[jeff]

I have a question that I hope you can help me with…. I purchased the Becker CD’s and installed them on my PC. I have taken and passed all but one of the exams (BEC left).. I was checking to see if my software was up to date and noticed an expiration date of November 2013.. Does this mean my software ( downloaded from my CD’s) will no longer work after November….or will it no longer be supported but I can still take practice exams and do study questions etc?

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

[stokey45]

Guys,

I took REG at the beginning of the testing window and now am moving on to BEC.

Can anyone let me know how they take notes on the chapters? To me, I think I write too much. It seems like I almost rewrite my review material and this takes a lot of time. I do not know any other way to take notes. Can some of you give me a clue how you take notes?

Thanks, any and all responses are appreciated.

[ROACH]

Has anyone tried the AICPA released questions for 2012 and 2013?

I scored 60 and 65% on the MCQ… missing around 15 questions each.

BEC: 66 | 69 | 7/23/2013
AUD: 8/28/2013
REG:
FAR:

[ROACH]

Has anyone tried the AICPA released questions for 2012 and 2013?

I scored 60 and 65% on the MCQ… missing around 15 questions each.

BEC: 66 | 69 | 7/23/2013
AUD: 8/28/2013
REG:
FAR:

[mrogovitz]

Does anyone know how the score release works for BEC? I've read a few posts that don't give me quite as much detail as I'm looking for. If you don't get a 75 or better on the MC portion of the exam, is your exam score delayed so as to give time for your writing samples to be graded and added on to the score? Thanks!

AUD: Attempt 1: 60; Attempt 2: 78
BEC: Attempt 1: 75 (lost credit); Attempt 2: 80
FAR: Attempt 1: 74; Attempt 2: 74; Attempt 3: 78
REG: Attempt 1: 76 (lost credit); Attempt 2: 68; Attempt 3: 80

Finished 11/01/2013!!!

[mrogovitz]

Does anyone know how the score release works for BEC? I've read a few posts that don't give me quite as much detail as I'm looking for. If you don't get a 75 or better on the MC portion of the exam, is your exam score delayed so as to give time for your writing samples to be graded and added on to the score? Thanks!

AUD: Attempt 1: 60; Attempt 2: 78
BEC: Attempt 1: 75 (lost credit); Attempt 2: 80
FAR: Attempt 1: 74; Attempt 2: 74; Attempt 3: 78
REG: Attempt 1: 76 (lost credit); Attempt 2: 68; Attempt 3: 80

Finished 11/01/2013!!!

[ZSRizvi]

@Stokey

I learned my note-taking skills back in high school and I pretty much condensed the entire Becker BEC review book into about 20 pages front and back.

The best advice I can give you is take the words that Becker gives you and do two things with them: summarize them in your own words as condensed as possible and take notes on key words (the definition and the concept). I don't take notes on the calculation examples they give me unless it's something like “remember to subtract flotation costs from the selling price and not the par value of the bond.”

So, here's an example from B3:

Forecasting & Trends–Cash Flows Related to Capital Budgeting (I write down the title of each section/subsection)

[First Bullet Point] Four Common Approaches: NPV, IRR, Payback Method, Discounted Payback Method

[Second Bullet Point] Cash Flows: Direct & Indirect (i.e. net proceeds on sale of old asset, depreciation tax shield) –>Net effect

[Third Bullet Point] Stages of Project's Cash Flows: 1)Inception [may increase or decrease Working Capital; if old asset abandoned–>remaining book value x tax rate = loss–>deducted from new asset's initial investment]

—

And I keep going like that. What you want to do is jot down tidbits of information that are vital and will stick in your memory. I only write down what I think is important. This might not work for everyone but it's helped me a lot. If you just rewrite the entire review book, then more likely than not very little will stick in your mind.

@Roach

I've done AICPA from 2011-2013. Did you need clarification on anything? I feel like I did better on these released questions (missing about 3 on each released year) than the review questions Becker has. And the Wiley Test Bank can be an absolute nightmare at time (i.e. I don't even know where to start solving some of those questions LOL).

Here's to hoping that the questions on test day call for easier stuff than Becker/WTB.

Less than a week to go until my exam. I'm nervous as hell.

BEC (July 2013)
FAR (OCT 2013)
REG (NOV 2013)
AUD (JAN 2014)

The CPA Exam is an opponent that not even the Fellowship of the Ring would want to come across.

I have a long...long...journey ahead of me.

[ZSRizvi]

@Stokey

I learned my note-taking skills back in high school and I pretty much condensed the entire Becker BEC review book into about 20 pages front and back.

The best advice I can give you is take the words that Becker gives you and do two things with them: summarize them in your own words as condensed as possible and take notes on key words (the definition and the concept). I don't take notes on the calculation examples they give me unless it's something like “remember to subtract flotation costs from the selling price and not the par value of the bond.”

So, here's an example from B3:

Forecasting & Trends–Cash Flows Related to Capital Budgeting (I write down the title of each section/subsection)

[First Bullet Point] Four Common Approaches: NPV, IRR, Payback Method, Discounted Payback Method

[Second Bullet Point] Cash Flows: Direct & Indirect (i.e. net proceeds on sale of old asset, depreciation tax shield) –>Net effect

[Third Bullet Point] Stages of Project's Cash Flows: 1)Inception [may increase or decrease Working Capital; if old asset abandoned–>remaining book value x tax rate = loss–>deducted from new asset's initial investment]

—

And I keep going like that. What you want to do is jot down tidbits of information that are vital and will stick in your memory. I only write down what I think is important. This might not work for everyone but it's helped me a lot. If you just rewrite the entire review book, then more likely than not very little will stick in your mind.

