REG Becker Supplemental Course (2026): Condensed Lessons for Becker Students
Kyle Ashcraft, CPA · 2019 CPA Exam Scores · 95 FAR · 98 BEC · 91 REG · 90 AUD
You bought Becker for REG, and now you are somewhere between the tax lectures and the business law lectures, holding a lot of rules and not enough time to use them. REG is the section where memorizing a rule and applying it to a set of facts feel like two different skills, and the exam wants the second one.
I am not going to tell you to drop Becker. If you own it, keep it. What I can offer is short REG teaching that sits alongside it, so the topics that are not landing get explained a second way in less time.
Quick answer: keep Becker as your main REG course and add short, teaching-first lessons only for the topics that are not landing. In REG that is often basis, where the rule is easy to read and hard to apply. That is what a REG Becker supplement should do.
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Last updated October 2026. Competitor prices are from each provider's own pages as checked on October 10, 2026. Maxwell student figures come from Maxwell CPA Review onboarding surveys as of October 2026 and describe my students, not every candidate.
Who is a REG Becker supplement for?
- You already bought Becker and cannot get through the REG lectures at the pace your exam date needs.
- You can follow a lecture on partnership or S corporation tax, then freeze when a question changes one fact.
- You are working full time and need one topic explained in one evening.
- You are retaking REG and want specific topics explained a different way, not the whole course again.
REG is also a section where one specific skill decides a lot of points. Roughly 35 to 45% of the exam is written at the application level, which means working a problem, not recalling a rule. A supplement that explains how to work the problem, step by step, is aimed at exactly that.
Among my students, REG retakers who answered the survey reported a median last score of 66, though that is only 18 respondents, so treat it as a rough signal. And since early September, 14 of 44 students said Maxwell CPA Review is their supplemental course, with 9 of those 14 naming Becker as their main one.
Keep Becker if you have it. Becker is a solid course, and if your firm paid for it, it costs you nothing. A supplement only needs to fix the part that is not working.
How does Maxwell CPA Review work alongside Becker?
You do not follow two courses in parallel. Your calendar stays Becker's. You use Maxwell CPA Review by topic, when a topic stalls.
- Work through Becker as planned. When a topic does not click after the Becker lecture, stop there.
- Watch my lesson on that topic. Every REG topic is a short lesson you can jump to directly.
- Do its quiz set the same evening. About 30 questions, so you find out right away whether the explanation landed.
- Go back to Becker for its simulations and timed practice on that topic.
Both are built to the same AICPA blueprint, so the topics line up. You are hearing the hard parts a second way, not learning a different exam.
Which REG topics should Becker students prioritize?
The AICPA weights REG by content area. On the exam you get 72 multiple-choice questions and 8 task-based simulations in four hours.
| REG content area | Weight |
|---|---|
| V. Federal Taxation of Entities (including tax preparation) | 23 to 33% |
| IV. Federal Taxation of Individuals | 22 to 32% |
| II. Business Law | 15 to 25% |
| I. Ethics, Professional Responsibilities and Federal Tax Procedures | 10 to 20% |
| III. Federal Taxation of Property Transactions | 5 to 15% |
Within those areas, I treat these topics as the ones to master first, because they ask you to apply a rule to facts:
| High-priority REG topic | Blueprint area |
|---|---|
| S corporation shareholder basis | V. Entities |
| Partnership partner basis | V. Entities |
| Book-to-tax differences | V. Entities |
| Individual gross income | IV. Individuals |
| Individual loss limitations | IV. Individuals |
| Basis of assets | III. Property transactions |
| Cost recovery (depreciation and amortization) | III. Property transactions |
| Contracts | II. Business law |
Area weights are from the AICPA Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints effective January 2026. The topic priorities are my own study-priority judgment, not an AICPA classification.
If you are behind in Becker, get these solid first. A lower-priority topic, such as the rules on tax credits, deserves the core rule and a few questions, and then you move on.
What does the teaching actually look like?
Here is the kind of explanation students tell me they needed, using S corporation shareholder basis. Basis is a running balance, and the exam asks what it is after a few things happen.
