--- title: CPA Exam Strategy (2) description: Here you will find blog posts with pertinent information on the CPA exam and exam tips and strategies. Be sure to read some posts today. (2) --- # Accounting Certification News and CPA Strategy Stay current with the latest accounting certification news and proven CPA strategies. Browse by All CPA CPA tutoring CPA exam Become a CPA CPA REG CPA exam order CPA-FAR CMA exam CPA AUD CPA BEC CPA study tips This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. [CPA](https://www.myguruedge.com/cpa-exam-blog/topic/cpa) [CPA tutoring](https://www.myguruedge.com/cpa-exam-blog/topic/cpa-tutoring) [Become a CPA](https://www.myguruedge.com/cpa-exam-blog/topic/become-a-cpa) [CPA exam](https://www.myguruedge.com/cpa-exam-blog/topic/cpa-exam) ![cpa-1.jpg](https://www.myguruedge.com/hs-fs/hubfs/cpa-1.jpg?width=225&height=225&name=cpa-1.jpg)Just starting out on your path to becoming a Certified Public Accountant (CPA)? Unsure where to begin? One of the biggest decisions to make is the selection of a review course. Many people are familiar with Becker, Roger, Wiley CPAexcel, and Yaeger. There is also Surgent, Gleim, Kaplan, Ninja, Lambers, ExamMatrix, and more. With so many options available to a candidate, it may be difficult to determine what will work best. While some programs will boast about a high pass rate for its users, at the end of the day, the content provided is very similar --- is it simply delivered in varying formats.  [CPA](https://www.myguruedge.com/cpa-exam-blog/topic/cpa) [CPA tutoring](https://www.myguruedge.com/cpa-exam-blog/topic/cpa-tutoring) [CPA REG](https://www.myguruedge.com/cpa-exam-blog/topic/cpa-reg) [CPA exam order](https://www.myguruedge.com/cpa-exam-blog/topic/cpa-exam-order) *![cpa.jpg](https://www.myguruedge.com/hs-fs/hubfs/cpa.jpg?width=225&height=225&name=cpa.jpg)In what order should I take the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Exam? *It is a question that many new candidates ask themselves, and others, when starting off on their four-part CPA journey. While people will suggest many different approaches, those who have taken the exams in the past will mostly agree that you should not leave Regulation (REG) or Financial Accounting & Reporting (FAR) for last. There are several reasons for this. Among them, the pass rates for FAR (47.5%) and REG (49.3%) are considerably lower than the pass rates for Audit (AUD), at 52.1%, and Business Environment & Concepts (BEC), at 55.35% (all percentages as of the most recent quarter, shown here on the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) [website](https://www.aicpa.org/content/dam/aicpa/becomeacpa/cpaexam/psychometricsandscoring/passingrates/downloadabledocuments/pass-rates-2017.pdf)). [CPA-FAR](https://www.myguruedge.com/cpa-exam-blog/topic/cpa-far) [CPA](https://www.myguruedge.com/cpa-exam-blog/topic/cpa) [CPA tutoring](https://www.myguruedge.com/cpa-exam-blog/topic/cpa-tutoring) [CPA REG](https://www.myguruedge.com/cpa-exam-blog/topic/cpa-reg) [CPA exam order](https://www.myguruedge.com/cpa-exam-blog/topic/cpa-exam-order) [CPA AUD](https://www.myguruedge.com/cpa-exam-blog/topic/cpa-aud) [CPA BEC](https://www.myguruedge.com/cpa-exam-blog/topic/cpa-bec) ![cpa.png](https://www.myguruedge.com/hs-fs/hubfs/cpa.png?width=228&height=221&name=cpa.png)The CPA Exam is without question one of the most difficult exams on the planet. It takes proper planning and preparation to get through this daunting exam. The purpose of this article is to provide you with some tips and tricks on which section you should take first. [CPA](https://www.myguruedge.com/cpa-exam-blog/topic/cpa) [CPA tutoring](https://www.myguruedge.com/cpa-exam-blog/topic/cpa-tutoring)   ![shutterstock_132169082.jpg](https://www.myguruedge.com/hs-fs/file-377932347.jpg/images/shutterstock_132169082.jpg?width=246&name=shutterstock_132169082.jpg) [CPA](https://www.myguruedge.com/cpa-exam-blog/topic/cpa) [CPA tutoring](https://www.myguruedge.com/cpa-exam-blog/topic/cpa-tutoring) **![cpa.jpeg](https://www.myguruedge.com/hs-fs/hubfs/images/cpa.jpeg?width=262&height=192&name=cpa.jpeg)** Understanding the time value of money for FAR is incredibly important. It appears in the accounting for leases, bond valuation, corporate finance (BEC), and pension accounting, just to name a few. Conceptually, it should be a very easy topic for students to master - a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow for the simple reason that with a dollar today one can consume, and without a dollar today one cannot consume. To compensate someone for delaying his or her consumption, interest is added to the principal amount (the amount of money that is being delayed). This interest represents the price of consumption today. The most common proxy used for this interest rate is the risk-free US Treasury rate. Any interest premium in addition to the US Treasury rate represents compensation for any other risk factors. This all should seem intuitive. The AICPA does not allow the use of financial calculators on the CPA exam. Students are only allowed to use simple calculators that are provided with the testing software. This makes calculating present values and future values incredibly cumbersome and monotonous. Therefore, the AICPA relies heavily on discount factors and future value multiples to test students on these concepts. This is where the confusion ensues! Students need to be comfortable with this approach, so taking a step back and understanding the mechanics of what is going on is important. Here are some steps to take: ### Follow this blog