Hi FutureCPA,

The reason I anticipated REG to be the most difficult to me is because I don't have much experience at all.  I'm an auditor for not for profit companys.  But I did have the basic tax course in undergrad and one in grad school (ended up being the same course!).  And I barely passed - got a C :(  So tax is not my forte. 

But anyways, for Becker I studied for about 2 months while working full time.  I listened to the lecture for the chapter one week, then I reviewed the chapter.  I didn't memorize every single thing.  I just kinda got familiar with it and practiced mc.  I am bad at memorizing so I usually ignored the mnumonics (can't spell).  I didn't do any simulations until a week before the test - oops.  Also, what may have helped me more is that I have the Becker Final Review software.  It is kind of dumb for the tax sections (it just tells you to review EVERYTHING) but the law parts was a really good summary.  Anyways, I finished all chapters about a week before the test and then did final review.  I felt OK going into the test, and after I took it, I didn't feel very confident, but appartently I did ok. Maybe I was just lucky. I know other people that passed only using becker.  It did consume my weekends most of the time (I usually only studyed maybe an hour after work during the week if at all).  Good luck! 

I think that multiple programs can be used together successfully, depending on how you do it.  For audit I used Gleim's system plus Yeager's cram program.  I think that it helped me to see both presentations, as the presentation by Yeager helped to clarify some points I was struggling with using Gleim.  I plan on doing this with REG and FAR also, I am just using Gleim for BEC though since I am a CMA so I'm already familiar with most of the BEC concepts.

I don't know that I would recommend using two full systems, but one plus a different cram session can be helpful.