So, let's say a shareholder pays $10,000 for stock. In Year 1 the S corporation earns $6,000 of ordinary income, which passes through to the shareholder, and distributes $4,000 in cash. Income increases basis. Distributions decrease it.
| Year 1 | Basis |
|---|---|
| Stock purchased | 10,000 |
| Share of ordinary income | + 6,000 |
| Cash distribution | - 4,000 |
| Basis at end of Year 1 | 12,000 |
Now Year 2. The corporation has an ordinary loss and the shareholder's share is $15,000. Here is the question that decides the answer: how much of that loss can the shareholder actually deduct? A shareholder can only deduct a loss up to the basis they have. Basis is $12,000, so $12,000 is deductible, basis falls to zero, and the other $3,000 is not lost. It is carried forward until the shareholder has basis again.
One more thing the exam loves. An S corporation shareholder's basis does not go up when the corporation borrows from a bank. A partner's basis does go up for a share of partnership debt. A shareholder only gets basis from debt by lending money to the corporation directly. If you understand why, the exam can change every number and you will still get it right. If you only memorized "income up, distributions down," you will miss the loss limit, which is where the points are.
What is included for REG?
| Video lectures | 8 hours, in short topic lessons |
|---|---|
| Practice MCQs | 750 |
| Task-based simulations | 35 |
| Also | Textbook, study outline, final review, 6 mini exams |
The course includes all six sections, so if you also use Becker for FAR or AUD, the same approach works there.
What does it cost compared with buying a second full course?
Maxwell CPA Review is $49 a month for all six sections, billed monthly, cancel anytime. You can use it for the weeks you need it and stop when REG is done.
| Option | Published price | What it adds to Becker |
|---|---|---|
| A second full course, such as Gleim Traditional CPA Review | $2,499 | Another full library you also will not finish |
| Gleim CPA Mega Test Bank | $999 for all six sections, or $250 per section | More questions |
| NINJA Supplement | $67 a month | More questions, notes and audio |
| Maxwell CPA Review | $49 a month, all six sections | Condensed teaching on the topics that are not landing |
Competitor prices are from Gleim's and NINJA's own pages as checked on October 10, 2026, and they change often, so confirm them before you buy.
If your problem is practice volume, buy a test bank. If your problem is that basis and the loss limits are not making sense in the time you have, a second test bank does not fix that. Teaching does.
Who teaches it?
I do, all of it. I am a CPA who scored 91 on REG, 95 on FAR, 98 on BEC and 90 on AUD in 2019, and I create every lecture, textbook page and study outline in Maxwell CPA Review myself. There is no content team, which is why the course is short: one person decided what the exam rewards and taught that.
Sources: AICPA Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints, effective January 2026 (area weights, REG format and skill levels); IRC sections 1366 and 1367 (S corporation loss limitation and basis adjustments); Gleim (gleim.com/cpa-review) and NINJA (ninjacpareview.com/faq) published pricing, checked October 10, 2026; Maxwell CPA Review onboarding surveys and course specifications, October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use Maxwell CPA Review as a supplement to Becker for REG?
Yes. Keep Becker as your main course and use Maxwell CPA Review by topic when a Becker lecture does not land: watch the short lesson, do its quiz set the same evening, then return to Becker for simulations and timed practice.
Do I need to cancel Becker to use Maxwell CPA Review?
No. If you already own Becker, especially through your employer, keep it. Maxwell CPA Review is built to the same AICPA blueprint and works alongside it.
Is Maxwell CPA Review enough on its own for REG?
Yes. It is a complete course with 8 hours of REG video lectures, 750 practice questions, 35 simulations, a textbook, an outline, a final review and 6 mini exams. In my onboarding survey, 30 of 44 students use it as their primary course and 14 use it as a supplement.
How is Maxwell CPA Review different from NINJA as a Becker supplement?
NINJA's Supplement adds practice questions, notes and audio, which is the right fix if you understand REG and need more repetitions. Maxwell CPA Review adds teaching: short lessons that explain the why behind each rule, for when the concept itself has not landed.
What does a REG Becker supplement cost?
Maxwell CPA Review is $49 a month for all six sections, billed monthly, cancel anytime.
Try it on the REG topic you are stuck on
CPA 101 is free: all 25 of the 2026 AICPA released MCQs and a free study outline, with a REG track. No credit card required.
Comparing courses more broadly? See Maxwell CPA Review vs Becker and the full CPA review course comparison. Using Becker for other sections too? See the FAR Becker supplemental course and the AUD Becker supplemental course.
Kyle Ashcraft, CPA scored 90 or above on every section of the CPA exam in 2019, including a 91 on REG. He is the founder and sole instructor of Maxwell CPA Review, where he creates every lecture, textbook and study outline himself.
Reach him at MaxwellCPAreview@gmail.com.
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