[valueofnothing]

hello,

i’ll be taking BEC on monday and was looking for a little guidance for the written portion. from the searching that ive done, it seems like people talk about the documents that the tester is asked to produce very generally, and have specified that business letters or memos are frequently requested. i know that people may not want/be allowed to reply specifically, but are there any other broad categories of document that i should be prepared to write?

thankssssssssssssssssssssss

REG - 81
BEC - 88
AUD - 85
FAR - 81

[IwannaBaCPA]

I am not really sure that there is various documents requested…I think it is generally a memo of some sort. Not sure what review course you are using, but Becker has a bunch to practice and good advice about timing and structure of these written tasks.

BEC: 79 - April 2011
FAR: 78 - May 2011
AUD: 81 - May 2012
REG: 79 - October 2012
Ethics: Passed - March 2013
I am finally DONE!

[smrichard]

I'm not sure how the written portion has changed since moving it to only BEC, but I passed FAR back when there was a writing portion. If I remember correctly it'll usually be something like a client coming to you for advice and you have to write them a letter back explaining their situation. And honestly you don't have to know the answer. I read people on another71.com totally bs'd the answer and passed so I tried that route and it worked for me. I wrote back to the client and said something like “I understand you are requesting information about this topic…I am not an expert in this area. I will research this subject and consult with my manager and get back to you.” My answer was much longer than that but that's the gist of it.

But if you know the answer it's probably better that you answer it correctly. Just don't panic if you don't know anything about the subject they give you!

FAR 82
AUD 81 (2007), 73, 80
REG 68 (2010), 76
BEC 58 (2007), 75 DONE!!!!

[rknight21]

@smrichard thanks for that tip because after looking at the aicpa sample sims i got nervous when it asked for me to explain to a co worker how options are price and the 5 ways it fluctuates but you make a good point. i can always reply business formal that i dont have much expertise on the matter and with a little more info on the little i know I still have a chance of passing

[Anonymous]

It's usually you writing a memo to someone in management or the board explaining some topic.

smrichard is correct.

On my BEC exam, I couldn't remember the accurate answer to the topic so I BS'd my way through it and at the end I said I would research it further and get back to them with a “more formal and detailed” response.

I passed that one.

I wrote a very short, accurate memo once on FAR and did weaker on the written part of that exam. I've tried to make it a rule of thumb to write at least 7 sentences.

[smrichard]

That's a good rule of thumb Allyson. 🙂

FAR 82
AUD 81 (2007), 73, 80
REG 68 (2010), 76
BEC 58 (2007), 75 DONE!!!!

[valueofnothing]

thx for the help. topics dont really concern me, it was more of the medium (letter, memo) but it basically seems like those are the only two things that are requested based on the comments here. i was just concerned that it would be something specific like an engagement letter or auditor's report… but it seems like that isnt the case, i guess.

REG - 81
BEC - 88
AUD - 85
FAR - 81

[IwannaBaCPA]

oh goodness, no! Nothing formal like that! They are testing your writing skills, no one writes those things from scratch in the real world…everything has templates and you just pop in the specifics. They just want to make sure you can write a decent email or response to an inquiry. You will do just fine!

BEC: 79 - April 2011
FAR: 78 - May 2011
AUD: 81 - May 2012
REG: 79 - October 2012
Ethics: Passed - March 2013
I am finally DONE!

[valueofnothing]

@iwanna thanks for the clarification. i didnt know what to expect… my college accounting classes were often difficult and asked for harder-than-real-life things like what i was talking about above… so its relieving that the CPA exam doesnt have such requirements.

REG - 81
BEC - 88
AUD - 85
FAR - 81

[IwannaBaCPA]

Well, I mean, there are some tough topics in the Sims. Like the Audit ones I saw were difficult and I feel like you would need some solid experience to really figure those things out, but I managed to take a stab at them and we shall see if it was enough.

BEC written tasks are really not bad though. They really should be a grade booster if you are a decent writer and do your best to stay on topic. I am not sure that I would totally avoid details on the topic and leave it all vague…for example, if you were asked to respond to your manager's inquiry about the requirements to take the CPA Exam (don't worry I made this up, it's not a real topic) and you responded “The exam consists of three parts which must all be passed with a score of 50 or greater.” you would clearly be wrong, but that doesn't matter when the computer grades it. It grades grammar, spelling, etc. I am thinking it probably has some key words it searches for too, but idk about that.

Best of luck!

BEC: 79 - April 2011
FAR: 78 - May 2011
AUD: 81 - May 2012
REG: 79 - October 2012
Ethics: Passed - March 2013
I am finally DONE!

[Author]

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