Editor’s note: Welcome to latest edition of >75, our weekly post on questions that you have related to the CPA Exam. Send your questions to tips@goingconcern.com and we’ll do our best to answer as many of them as possible. You can see all of the JDA’s posts for GC here and all our posts related to the CPA Exam here.
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For today’s >75, let’s talk picking exam parts, shall we?
I get asked these questions at work constantly: “What part should I start with? Which is the easiest? Which is the hardest?”
My answer is always the same: there is no “easy” or “hard” section, they’re all equally and independently difficult for their own reasons. FAR is “hard” because of the sheer volume of information but believe it or not, BEC tends to be the part candidates struggle with most. AUD and REG have a slightly higher national pass rate but that does not make them any easier than the other two.
For now, I’ve been advising candidates to start with FAR so they can get it out of the way before IFRS hits the exam in 2011. In general, however, I advise our students to start with the part that they feel will be most difficult for them since your 18 month clock starts ticking once you pass the first part. If a candidate is going to struggle to pass one section, it’s best to do this before that 18 month period starts since the very last thing you want to do is to retake a section you already passed because you couldn’t pass that final part in time.
Point being, there’s no such thing as easy when it comes to the CPA exam. Nor is there a such thing as a “magical” order for taking the exams. But here are some tips for figuring out which part to start with:
• Anxious candidates with a confidence problem – Start with Audit or Regulation, whichever section will be easiest for you since, as I said above, these tend to have a higher pass rate. Passing that first section will be a huge motivator to keep you going.
• For candidates looking for “the easy way out” – Start with FAR. Since this section is the largest, getting it out of the way first will make the rest of your CPA exam experience seem downhill.
• For candidates planning to take the exam through 2011 – Get FAR and BEC out of the way now. Communications will be hitting BEC in 2011 so if you get it done now, you can take AUD and REG in 2011 when they no longer have communications. Win!
Good luck!
As someone who has struggled to pass, I recommend:
1) FAR – largest set of material that could be tested
2) REG – can pass with a fair amount of studying
3) BEC – easier, might not need to study at all
4) AUD – if you are working in audit, then at least you would have some experience by the time you get around to it and wouldn’t have to study much
I passed AUD and BEC without studying, then waited a long time and ended up failing both FAR and REG with 74s…. and now I am coming up on my 18 month window. So for those who are just starting – do not wait to take any sections. Do them all back to back, get it done, go on with life, be happy.
I pretty much agree with 1’s order. Definitely take FAR first b/c it’s the most like what you learn in college and it is good to knock out the biggest piece out first. Definitely take AUDIT last b/c it’s the easiest and it is easier also if you have worked in audit for a year or so already. I found REG to be by far the most challenging, and so did all of my friends. BEC is not as difficult material as REG, but it’s trickier actually in it’s own way. I would take BEC and REG 2nd and 3rd in either order. I passed FARE and AUDIT my first time, but struggled through BEC and REG.
No Do not start with FAR if you are struggling to pass. Start with Reg or Aud. Build up from that. I passed Reg with 1 tax season under me belt. I passed Aud after with NO Audit experience.
For people in Audit, I would say definitely go: REG first, then either FAR/BEC, then end with Audit. You just don’t work with tax all that much your first 2-3 years in audit, and after one busy season if you “get it” at your daily engagements, AUD should be a breeze.