I took my first exam, BEC, on October 5, and I got an 82! I left half an hour for writing section, and that was a little too short. The computer's keyboard at my local Prometric was old and had keys that were worn smooth. It lost some sensitivity and didn't register every keystroke. I type accurately at about 100wpm, so I had to rewrite a bunch of sentences, and that took time. I recommend that people either check out the keyboard before taking the exam in order to have proper function the first try or leave more time for the writing section. The score breakdown on the CA Board of Accountancy website said that my writing score was “comparable” to other passing candidates, as opposed to “stronger” than other candidates in every other section except for economics, which was also designated as “comparable.” AUD is the next one to get out of the way.
For BEC, I recommend doing all the Becker questions, and make sure you do them WITHOUT the spreadsheet tool. Becker decided to put a spreadsheet option in the Passmaster software for BEC, but there is no spreadsheet option for the actual BEC exam. I called the AICPA the day before my exam, and they got back to me the day of the exam saying that there was no spreadsheet tool. I thought I was toast because I'd only been using the spreadsheet and not the 10-key, but after a few hours of pounding away on the number pad of my keyboard, I got somewhat used to the onscreen 10-key. I wish I had known from the beginning, though.
The NINJA guide also helped, so check that out.
BEC 82 (10/5/2011)
AUD 90 (1/5/2012)
REG 86 (2/29/2012)
FAR *5/31/2012 (first time I'm champing at the bit for my score)
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