[MustPass1988]

Hey everyone- I’m retaking BEC this coming Friday…I took it a month ago and got a 73 🙁 🙁 :(. Anyways, I am looking for tips on the written communication portion of the exam. I thought I did well on this section but apparently I was “comparable”. I had an introduction, at least 2-3 paragraphs in the middle to explain what I was talking about and a conclusion. I ran out of time on the last one so it wasn’t as detailed…I’m not sure if that was what led to my comparable score or not. Anyways, any suggestions for doing well on this part?

AUD: PASSED [81]; Expired, retaking August 23rd
BEC: PASSED [83]; Expired, retaking July 11th
REG: PASSED [83]
FAR: FAILED [64]; Retaking May 23rd

[jimboace88]

My written communications were a joke. From what I understand, the key is to use “buzz words” contained in the prompt and you should be fine. This is the strategy I followed, because I sure as hell couldn't have gone into detail on some of the topics I was asked to write on.

FAR 07/27/11 - 87
AUD 10/01/11 - 85
BEC 11/15/11 - 87
REG 01/03/12 - 92

[Peanut]

@jimboace88, nice to see you around! I feel like it's been a while. Did you just stick to 3 main paragraphs? Intro, body, conclusion/closing? From what I've been gathering it should look a little something like this…

Intro:

The purpose of this memorandum is to (copy and paste question)

Body:

Blah blah blah (copy and paste question again) blah blah

Closing:

I would be delighted to assist you in any additional questions you might have regarding (copy and paste question)

Am I on the right track? lol Please let me know!

AUD 81 (X4) Previous scores 59, 72, 72
REG 80 (X3) Previous scores 59, 60
FAR 75 (X2) Previous score 67
BEC 79 (X2) Previous score 58

[jimboace88]

Good to see you too, Peanut! I've gone on hiatus from posting so I could focus on trying to bang out REG in roughly 6 weeks. Hopefully I'll prove successful come the 3rd…. :-/

I would say you're on the right track. The written communication part is really nothing to worry about. If you are grammatically correct and use proper structure as you showed in your example, you'll be fine. As I said (and I've heard this from a lot of other people), the key is to use “buzz words.” Here's what I mean, hypothetically: if the question were to say “The CEO wants you to explain the potential positives and negatives of using job order costing,” you should use those words verbatim SEVERAL times in your response. I don't know whether or not that's even a topic they would ask about because Lord knows I have repressed the memory of my horrible BEC exam experience, but I know that if I were faced with that question, the first line would be a generic “The use of job order costing can have many potential positives and negatives for our organization” and the first line of my last paragraph would probably say “I hope my explanation has been helpful in describing how the use of job order costing has potential positives and negatives.” I always made sure to tack on a little note which I thought of as my “disclaimer,” saying something like “I understand that this topic can be a very complex one; please contact me at your earliest convenience so that we may discuss the potential positives and negatives of job order costing in more detail.”

As you can see, it's all about taking their language and making it look like you're talking about the point. You could be 200000% wrong (which I'm sure I was on at least one of my writing exercises), and the scoring system (especially if it's scored by computer) will still pat you on the back for addressing the topic and having good spelling and grammar.

FAR 07/27/11 - 87
AUD 10/01/11 - 85
BEC 11/15/11 - 87
REG 01/03/12 - 92

[Author]

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