[aldo]

Hello guys,
This is my first time posting, so any comments would be greatly appreciated.
I took REG 1.5 months before and ended up with a 93, so I was confident that BEC would be easier based on passing rates, but I found it to be way harder. Did the exam yesterday and even though I was very prepared for any type of computational question, the exam was 80% conceptual focusing a lot in COSO and IT. I literally saw some IT questions which I had never seen in Becker and could do nothing but just guess on one of the alternatives. I also believe that Becker does not prepare you very well for COSO too.
However, I think i might have gotten about 10-18 mcq wrong. Sims were super long too and required thinking outside the box but I think I did well and might have gotten some nice partial credits. Left 1 hour in the end for the written portion and wrote as many buzz words as possible. For one of then though, I did not know enough, so I focused more on the structure of the memo and buzz words, but I’m pretty sure I did not write a good technical answer. I was wondering, how is the “curve” on BEC compared to the rest of the exams ? Any good chance I might have passed ? I would feel very dissapointed to fail only due to IT and COSO

[monikernc]

You got it, BEC is a nightmare! A mile wide and an inch deep. I hope you passed because having to study for a retake is not the way to spend your summer. I studied the longest for that exam and scored the lowest. COSO and IT were present but not dominant on my exam – I passed first try with NINJA and many, many weeks of study. Fingers crossed! Good luck!

FAR 7/25/15 76!
AUD 10/30/15 93
BEC 2/27/16 82
REG 5/23/16 88!
Ninja Book and MCQ and the forum - all the way!!!
and a little thing i like to call, time and effort!
if you want things to change, you have to do something different

[Ralphie Dos Nachos]

I feel you man. I passed FAR and REG first try, took me 3 times to pass BEC. It's an underrated exam and sometimes it's luck on what you get. Becker along with other courses I hear are very hit or miss with IT and I agree. Hopefully the unfamiliar IT questions are pre-test (remember there are 12 that don't count which is a lot). If you got partial credit on the sims and you think you got some good buzz words and formatting in for your essays, you definitely got a chance. Depending on how the long the wait is, I would just move onto the next part!

[Diesel]

You think you only got 10-18 MCQ wrong? Then you did amazing! No really, I have a feeling you passed based off what you told us. The key part is that you didn't give up and you left plenty of time for the written portion.

BEC was my first exam. Halfway through I thought I was certainly failing. I wanted to give up. I kept going and hoped to get partial credit on the sims, much like you did. I got a 91 and thought… “How on earth did I get a score like that?” But thinking back on it I think I did well on the exam.

I really think a large component of these exams is to test your perseverance. Not to give up. Every time I drive to the exam, I think about “Okay….. dad was in Vietnam. This is nothing compared to that. You can do this.” I remind myself over and over during the exam NOT to give up. These exams are so tough.

Hang in there. I hope you receive a great score.

[aldo]

Thank you guys, I really hope I passed.
Also, in terms of 1st and 2nd testlet, I cant really tell if the 2nd was harder or not. I flagged more questions during the 2nd testlet, but does the fact that majority of questions were conceptual matter ? Would I have more math based questions if 2nd testlet got harder ?

[Diesel]

I understand the theory exists that the second testlet is supposed to be harder than the first if you're doing well. However… on all 3 of my exams so far I haven't even had the time during the exam to focus on whether I thought the 1st or 2nd testlest was more difficult. And really, I'm not sure if it matters or if there's any truth behind it. People have received great scores even though they didn't feel the second testlest was more difficult than the first. I hope that helps.

[Diesel]

Here is some more info on the scoring straight from the AICPA website.

“Candidates take two multiple-choice testlets. The first testlet is always a medium testlet. If a candidate performs well on the first testlet, he/she will get a more difficult second testlet while those who do not perform well on the first testlet will receive a second medium difficulty testlet. This testing process is called multi-stage testing (MST). ….Since the characteristics of the test questions are taken into account in the scoring, there is no advantage or disadvantage to being assigned testlets of different difficulty.”

http://www.aicpa.org/BecomeACPA/CPAExam/PsychometricsandScoring/ScoringInformation/DownloadableDocuments/How_the_CPA_Exam_is_Scored.pdf

[monikernc]

@aldo July 9th is not too long a wait for your score. Hang in! I always continued working on the exam material until scores were released in case I failed. Others move on to other sections. What will you do?

FAR 7/25/15 76!
AUD 10/30/15 93
BEC 2/27/16 82
REG 5/23/16 88!
Ninja Book and MCQ and the forum - all the way!!!
and a little thing i like to call, time and effort!
if you want things to change, you have to do something different

[Ralphie Dos Nachos]

@aldo honestly you'd be surprised as to which questions the AICPA consider medium vs hard level difficulty. If you look at the AICPA released MCQs and I'm pretty sure Becker has them on their software, you'll see which ones are considered medium/hard. It's difficult to tell. Your chances sound promising, take a mental break for a few days to a week and get moving to FAR or AUD.

[Mike J]

IF you have to retake BEC, let me share with you what helped accelerate my learning curve.

Cramming and trying to just memorize things never works for me. With BEC there are a ton of formulas.

I relied on making my own notes, based on the MCQ solutions, whatever I found on the internet to help me understand those solutions, etc.

But, I grouped everything thing that were related together. For instance, I grouped the 4 main cashflow formulas together to see how they varied and which ones to use. I wrote underneath the variance formulas, the unit conversions. For IT, I wrote an example of each COSO section next to a brief sentence description.

Sometimes you need to just write out the steps to see how everything is related. Doing so, helped me sort of memorize concepts together as I got better at the MCQ.

I'm sure you did fine, OP. But IF you need to retest, I hope this helps.

[alteryx099]

I took BEC on June 10th and I was certain that the second testlet was easier. The sims were just okay. I found out a few days ago that i passed with an 81 and I am done with CPA exams forever. Anything is possible! Hang in there!

[aldo]

I try to be as optimistic as I can, so a few days more and will start studying for FAR with the hope that I passed BEC

[hamad1979]

It seems that everyone had a problem with BEC including myself. English was not my first English yet I was able to pass CPA exams from the first attempt EXCEPT BEC ofcourse. I couldn't pass with Becker only but I had to find other resources. I bought college books such management information system and accounting information system. Also, I have bought ninja resources. Finally, I have passed the exam after appearing two times.

[monikernc]

Congrats @Hamad and @Aldo way to whine yourself to a 90 on BEC! Congrats to you too!

FAR 7/25/15 76!
AUD 10/30/15 93
BEC 2/27/16 82
REG 5/23/16 88!
Ninja Book and MCQ and the forum - all the way!!!
and a little thing i like to call, time and effort!
if you want things to change, you have to do something different

[Author]

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