[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]

Hey crew! Just got back from BEC and now that I've had my favorite food (pizza) and some wine- ill share how it went! Basically the first testlet was easy as expected, second one was easy and harder mixed, third one was for sure more difficult! I never know if the testlets are actually getting harder or not- never did in FAR or AUD so who knows! The WC was super easy topics! One was 100% from FAR, the second was both in FAR and BEC, the third was also in both but one of those topics that was barely brushed upon in BEC but there so it was more of a FAR topic. Overall I feel pretty good but you never know!!!! Now I will wait… Forever because I live in Oregon so I won't get my scores until 3-14 days after the release :-/

Oh and as far as formulas- I didn't have a crazy amount of calculations and none of the formulas/calcs they asked for surprised me. Now time to pack for Mexico!!!!!! Can't wait to hear how everyone else does after I'm back June 1st 🙂 good luck all!!!!!

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]

I'm sure that pizza tasted all that much better being on the other side of the BEC exam. Not a wine drinker, unless it's out of a wine cooler of course (Got to keep it classy lol).

But thanks for the feedback and input. I was stressing out about memorizing all the formulas, but thats good to know nothing on that part caught you off guard. I'm semi-worried about the WC, not because I'm a bad writer, but because it usually takes me a while to put my thoughts together on paper.

I'm sure you killed it and have fun in Mexico! Hopefully i'm walking out on Thursday feeling the same way!

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

[Anonymous]

Hi all!

I've been reading this post for the past month while studying BEC and finally decided to post! I took my exam yesterday and overall it was an ok exam. My first testlet was very easy- I felt as if I answered all questions correctly. My confidence was boosted when I got to my second testlet because it was absolutely nuts! However, I still think I did ok. It had gotten to a point when I hoped I only did good enough on it so that my third testlet would be a little easier (yes- it was that crazy). When I saw my third testlet I had a whole new appreciation for the second testlet. My third testlet was some kind of BEAST. I worked my way through most of it, I actually had to guess on a few, and I was a little unsure of my responses to the other questions on this testlet. Even so, I felt overprepared for the exam. A vast majority of the information I had seen before during my review.

The written part of the exam was way easier than I expected. Two of the topics were on very basic level accounting and the third was out of left field but I was able to work through it. I used all 3 hours. I feel as if I did ok on the exam because even though the testlets were getting more difficult, I was able to work through them and notice a lot of the exam tricks that were thrown at me. I just hope that I answered enough questions correctly!

My strategy for the few days before the exam were to focus on the Corporate Governance, Economics, and IT sections. I figured that, because they were more theory related and covered roughly 60% of the exam in total (according to the outline of the exam per Becker), if I knew enough about these then I could work through the theory related questions on the exam. Other than that, I reviewed formulas and any *special considerations* that may accompany any of the formulas when they were applied. I was spot on with this strategy!

I definitely felt prepared for the exam. I used Becker, Nija notes, and Wiley as a supplement.

I am confident but there is always the possibility that I didn't score high enough, even though I feel as if I did ok. So I am still freaking out waiting for scores!

Good luck to all who are taking the exam this last week! I hope this helps!

[MimiTheFighter]

I'm taking the exam in 2 hours and then I will be flying out for my vacation. Weird feeling ever, like nervous worried happy and excited at the same time. Can't wait to finish the exam and move on!!!

FAR 11/23/12 78!!!
AUD 2/2/13 77!!!
BEC 5/25/13 85!!!
REG 7/15/13 83!!!

AFTER NINE MONTHS I'M DONE!

[goforCPA]

I thought BEC would be easy. However the concepts are more difficult to understand because they are not traditional accounting concepts (except for Cost Accounting). The themes are unstructured and it's difficult to make rules or have shortcuts to solve the problems, especially the IT section. I am not sure why they are so detailed in the IT section. Might as well throw Chemical Engineering and Sociology and call this section an “Overall Knowledge” section of the exam. I am having a diffictuly preparing for the IT section…I hate it!!!

I am studying with Becker, and this is the only section that I have no patience to listed to the lectures. Reason being is that it seems as if each page in the book is important. How much detail do I need to know? It's hard to say. So I am basically trying to study everything and that's not too good. For instance, how much detail do I need to knoe about the Net Domestic Product or Net Nationak Product, National and Personal Income? Are these important? Who knows?

