[Boate]

Hi Guys,

All I’ve ever heard was how BEC was one of the “easier” sections of the CPA exam, yet I’m finding it to be very difficult. I’m coming off a failure in FAR of a 68 but I walked into that exam confident knowing that I had a good chance at passing. My BEC exam is wednesday and I cannot grasp these concepts. It seems as if the Contribution Margin can be calculated 20 different ways and it just seems so many things are getting confused with one another. I’ve been making flashcards and doing questions but I feel I’m not really learning the material. Please send any advice. I’ve cleared my schedule for the weekend and cancelled plans with my gf so I can do all I can to make a final push into exam day.

AUD: (65)(66) 77
REG: (66) (48) destroyed me mentally.....
FAR: (68) (66)(69)(71)
BEC: (63) 75

"Greatness is not some precious thing, it is no more unique to us than breathing. We are ALL capable of it."

[shanek327]

Know IT inside and out, that was the biggest section I was tested on.

BEC harder than FAR?

Eh idk, my scores differed by 20 points in favor of BEC

FAR - 75
AUD - 78
BEC - 82
REG - 77

2 Corinthians 5:21

Our value does not come from our skills and abilities, as good as they may be; it does not come from our GPA, our job, a promotion from that job to a better job, our success on the CPA exam, or anything of the like; but our value comes from the fact that we have a Creator who loves us, cares for us, and desires to help us navigate the rough waters of this life in a way that provides security, hope, and true, everlasting joy while we anticipate the life to come, with Him.

[Anonymous]

I thought BEC was harder than FAR. In fact BEC was a huge issue for me and now AUD is even a bigger pain! BEC and AUD are supposed to be the “easiest”, from what everyone thinks. The finance portion of BEC is what got me good along with the variances.

Regarding IT, I only had about 2 or 3 questions on it.

My parody of the famous Forrest Gump quote…. “Life is like a CPA exam testlet, you never know what you're going to get.”

[shanek327]

I guess that's just a testimony to the CPA exam pin the tail on the donkey game.

I had under 10 calculation questions on BEC. Tons of IT and COSO

FAR - 75
AUD - 78
BEC - 82
REG - 77

2 Corinthians 5:21

Our value does not come from our skills and abilities, as good as they may be; it does not come from our GPA, our job, a promotion from that job to a better job, our success on the CPA exam, or anything of the like; but our value comes from the fact that we have a Creator who loves us, cares for us, and desires to help us navigate the rough waters of this life in a way that provides security, hope, and true, everlasting joy while we anticipate the life to come, with Him.

[Anonymous]

This definitely varies person to person and exam to exam. I felt that preparing for BEC was harder than FAR due to the variation in the material. But, the exam itself wasn't as demanding as FAR.

However, I have a very close friend that struggled with BEC and I believe passed on the 3rd or 4th try that passed FAR on the first attempt.

It just depends. If you don't prepare yourself enough to pass each exam, don't expect it to just happen.

[ncjm304]

I haven't taken FAR, but I can say from my own experience that I felt BEC was harder than Audit.

AUD- 71,79
BEC- 72,77
FAR- 83
REG- 63,71,83

DONE!

[nika_cpa]

BEC is pure memorization. There is no way to remember all that crap they are testing without doing nonstop MCQs. I hate BEC but I got my highest score in BEC because I made sure to memorize as much as I can. The only easy part about BEC is that there is no SIMS. If BEC would have SIMS it would be impossible;e to pass it IMHO!

Becker self-study, Wiley Test Bank and books, Becker final review. NINJA MCQ bank and NINJA notes for BEC only!

AUD - PASSED!
FAR - PASSED!
REG - PASSED!
BEC - PASSED!

[spikesrd]

I guess it all depends on what your interests are. It is always easier to 8udy material that you find interesting as opposed to material that puts you to sleep.

“The reward for work well-done is more work.”

BEC - 05/26/2015 77
AUD - 07/27/2015 88
FAR - 08/31/2015 80
REG - 11/30/2015 73, 04/18/2016 80 Done!!!

[Chris]

I think a big mistake with both BEC and AUD are that candidates think they are “easy.” Just because they have less material than FAR or REG, does not make them any more or less challenging. I believe that the reason AUD has consistently the lowest passing rates out of the four tests is because people, especially auditors, walk in thinking they know it because they did it every day or there is no math involved so it must be easy. Come to find out they get slammed with a failing score.

BEC is a hodgepodge of topics you probably haven't studied since early in your college career so it's doubtful it's a specialty of most. You should give all the tests the same level of diligence.

NH CPA
REG: 07/03/2014 - 88
AUD: 08/30/2014 - 73 - Retake 10/16/14 - 86
BEC: 05/31/2015 - 77
FAR: 08/08/2015 - 64 - Retake 11/23/15 - 77

Becker*NINJA Notes/MCQ*

Now I could let these dream killers kill my self-esteem
Or use my arrogance as the steam to power my dreams ~ Kanye West

[zoctoman]

I think FAR is harder than BEC. Here is my reasoning…..

