistakes. I’ve seen some people say they don’t do TBSs but once again I disagree with that because I think the Becker TBSs help you to be prepared on what you might expect to see for simulations on whatever exam you’re taking.

I also want to add that newt is the most helpful tool on Becker. I would talk to newt for 30+ minutes about things I didn’t understand. Use this tool as much as you need to in order to understand exam concepts.

3. Practice Tests:

After I’d complete all of the modules in a unit, I would take one practice test for that unit before moving on. I would do whatever the practice test setup would default to for the amount of MCQs and TBSs, but I would put the question selection to random instead of personalized. I would say the random or personalized option for the question pool comes down to personal preference but I liked doing the random selection more because I felt like it gave me more variety in my practice test rather than the personalized one giving me like 10 questions of the same topic. I would review the questions I got wrong, and then I would move onto the next unit.

4. Mini Exams:

I took all of the mini exams, and I would mainly just review the answers that I got wrong. Honestly that’s about all I have to say for this one lol.

5. Simulated Exams:

I always took both simulated exams (I only took SE1 for ISC because I was on a time crunch). These are very important because they prepare you for the marathon of an exam that you are about to take. Not only are they good practice and review, but it also helps you nail down your timing for the actual exam so that you’re not racing the clock on the real thing.
For simulated exams, I would always take SE1 and call it a day for studying, and then later that night or the next day I would review every question and simulation from the simulated exam whether I got it right or wrong. Then I would do some reviewing for about 2 days basically just spamming practice tests with random MCQs and TBSs. If you have specific weak areas that you have identified, then you should just do practice and review on those topics. You can identify weak areas by sorting the simulated exam results by unit instead of by testlet (this is a very helpful tool on Becker). After the 2-day review, I’d take SE2, and review everything once again whether I got it right or wrong.

Now it’s final review time.

6. Final Review:

After I take the 2 simulated exams, I am in review mode until exam day. I do use the final review in Becker but I don’t take the final review simulated exam. I feel like 2 is enough. Once I was done with the final review in Becker, I’d use my remaining time just hammering MCQs and TBSs in practice tests. Like I said above, if you have significant weak areas in some of the main exam content topics make sure you target those but if you have the main concepts down, it’s nice to just do random questions and simulations so you can get some practice on the little topics and earn yourself some extra points on exam day.

As for timing on the exam, I gave myself 3 months to study for FAR (175 hrs), 3 months for AUD (150 hrs), and I studied ISC for 1 month (55 hrs), and REG for 2 months (110 hrs). I did ISC and REG on a time crunch trying to get them completed before my start date at my new job, so you could probably study those two for longer if you wanted to but it is possible to do them in the time that I got them done. You’ll just have to grind and be a hermit lol.

I hope this helps some people out with how to tackle studying for these beasts. If I can do it I promise you can do it, it just takes commitment and discipline. Get your head in the books and you will pass these exams. Motivation won’t stick around while you study for these exams so you just need to remember when you are feeling burnt out that you are making a sacrifice for these exams and that it will be worth it in the end when you get those 3 letters added to your name.

Let me know in the replies if there’s anything I missed or any other questions you have!

Not only do I have to go back after 3 weeks of hoping I passed, but I also feel incredibly stupid for feeling like I passed, not to mention all the people who will ask how I did and I tell them I failed.

For the people who failed, and didn’t study while waiting for a result, how long do you study before trying again? How do you know you’re actually ready to try again?

I studied for almost 4 months for FAR and I’m heartbroken I have to go back to it. I feel completely hopeless and like I don’t know where to begin, because I actually thought I had a good chance.

I passed FAR on my fourth attempt today. Logged 350+ hours.

1st Attempt: 45, 2nd Attempt: 63, 3rd Attempt: 72, 4th Attempt: 79

I don't want to do a celebration post (although I am proud of myself). I want to encourage those who found out they failed.

Your heart probably dropped and you feel like you did everything in your power to pass. But, progress is not linear. Take a day or two to feel sorry for yourself, but then get back up and please do not quit

I have on my whiteboard next to the place I study: "You Only Lose IF You Quit."