All the other sections had some type of structure to them. The topics were connected and made sense. This is killing me and it's my last section and is putting even more pressure on me since I will loose my Audit credit in September if I don't pass this section.

Based on my reading of your posts, I know that many of you are feeling similar about this section. I just don't want to be surprised during the test.

October 2011-May 2013. Did not loose any credit!!
AUD - 73, 79
REG - 86
FAR - 72, 83
BEC - 80, last one, DONE!!

[Anonymous]

I was hoping that any one has a way to get the variance analysis for DM,DL and overhead? its very confusing to me and my exam in couple of days…

[Anonymous]

I like the Becker explanation for DM and DL variance (PURE DADS) easy to remember. I'd like an easy trick for overhead variances.

P DA price – diff x actual

U DS usage – diff x standard

R DA rate – diff x actual

E DS efficiency diff x standard

[Anonymous]

Hey everyone. I am new to the forum, but plan to become active over the next few months as I take a trip through the CPA exam process.

I am sitting for BEC this coming Wednesday (5/29) and am having mixed feelings about how prepared I am. I was a dual major in accounting and finance and graduated two weeks ago summa cum ladude, so I had a strong understanding of many of the topics before I started studying. I completed the Becker FastPass program (did all six sections of BEC in five day) and then spent all of last week reviewing and completing my missed passmaster problems. I took two days off to let my brain settle down and refresh and returned to take progress tests today. At this point, I have taken 8 tests each consisting of 30 MC questions; my scores are as follows: 86, 94, 83, 84, 80, 90, 90, 86.

Part of me feels that I am well prepared when considering my progress test scores; however being my first exam I am very nervous and would like the opinions of CPA exam veterans.

[Theo]

Hey guys! Thanks for the exam experience share.

I am definitely not looking forward to this BEC exam on Thursday. Anyone else thinks that the coverage of IT is too detailed for an “Accounting” exam!??? I mean, really???

I am just going to hope and pray that my MCQs are from the areas that I'm most comfortable with cause there is no way I am getting all this IT stuff. No Way!

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

[Anonymous]

@aaron20688 thanks! PUREDADS is kind a confusing… specially in the SAD Standard – Actual = Differences while in the explanations often is the other-way around Actual – Standard .. I'm using Becker too and SAD-PURE-DADS is not always the case.. for the overhead variances its more confusing.. I'm taking the exam on Thursday and hoping for the best.

[Anonymous]

Do any one knows how to get the explanation for the newly AICPA questions? the 2013

I have contacted Becker and they said mid June at the earliest…

[MintsRGood]

@azhamadto I'm not a big fan on acronyms…if you mess up your acronym you will be SOL on exam day!!! I've decided to just suck it up and memorize them straight up. Seriously, just get a pile of notebook paper and write them out over and over for 45 minutes to an hour or until your hand falls off. It's annoying but 100% necessary IMHO. I've been compiling a master formulas sheet for BEC of the 25 most important formulas, and I'm spending some time every day working on bulk memorization of these ratios, formulas, and variances. I'm not a proponent of “just memorize everything” because that method yielded a 68 on audit for me…but for BEC if the call of the question asks for ARR and you don't know how to compute ARR…you are screwed. Just take the time to memorize them cold, you won't regret it on exam day!!!

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

[jeff]

IT 1-5 added to BLITZ today.

@Mints – CDOGG got a new sponsor in AUD Internal Control … CC RIM Co. I knew you'd appreciate that.

https://another71.wistia.com/

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

[MintsRGood]

CDOG!!!!!!!!!!!! How did he get an ipad 3 in his car? Oh wait, because he's CDOG and he's awesome. I'm glad he got picked up by CC RIM Co., it's a much better fit than Big 4 for him. 😉 CDog and his posse, the reports, were a huge help on auditing!!!

BTW, loving the BEC blitz videos too! There is no question that I will remember what a hash total is on exam day!!!! 🙂

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

[WhenISay]

For those of you using becker, practice exam 2 is suppose to be a lot harder than practice exam 1 right?

I feel like 1 was mostly repeat questions and 2 was zero repeats.

Scores for me were:

Exam 1: 87, 91, 79 . Took it last Tuesday

Exam 2: 83, 79, 71. Just took it now (One week apart)

I don't like the feeling of seeming like I've had negative improvement 2days before the exam, so I just need some reassurance lol

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

[Author]

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