[lam2848]

Every kept telling me to take this exam last because its so easy, but I honestly have no clue whats going on. my exam is in 3 weeks and I’m only halfway through B4 of Becker and kind of panicking. I can’t remember the formulas or concepts. I feel like REG and FAR were much easier to study than.

[turo9992000]

I felt the same way when I was studying BEC. I always heard it was the most random test, and they were right. The good thing is that 15% is basically free if you write correctly and stay on topic, so you really just need to score 60 points in the MCQs and Sims.

I took FAR on December 1 of 2017 and decided to give BEC a try on December 10 just to get them all done quickly. I spent the 8 days in between doing about 50 MCQs per day. I tried to do at least 5 mcqs per topic in Becker. In reality I probably ended up doing less than I hoped for. When I showed up to the exam all the questions were completely different from the material and I left feeling like I failed.

Suprisingly someone took pity on me and I passed with a 75. BEC was the weirdest exam, and I don't know how to study for it. I guess what I'm saying is keep doing MCQs and good luck.

[Stony]

I think most people say it's easy because it has the least amount of material and the writing portion. With that being said, the material is not easy by any means. I took BEC a week ago, and it was challenging. My advice is to memorize as many formulas as you can and try to have a basic understanding of why they are used (new CPA exam wants to test applying, not just remembering and understanding). Also, don't skip on IT! The writing portion is not as hard as you may think; just make sure you have a general understanding on as many topics as you can and allocate enough time to reread and correct and spelling/grammar errors. Keep your chin up and bang out those MCQs in your weak areas and you'll do great!

[lam2848]

Thanks guys! your post make me feel better. I was starting to think that I must be extremely dumb if this section is supposed to be easy. I definitely need at least two weeks to review everything and hopefully by then I'll feel better.

[Mike J]

I have 3 tips.

1) Find the connective tissue with some of the formulas. Group together like formulas. Study them together along with MCQs and review of same and you in effect memorize them at once. Otherwise, if you just merely try a flashcards approach, it will seem like an insurmountable task to pass.
2) With respect to the variance formulas, sketch out the unit conversions below. eg $/hr. Remember you want to get to dollars.
3) Don't be afraid to take a step back and take a few MCQs with the notes in front of you. Then review how the answers were derived. Assimilate the solutions that you find particularly useful with your notes.

There are many ways to study. Some people learn differently (highlighting and underlining did nothing for me). But you have to study smart, not necessarily just hard.

Good luck.

[RoseMarie]

I'm enjoying studying for BEC because of how its different and varied. I got bored and frustrated study for FAR and had a harder time staying focused and motivated but with BEC I know I only have to get through a few hours of a specific topic then I'm onto something new.

I'm only about 32% through the material using Roger's so the deck is small now but I am adding as I go. I sit on 12/4 but plan to have finished my first pass through all the material by 11/25 at the latest.

[Riyaad]

Take a look at the blueprint and see how each topic is weighted on the exam.

Area I Corporate Governance 17–27%
Area II Economic Concepts and Analysis 17–27%
Area III Financial Management 11–21%
Area IV Information Technology 15-25%
Area V Operations Management 15-25%

For me personally, Economics, IT Governance, and Corporate Governance were my strongest areas, and these were all conceptual questions and should be the fairly easy points as long as you know the information.
Financial Management & Operations management are the calculation heavy areas, it's basically your Corporate Finance 1 & 2 and also Cost Accounting classes from college. Don't get bogged down on memorizing all the formulas. There's certain formulas like BREAK EVEN POINT, that you should know how to do. Also the turnover ratios. Keep in mind the 3 written tasks should be easy points, its graded based on how well you can structure a response.

The biggest strength on this exam should be time management. If you stick to it, you should be fine. I got a 75 🙂 lol

[chandler]

@Lam2848, I definitely felt the same way as you. I went into BEC expecting it to be a breeze based on what I had heard and the (relatively) high pass rates. However, studying for it was my least favorite by far. I think maybe because I had less background for it than the other 3? Anyways, BEC never really came together for me until I was in the review stage. I walked out of the exam feeling defeated, but I did much better than I expected (I also used Becker).

[cpa1234]

I didn't read all the responses to this so I'm sorry if I am repeating something said before, but I believe you only need to memorize formulas for the MCQ, and when I took the exam I didn't memorize any formulas. I maybe got one or two formula questions out of all the MCQ in both testlets and I just took an educated guess. But for the sims they provide all the formulas you will need, so you just need to understand what the results mean. Understand why results may have increased or decreased, what it means, and what they can do to fix bad increases/decreases or what they did to improve, etc. IT is very important now, but I felt becker did not prepare me for half the IT questions I got. There were a lot of “what does this mean” kind of questions and I never once saw the “this” they were asking about so I guessed. Written comm is definitely like bonus points. Write professionally, use a lot of the same words and phrases they use in the question, and make the memo as legit looking and sounding as possible (even if you have no idea about the topic, write as though you do).

[Author]

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