[jeff]

Guess I’ll kick it off!

Scheduled to take BEC on 4/19. It’s my last test so I’m putting as much study time in as I can. If I pass I get promoted, if I don’t pass I don’t get promoted, so the pressure is on!!

Good luck to everyone taking BEC this quarter!

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

[ORcpaHOPEFUL]

Alright I have a few more hours tonight of studying, all of tomorrow then about 45mins-1 hr Friday before BEC. Any suggestions how to utilize my time best?

I keep hammering MCQs online on Wiley but I am literally staying in the same score range test after test (I've done 8 now of 72 problems each). I just keep getting 65-72% (aka 47/72-52/72). I read all of the answers whether I get it right or wrong too (it pops up when you submit each answer). Just frustrating that the scores don't reflect any improvement even when I feel like I'm learning and understanding things better! And I would really love not to study this random cr@p again lol.

FAR: PASSED!! 64, 68, 79 on 2/27/13!
AUD: PASSED!! 73, 93 on 4/5/13!!!
BEC: PASSED!! 75 (phew) on 5/24/13!
REG: PASSED!!! 77 on 8/7/13 I AM DONE!!!!!

Experience: got it!
Ethics Exam: PASSED on first try (what a waste of money)

[WhenISay]

My cousin took it about a year ago and told me”it was a joke”. He said he never did any practice tests or anything and still passed. My other friend who took it about a week said “it was fine”, know the COSO framework and IT and you'll be fine. He said his exam was more conceptual then calculations.

On the other hand, I've read several people have the complete opposite experience walking out of this exam on this forum. I guess its just the luck of the draw. I'm waiting for what bcjasper has to say about his experience today

FAR: 87 - 2/19/13
REG: 91 - 4/2/13
AUD: 99 - 5/2/13
BEC: 87 - 5/30/13

[MintsRGood]

@gobias and @WhenISay Thanks guys!!!!! Let's keep this positive momentum going and have a power week marathon until our test dates!!!!!!!!! 🙂

@Shanta_J Am I ready, NO but I will be by 5/31 if it kills me!!! Ha!!!!! 🙂 How are you doing? Any one topic that is giving you trouble? I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you!!!!! 🙂

@bcjasper Where are you buddy? We want to hear how you made it!!!!!!!!! 🙂

Cost accounting is the devil!!!! I'm doing well on IT, Econ, Corp. Gov, Risk Management, and performance measures…decent on the other topics like capital budgeting, financial management…but terrible on the cost topics! I'm getting nervous about cost considering I'm 9 days out…but the good news is that the long weekend is coming up and will be able to have a power long weekend to iron out cost or at least to limp through! I'm hoping that if I'm very strong on the majority of the topcis and somewhat decent at cost, I can squeak out a pass next week!!!! 😉

Good luck everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂

REG: 75 DONE 🙂
AUD: 61, 71, 68, 92 DONE 🙂
BEC: 76 DONE 🙂
FAR: 72, 74, 79 DONE 🙂
Licensed Michigan CPA 🙂
-Some people dream of success...others wake up and work hard for it!!!
-The cowards never start and the weak die along the way!
-You better work, b***h!
-Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.-JFK

[Theo]

@ORcpaHOPEFUL I'd say to listen to the lectures again for your weak areas. What I also do is to write down the answers that I got wrong cause it helps me retain. My exam is next week and I'm scoring in the 80s, so I think I'll be ready for it.

@bcjasper. Where are you? We're all waiting to hear your good news!

AUD 01/17/2013 (92)
REG 02/28/2013 (85)
FAR 04/26/2013 (85)
BEC 05/30/2013 (88)

[MintsRGood]

@Theo congrats on your FAR score!!!!!! You are almost done just in time to enjoy summer!!!! Hit it hard until next Thursday and I'm sure you'll receive good news on the 7th!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂

REG: 75 DONE 🙂
AUD: 61, 71, 68, 92 DONE 🙂
BEC: 76 DONE 🙂
FAR: 72, 74, 79 DONE 🙂
Licensed Michigan CPA 🙂
-Some people dream of success...others wake up and work hard for it!!!
-The cowards never start and the weak die along the way!
-You better work, b***h!
-Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.-JFK

[Anonymous]

Well guys… I passed FAR with a 93! I always start with the good news first. BEC was very interesting. Sure there were a few questions I had no idea about, and I think I guessed on at least 3 or 4 with no rationale on the correct answer… but the biggest challenge was overcoming all the negativity that I had read from other peoples posts. Do not fall prey to fear. I did, and if I failed that will be why. It won't be because Becker wasn't enough or that I got topics I didn't care for. I will repeat the one guys comment about it being a lot like Audit. Aside from that, its doable. I won't be upset if I failed because the topics are not bad… its all about just keeping everything fresh. Keep plugging along guys, you can do it!

[Anonymous]

bcjasper09

I'm glad there's at least one other person who agrees that Becker isn't all THAT bad for BEC. I just found out I passed with a 76…I didn't “crush” it, but hey I passed using Becker only. I'm sure you did fine

CONGRATS ON FAR! That's my next, and last task. Any tips?

