[I'm, Ron Burgundy?]

Hey everyone,

So I failed BEC last July. After consistently studying non-stop, ostracizing myself from my family, friends and other forms of social life, exercise or any other activities I used to enjoy: I still feel completely unprepared 7 months later. I’m studying a lot and still bombing the material when it comes to the mock exams with Becker and Wiley (that’s right, I dumped thousands of dollars on both). I’ve tried Jeff’s method of taking non-stop notes, rewriting them and then doing thousands upon thousands of questions that frustrate me to no end.

I’m completely fed up with this whole process. Nothing seems to be sinking in and I cannot seem to retain anything. I feel stupider every time I open my MCQ’s. Becker seems completely pointless: Here’s a book, here’s a video, start highlighting. What’s the point in even having “lectures” when nothing is actually being taught? I should’ve done Yeager. If I fail, I’ll be studying with the other Jaeger(meister).

The only thing that is keeping me going is: 1. This website and listening to everyone else’s pain and, 2. The fact that I absolutely HATE, I mean HATE, being a bookkeeper and would probably rather jump off a building than face the thought of entering numbers into QuickBooks all day long and spending my days during tax season making $10 an hour doing returns for Liberty Tax or H&R Block for the next 30 years.

I have 26 days until I hopefully can pass this stupid, and probably the most pointless (COSO, enough said), BEC exam. Any strategies that anyone can recommend that I should adopt over the next 26 days? Should I focus on trying to learn the things that are fuzzy to me or things that I am completely lost about? Or, should I concentrate on nailing down the concepts that I am strong in? How many hours of each should I do? What should be my study process? Read notes? Questions? How should I split my time? Any motivation would also be helpful.

"If you're going through hell, keep going"
- Winston Churchill

"I've missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost over 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot, and missed. I've failed, over and over and over again in my life. And that is why, I succeed."
- Michael Jordan

BEC: (54), (72), 80 (losing credit on 02/02/15 - nervous)
AUD: 78
REG: (74), 91
FAR: (71)

[Anonymous]

@jarod,

dont give up my friend. I've been at this for last four years of my life. two years ago i had no credit. today i am half way done, and possibly seventy five percent done. bec has been my hardest section so far. took it at least four times. i passed audit second time, passed reg twice. all i can tell you is the more time you spend studying the better off you will be. you need to build up a knowledge base. for some people fresh out of school that can happen quickly. for others like my self with family, full time job etc. it can take a bit more time. Just remember for every day you spend studying you are increasing your knowledge base. you can do this. just stay focused. good luck.

[GreenMonkey]

Keep at it. Some posters on this forum have gone through much worse. I think I saw someone say they had been at this 11 years. Do a lot of M.C. and read through the book a couple of times so that you're familiar with the details. You have more than enough time to really nail down the material.

And if things don't go well, don't give up before you try another section. It seems everyone has one section that they really struggle with, and yours might be BEC.

Good luck! Utilize this forum- I have found it extremely helpful.

REG- 91
AUD- 97
BEC- 91
FAR- May

[Anonymous]

@Jarod

I feel your pain but alittle worse. I have taken BEC 4 times (56,65,73,69) I started with Becker added the Wiley Testbank, and now am doing cpareviewforfree and the Wiley Testbank with a Financial Management textbook. Things are finally beginning to take hold but I am 51. I graduated college when I was 40 taking night classes, working, and raising 2 kids (1 of which is a CPA now). The moral of this story is if I had done all of this when I was your age I would most likely be semi retired and sitting on the beach somewhere! So don't give up! We will get this done.

[Anonymous]

@Jarrod Tell us a little more about your structure for studying. I've got a couple of questions: 1) Are you studying everyday. I know you said you are studying a lot but are you putting in two to three hours per day, minimum and not skipping two to three days in between. 2) Where are you studying? At home, library, etc. With the CPA exam it's not only the quantity of time we study but the quality of time as well. If you are studying in a location where you are constantly getting interrupted, change the location!

I think it is a wise decision to NOT mix study programs. Have one main program for videos lectures, homework, etc. and supplement with the others. Choose the one that seems to be a personal fit for you. Supplement with the others. Whatever program you choose, skip nothing!. Twenty six days is a good amount of time. You need to do MC questions until you puke, clean it up and do more. Right the MC problems out in detail. For me, once I memorized the steps to a MC, the concept would eventually set in.

