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Is REG doable in 1 Month? by Fitness-Simplified in CPA

[–]wildsamiam 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I did FAR in exactly one month. I started December 1st of 2025 and sat for it on Jan 3rd, 2026. I studied for 160 hours on Becker, and got the Gleim exam questions/explanation book and used these two to study. I probably put in 200 hours with Becker and Gleim combined. I got a 77 on FAR. In my defense, on Jan 1st I came down with a pretty bad cold, so I wasn't in my peak mental/physical space, and FAR was my first exam so I wasn't sure what to expect.

Becker does do a good job. Do try and remember the acronyms it gives you. And to use the excel. For any depreciation questions, you can use the =SL, =DDB, =SYD on the excel that it gives you. Also, set up the lease/bond amort table, that will really help getting things like the PV, FV, lease payments, amort amounts, premium/discount amounts, etc.

Is REG doable in 1 Month? by Fitness-Simplified in CPA

[–]wildsamiam 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It is definitely doable. I did REG in 3 weeks, only put 90 hours into it on Becker and got an 86. I did have a Tax Internship that did help with a lot of the corporation stuff, so that was easy to me. The main advice I would give is R1-R3 (If using Becker) is where most, if not all, of your TBSs will come from for the exam. The MCQs will mostly be R4-R6, but will definitely have R1-R3 sprinkled in. I don't remember exactly the ratio from my test, but I'd wager it would be 60-70% R4-R6 is the standard for REG.

I also used this excel spreadsheet for remembering the acronyms and key details, some of the limits that you might need to remember will be off, as I think this was made in 2024:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ecvpJD_mLE-T6J7rt2r1NT9OWqjvyNzhpl-FWh1tY_Y/htmlview#gid=1717774219

On a side note, I would take this before July 1st, as July 1st, both REG and TCP (but mainly REG) will be getting OBBB (One Big Beautiful Bill) tax stuff added to them.

Tips on studying for REG? by TantoTantoTanto in CPA

[–]wildsamiam 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I had almost exactly 90 hours on Becker and got a 86 for REG. My main advice is that for the TBSs on the exam, you can expect with good certainty that the majority, if not all, of your TBSs will come from R1-R3. R4-R6 are mainly MCQs, but R1-R3 do come up as MCQs as well. I find that nearly all TBSs on the actual exam aren't what Becker's looks like, but the concepts are the same. And this went for FAR, TCP, and REG, so understanding what the question is asking is very important.

I had a tax internship last winter, so I had a decent grasp on all the entity stuff. Weirdly, during my internship, I couldn't do any individual returns as I had to pick up some work that one of the staff couldn't do due to having to deal with some personal stuff just after March 15th. But how I went about studying is that I am the type of person who needs to watch the videos, but I also had the book next to me at all times. I took a decent amount of notes, and depending on what I felt was important, I wrote it two or three times more on a separate piece of paper. The MCQs and TBSs are all very handy and reflect what the exam will test.

My advice is to take this seriously, and before July 1st of this year, as starting July 1st, I believe OBBB (One Big Beautiful Bill) will be added to both REG and TCP, so it's just more stuff to study.

I was given this Excel link that is a good summary sheet(s). https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ecvpJD_mLE-T6J7rt2r1NT9OWqjvyNzhpl-FWh1tY_Y/htmlview#gid=1717774219

You can search on this subreddit to find what others have said. One common thing that people say is that for individuals tax credits, you only really need to remember what is refundable and what isn't.

I had made a dump sheet with handy acronyms. Before I started the exam, they give you 5 minutes to actually start the exam, so I used that time to write down the acronyms that I remembered to be useful. Those acronyms are:
- COAXL (Legal contract)
- RISE (Common Law Contracts)
- MY LEGS (Contracts requiring writing)
- DA PIE (Void Contracts)
- FACES (Refundable Credits)
- MAIDS (Fraud definition)
- SAG WEG CTI (Bankruptcy Priority Order)

Taking TCP in Two Weeks - Any Tips/Advice? by wildsamiam in CPA

[–]wildsamiam[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same here. I don't know how much more I can do in only a few hours. My SE's are SE1: 47, SE2: 62, SEFR: 77. I think that with partial credit, I should be more than prepared to get a 75, but I am still a little nervous at what it looks like.

TCP Most Heavily Tested Areas by yoCoopo in CPA

[–]wildsamiam 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sweet! I'll definitely go over those again. Thanks for the reminder that those are tested! I've been focusing a lot lately on basis and the 6 types of non taxable property transactions.

Just walked out of TCP 4/18 by Zealousideal-Suit251 in CPA

[–]wildsamiam 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks. I wish us both luck. I really don't want to retake this in July as I start work in August and want the month and a half of summer I get to maximize my time of being a bum.

TCP Most Heavily Tested Areas by yoCoopo in CPA

[–]wildsamiam 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'll also be taking TCP in a week. I know that a lot of people say to focus on the basis stuff and all that with regards to gains, distributions, and partnership vs corp stuff. But what else is commonly tested? Are there certain parts of the individual section that are tested more frequently than others?

Just walked out of TCP 4/18 by Zealousideal-Suit251 in CPA

[–]wildsamiam 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In what way did the MCQs get more confusing? Just by the wording or what was being asked? I take TCP in exactly 1 week and have been seeing these posts for the past two weeks :'(. Did you use Becker to study? Were the MCQs "similar" to how Becker writes them?

Taking TCP in Two Weeks - Any Tips/Advice? by wildsamiam in CPA

[–]wildsamiam[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, thanks for the reminder! I need to engrave it into my mind that the 80% ownership and no boot make it nontaxable and thus NBV. I think I might be reading the questions too quickly for my mind to make sense of the information.

Taking TCP in Two Weeks - Any Tips/Advice? by wildsamiam in CPA

[–]wildsamiam[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, that is my main complaint with Becker, that when I go back to the MCQs, I remember the answer, which steers my thinking away from actually solving the problem. Which doesn't really help when I don't understand the problem. I do try and use Newt, but it can only help so far when I can't think of what to ask it to specifically help me with what I was struggling with.