15 days left before BEC, any tips?

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  • September 29, 2014 at 5:51 pm #188981
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Just want to make sure I don’t miss anything.

    I have been using Becker. I have gone through all the Chapters and all mcq 2 times. When i say two times, I mean doing all sections of the questions completely and going back to do the marked ones again. Some of the quetions I have done up to 7 times. Anyhow, I’m down to my last 15 days to review for the exam. I will have 220 hours of Logged study time (reading notecards in the bathroom, doing questions at work does not count in my logged hours). What sections should I put extra emphasis in for my last 15 days?

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  • September 29, 2014 at 5:58 pm #610886
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I suggest you review all chapters again…. its good to study and have a broad knowledge of everything than just a particular section… now if you have more problems in lets say Variance Analysis you should focus more time on that and then study everything again.

    FAR: PASSED

    AUD: PASSED

    REG: PASSED

    BEC: PASSED

    CPA Licensed

    September 29, 2014 at 6:02 pm #610887
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    O no doubt. I'm going to take the 2 review tests Becker has twice and add in multiple review tests that include all chapters. I was looking more for a “hey, make sure you know each COSO section” or “IT defintitions” etc.

    Belive me, I'll still knock down another 1000 mcq by exam day.

    September 29, 2014 at 6:04 pm #610888
    jstay
    Participant

    cbones- when did you start studying? how long did it take? im halfway through chapter 2 of BEC in becker. i hope i have enough time to sit this quarter..

    September 29, 2014 at 6:08 pm #610889
    rzrbkfaith
    Member

    @jaystay – you have plenty of time to sit. I work full time and was able to prepare in 5 weeks (and that even taking a week off). Stick with it. After you get through B3, it gets a little better homework-wise.

    I agree with earlier comments about broad knowledge and working on weak areas. You don't know if you will have a theory heavy test or lots of calculations, so its important to know both. I will say that BEC final exam #2 is totally killer. If you want to destroy your confidence, that is a good way to do it. If I were you, I would avoid the final exams on this one and keep doing progress tests.

    AUD - 99
    BEC - 97
    REG - 91
    FAR - 1/8/16

    September 29, 2014 at 6:10 pm #610890
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Jstay

    My current plan (which has worked so far) is to study for each section logging my time until I have put in around 200 hours using Becker (lectures, questions, sims, etc). I started studying the week after my Reg exam July 8th. So july, aug, sep I have studied. I aim for 2 hours per night. I've have read stories of people that study and test within a few week period. Although that doesn't work for me, I'm sure it can be done.

    September 29, 2014 at 6:12 pm #610891
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @rzrbkfaith

    Thanks man. I got murdered doing the final exams for REG using Becker. I nearly cried. Retook them the next day and got like 5 wrong. Now I know most of that was recall and restuding my incorrect answers, but I think that last push really helped for exam day because I would go back and re-read or watch the lectures on anything I didn't understand.

    It was a nice brush up. I'll let you know how i do.

    September 29, 2014 at 6:22 pm #610892
    jstay
    Participant

    rzrbkfaith & cbones–im the same way, i know i cant study for these exams in a couple weeks. (trying to do it like cbone and take one each quarter.) passed FAR last quarter so now i have until Q1 2016 to pass the other 3. i wanna get BEC done this quarter so i can focus 2015 on AUD & REG

    its just that im in my final semester of undergrad so im taking 12 credits, working part time intern and studying for this. im hoping to be through B3 by the end of next weekend. i want to take it sometime early november

    anyways, thanks & good luck!

    September 29, 2014 at 7:06 pm #610893
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Jstay

    I work full time and just had my 2nd child a month ago (studied while in the hospital too). I specifically planned it this way so that

    1) I'd pass on the first try each time

    2) Leave myself 8 months in case I did not pass one of the 4

    3) Not stress myself out cramming.

    Honestly, this has been the best way I could imagine to do these tests. I will pass BEC next month then study 200 plus for AUD and pass that in Feb. I'll be done forever!!!!

    Just put every extra minute you have now into studying and doing questions, mnemonics, note cards, etc.

    September 29, 2014 at 7:35 pm #610894
    smeech8000
    Participant

    Variances/ B1 & B2 were the toughest parts for me because those calculations can be so involved/multi-step that you NEED to be able to quickly and accurately decode the fact pattern in order to determine what they are asking for AND the most efficient way to find it. If you're in doubt about what the question is asking it's easy to go astray and spend time calculating something other than what the question is asking… then you have not only missed the question but also wasted time.

    BEC can be a crapshoot depending on if you get an exam that is heavy with theory-type MCQ's (fast/easy) or calculation-type MCQ's (long/hard). Knowing how to handle the latter will hold a lot of value coming into the exam should you get a lot of those types of MCQ's.

    B3 tends to be pretty straightforward once you understand where the c/f come from in a NPV analysis.

    B4 is rote memorization.

    B5 can be deduced by logic. A cursory review should be enough to determine the difference between what drives a shift in curve vs. movement along the curve.

    B6 contains some valuable formulae that you should memorize and understand what they are doing.

    B 92
    A 99
    R 90
    F 92

    Becker Self-Study

    OH CPA since 2/18/14

    September 30, 2014 at 1:32 am #610895
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Thanks smeech

    That's exactly what i was looking for. I have been spending extra time on the first 3 chapters since I think they have some of the tougher concepts and possibly longer calculation questions.

    I'll take a long review test and see which areas I need to brush up before the exam.

    Thanks for the tips.

    September 30, 2014 at 1:32 am #610896
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Thanks smeech

    That's exactly what i was looking for. I have been spending extra time on the first 3 chapters since I think they have some of the tougher concepts and possibly longer calculation questions.

    I'll take a long review test and see which areas I need to brush up before the exam.

    Thanks for the tips.

    September 30, 2014 at 3:46 pm #610897
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @rzrbkfaith

    What would be the benefit of not taking the 2 Becker final exams besides blasting my confidence away? Did you feel they did not include anything that was on the exam?

    September 30, 2014 at 6:16 pm #610898
    Determined CPA
    Participant

    I would re-write all the formulas, read the book on any weak areas, read ninja notes if you have and bang out as many progress tests as possible. Good luck!

    A - 75
    B - 78 God is good.
    F - 77 Answered prayers.
    R - 84! Done!!

    Paperwork sent - waiting for license!!
    Still on a cloud and in shock. Through God, all things will happen.

    September 30, 2014 at 6:54 pm #610899
    rzrbkfaith
    Member

    @cbones1979 – there really is nothing that you gain from taking them. I think it would be better to use that time studying your weak areas rather than being tested over all kinds of stuff from left field. Exam #2 is especially random. I think Exam #1 is much more like what you studied. To give you an idea… I scored 74% on Exam 2 from Becker… that in no way was a reflection of what I scored on the actual exam, but it totally destroyed my confidence going into the exam, which I don't think is the wisest thing to do. You need to feel like you CAN do it.

    AUD - 99
    BEC - 97
    REG - 91
    FAR - 1/8/16

    September 30, 2014 at 8:51 pm #610900
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @cbones1979 you said you were looking more for a “hey, make sure you know each COSO section” or “IT defintitions”. Well here it is, make sure you are comfortable with all the IT stuff! I took BEC last month, and I know every exam is different, but I had many questions on the COSO framework. So I would make use you are comfortable with the COSO framework.

    and like everyone said, the becker final exams are pretty tough. and I heard the second one is pretty brutal. So dont freak out if you do poorly on them, because they are way harder than the actual exam. I only took the first becker final and got a 69% on the MCQ portion. I got an 83 on the actual exam. Good luck!!

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