[gobias]

@bcjasper09 well done on FAR!!

Enjoy post-exam life!

F - 86
R - 90
A - 97
B - 91

[TaRenee]

@MINTS!! This is “Shanta”… I had to create an new account because my posts weren't showing up 🙁

But I think I am ready, I am going to go through the homework again for the 6th time.. then I will have 4 days to review the book. Hopefully I don't have a lot of in depth IT questions!

I can't wait to be done, I'm actually thinking about moving FAR up to July 23rd (my birthday) .. tehehe.. but I will worry about that after BEC

@Casey …. hahaha.. I wish it was that easy to switch! I hope your test goes amazing tomorrow!!!!

WE CAN DO THIS!

REG [75] 02.27.13(1)
AUD [82] 04.15.13(1)
BEC [79] 05.29.13(1)
FAR [62] 08.26.13(1) [76] 02.24.14(2) - God is able!!! 🙂

Licensed NC CPA

[Anonymous]

CPA4birthdaypresent: I really hope I passed. To be honest its going to be a toss up. There was just so much ambiguity. The critical thing for anyone studying for BEC is to be able to think critically. I know they emphasized that at my college but it definatey helped me with BEC because so many questions were not just cut and dry, they required you to use your knowledge about multiple topics and piece them together.

As for FAR advice, get the WTB if you don't already have it. I just bought it from Jeff for like 80 bucks but it was well worth it. I think Becker does a good job with FAR but as you probably have heard the key is to just work as many MCQ's as humanly possible. Don't discount IFRS. And burn the content specification at the beginning of the Becker book because thats about how useful it is. I distinctly remember one topic that was heavily tested on my exam under a 12-16% category… Not true. So just focus on everything. Power through, don't get discouraged on F2 and F3… because once you go through everything it will become a lot easier.

Post exam-life is weird… and foggy (or maybe that's the hangover) but I like it 🙂

[gobias]

A multiperiod project has a positive net present value. Which of the following statements is correct regarding its required rate of return?

a.Less than the company's weighted average cost of capital.

b.Greater than the project's internal rate of return.

c.Less than the project's internal rate of return.

d.Greater than the company's weighted average cost of capital.

Explanation

Choice “c” is correct. The required rate of return must be less than the project's internal rate of return (IRR). The IRR is the rate earned by an investment that equates to a net present value (NPV) of zero. By definition, a project with a positive NPV will have an IRR greater than the required rate of return used to compute that NPV.

___________________________________________________________________________

I can't wrap my head around this one. There is an explanation on the first page, but it doesn't make sense to me either. Can somebody explain this?

F - 86
R - 90
A - 97
B - 91

[Anonymous]

Congrats @ bcjasper09 and Theo. I had to postpone BEC because I just found out I failed REG (70) it seems like I know the material but not enough, because same with AUD (73). So I am not doing enough of something. Which is why I had to postpone BEC its my strong point but fear will probably get the best of me again. So I am at work now, got the bad new and trying to keep busy. I am mad but I think I can push through this I am bigger than this.

I also changed my test center because for some reason its just not working for me. Aagh I am so mad but I can do this. I can't give up.

Cheers Eli

[ORcpaHOPEFUL]

@bcjasper thanks for the update! Saying its Kinda like audit has calmed me a bit 🙂 ill report to everyone after I take mine. I hope you were out drinking last night celebrating your third pass and fourth (hopefully final) exam!! I'm sure you crushed BEC like the others 🙂

@gobias – I have this memorized… Benefits>costs means NPV is positive and therefore the IRR>discount rate. The discount rate is another name for the minimum required rate of return. I don't really have an explanation further just have the memorized lol. Hope that helped? That was both in ninja notes and Roger's notes. The reverse is true for negative NPV.

FAR: PASSED!! 64, 68, 79 on 2/27/13!
AUD: PASSED!! 73, 93 on 4/5/13!!!
BEC: PASSED!! 75 (phew) on 5/24/13!
REG: PASSED!!! 77 on 8/7/13 I AM DONE!!!!!

Experience: got it!
Ethics Exam: PASSED on first try (what a waste of money)

[WhenISay]

@gobias, to kind of simplify the wording. Positive NPV is good. Having a positive NPV means that your expected rate of return must be higher than your desired rate of return (although you don't know the exact percentage, just the dollar amount). For IRR, having an IRR “expected rate” that is higher than your hurdle rate “desired rate” of return” is good (you know the percentage). Therefore, if your IRR is greater than your “desired rate/hurdle rate”, it means the expected rate is greater than the desired rate, and anytime the expected rate is greater than the desired rate, you have a positive NPV.

Hope I didn't just confuse you.

FAR: 87 - 2/19/13
REG: 91 - 4/2/13
AUD: 99 - 5/2/13
BEC: 87 - 5/30/13

[gobias]

I thought the IRR was the discount rate at which the present value of future cash flows equals initial investment, which causes NPV to be 0. Wouldn't this mean that whether NPV is positive or not has no bearing on IRR because IRR only considers what makes it 0?

*Edited

F - 86
R - 90
A - 97
B - 91

[Author]

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