[HoldMyBeerCPA]

Hello again ninjas,

Now that I have received my NTS, I suppose I am officially a CPA candidate.

In any case, with the deadline to take the un-violated version of the BEC exam approach quickly, I was wondering if it’s worth a shot to try and squeeze in BEC in the 25 days or so that I have left.

Currently, I am taking one grad school course, working about 55 hours a week and will be traveling to the lovely destination that is known as Honduras for the last week of February.

With all that said, I’m wondering if I should try to grind it out take sit for BEC or wait until the Q2 window and take the exam with lord-knows-what changes implemented into the exam.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[muhfreedoms]

If you believe that you can dedicate at least 50 hours to studying, I would say go for it. BEC is definitely passable by then but you will be very busy. I would say it depends on how much you want to study while in Honduras versus how much you want to relax.

[HoldMyBeerCPA]

That's the thing, there would probably be zero time to relax. My day-to-day schedule in Honduras would have me wake up at 5:30am just to get to the mine by 7:00am then come back to the “hotel” by 7:30pm. By that point, realistically, I'd say I could maybe put in 2, maybe, 3 hours tops per night while I'm out there.

I wish I had a clear-cut answer as to how much more difficult BEC will be after the changes.

[shawn in VA]

I just signed up for BEC as a retake for MARCH 10. last day of the testing period . I took BEC back in OCT and got a 74. I will force myself to re-learn the material and pass during busy season.

I can't image how ugly those SIMS could get in BEC. Plus you still have the WC and it will become a 4 hour exam instead of the current 3 hour. I plan to put in 100 hours and started studying about 1 week ago. The goal is 3 hours a day.

[Life_whereareyou]

I had to do the same thing more or less and squeeze in BEC before busy season started so I wouldn't have to deal with the format change.

Things to note:

– It was my last exam.
– I had already failed three times (74,73,74)
– I wanted to finish this GD CPA exam.

This exam was not “difficult”, just the subject matter is very broad which makes it easy to miss little things…which is why I failed by so close each time. The thing that finally help cement the random facts was using flashcards. It just forced me to think about what the answer was rather than rely on multiple choice. But uh, definitely do MCs, I just had done them so many times since it was my fourth try.

Do what is best for you, if you feel like you need time, then wait. But I think you should buckle down and go for it! Plus, if you wait until April to test with the new format, you wouldn't know what your score is until August. That would have driven me insane haha.

Btw, finally passed with a 78 =). Also no exaggeration, the other times I failed, I was in the middle of busy season so I would cram for two weeks. Not suggesting that, but just saying if you can do your due diligence and spread out your studying, you have a pretty good chance of passing! Good luck and have fun in Honduras!

[Yolonge]

I took a gamble and took BEC in mid April after taking Regulation in early April.

I recall that if I take it after mid April, my score will be released late and could not retake in May. Also there was benefit of receiving 2 scores on the same day.

So I was thinking why not… I can always retake in May. At least for BEC, it worked out to be okay.

I highly suggest you to take a shot, because there is not much to lose (NTS fee), otherwise you will have to wait till August… which is 6 months from now.

It will not be a freeze going through BEC within one month in busy season but it is definitely doable. Good luck.

Materials: Wiley book + Ninja MCQ

FAR - 83 (Jan 2016)
Study time: 6 weeks
BEC - 87 (April 2016)
Study time: 2 weeks
AUD - 92 (July 2016), (74 Feb 2016), (72 May 2016)
Study time: 4 (Feb) + 2 (May) + 3 (July) = 9 weeks total
REG - (70 April 2016)
Study time: 3 weeks

[sazz1994]

Like the othet person said, only oif you think you have at least 50 hours to study… I had only 7 days to study(took it the week after FAR), studied for about 55 hours, skipped the last chapter in the Becker book and just focused on econ and learning all the acronyms they teach you. Passed with an 80

[Author]

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