[Anonymous]

I studied for BEC awhile back, for some reason I switched to Audit and never did the BEC exam. I got bored w/the lectures in Becker. And am not good at all with “word problems”. But I have to start studying for BEC this week, as I’m taking my exam on April 9th. I was thinking this should be enough time? I plan to try to get all the lectures done this week, and then just study, study, study. And possibly review them. I’m using Becker, and was told the IT is not good, so I bought the Wiley Book/CD (I think it got released today, I ordered it online). How does this sound?

Thanks in advance!

[75 CPA]

I counted 34 questions on my BEC exam that were problems. Many of those probems were very sick problems! If it were not for Cindy at Yaeger, I would have failed BEC. I remember one sick problem on my exam where Wiley had only one multiple choice question on the problem, and only Cindy at Yaeger covered the answer in detail. Neither Becker nor Kaplan even mentioned the problem!

[Anonymous]

I just took BEC last Friday after having gone through Becker. Becker classes started early Feb and I sat for the exam at the end of Feb. Overall the material is boring. If you are like me and been out of college for a decade it isn't even familiar. Overall the material covered in the classes was well done, even if it is boring. I felt like crap working most of the homework and didn't feel prepared at all for the exam. When I got into the exam it was a ton easier than what the Becker materials made it out to be. I feel really good about it. There was only one non-IT question that wasn't covered in the materials. There was only one IT question that sticks out as odd to me, but my judgment is off on that since I am a bit of a computer nerd on my own.

[financeguy]

Wow Dale, I just can't understand how you can start studying for this exam at the begining of February and test at the end of the month…it just seems like so much material. Were you literally studying every single day of the month? How many multiple choice questions would you say you did for practice?

AUD - 81, BEC - 74, 80, FAR - 82, REG - 81
Done!

[2ManyFormulas]

I tool BEC on Saturday and also studied with Becker in February. I feel like I spent too much time on the hard material (B3 and B5) and not enough on the easier stuff. I don't have a good feeling at all…..I hope you did well Dale.

REG-72,71 (2011?) FAR-69 (10/16), BEC-66,68 (11/1??) AUD-66 (11/29)

[Anonymous]

My schedule is basically:

Mon/Wed: Becker live classes

Tue/Thur: 3-4 hours MC questions

Sat/Sun: 4-5 hours MC and simulations

Fri: off-day during classes, after classes another usual 3-4 hours

I put in 74.5 hours of study time (including class time) into BEC.

I put in a ton of time into BEC-3 & BEC-5 like you did 2ManyFormulas. I actually re-watched the lectures for BEC-2, BEC-3, and BEC-5. After my second watching of BEC-2 I had it down. I would say half or a bit more than half of my study time was put into BEC3 & BEC-5. BEC-5 variances killed me for some reason. I didn't touch BEC-1 outside of the class and once through the MC questions. BEC-4 I went through the questions twice and skimmed the addendum once. I'm a computer guy though, so I didn't put much into BEC-4.

This exam is pretty much the whole of my life outside of work. It sucks, but it is a short term pain.

[Anonymous]

I agree Dale, short term pain for long term gain 🙂

[Anonymous]

Sadly, I actually do very little accounting work in my job currently and don't plan on changing jobs after getting the CPA. I have no desire to work in public accounting and enjoy the work I do now (more analysis work than true accounting). I am doing it more for myself. There won't be a raise, promotion, or anything else to gain for it really. Long-term it gives me options though.

[Vespa]

I agree. In my experience, every AUD and BEC can be taken with 3 to 4 weeks of committed studying (even if you have a job/kid like me). YMMV.

I honestly think that if you take more than a month to prepare for AUD and BEC, it might become difficult to keep all the knowledge in your head as it grows stale. Anyway, best of luck.

FAR - 78
AUD - 86
REG - 77

[Author]

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