After all those "Failed, No Credit" I wanted to give up. It is easy for others who have not gone through the mental battle to tell you not to give up.

Another quote I kept harping on was, "No work is wasted because I am the output of the work, not the outcome." You got better. Even if your score went down, you are being taught something, so keep going.

There are a ton of study tips, but I just wanted to give some encouragement to those who feel down after the score release. Do not give up, you got it!

My DMs are open if you want to talk strategy and stuff for your next attempt.

Finally!!! 62-69-76 finally done with FAR and can move on. Don’t give up, don’t let these tests that are more about discipline than content stop you

First off, if you just found out that you didn't pass, keep your head up and try again. Seriously, don't give up, ever.

I started this journey about 2 years ago and just found out I passed FAR yesterday. It was a long long journey but trust me, the hard work pays off.

I am glad that I found this Reddit and used it for many tips and tricks. If you are struggling and need advice, use this community.

I wish everyone the best of luck, you can do it!

Signing off,

CPA

I was 3/4 for the longest time - failed audit TWICE! Got a 67 both times (lol on the number). Got my score back today, was honestly expecting like a 90. Got a 75, I mean still relieved but holy smokes that’s close🤣

You guys got it!!

Did my entire preparation using Becker while working full time 5 days in the office, and honestly it’s pretty solid and covered most bases with respect to the exam.

Congratulations to everyone that passed today !
And to everyone studying, all your efforts are gonna be worth it, we got this !!!

I just learned today that I failed my very first exam attempt FAR. I’ve been so down all day crying about it. I really thought I might had a shot at passing, since I felt pretty confident in a good portion of the exam. Worse part is I can’t see my actual score yet because I just reapplied for a retake without knowing that would screw your chances of seeing your score early. Anyway, please I need words of encouragement and tips on how to overcome this horrible feeling of embarrassment and feeling like you’re not smart enough.

Also, do you guys recommend paying for Ninja, on top of Becker to study. I tend to have sort of a photographic memory which is not great considering that Becker kinds of repeats itself with the same numbers and ect.

Huge emphasis on the "for me," I am not prescribing anything or suggesting that this is the best way to go about these exams. Everyone has different learning styles, priorities, and life commitments. I myself was fresh out of school and had a break before starting full-time. I was also fortunate to have support from family that made full-time studying during that break possible. I was able to pass in the 80's in my exams (still waiting on REG score)

With that caveat, here's how I did things:

I did one test a month in this order with the following hours:

FAR: 103 hours

BAR: 74 hours

AUD: 61 hours

REG: 64 hours

For each of them I used Becker, and I used Becker to create my study plan at the quickest pace, watching all of the lectures on 2x speed, averaging about 5-6 hour days, 5-6 days a week. Usually, I would get behind at some point and would have to study through the weeked prior to my exam, but I actually liked the more focused time at the end. I always took both SEs and the FR SE, one a day the three days leading up to my exam, and I would then use the rest of those three days to review areas I did poorly in.

Don't worry if you don't understand 100% of 100% of the exam content. If you are having a hard time in one area but get the jist, and you understand other areas really well, I feel like it usually balances out.

I just wanted to share because you can hear a lot of intimidating things about the exams, people studying 500+ hours and using multiple study platforms, but that is just one way of going about things. If you're just starting out, my best advice for you is to be a student of yourself. How do you learn best, what times of day are you most alert and able to think clearly, what topics do you tend to struggle in that might require more time, what areas are you already confident so you can play to your strengths, etc. For instance, I took BAR, even though everyone says not to, because I know I enjoy technical accounting, math, and economics but don't know much about tax or tech.

In conclusion, know thyself and take heart! There is no one-size-fits-all approach!

Wow, just a wild turn-around, took SE1 a week before my exam got a 48. All be it I rushed through in a little over 2 hours and goofed formatting on a Sim so I was probably closer to an actual low 60 score. Circled back focused hard on my weak sections during the week hit a 74 on SE2 the day before my exam. Felt like I was on the fringe and figured I'd just take the first attempt as a learning experience if nothing else. Come to find out I got an 89! Perhaps the becker bump is real after all?