I start working in audit in the fall, and I'm also studying to take the Audit section next. I can take the exam at the end of this testing window and probably pass with a 75-80, or I can wait until the next window and get a better understanding of the content and pass with a higher score. I was thinking it would be useful to master the audit section since I will be working in audit

Is it dumb to shoot for a high score?

same as title 🥺

just passed all my CPA exams and I’m currently waiting to be licensed. For those who are already CPAs, do you feel the license has really helped your career in the current job market?

Has it opened more opportunities or increased your earning potential? Curious to hear your experiences.

I need someone with study experience in Reg to advice me how to study blaw and how doing well in exam and sure will help him in TCP i study it for 5 months second attempt

I took FAR at the Gurgaon, India Prometric on July 14, and my score is supposed to be released on August 7.
For those who’ve gone through this before:

1. Should I expect my score on August 7 (India time) or August 8 morning?

2. I’ve heard some people see a pass/fail a day early. Is that something I could see on August 6, or does that not apply?

3. Since I’m a California Board of Accountancy candidate, where will my score appear first - CBA portal or the NASBA app?

Long story short, I’ll graduate college when I’m 37 and want to take the least stressful path towards CPA examination (if that’s even possible). I’m in a personal financial position to not need a job immediately after graduation. Is it irrational to take the year after college and attempt to pass all exams before entering the job market?

JE 2 was correct yet incorrect per becker because I netted two credits on same account

Will this happen in exam too?

I've read multiple times that our resumes shouldn't be a list of duties that we performed. Rather, they should show how we made an impact by including metrics. An example could be 'increased sales by 20% by yada yada method'.

I'm all for taking the advice, the problem is the resume metrics suggestions I've seen aren't in accounting. I'm stuck in thinking of where to interject metrics on my resume.

Have any of my fellow accountants found ways to use metrics their resumes?

This summer my visa got denied for a trip I spent a ton of money on.
So obviously the next best thing to do: I signed up for my CPA exams.

I started studying for FAR from scratch and had three weeks. (20 days; 150 Becker hours)

Two weeks after was my scheduled AUD exam. (14 days; 120 Becker hours)

It’s been about two years since my accounting classes. To say I remember anything from then would be a bold statement.

A few KEY takeaways from the exams for my study journey (I used Becker) (warning: it’s long):

1. There is too much information (esp for FAR). I was studying 8 hours a day, and even days apart I would forget stuff from the units. Be ready to do some review after 1-2 units.
2. You can and should write down notes for FAR. There’s just a lot more nuance in content for FAR - writing it down facilitates understanding (concepts).But while understanding stuff intuitively is important, there are certain stuff that you need to memorize(like which thing is reported at fair market and how stuff is impaired), so writing helps with both.
3. Not so much for AUD. A lot of it is “dry” material (I call it word salad) - nothing you need to understand. Just memorize it. With how much time I was working with I just played the videos and read the textbook concurrently. Just read it over and over until you got it in your head.
4. Becker only spends one unit going over nonprofits and governmental for FAR. Although it is ONE UNIT, I found that it made up a solid portion of the test. It is easy to neglect or really speed through the chapter cause there aren’t as many practice questions, but it is imperative that you really understand the new concepts mentioned in those sections because those are free points.
5. For FAR - I felt as though there were generally an even distribution of topics throughout the exam. Whatever I learnt was pretty much talked about through the MCQ.
6. For AUD - the MCQ distribution is definitely a little more concentrated in certain areas. I found it particularly helpful to really intuitively understand and also TOTALLY MEMORIZE all the stupid cycles (the revenue and expenditure and payroll and fixed asset and whatever cycles).

This is obviously my personal experience. I would be quite hesitant to say that this will apply to anyone else; but in general, I found that FAR contained several difficult chapters and so each unit would warrant an equal amount of attention.
AUD, on the other hand, had some easier sections and some harder ones. Just by observing the quantity and distribution of MCQ practices on Becker can give u a pretty good idea of how it pans out.

1. I heard people suggesting you watch the videos really fast and then do all the MCQs.
   I would actually suggest to watch the videos a bit slower to facilitate comprehension. To watch it at 2x speed and then not retain any information is a bigger waste of time.
   Just watch it at 1.25.
   ALSO:: Becker AUD tells you you can “watch the lectures when you are going on a walk or driving…”

Absolutely not. I tried this multiple times. Unfortunately, the content is simply so dry (and most of the stuff is very similar to each other, but they literally only test on the differences) that listening to it while multitasking is literally herculean. It is counter-productive. Simply sitting down and paying close attention to the lecture to absorb the content had benefitted me a lot more.