For FAR, people view it as the “beast”, and often plan 6 to 10 weeks full-time to study for it.

For BEC, people underestimate it, usually plan between 3-6 weeks full-time to study for it. so….

If one would set aside the time to study for BEC (e.g. 8 weeks full-time) like one would for FAR, that extra preparation would most definitely make BEC considerably easier than FAR.

So pound for pound BEC is certainly as hard as FAR. If I would have studied the same amount for FAR as I did BEC, I'd be retaking it right now!

Audit(11/5/13) - 89
Reg(5/16/14) - 86
FAR(7/18/14) - 82
BEC(11/14) - 85

[Anonymous]

I thought BEC was extremely difficult to learn (watching lectures and the first pass of MCQ). But once I had the concepts down the review wasn't too bad. I recognized very early on that my weakness was Financial Management so I spent a lot of time there. On test day I'd say that 40 to 50% of my exam was calculation based so my studying paid off big time. In fact I used more dry erase boards for BEC than the other 3 exams (including FAR) combined.

[Martin]

I understand how people can underestimate BEC because it does not have any simulations and it has the highest passing rate of the 4 parts. What I will never understand is how can someone underestimate Audit if it has the worst passing rate out of the 4 parts. The difference between Audit and BEC in terms of passing rate percentage points is around 10 points. How can anyone think Audit is easy?

Through God all things can happen!

“You never fail until you stop trying.”
― Albert Einstein
When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people;as I grow older, I admire kind people.
“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”

FAR= 72-84
Audit= 73-82
BEC= 74-75
Reg=77

[Anonymous]

They are ALL hard sections!! Of the three exams I have passed: AUD, BEC and REG, I thought AUD was the hardest exam so far.

[iloveaccounting220]

BEC was really hard for me to get through. The material was all over the place. I would say you need to focus on COSO and on all of the material variances, breakeven, and the financial management stuff. I am studying for FAR now and having a harder time focusing because each homework section takes like a gazillion hours to do. So far i thin BEC was easier to study for. Identify your weak areas and just continue practicing MCQ”s. Have you purchased NINJA MCQ”S. Five days out is not too late to do 500 plus questions.

BEC - 76 (1/24/15)
REG - 82 (4/13/15)
AUD - 89 (5/31/15)
FAR - 78 (8/16/15)

Starting right now I'll be strong
I'll play my fight song
And I don't really care if nobody else believes
'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me

[Anonymous]

Everyone's lowest exam score always seems to be BEC!

Anyway, I haven't taken FAR yet, but I'm studying for it so I wouldn't know. One of my supervisors says BEC is the hardest exam, because FAR is all simply financial accounting, and the same themes and concepts are reoccurring throughout every chapter/topic. BEC on the other hand, is a big topic mashup so you constantly have to change gears completely from one question to the next, and knowing one thing well, like Finance, does you NO GOOD AT ALL when you get questions about IT, or corporate governance, or economics, or cost accounting.. etc. You have to master a whole bunch of different things to pass BEC, and just a few core concepts for FAR (or even AUD, & REG)

[Anonymous]

Anyway, as far as a study strategy goes, the exam is truly much more random than you can anticipate. Ive taken BEC and REG twice and was very surprised how different the tests were each time. One time it really drills one topic and the next, not so much. My AUD test was a pass first time around, but I was shocked how little questions I got on audit procedures and transaction cycles when my review materials were telling me that was one of the most heavily tested areas. I literally spent 50% of my study times on procedures and transaction cycles and got 1 MCQ and 1 Sim on it come test day. You can't expect your BEC exam to be consistent with any one elses.

As a study strategy, your best bet with BEC (and any exam for that matter), is to break up the material by topic. and spend enough time on each topic to master it. Group your practice questions BY TOPIC and track these practice question sessions by topic, score and date. Whichever topic YOU personally are struggling with, gets more special time/attention in your studies. As soon as you are gettin 90s in a section, you got it, move on to the next. Re-perform every question that you get wrong, at least once. (at least enough until you can get it right)

I personally spent a TON of time on corporate governance, went into the test totally mastering the topic, was getting like 100% on all practice questions for it, made flashcards, blah blah blah. I did that b/c corp gov killed me on BEC first time around.

Didn't spend much time on Econ, Cost Accounting or IT because, I was already kicking ass in those topics because I nailed them in school. So I'm not saying don't spend time on these topics, spend enough time on ALL topics to master them, based on what you know.

Don't bother taking the test unless you're getting 90s or above on the homework questions for every section. and check the dates you got your scores as well, make sure they are recent. A score of 90% on a topic you practiced 5-6 weeks ago must be refreshed last week before exam.

Best of luck and try very hard all day every day!

Keep a stash of water and candies/chocolates by your study station. You need that sugar when you start to feel “fried” and like you cant think anymore

[Author]

Replies