[jeff]

BEC Study Group Links and Resources:

1. NINJA Monthly – $67 BEC Course
2. Free BEC Notes
3. BEC Course Comparison
4. How to Pass BEC (with NINJA)
5. How to Pass BEC (in 20 Days)
6. How to Pass BEC (after Failing)

See Also:

• FAR Study Group
• AUD Study Group
• REG Study Group
• BEC Study Group

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS) | Another71 | NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE

[jjjgolf500]

The Current Cash Debt Coverage Ratio is Net Cash from Operating Activities/Average Current Liabilities. How do you calculate Net Cash from Operating Activities?

[CrammingWithKK]

KNOW IT !!! BEC sucked.

[sg235]

@Jjjgolf500- — STMT of cash flows first section is Net cash from Op Activities.
If its not given you may have to solve for it. Guessing you may have not taken FAR yet.

[SS]

Took BEC yesterday. A lot of calculations in testlet 1. Need to remember all the variance formulas (DM, DL, VOH, FOH and SALES!!!), topics related to currency exchange, working capital. Lots of IT and COSO in testlet 2, don't just try to remember all the letters. Need to know how to apply this to real work situation. I had 2 sims, which are extremely long. Lots of exhibits. Definitely watch your time. I spent too long in my 1st testlet so I didn't have enough time for writing. Hopefully this helps. My brain went blank after the test so I don't remember a lot of stuff.

[sg235]

Thank you SS! Good luck!

[Steven K]

Hi all. So I just took BEC this morning and figured I would give back to the community by writing about my experience. Obviously I cannot disclose actual questions but I will give you my insight.

First and foremost, based on all the posts I read reading up to taking BEC, I found that the exam really can test you on anything in the book. For example, someone above mentioned that cost accounting was really heavy on their exam. On my exam however, I don't think i had a single question. I had a bunch on variances but I personally don't consider that really cost accounting.
Aside from that however, here's some tips.
1.) COSO, IT, and Variances are a MUST study. Not even kidding, probably 80% of my exam consisted of this (which includes the SIMS and WC). Know these because they are basically free points if you just memorize them.
2.) I don't know if any of you saw the other post on NINJA that shared this but for variances, a cool mnemonic that helped me a ton is SAD PURE DADS. SAD is read backwards so difference = Actual-Standard. PURE stands for Price, Unit/quantity, Rate, and Efficiency. Then DADS is Difference x Actual or Difference x Standard. DA applies to P and R, DS applies to U and E.
3.) Know the formulas but don't stress over them. Again every exam might be different but from my experience there weren't many questions (aside from variance) where I needed to know the formulas. The MCQ's won't give you the formulas however, on the SIMS, it's virtually guaranteed that if you get one where you need to do CAPM, WACC, or any other of that Becker 2 stuff, they will give you the formulas in an exhibit (ie just like many of the SIMS in becker).

Overall my first testlet was roughly 75% computational for me while the 2nd testlet was virtually 100% conceptual (literally had 1 computation question). It seemed like the difficulty stayed the same so i'm not sure whether that was because I was over-prepared or because I didn't do well on the first teslet. Anyway, Good luck to everyone else who is planning on taking it in Q1!!!

[Brokenglass]

I took BEC yesterday. The first testlet was about 40% calculations and 60% conceptual. The second testlet was much harder and about 90% was conceptual and 70-80% was COSO and IT. The 4 simulations were an equal mix of calculations and conceptual and 3/4 were extremely long. 2/3 of the WC questions were a lot longer than the average WC practice on Becker (ironically). I finished the first two testlets in an hour and a half and had an hour left to do the WC and took the whole time.

Conceptual questions have always been my weakness but I wasn’t expecting the majority of the exam to be conceptual. I really think their question choice is random because I only got one question from unit 2 (WACC question), and that was the unit with the most material. 70%-80% came from units 1 and 6.

I got the least questions on the areas I studied the most (those that were emphasized by Becker) and vice versa, which is why I’m starting to think Becker’s approach in covering the course isn’t efffective. But it could be just the exam version that I got.
Good luck to all.

[sg235]

Thanks Steven and Brokenglass! can you please confirm units 1 and 6 are COSO and IT? Thanks

[Steven K]

@sg235 Correct

[Steven K]

@ Brokenglass If you see above, my test had a simialr format to yours. First testlet was much more computational, took me about 45minutes. I breezed through the second testlet in like 20minutes. I didn't feel like it got harder however, the second testlet was basically all conceptual and I did well on those when I practiced with NINJA and Becker. Likewise, I was surprised that I didn't get as many questions from the “heavier” areas like Cost accounting and the financial management. I found two of my WC to be long but then again I knew how to answer them.
Lastly, seems like we are both in the same boat as far as the 2/26 score release goes. Wishing you the best of luck and hope that you passed FAR and BEC. I'm hoping to be done as well! waiting for REG and BEC scores.

[jjjgolf500]

@Steven K @ Brokenglass I had the exact same experience. It is a bit disappointing when A LOT of the stuff you study doesnt end up on the exam but oh well!

[Brokenglass]

@Steven K yes it sounds like our tests were very similar. I really hope I pass BEC but I walked out thinking there is a 20-30% chance I passed. Guess we got 11-12 days until the score release. I hope you pass both REG and BEC!

[sg235]

I took BEC the other day and it was not a good experience. I thought I went in prepared but I did not leave feeling good.
The topics were all over ..economics, stuff from cost accounting chapters and surprisingly hardly any variance related stuff. It was my 3rd time taking BEC and I think the other two times I left feeling there was a good chance I was going to pass and this time I wanted to walk out. The SIMS were very much FAR style and of topics I would have never expected to see in the SIMS and may I add long with multiple exhibits.
Good luck to those waiting for their scores.

[SAMP03]

I had a pretty similar experience. Came out of the BEC exam thinking I bombed it, ended up getting my highest score on BEC out of all 4 of my exams. So my only tip would be not worry about your initial reaction to your BEC exam, a lot folks have the same reaction and thankfully have ended up passing the exam. Best of Luck!!

Side note : I thought I aced/destroyed my FAR exam, thinking that I would easily get 90+ at the minimum. Ended up getting a 76. One never knows with these things…

[sg235]

Thanks SAMP! I do read that very often about people feeling one way and it goes the other.. I sure hope I am one of those lucky people. Off to REG for the moment..

[Author]

Replies