[futuremdcpa]

I liked intermediate accounting, didnt mind tax, law, and all the other classes.. But someone who knew me very well decided to slap every subject I ever hated into one exam and called it BEC.

I don’t think I can do this for my exam on the 31st of this month. I think I might have to push it back. I study maybe 5-7 hours a day. But the way its going, I get almost every question wrong and have to learn it that way.

What should I do? Push my exam back, and move AUD until end of Nov? I honestly am so discouraged. Id rather study the other 3 topics then this crap.

Any advice is always appreciated. I just feel so discouraged…

REG: PASS || BEC: PASS || AUD: PASS || F: SCORE PENDING..

[futuremdcpa]

This is sad. It's taken me 11 days to finish B1-B3. I was trying to spend a max of 2 days on each chapter for everything, lecture & MC. I wasted 11 days… I went ahead and ordered the wiley book so I can do as many problems as possible, since I am thinking of pushing my date back a week to give myself maybe 10-15ish days to review. I am so disappointed in myself, and I feel so unmotivated. I also have the Wiley Test bank and plan on doing all 650ish questions there at least once, and becker mcq's once more, as well as the wiley questions.

I skimmed through the other 3 chapters, IT, Finance, and whatever chp 6 is, and its much easier to understand, much less calculations, so it shouldnt take hopefully more then 2 days each max.

I feel like im walking into a cost exam…

REG: PASS || BEC: PASS || AUD: PASS || F: SCORE PENDING..

[Givemesleep]

BEC almost killed me, the day I passed was the turning point for me. If you can pass BEC and REG, you got it with enourmous effort I will pass FAR and then spit on my books, I cant wait. i am very jealous o those that passed FAR, it's alot of material compared to the others. Never save FAR for last.

Reg 11/15/2011 - 80
Aud 02/28/2012 - 81
Bec 05/31/2012 - 78
Far 08/31/2012 - 83 Do you believe in Miracles, YES !!!

CPA License received 10/2012 !!
CFE License received 04/2013 !!
EA License received

Givemesleep

[futuremdcpa]

@Givemesleep – To be honest, I REALLY liked intermediate. I like accounting. I only dislike two cost. It sucks that cost concepts take up B1-B3. I spent too much time on that. I hope I don't get that many calculations on exam day.

I see me and you both saved FAR for last! You have great scores, youll be fine!! I did buy Wileys BEC Book for extra practice problems. I plan on re-doing Beckers MCQ at least twice, the test bank once, and the Wiley book once as well. I flipped through the AUD/FAR book, and I don't mind studying for those. I just never got along with cost. I am on the IT chapter now, and I like it. I also like economics. I just have to spend time re-doing the MCQ's multiple times. What review did you use for BEC? I am freaking out over the calculations from B1-B3. Its crazy.

REG: PASS || BEC: PASS || AUD: PASS || F: SCORE PENDING..

[Anonymous]

@givemesleep “Never save FAR for last”.

Greatttttt

[thistooshallpass]

I studied a little differently for BEC than the others and I think it helped me not become overwhelmed. The first few sections are so much more time consuming than the last. I was trying to complete 2 sections per week, but instead of trying to complete all MCQ before moving on I just did as much as I could and then moved along. I got through all lectures and partially completed the MC. Then just kept going back through each, trying to complete all MC. For me, getting through the lectures quickly helped me feel like I had a good grasp on all the topics. Then constantly doing MC in all sections helped keep all the info fresh (plus when you can't stand another lengthy calc problem, flipping through some IT/Econ is a nice break). This is pretty doable with BEC since there are only 6 sections.

Imo, the actual exam did a better job than AUD/FAR in terms of covering a little of everything I studied. Try not to get overwhelmed by one thing in particular, especially if you feel strong in other areas. Do as many MCQ's as you can stand, but make sure you are taking time to understand them…not just going through the motions.

AUD 85 (2/12) Using Becker
FAR 81 (5/12)
BEC 79 (7/13)
REG 85 (10/1)

"It's not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves."

[futuremdcpa]

@thistooshallpass – I am going through the IT lecture right now, and man is it a breath of fresh air from the first three chapters. It took me 2 weeks for me to complete about 90-98% of B1-B3. I still feel iffy about those topics since I did every question just one time.

If it takes a day for B4-6, I should have about 11 days to review which I can cram. But if it takes 2x longer, Ill have 9. Im not sure if thats enough to do Becker once more, Wiley Test Banks 650ish questions, and the Wiley Books MCQs.

REG: PASS || BEC: PASS || AUD: PASS || F: SCORE PENDING..

