BEC was my second exam. I walked out of the test feeling devastated. I was terribly sick on testing day and recovering from a disturbed slumber. My journey to the testing place was an uncomfortable ferry ride across the bay where my notes went unnoticed. Sniffles and sneezes accompanied me all the way to the testing site. Upon entry, I noticed at least 10 other people waiting to take their tests. Although I had arrived early, it took almost forty five minutes to get processed and in my chair. When I finally sat down, I noticed my computer was frozen. After the Prometric staff restarted my computer, I noticed that I only had 3 hours remaining on my test. “Well this is unfair,” I thought to myself. Opening up the first testlet, I was pleasantly surprised to see many familiar questions from NINJA. The second testlet was not so merciful. “Man, I don't know, maybe I'll just flag this first question and move on to the next… OK I'll flag this second question… and this third”. It all started unraveling in front of me. The further I got, the worse I felt, both mentally and physically. The poor girl next to me was probably wondering what kind of snot monster was sitting next to her as my coughs got progressively worse. The third testlet was no better than the second and I clicked the submit button feeling awful about doing so. By this time, I only had 45 minutes left for the written portion. I felt that the questions were around the same “difficulty” as the NINJA simulations and felt that I knew enough to at least pretend to know what I'm talking about. Unfortunately, I'm a slow typer and with 5 minutes left, I was only done with my drafts but hadn't reviewed them in depth. Another sneezing and coughing fit plagued me and I felt completely unable to do anything except for cover my sneezes. My throat was dry and my nose was gushing, a problem that was only getting worse each second. I submitted my WC without fully reviewing my answers and rushed to the bathroom. It's full and there are no paper towels; my misery could've been seen by a blind man. Feeling defeated, I left the test center in a state of disbelief. Unlike my last test, I didn't want to talk to anyone but I still mustered the energy to delivery the news to my girlfriend that I was coming home. When I arrived home, I melted into a puddle of self-doubt and sadness. I hadn't cried in front of my girlfriend since I ate those really spicy chillies. Once I regained my composure, I decided to call my parents and told them, “If I pass, I will go to church”. They laughed and said they'd hold me to it. I was then contemplating re-studying the section and taking it in December but reluctantly decided to move on to FAR.
Fast forward to 10 pm on November 21, the day before the score release. My life felt like it was over. My eyes were fixated on the NASBA score release timer and these forums. Although I'm in California, I felt that maybe the scores would be released at the same time. My entire night was spent hitting F5 (refresh) on these forums, waiting to see the news. I'm surprised the California Board of Accountancy website didn't crash after the hundreds of millions of login attempts by me. When I saw the “BEC Bubble” thread, that's when I decided to go to sleep. My mind was racing and it seemed almost impossible to go to sleep. I stared at the ceiling of my home, thinking about what my strategy will now be. “I shouldn't have studied for FAR…” I thought to myself. Sleep somehow managed to takeover and I woke up to the sound of birds, just 3 minutes before my alarm. Frantic, I picked up my phone to check the board of accountancy. My alarm went off as soon as I got to the “Status” tab. 86. Never have I been so relieved to see such a number. I then thought about all of the questions I got wrong. Is this a dream? No… today, the CPA exam gods smile upon me. Aw man, now I have to go to church…
.