[Earla Riopel (NYCARE)]

Took BEC, December 02, 2017. Sorry for the late update. Just didn’t have WiFi in my hotel, plus I was busy doing my last minute review for REG and FAR, right after the BEC exam. Wrote these REG and FAR last week as well.

As to BEC, as a waiver, most of the past exams that I wrote were not the same. So, for my Q4 exam, it’s different as well. There are hardly any Math, maybe 20%, and they were simple number crunching questions. So it did worry me. Also, the 2nd MCQs testlet is very similar. So, I thought, this is not good.

BEC Q4 exam being word type of questions were hard to focus on, especially after a night with a noise problem. Managed an hour or two of sleep. My head felt like in the cloud during the exam. But I had to focus really hard. So the following are the breakdown of my BEC Q4:

– MCQs Testlet 1 – Medium, hardly calculations, and they were simple calculations.
– MCQs Testlet 2 – Medium, again hardly any calculations, and they were simple calculations as well.
– SIMs Testlet 3 – Medium hard as well.
– Break – 15 minutes: I started to get worried. They weren’t the exam I was expecting.
– Sims Testlet 4 – Medium hard as well.
– Sims Testlet 5 – I barely finished my 3 Writing Skills.
I have ideas for what being asked for the writing skills, but I might lost a few points of not mentioning the exact keywords.

Overall, it was okay. It felt weird. I used Ninja for my MCQs, spent over 40hrs with the app, answered (including redid MCQs), closed to 1800 MCQs. As to SIMs, I just skimmed my old Ninja MCQs Sims notes. Also, briefly skimmed my 2014 Becker textbook. Good thing I did, because BEC Q4 2017 exam hit most areas of BEC materials. Also, I did visit the AICPA site, it did helped my SIMs a lot.

So, let see what happened, December 19th.

[Earla Riopel (NYCARE)]

Well, since everyone who passed each section won't get a Score Analysis Report, I might as well share mine for all those who might get something out of it. I for one would like to make sense of what I kept failing. So here goes. This one is for BEC 2017 Q4.

“Your Performance Compared to Passing Candidates” ~ As per Uniform CPA Examination Score Notice (AICP/CPAES/NASBA/WSBA)

Content

I. Corporate Governance (17 – 27%) – Weaker
Cause: Surprised about this one. Usually, I am fine with Audit/Business Law related topics, including Internal Control. It's non-calculation questions so I always have an advantage that way.

II. Economic Concepts and Analysis (17 –
27%) – Weaker
III. Financial Management (11 – 21%) – Weaker
Cause: I am not sure what happenned with the above topics. They should have been fine, since there weren't that many calculations, and AL Resources (formulas) were provided during the exam (SIMs).

IV. Information Technology (15 – 25%) – Weaker
Cause: I guess, the ‘process of elimination' strategy didn't help at all. Most IT questions during actual exams were mostly new (my IT 2017 Q4/Q3 exams), hardly seen them with my three sources, Ninja, Becker and Wiley textbooks.

V. Operations Management (15 – 25%) – Weaker
Cause: Again, I am not sure what happenned with the above topic. It should have been fine, as there weren't that many calculations, and AL Resources (formulas) were provided during the exam (SIMs).

By Item Type

Multiple Choice (50%) – Weaker
Simulation (35%) – Weaker
Cause: If all of the above topics where ‘Weaker', the overall average for BEC's MCQs and SIMs would be ‘Weaker' as well, it makes sense.

Written Communication (15%) – Stronger
Cause: Essay is always my strong point in most of my CPA exams in the past. Thus, my score was mostly in the 60s every time there were essay-type of questions involved, except with my BEC 2017 Q3 exam, got my first under 50% score, after writing 12 BEC sections prior to that.

Funny, in 2017 Q4, I thought it would be another ‘comparable' like the 2017 Q3 exam since I mostly didn't write the exact keywords. I was mostly addressing the topics/issues though.

Note: The comparable column is based on those candidates who scored between 75-80 on the
examination section as a whole. For more information regarding how this comparison was
calculated or how the examination is scored, please see the CPA Examination web site at
http://www.aicpa.org/cpa-exam. – As per Uniform CPA Examination Score Notice (AICP/CPAES/NASBA/WSBA)

Overall, I wasn't expecting a 54%,with the extra two months after writing BEC 2017 Q3 in August, studied for a few days, I expect at least a 75% for Q4 BEC.

Sure, I gain 6 points from 2017 BEC Q3, but with all the work I put in, it should have been higher in Q4, even if I didn't get a passing mark.

So again, it doesn't matter if I studied two days or extra two months, and logging in the following hours and effort, nothing really changed much.

Actual BEC Exam Result: 54%
Ninja AVE SCORE: 69%
Ninja AVE TRENDING SCORE: 99.50%
Ninja MCQs Test Bank (including redid MCQs): 1,777
Becker/Wiley/AICPA MCQs Test Banks: 850+ & 2014 Becker Textbook.
WA Candidate. Mountlake Terrace Prometric.

As always, thankful for the Ninja products though, they kept me going with my US CPA exams.

[Kev]

Not sure if your signature is real or correct in saying you've taking BEC 13 times but if that is the case i think you make need to change your approach on how you are studying for the exams.

[Author]

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