[jsoderlund13]

I just finished taking BEC about an hour ago and thought I’d share my thoughts on it while the material is still fresh.

I felt more confident going into this test after already taking FAR and REG. The first MC testlet consisted of a wide variety of questions from pretty much every chapter. The questions were spread out evenly in terms of topics. There was also a good mix of calculations and conceptual questions. I felt very good after submitting the first testlet. Then things got weird….

The second testlet definitely was harder. The number of IT questions was absurd. And many of them included terms and concepts not covered in Becker. Very frustrating. There were only a handful of questions in the second testlet that required calculation. Needles to say I felt pretty horrible after submitting it and moving on to the TBS.

The TBS were very doable. Easiest of the the three tests in my opinion. I felt very confident about all four. The essay portion was easy enough. I don’t think I aced the writing portion, but I’ll at least get partial credit.

Overall, the only thing that threw me for a loop was the absurdity of the IT questions. Sounds like this has been a common theme though with the new test. Oh well, nothing I can do now but wait.

[thunderking]

Thanks for the feedback! What topics did your TBS cover or was it spread out evenly between finance, cost accounting, economics, etc?

[Bombblotter]

I had exactly the same experience jasoderlund13, but I took it on Thursday.

Some of the IT multiple choice I was like wtf?, but most were okay.

First testlet was cake, second was a bit harder, and the TBS were pretty easy and straight forward.

My TBS were across several topics to answer your question thunderking.

I've heard that as long as you write in a well organized manner with correct grammar, then you should be fine on the essay. That's exactly what I did!

[casseg22]

I took it yesterday and both of my MC testlets were like your second testlet…extremely frustrating.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for sharing! The AICPA blueprint said Corporate Governance and Economic concepts and analysis weight 17-27% of the exam. I was concerned the exam might have too much calculation questions therefore I wont allocate my time properly. Since you guys said IT questions are more than expected. Should I focus on IT more than financial and operations management(i.e. formulas and calculations)?

I'm taking BEC in 2 days, freaking out, could not sleep…

[trbfkb]

Out of curiosity, how did you guys do on the BEC becker mock exams? I thought the sims were extremely hard and frustrating.

[A1lessio]

Trbfkb- I took the first one this morning in a rush and did well on the MCQs 75% overall, but bombed the sims.(last time I took BEC I barely got 65% Becker mcq) They weren't that hard, I just didn't feel like doing them. On one of the sims I made a silly mistake writing out thousands instead of removing the last three zeros and got 100% incorrect, but the math was right.

Taking the second one tomorrow, I want a rematch with those sims.

AUD (08/02/2016)

[trbfkb]

A1lesso: Let me know how you do on the second practice test. I did about the same as you on the first one (75% on MC but better on sims), but I did not do well on the 2nd one. I thought the wording of the SIMS on the 2nd was extremely confusing. Good luck tho!

[cpa1234]

I figured I would post my experience since I lived for seeing other people post.

I just took BEC a few hours ago. I could see what people meant by a few questions about IT that were not covered in Becker. The sims were definitely different than what I expected based on the Becker practice sims. But the multiple choice felt easier. Written comm was strange, but from what I heard as long as you write well and close to the topic it should be fine so that is what I did.

It took me 2.5 hours to finish. But obviously now I have to wait until August 21 which sucks. Good luck to anyone taking it in Q3!

[wanttochangejobbypassingcpa]

Walked out the exam room few hours ago.i took Bec before the new change, feel they are similar type of questions. Sim are different than I expected. 4 hours of exam made me feel brutal.

[GinjaNinja]

@jeg108 and @wanttochangejobbypassingcpa – What do you guys mean when you say the sims were different than you expected? Different in a good way or a bad way?

[wanttochangejobbypassingcpa]

It's manageable, don't worry. I honestly think that I screw up the written part. English is not my first language and I am a bad writer.

[A1lessio]

I also took the exam today. The sims were easier than the Becker ones. I think I got between 60-100% correct on all 4. MCQ was rough. A lot of IT which I'm not sure how you would prepare for. Some IT questions were very basic and covered in Becker, but others were so random. Unfortunately due to the nature of the exam it's a lot of educated guessing. I would have liked more calculation questions, but it felt like it was all COSO and IT. The calculations I did see I got correct.

Do we know if this exam includes the AICPA pretest questions that don't count towards your score?

AUD (08/02/2016)

[wanttochangejobbypassingcpa]

A1 you sound pretty confident that you have passed Bec. I have a silly question. Since around 45% of people passing the section each time, and let's say 80% of people actually score above 75, will they fail some of those people just because they want to keep the consistency of the %?

[shawn in VA]

WANTTOCHANGE- yes—its called a 74. I have received many. It is the way of the AICPA saying you really passed but we cannot give you a 75 b/c to many people passed and we need to keep the “prestige” of this license and keep rates at 45%

[shawn in VA]

plus the AICPA is a business just like any other business they want to earn PROFITS. How they do this is fail you when you deserve to pass…then you have to pay $250 for a retake

[Author]

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