[Ben]

I did my first BEC retake last Friday. The first time I took it, was also my first exam. I didn’t know what to expect, how to prepare, etc and came back with a 64. Ouch.

This time, I feel like it was a medium-hard-hard so that was nice feedback. Writing was 2 topics I felt comfortable BS’ing through and one that was not difficult in subject, but it was very hard for me to write a nice full memo about.

There was not a great deal of calculations, and the ones I had were simple. Simple both in operation and in that they didn’t give you too much info trying to trick you into a wrong answer. It was pretty straight forward.

It was VERY HEAVY ON IT topics. Can we say how many IT questions we had on a test? I had almost as many IT questions as I had non-IT questions. Maybe that is vague enough to not violate the ND. I have a slight background in IT though so this was great news for me. If you’re reading this and you’re prepping for BEC, I cannot stress enough how important it is to cover that topic.

If I could tell anyone anything to help with the WCs…. remember your basic definitions and have a good supply of pros and cons and buzz words for any particular topic.

Really looking forward to NOT taking BEC again so I hope I see the magic number pop up come score day. This is just honestly a B-word of a test to prepare for.

[Jsn3004]

I know you didn't exactly say anything, but i'm not sure how other people will react to this because talking about the exam is an iffy topic. Did the memos seem fair? I have a fear of just getting a memo and having absolute zero knowledge of the topic. As long as they seem reasonable, I guess can't get mad.

[Goingallin]

I wish I had mostly IT topics. I would've scored much better.

[LD]

@jsn3004 I took BEC last year and I had 0 knowledge about my written communications questions, I literally wrote things like “and I'd like to discuss more with you next week by setting up a meeting. I would also like to hold quarterly meetings to review project objectives” etc etc etc. Just total crap. Like Ben said, using buzz words is a good idea too. I made them up and tried to sound professional, and I got an 85. I really wouldn't worry!

[Ben]

I would say they were fair and reasonable. None of the 3 were things were out of the ordinary or that you wouldn't have been exposed to in any competent exam prep. At least 2 of the 3, I could easily see being a real life situation someone on the testing board has wrote a memo about before.

If you get completely blindsided, don't forget the basic format:

The purposes of this memo is (copy and past what they want from the question)

(talk all you can about one thing)

(talk all you can about a second thing)

(repeat as needed)

Thank you for contacting me about this topic
blah blah blah
jsn3004, CPA

[Jsn3004]

@Lczarnecka Lol how is this possible? I've been trying that and I just keep bombing it when I look at my graded memos. I know people say they're easy. Maybe I need to have a new approach to it.

@Ben I've never seen someone use that conclusion but I've been trying the first things. Idk it's like as much as I may know the formatting, I just score bad because I can't explain things well. I guess I need to just try to brush up on some concepts.

[Anonymous]

I took it this morning and the written communications were on topics that were easy to expound on. As for mcq, I had a good mix of IT and finance. No difficult calculations. I think I only had a couple of cost accounting questions.

[shawn in VA]

Ben-

were the topics actually related to BEC for the WC portion of the exam ? I have been screwed in the past with REG, FAR, and AUD topics on the WC.

As for calculations…were there many and were any of them complex like in the study materials ( I used Roger).

I retake for a 3rd time MAR 10 and got a 74 last time so I am not messing around this time.

What study materials did you use?

[Ben]

Shawn – the WC were definitely BEC related. I wish I could go into detail but they were straight up, no question about it BEC. There's no way you could miss the topics and be at all prepared for the exam.

I think I mentioned it in the original post but the calculations were simple and straight forward. Nothing super in depth and nothing with so much info that you would get tripped up.

I use primarily the ninja materials: ebooks, notes, audio, ninja PLUS and MCQ. I have the Wiley book and it is fantastic, but it's easy to get lost in it. Lots and lots of info, but sometimes hard to follow or find what you need. Ive watched some of rogers free stuff on YouTube too.

[shawn in VA]

Ben-

Thanks for your response. knowing WC was on BEC topics puts me at ease. I heard many people say the exam was VERY IT heavy (including yourself) Did the Ninja Summary Notes and Ninja MCQ prepare you well for IT and BEC overall ? I am concerned about the IT being tested heavily this time as my experience is limited

[Ben]

I didn't actually use anything but the Ninja MCQ for the IT topic. I'm probably being a little modest in saying I have a slight IT background though. I scored a “stronger” on IT the first time around with practically no study besides seeing the MCQ as they came up. I feel pretty confident I did “stronger” on this one as well.

Looking at the Ninja notes and book right now though, I think they would give you a good working knowledge for most of the questions I saw.

[shawn in VA]

Ok Ben. I will look at the Book and Ninja notes for IT. Did you have to know the ratios (profitability , Current, Return on Assets, etc…) ?

[Anonymous]

@Ben Was econ tested at all? I hear people hardly get econ questions. If thats the case I dont wanna waste my last ffew days focusing on econ.

[struggler]

Thanks for sharing! I am testing on March 10th and really need a pass.

[tud20551]

Ben – was there econ related questions if so how hard. Also when understanding differences between ratios what would you recommend?

Thanks in advance.

[Author]

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