[sarah210]

@thistoo– I think I'm going to work with that strategy. I have finished B1 & B2 lectures, all MCQs for B1, half MCQs for B2, and I'm listening to the B3 lecture. I wanted to do all of B1 & B2 last week, but I let myself get bogged down. I am just moving forward through B3 (halfway through the lectures) and chipping away at B2 homework while chipping away at B3. I'm hoping to start the B4 lectures on Thursday. We'll see how that goes.

@futuremd– so glad to hear that it eases up after B3. I have felt like I'm swimming in quicksand for the last week and a half. I think I was lulled into a false sens of security with REG because I knew most of the material in the first week, which made it a very positive first Becker experience. Then I launched into the first week of BEC and was shocked by how little I knew. So far B3 hasn't been bad for me, since I finished a managerial finance class in December and a money and banking econ class in May…. But B1 & B2… dear god help us all.

REG- 53, 91
BEC- 88
FAR- 62, 85
AUD- 85

Ethics- 93

[Anonymous]

BEC is the first exam I took… and it was a nightmare! Until I took FAR, that is. If I could give one piece of advice, it is this: Do not get discouraged during your studies. It's so easy to listen to lectures, read the text, and then flop on the questions and get discouraged. Look at each wrong answer as an opportunity to understand why you missed it. I find a lot of times, I knew the answer after all but didn't read the question thouroughly. Keep your head up… the more you work those questions, the better you understand that material.

[Anonymous]

WOW…this is the perfect topic to discuss how I feel. After taking AUD I thought I would enjoy (as much as this exam can be enjoyable) taking BEC, but I HATE Cost Accounting like hell. I hate computational questions and I get 50s on the Hws (60s if I get lucky and guess right from being so frustrated). I originally planned on taking the exam in 4 weeks on Aug 31, but realized I need WAY more time and am now scheduled to take it October 1.

I cant stress how much I want to pull my hair out as I learn all of these calculations that I cant remember and even if I do, they add so much extra information on the hw mcq or phrase things funny or leave out numbers that I have to solve for, to then solve for the actual questions that I feel scared that this exam will be unpassable.

Glad im not the only one who feels like this. Im still on Chapter 2, its taken me like 2 hours to almost finish it…. ugh

[futuremdcpa]

Yeah. I did all the MCQ's twice already, some even more.. and Im still feeling pretty bad.. and my exam is in one day…. Tomorrow Im going to do the econ/it MCQ's all of them, and then take final exam #2, and look over all the WC examples… and call it a day.

After ch2 (cost) everything else is pretty simple to be honest. lets hope I only get 1-2 q on cost!

REG: PASS || BEC: PASS || AUD: PASS || F: SCORE PENDING..

[Anonymous]

Not going to lie. I might rethink doing Becker 2nd practice exam right before your test. It's super, super hard, and really is not at all comparable to the test. I got a 75, 75, 71 on the 2nd practice test yet scored a 97 on the real thing.

[futuremdcpa]

WOW!!!!!!! 97!!!!! I feel like I am pretty good with Econ & IT (my fav subjects), as well as COSO… The only thing holding me back at the moment is cost.. and I only have one day.. not sure what to do. I was going to spend it doing econ/it/coso again as well as look over the WC portion..

I did read where someone said there exam was heavy in variances.. but some other people said less then 20% was computational.. its a mixed bag…

Good job on the 97! How on earth?!!! Did you use Becker?

REG: PASS || BEC: PASS || AUD: PASS || F: SCORE PENDING..

[Sandra]

You will make it through BEC. Out of all the sections on the CPA, BEC is by far the one closest to my heart since I actually use a lot of it (and actually teach a lot of it for a CMA class)

This thread is sort of old now, so I'm not sure what you are still struggling with… But cost accounting is one of those things that once you understand you will REALLY understand.

If you already have a good understanding of the economics and IT I wouldn't spend my last day on that.

There is a lady… Susan Conner? on youtube. She's a little annoying but she does a pretty good job explaining some of the cost accounting concepts in a really simple to follow way.

Unlike FAR, REG and AUD which has a ton of rules, I think BEC is really more intuitive if you think about the ultimate goal of whatever costing method you might be using.

Ill find you the youtube lady.

[Sandra]

https://www.youtube.com/user/SusanCrosson

You'll have to sort through to find what you need/want, but maybe give that a try? I watched her stuff back when I was reviewing for the CMA and found it helpful (since Gleim was anything but).

[Anonymous]

Yes, I used Becker. Obviously, I thought they prepared me really well. I definitely agree with Sandra that BEC is the most intuitive test. However, with cost accounting, I think you can just brute force memorize a lot of the stuff including the variances. I hated cost accounting and in fact it was my lowest grade ever in college. Yet, Becker laid it out in an extremely straight forward method and with a little bit of memorization, I was able to get through it. In my opinion, trying to understand cost accounting isn't even worth it especially at this point in you preparation. Memorization is where it's at.

[Author]

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