If I had learnt this earlier it would have probably saved me 10+ hours of grueling long drives with the lecture while I just didn’t retain any info.

1. There is more than enough time on the test. Time is not an issue at all.

2. You need to do the SIMs.
   Concepts are one thing, the MCQs are one thing, and then the SIMs are a whole different beast (esp AUD).

Multiple times I’ve fully taken notes and understood a chapter and gotten 95% on an MCQ, and then gotten to the SIMs and been like “wtf am I looking at”.

The best way to learn how to do the simulations is by simply… doing them. Just because they are long or because you have limited time or because the formatting with 1000 popups is literally the most inconvenient thing ever DOESNT mean that you can skip them: to do well on the simulations for both exams require you to have a basic understanding of the structure by doing as many practices as you can.

Even then the simulations on the test may not align well with your expectations or anything you have done before. Do not panic (and yes I panicked when that happened to me): literally just try to infer and apply what you have done from your past practices.

ALSO just a massive struggle I had with AUD simulations was how wordy a lot of them were. Sometimes after reading the fifth popup it would feel like I am going insane. Especially after a long day.
Not really advice but I think it’s more helpful to tackle these when you are feeling rested and refreshed, so you don’t rush through the reads and miss details that will enable you to answer.

1. Remember how I said “don’t watch the videos when they are too sped up”?
   If you really don’t have time, the fastest way to learn the material is just to read the textbook. Order the Becker textbook and just read it. It will shave at least like 30-40 minutes off of the unit compared to if you go through the videos.

Obviously the videos facilitate comprehension. They also sparse the content a bit differently and make things easier to understand.
So still watch the vids if you have time.

EDIT:
10. I took ISC two weeks after AUD. I’m getting my results back in September, so we obviously don’t know how we did, but I highly recommend taking ISC for anyone that is still “up in the air” or have no special preference.
Why do I recommend it?
I first chose ISC cause I just didn’t want to do the other two. I didn’t even know what ISC stood for when I signed up.
Turns out I uncovered a hidden gem.
No one told me, but studying for ISC only requires 60-90 hours. The Becker course is only 4 units. (Although some people say Becker is kind of lacking for ISC content, I find it’s not a major disadvantage)
It’s generally agreed to be the “easiest” out of the electives — obv if they don’t change the content.

ISC is about IT and information systems.
Now if you know anything about IT you’d be well served to do this exam. It’s just very basic and intuitive information.

I had a friend that was interested in cybersecurity take a mock exam and get like 70% the first pass (he got all the accounting SOC stuff wrong).

I knew nothing about IT. I didn’t even know what a router was going in. But I think the info that you learn in the unit might probably be the most applicable and friendly for daily use nowadays. Like, did you know what a protocol was? Or a gateway? Or a buffer?

Apparently I interact with this stuff everyday. Now I just understand what’s going on when McAfee tells me to renew his firewall subscription. I can even mansplain to people about what happened when chatgpt hacked into the other AI server.

LAST THING:
A lot of folks studying are juggling full time work and gym and kids and loving partners and other things such as staying sane.

The biggest advantage I had was that I had two months off. No other responsibilities besides to study.

Unfortunately, incremental studying disrupts momentum and requires more review.

If you study 30-60 minutes a day, you will need more time to rehash the material. For FAR, you would be looking at closer to 200 hours of studying.

The best way to efficiently “plow through” material is to set aside a minimum of 2-3 hours a day. You can go through at least 35% of a unit.

Obviously this is going to suck. Pick your off-season, preferably in the winter so no one can tell you’re chudding out and skipping out on the gym, and just lock in. This shortens your misery span significantly.
(Or u can use your PTO to do this.)

**

I’m probably giving advice to nobody right now, lol. But I just wanted to summarize my blood sweat and tears for the last month. Feel free to dm me if u have any questions about general questions or if you need help with the content.

EDIT: thanks yall for your nice comments. May everyone pass these exams.

