Should You Take FAR First or Start With an Easier CPA Exam Section?
FAR is a logical first section. It is not a universal law. There are two legitimate strategies: foundation first or confidence first.
Strategy 1: FAR first
Reasons include broad accounting foundation, useful overlap with AUD, a natural base for BAR, fresh financial-accounting knowledge for recent graduates, and getting a large section done before later burnout.
Strategy 2: confidence first
Start with the section that best matches your coursework or work experience. Audit professionals may reasonably begin with AUD. Tax professionals may reasonably begin with REG.
Who should strongly consider FAR first?
Recent accounting graduates, candidates with strong intermediate-accounting knowledge, BAR candidates, and people comfortable with financial reporting.
Who might start elsewhere?
Tax professionals, experienced auditors, candidates far removed from school, or people who could benefit meaningfully from an early confidence win.
Do not call a section easy
The easier section is the one that fits you better. National pass rates do not determine your personal difficulty.
Overlap still matters
Useful pairings include FAR → AUD, FAR → BAR, AUD → ISC, and REG → TCP.
What did Grace do?
My actual order was FAR → ISC → AUD → REG, with scores of 83, 82, 81, and 91. If optimizing purely for overlap, I would likely put AUD directly after FAR.
The confidence argument is real
A first pass can prove that your method works, that Prometric is manageable, and that you can pass a CPA Exam.
But do not avoid FAR forever
Starting elsewhere can be strategic. Repeatedly pushing FAR away because you are scared of it is avoidance.
Simple decision rule
Choose FAR first when the foundation is fresh and overlap helps. Choose another Core section first when your strength advantage makes that first pass materially more likely.
The takeaway
Optimize pass probability + overlap + momentum, not internet tradition.