[MustPass1988]

Does anybody else feel extremely overwhelmed while studying for BEC? I thought this would be an easier section but I am finding it to be quite difficult, probably because there is such a random assortment of material. I am taking it on Monday morning and I feel like I’m going to fail. I have memorized almost every formula in chapter 3 of Becker and know most of the corporate governance material and formulas in Ch 1. I feel comfortable with IT and understand most of what is going in the economics chapter. I haven’t done the lecture or HW for chapter 5 yet 🙁 How much did everyone study for BEC?

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

[kaaCPA]

you must know chapter 5. i would get on that right away. good luck – my exam was tough!

i studied for 5 weeks per the becker self study schedule.

AUD | 85
REG | 77
FAR | 76
BEC | 83
========
ETH | 93
State Board Application pending!

[goodluck2everyone]

you havent studied B5 and your test is monday? May lord have mercy on your soul

I didn't know jack squat about IT, financial management, or COSO but still managed to get stronger on MCQ overall because I had mastered B5. This shows you how much that section was emphasized on my exam

pray you dont get a test like the one I got

BEC- 80
REG- 68, 71, July
AUD- 61 , 84
FAR- -- 75 🙂

[Youngbizman]

I went through Becker and read all material 2x, ended up being about 75 hrs over 3 weeks. Got an 89, I think Becker does an excellent job with the material. In fairness, I do have a degree in Finance as well so the WACC and Econ questions were guaranteed points. IT was very tough though.

[Anonymous]

I'm right along with you. I'm taking my exam next Tuesday. I have about 150 questions to go in B5 and then I can declare REVIEW time. I plan to finish my questions tomorrow, and review for 3 days.

I feel pretty confident. I'm scoring 75+ on everything. Also, I heard the BEC exam is easier than Becker MCQs. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Check out Roger CPA You Tube video on variance. It was the only way i found that made sense to me.

Also read the ancillary material in Becker, especially in IT.

Do at least one Becker practice exam. They are super difficult but make you think about how to use the formulas. The real exam isn't as hard.

[Anonymous]

I also feel overwhelmed. Waaaaay too many formulas to memorize. I'm not using B5, what is that section over? I'm finishing up lectures on Variances today using Yaeger and will be hitting MC's hard starting tomorrow until my test. Cost Measurement was so boring, hard to pay attention. I know Variances will be the same way. God help me.

[Anonymous]

Oh sorry. B5 is cost accounting (Becker). Sounds like the same stuff you're studying though… variances. Good fun, isn't it?

Honestly, I trust Becker… and if Becker only has 8 pages on variances… I believe you will likely see 1-2 questions maximum. Just understanding the basics on that topic is what I'll be doing.

If I'm wrong though, be sure to let me know after your exam! ^.^

[MustPass1988]

I feel like studying 150 hours for BEC is a waste of time. Especially working in public accounting- I dont have that kind of time. There is no way to know EVERYTHING and I could study for the same thing over and over and maybe see one question about it on my exam. I studied the transaction cycles for hours for audit and saw probably 5 questions on this topic max. Mastering the material that is the “most heavily tested” seems the most important to me and I will go over variances this weekend. In reality, everything in Becker is fair game for the test and I could see 1 question on variances or 50. We will see how it goes!

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

[happy75]

Thank you, Allyson!

[Youngbizman]

@ Mustpass, definitely agree BEC is not a section that needs more than 60-80 hrs depending on previous knowledge of Economics and Information Technology. Thats funny about transaction cycles on audit though. Thankfully I had read over it and done the MC 2x before the test.

[mavsbustin3s]

I probably studied for BEC a total of 80 hours over 10 days. I felt very overwhelmed while studying due to the variety of topics and how detailed the practice MCQs were. Do not get discouraged that you haven't started B5 yet. If you work hard this weekend you should have plenty of time to learn B5, complete the MCQs, complete both practice exams, and review a little.

As many people have said, I also struggled with variance analysis. While this information is important to know for the exam, I would not spend countless hours at this point trying to understand it and memorize the formulas. As you said, there is no way you can know everything thing so just have a solid grasp of most topics and a basic understanding of everything else.

Going in to my exam I also felt like I did not prepare enough and I was going to fail. I had to just clear my head and go in with confidence. My test was about 60% theory/word problems and about 40% math computations. I knew most of the formulas, but in general they still take longer to complete. Many of the theory/word questions were very detailed (especially IT) and confusing. I was pressed for time the entire exam and only left myself 30 minutes to complete the essays. I was not very confident after the exam, but I ended up getting an 85 so it all worked out in the end.

BEC - 85
REG - 77
AUD - 73, 83
FAR - 68, 89

[katyuser]

Second Allyson on Roger for the overhead variances – his video is on you-tube. Just commit his chart to memory and plug in the given numbers.

[Author]

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