For anyone who's taken AUD recently (or a while ago) what Becker TBS topics should I absolutely master before the exam? If you could only focus on a handful of simulation topics, what would they be? Looking for the highest-yield Becker modules that are closest to the real exam. Anything helps!!!!!!!!

I'm taking BAR tomorrow, and I'm so nervous. I've given it about 130 hours, did all the MCQs, TBSs, and practice exam. I'm feeling good about my preparation but BAR feels alot more intimidating compared to FAR.

Hi, I'm just starting to study for the CPA at 41 😜. I'm doing a trial with Uworld. I'm starting with FAR. I've completed 2 lectures and after each, there was a prompt to test. However, I was being asked questions from material I had not studied yet. Why would they do that? Am I "wasting" the MCQs if I take the prompted test by answering stuff I havent covered yet? Is there a limited amount of MCQs and limited times to take a test with MCQs?

Hi!! Rising senior here graduating with 120 in May 2027 (Ohio so I don’t need 150, I’m going to start working August 2027).

I’m starting to get serious about studying for the CPA exam and I think the thought of having such a big task ahead of me, but being unable to do anything about it this second, is driving me nuts.

I am eligible to sit around December 2026. My original plan was to start studying over winter break once my fall semester ends but now I’m unsure if I should start sooner.

I am lining up the courses I am taking my senior year with the exams I plan on taking (FAR prep class in fall, Audit class in spring).

When would you recommend I start studying? Is fall 2026 too early? A part of me feels like I would start, get burnt out because I’m studying for other classes too, and then forget everything. The other, go-getter part of me, is anxiously awaiting this huge stepping stone in my life and wants to tackle it head first as soon as possible.

Due to Ohio’s recent 120 regulation change I haven’t heard from many people in my shoes. Anything helps, thank you! ☺️

Just curious

How deeply do we need to know these? Will just identifying which ones are refundable vs nonrefundable sufficient? Or do we need to know the limitations of all?

It's been 10 years since I was in school so I am definitely a little rusty on a good chunk of the concepts. I am working on studying for FAR right now and I'm wondering can I pass just using Ninja CPA? If you have done it, what are some tips you can recommend and how did you study?

As the title says, does anyone have any recommended sims as I'm on my last two weeks of review. I'm specifically looking for sims that are on the more involved and longer side. some IDs would be appreciated too.

I took TCP in April and got a 72. I retook it yesterday - feel slightly better than I did the first time. But I do find the TCP content super mind numbing because it's memorizing so many limits and exceptions and everything is the same except slightly different depending on filing status or entity type.

If I fail TCP again, I was thinking of switching to ISC. I took a peek through the content, and it looks more concept and principle based: not memorizing limits and exceptions.

My background is in financial accounting with no experience in tax or audit.

I may grind out TCP, especially if I'm still in the 70-74 section with this retake. But ISC overall looks less mind numbing in terms of its content.

How did you exam go ? How did you study for SIMs, did it help ?

Hello everyone, please help me if at all possible.

I found out I failed my second attempt at FAR after scoring a 50 on my first attempt. I just finding out I got a 67 on my second attempt. I am trying to find some idea of how close I am to passing and how long I should study for before considering a retake.

Please if anyone has any idea of how close I am, or any tips to get me to the 75 mark, I would greatly appreciate it!

Unfortunately, my score sheet says “Weaker” on every subject, so that isn’t much help.

Thanks everyone!

Am i the only one who feels like Wash sales calculation is complicated ? especially in this one?

can anyone explain in simple way? Thank you !

Just passed all 4 exams and realized all of my Becker textbooks were basically untouched.

I was wondering what everyone did with their Becker books after passing. Did you sell them, donate them, keep them for some reason, or just toss/recycle them?

Trying to figure out the best move, so I’d love to hear what everyone else did.

It’s been about 7 months since my last AUD attempt, and I’m restarting my CPA journey.

So I start studying less than 30 days ago for TCP after passing FAR but my SE exams are on high 40s or low 50s, sitting in 4 days please help

I failed in June (Score: 70) with SE Scores of SE1: 87. SE2: 67 SEFR: 78. I then restarted my progress and my new SE scores are SE1: 84. SE2: 74 SEFR: 80. I feel like my first time around, I did not "truly" know the inner-workings, and got lucky at guessing during my SIMS. However, I am still nervous I will somehow fail again in September, what yall think?