[jeff]

Welcome to the Q2 2017 CPA Exam Study Group for BEC. 🙂

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

[kenckang]

Hi Everyone,

I have a question regarding supplemental study materials for BEC. Did anyone use any other learning materials like Khan Academy or whatever to help you with the finance aspects of this exam? TVM, Interest rates…that sort of stuff.

[kimphan]

I am a new member. Looking forward to be part of the group. I am using Becker review.

Anyone taking the exam under the updated version yet? If so, how was it?

Kim

[A1lessio]

Kang – I use Becker, I also use the freecpa questions I posted a while ago, and I downloaded CPA Mastery App on my phone for $30 which a bunch of great MCQs I do on my commute to and from work.

The CPA mastery is really definitions based and not as computational as the Becker problems. I feel like Becker teaches you how to do these crazy calculations, but then you can't answer a simple definition MCQ.

AUD (08/02/2016)

[Anonymous]

Thanks Anthony !

[dave]

Hi Guys,

is activity based costing, especially the long computational problems, heavily tested on the exam?

[Karrie]

Hey everyone,

I just took my exam a few hours ago. I agree with what others have said in that the new format isn’t really all that scary. It just depends on how well you know the material. I’m not really sure if I feel confident about how well I did. My second testlet seemed way easier than the first, so that’s not a good sign. Anyway, good luck to you other Q2 guinea pigs! And now we wait.

P.S. I just put a countdown in my phone for score release and it’s 85 days uggghhhhh

[CC]

I really am dreading this retake on Thursday. Did anyone who took the new exam practice with the Becker SIMS? I know you can't really “prepare” for the sims but are they at least representative of the format ect.?

[Teal]

Are the new BEC SIMs a lot of math?

FAR (66,68) Aug 26
REG (66) July 25
AUD (66) December 1st
BEC - October 3rd

[dave]

The new Becker does not offer any review or advice on the writing portion of BEC, did I miss it or are they no longer emphasizing the writing portion?

[Karrie]

@Teal I would say the sims were a mix of everything, both calculations and conceptual topics. To me, they seemed similar to FAR sims, but maybe not as complex. They weren't crazy hard, but the amount of work they expect you to do in such a short time frame is ridiculous in my opinion.

[HoldMyBeerCPA]

Hey Guys, here's a basic softball question for you guys to break up all the muck that is IT/COSO/Cost accounting

SkBound Airlines provided the following information about its two operating divisions:

Passenger Cargo
Operating profit $40,000 $50,000
Investment $250,000 $500,000
External borrowing rate 6% 8%

Measuring performance using return on investment (ROI), which division performed better?

A. The Cargo division, with an ROI of 10%.
B. The Cargo division, with an ROI of 18%.
C. The Passenger division, with an ROI of 22%.
D. The Passenger division, with an ROI of 16%.

I know the answer is D, my concern for this question is the wording. Typically, unless I've been mistaken in the past, ROI = Net Income / Total Investment. In this question we are only given Operating Profit and the external borrowing rate. Lo and behold, the borrowing rate has nothing to do with this problem. I was able to deduce that. However, normally, operating profit assumes that interest and taxes have not been deducted.

Does anyone have any insight on whether the exam questions are worded this way? One MCQ problem I calculate ROI based on net income/profit, the next MCQ I have to calculate it based on “operating profit”. What gives?

[Teal]

@Karrie thanks! ughh that does not sound fun! I think BEC might be the most frustrating with the new exams because there are no previous SIMs to compare, so who knows what they will ask!

FAR (66,68) Aug 26
REG (66) July 25
AUD (66) December 1st
BEC - October 3rd

[A1lessio]

People at work are saying overall it wasn't bad. The Sims were not that hard and the MCQs were easy. My test is 5 days and I still have 2.5 chapters to review and a practice test to take. I got so busy at work, thank god we have the holiday weekend. In terms of feeling prepared, I feel similar to when I took Audit.

AUD (08/02/2016)

[Anonymous]

Im taking BEC in 6 days, I’m afraid there will be too many questions about calculation and I will not be able to allocate my time properly among MCQ, TBS and WC. Can you please share some insights? Thank you in advance!

[Karrie]

@desperatetopassall I attempted to manage my time like 45/45/45/45/60, but I ended up taking 60 minutes just on the first MCQ testlet due to calculations. I ended up finishing with barely a minute to spare, but I felt like I had to rush through some of the sims because I didn’t want to run out of time. You may not need to allocate a full 60 minutes to the WCs, especially if you are good at writing (and BS-ing lol) but I’m glad I did because that left me some cushion time when I took longer than expected on MCQs.

[Author]

Replies