@Roach

I've done AICPA from 2011-2013. Did you need clarification on anything? I feel like I did better on these released questions (missing about 3 on each released year) than the review questions Becker has. And the Wiley Test Bank can be an absolute nightmare at time (i.e. I don't even know where to start solving some of those questions LOL).

Here's to hoping that the questions on test day call for easier stuff than Becker/WTB.

Less than a week to go until my exam. I'm nervous as hell.

BEC (July 2013)
FAR (OCT 2013)
REG (NOV 2013)
AUD (JAN 2014)

The CPA Exam is an opponent that not even the Fellowship of the Ring would want to come across.

I have a long...long...journey ahead of me.

[kmm1216]

@ZSR: I knew most of that, but still very helpful, thank you. 🙂

I just wish there was a better interface for this software. I synchronize new questions into the software but they end up being the ones I already did, so I'm unsure why it says I have “xx” unanswered questions available. My assumptions also is then that there's essentially no difference between practice session and pop quiz besides when you're told the correct answers, so I'll probably just stick to practice sessions to get the automatic feedback coupled with the fact it has TBS while the pop quizzes don't.

BEC: 88 (8/27/13)
FAR: 93 (12/3/13)
REG: 92 (2/27/14)
AUD: 95 (4/22/14)

Roger CPA, Wiley Test Banks, NINJA Notes & Audio

[kmm1216]

@ZSR: I knew most of that, but still very helpful, thank you. 🙂

I just wish there was a better interface for this software. I synchronize new questions into the software but they end up being the ones I already did, so I'm unsure why it says I have “xx” unanswered questions available. My assumptions also is then that there's essentially no difference between practice session and pop quiz besides when you're told the correct answers, so I'll probably just stick to practice sessions to get the automatic feedback coupled with the fact it has TBS while the pop quizzes don't.

BEC: 88 (8/27/13)
FAR: 93 (12/3/13)
REG: 92 (2/27/14)
AUD: 95 (4/22/14)

Roger CPA, Wiley Test Banks, NINJA Notes & Audio

[Anonymous]

Hey All, I took the BEC Exam on Saturday.

The WC sections are formatted with a scenario followed by the instruction to address the topic. Next, there is a header already filled in for you.

Make sure you carefully read the header provided for the assignment. It usually starts something like this: To___________ then, RE Subject___________. Read this carefully.

I read the information given in the main section and would have taken the writing in an entirely different direction if I had not read the subject line. I reread the scenario again, and could interpret it several ways. Almost missed this and I think that would have had a major impact on the score.

[Anonymous]

Hey All, I took the BEC Exam on Saturday.

The WC sections are formatted with a scenario followed by the instruction to address the topic. Next, there is a header already filled in for you.

Make sure you carefully read the header provided for the assignment. It usually starts something like this: To___________ then, RE Subject___________. Read this carefully.

I read the information given in the main section and would have taken the writing in an entirely different direction if I had not read the subject line. I reread the scenario again, and could interpret it several ways. Almost missed this and I think that would have had a major impact on the score.

[ZSRizvi]

@Kmm

LOL sorry I wasn't much help.

The only reason I do the progress/practice tests on the Wiley Test Bank is to pace myself and to get a feel of how it will be on exam day. While on the practice sessions I take my time trying to answer the question (after thinking it through and all that), the test sessions I try to speed up my responses to 1-1.5 minutes. I'm trying to set aside about an hour for the WC because I will definitely be needing 2 hours for MCQ and 1 hour for WC.

@caremarie

Thank you! I have a strong habit of skimming the directions and now that you've warned us, I'll be sure to pay even closer attention. I feel like I'm going to screw up on WC because if they throw simulations on topics that I have little knowledge about…goodbye chances of passing.

BEC (July 2013)
FAR (OCT 2013)
REG (NOV 2013)
AUD (JAN 2014)

The CPA Exam is an opponent that not even the Fellowship of the Ring would want to come across.

I have a long...long...journey ahead of me.

[ZSRizvi]

@Kmm

LOL sorry I wasn't much help.

The only reason I do the progress/practice tests on the Wiley Test Bank is to pace myself and to get a feel of how it will be on exam day. While on the practice sessions I take my time trying to answer the question (after thinking it through and all that), the test sessions I try to speed up my responses to 1-1.5 minutes. I'm trying to set aside about an hour for the WC because I will definitely be needing 2 hours for MCQ and 1 hour for WC.

@caremarie

Thank you! I have a strong habit of skimming the directions and now that you've warned us, I'll be sure to pay even closer attention. I feel like I'm going to screw up on WC because if they throw simulations on topics that I have little knowledge about…goodbye chances of passing.

BEC (July 2013)
FAR (OCT 2013)
REG (NOV 2013)
AUD (JAN 2014)

The CPA Exam is an opponent that not even the Fellowship of the Ring would want to come across.

I have a long...long...journey ahead of me.

[Anonymous]

Well, one more day of studying! I plan to do the Becker final exam #2 tomorrow (I only did #1 last time) and the free 24hr trial of Wiley test bank. My exam is at 2:00 Wednesday so I can do some last minute reviewing on test day as well. I feel like if my exam were exactly the same as last time, I would pass. The areas that I was really weak on last time I feel like I have at least a decent handle on now. I NEVER want to study BEC again! I just hope I can do enough this time to get that 75!!

[Anonymous]

Well, one more day of studying! I plan to do the Becker final exam #2 tomorrow (I only did #1 last time) and the free 24hr trial of Wiley test bank. My exam is at 2:00 Wednesday so I can do some last minute reviewing on test day as well. I feel like if my exam were exactly the same as last time, I would pass. The areas that I was really weak on last time I feel like I have at least a decent handle on now. I NEVER want to study BEC again! I just hope I can do enough this time to get that 75!!

[Author]

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