Becker does overcomplicate the formula- especially the budget variances. I would just stick with knowing the basics and you will do fine. Both times I took BEC, I have never had an exam question that was complicated like Beckers. The
exam questions are much simpler and basic than Becker. I just took Becker yesterday and there was very few calculations involved. It was more theory and conceptual stuff. But they were extremely tricky. My friend also took BEC a few days before me and her exam was all calculations.
My suggestion is to just make a “cheat sheet” of all formulas and know how to apply the formula to a basic problem.
Becker's approach is too make the study material harder than the exam so that u will be well prepared for the exam.
Becker is like an “over achiever” lol. You never know what actually questions will show up on the exam, it's like a hit or miss. I took BEC in Oct- mostly computational & extremely hard (failed with 70) and retook yesterday – had few computational questions (theres goes my days of studying formuals/problems) mostly theory but very tricky.
I have also noticed that BEC sample written communications in the begining of book are very similar to exam. I actually had exact question on exam (both times).