[jeff]

Trying something new …

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

[sdodson]

Wow! I've really enjoyed everyone's posts. I took BEC Monday. Now for the waiting game.

[Mel]

anybody have any tips on searching in the authoritative literature in th WC? i Tried a few and had a hard time finding relevant information.

[Anonymous]

I copy/pasted the answers for the WC. I have pretty decent writing skills already, so felt like practicing writing wasn't the best way to use my time. I have read through them all one or two times and intend to read them all through at least once more before I finish reviewing.

I have completed all six Becker chapters now. I'm completely spent, but going to try to get in a progress test tonight. I know I'm weak on the exchange rate and other financial management topics. So, I'm hoping to hit those again.

I sit next next Thursday. Here's hoping to get down those items I'm weak on before then.

[Mel]

60 mores hours until mys test. I've read the book, watched the videos, read the ninja notes 6 times (still rewriting them), and have done at least 1,000 MCQs (and still doing more). Feel like i should be ready by now but i'm still nervous. I'm trying to banish the nervouseness and hype myself up for this test!

Hope you're all doing great with your test prep!! Keep chugging along!

[evilgenius07]

5 full days for studying for the BEC exam. This should be interesting. Can't see why a full day on each Becker section(2011 version since I know 2012 has 6 sections) wouldn't work. But maybe I'm in for a rude awakening. Goodluck to all!

[Annie]

Does anyone know if I can use “you” in the memo for the written communication portion? For instance, if I'm supposed to write a memo to a purchasing manager or a CEO of a company, can I use words like “you” or “your company” in the memo? I'm not sure if I should be general or specific when writing a memo to these people under certain circumstances. Any ideas??

[Anonymous]

I prefer not to use “you” or “your company.” Instead, I use “the company” or “it would be best to” instead of “you should.”

I feel like using the word “you” personalizes an issue that is best left to stated facts.

[Mel]

Ok so i'm done studying and my test is tomorrow in the morning! Hope everyone does well on their tests over the next 2 weeks. Hopefully i'll be back a few to say that i passed.

[Annie]

@AnnaNuthaCPA Yeah I thought using “the company” sounds better than using “your company” just like you said. But I was not sure if I should be specific and should personalize the issue if a specific person with a title like production manager asks me advices (in the essay question given). Maybe it doesn't really matter but I have done nothing to prepare for written communication portion of the exam and have only practiced MCQs for the past three weeks. This makes me nervous/worried lol

[vt7]

This is my first time using another71 forum and would appreciate any and all feedback! i took BEC on 10/31 and just found out I failed with a 70!! :(((. I have only passed audit so far with a 78. I am so upset about my BEC score that i am just in shock, I cant refocus to study again. I will sit for it again 1/5 ( have to squeeze it in before busy tax season). I think i have plenty of time to restudy. The problem is that #1 can't focus #2 don't knw how to re study effectively this time to pass BEC.

I use Becker & I think its pretty good study material except that they tend to overcomplicate some things. I hated Ch2 & Ch3..I felt that the MCQ were so so complicated whereas the exam had (generally) much simplier questions (. I struggled to memorize ALL the formulas but I thought I did pretty well.) It is so discouraging to put in weeks of studying & then have it all go down the drain. I work full time & have 2 kids (4 & 2)… time is precious!! I feel burned that I missed out on spending time with them especially the week before exam (I practically didnt see them!)

My exam was mostly computational and a handful left me stumped but I was confident on the all the other. I noticed that many of you say that you should leave at least 1 hour for the WC, I only had about 30 mins- a guess that could be an indicator of something to really work on. I honestly dont know how to study for the WC?? like u can just read examples of good WC responses??? I always thought I was a good writer but who knows. I feel like with the CPA exam, my whole life is unraveling as a failure…( a bit of an exaggeration but that is somewhat how I feel).

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to restudy? this was my first attempt at BEc and I failed it!!

[Annie]

Wow Becker final exam #2 completely threw me off. I got 65 71 79. I'm taking the actual exam in two days and my confidence just died thanks to this practice exam lol

[n.ACMA]

This was my first ever attempt on CPA. I wrote BEC on 8th November, got my score on 25th Nov. I got 86, thank God 🙂

[mrwills12]

@happykcho That same thing happened to me. I thought I was doing well and understanding the material until that damn final test #2. HOWEVER, thankfully when I took my test yesterday my test was more like final test #1…. Good luck on your test.

FAR - 88 (Jul 2012)
AUD - 85 (Oct 2012)
BEC - 82 (Nov 2012)
REG - 92 (Jan 2013) DONE!

Using Becker Self Study 2012

[Anonymous]

I'm taking the test on Thursday…keep having to remind myself to breath. I'm doing the second test tonight. So, the above comment gave me an “oh crap” moment.

I'm also worried about the comments that Becker does not prepare you. Is it because the Becker material was not sifted through with a fine tooth comb? Or is it that there are items on the test that Becker simply doesn't cover?

I feel like I've combed through Becker pretty thoroughly, have spent 8 weeks on the six chapters, and done every problem one, two, three and sometimes five times. I scored 78 on the first practice test and realized I'm lacking in COSO. I restudied that and know what I did wrong on all the others.

I'm moving on to test two tonight and took tomorrow off to do some final polishing. Still trying to remember to breath…

[vt7]

I use Becker & i have sat for Audit (78) and BEC (70). From my experience so far I think Becker perpares you really well. The Becker MCQ are very similar to the actual cpa exam, I just think that Becker kind of overcomplicates things & therefore makes it a little more confusing. I found that to be difficult for me. I felt like the formulas weren't so bad but Becker hw (especially like ch2) has these complicated versions of figuring something out , for example, budget variances. When really if you understand how it works, the basics of it, you will be fine. I just found myself spending too much time wiht the extra detail that Becker would throw in, when really you just need to know the formula how it works.

I remember the audit exam was not too hard compared to Becker. I feel like the exam questions were more straightforward. Obviously it's good to be overprepared but you can get distracted from the main theory with the extra crap Becker throws in. I thought I was well prepared for BEC & thought exam wasn't too bad, it was very similar to the Becker Final Exam practice but for some reason I failed. Not really sure why. I heard Becker scales the exam..is this true? and how does the scaling work? can they actually scale someone down resulting in a fail? I am pretty this did not happen to me since I was a whole 5 points away from passing.

[Author]

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