I know you said you were using Becker. Are you utilizing the progress tests? I believe that those are an absolute must to keep the concepts fresh. For example, got to progress test in Chapter 2 that will cover chapters one and two. Do say 10 to twenty MC. Repeat this as you complete a chapter. The number of MC that you do can vary and you can do this at the beginning of the study session or at the end. I feel the MC's are the key to passing the exam.

Another strategy that I have implemented for all four parts is the use of a voice recorder. I would record my note cards, mnemonics, steps to a problem, you name it. I would listen to this over and over and over while doing laundry, driving to and from work, at work(with earphones), walking the dog and even at a NASCAR race.

I took FAR for the third time this past Monday. I used the NINJA audio to supplement. Have you tried this? If not, I would highly recommend it!

Sorry so long winded but I hope this gives you some ideas on how to mix up and possibly change your study methods. Study methods are an evolving process.

One more thing, if your budget allows, do not skip a single testing window. I took my first exam (this time around) in November of 2010 and haven't missed a single window since.

My FAR exam last week was my 13th exam since 2010.

Best wishes!

[FlipACoin]

I think the main reason so many people have trouble with BEC is because most people in accounting just have less background education in most of the areas that are covered. So FAR, as expansive and frustrating as it is for some, might make more sense because most people taking the CPA have taken Intermediate Acct I, II (and sometimes III). When they take a review course they might learn maybe 20% new material but the rest is truly a review (even if you think you don't remember much). With BEC, you are tested (what I can gather) at least what is the equivelant of 2-3 semesters of finance, 2 semesters of econ, etc. Many candidates just don't have the educational background so they end up having to learn 6-70% of what is brand new material and that's really hard to do in just a few months. It also doesn't help that it takes a COMPLETELY different mindset to look at a business problem from a finance or economics perspective than it is from an accounting perspective.

At the end of the day, you are probably outside your comfort zone, but that's no reason to give up. If BEC bothers you this much you can be pretty certain that you will have strengths in the other exams, and that when you finally pass BEC the other sections should go smoother (although I am sure a far cry from easy). If it makes you feel any better, most of my background (educational, experience or otherwise) is in the BEC section, so instead of having one section I have to learn a whole lot of new information for, I have three :). I know I'm still early on in the process but I say bring it on!

[Anonymous]

Here is my testing history:

B: (7/10/10=71), (10/12/10=75)

A: (1/8/11=66), (5/28/11=83)

R: (11/1/10=86)

F: (4/7/11=72), (8/31/11=66), (2/25/12=77)

For me, once I learned “how to study”, I passed. I had to get into the mindset of everything else be damned, I not only need to understand this material, I have to understand how to answer the questions. Understanding the material is a separate issue from understanding how to answer the question. In other words, don't just do a bunch of MCs and memorize them….get to know the core concepts because if you can't get past the AICPA substituting “John” on the real test for “Sue” on the review material, you'll fail every time. Also, look for the word in the question (such as ‘not”), which sometimes makes most answers true. Re-read the question and eliminate that word so that only one or two answers make the most sense. Re-read the question again and find the best answer….at that point you'll have at least a 50/50 chance. More often than not, those little words made all the difference in the world of whether I passed or not.

Finally, I think Becker does a good job of releasing old questions and explaining the correct answer. Google something like: “becker aicpa released questions 2012” and good info pops up. It also doesn't hurt to look for older questions such as 2011, 2010, and even 2009. I found those questions to be invaluable since they gave me a good idea of what was on the test (since core concepts never change), how to read the questions, and what the correct answer would be – so as to again, get a good grasp on the core concepts.

Good luck!

[I'm, Ron Burgundy?]

@Candothis: I am usually trying to study every day for at least 3 – 5 Hours. I usually study at Starbucks or the Library. Studying at home is nearly impossible, even if children/significant other is not around there are too many distractions (house cleaning, laundry, etc.) When I study I'm usually wearing headphones and listening to techno type music as I am able to drown it out along with outside noise. It seems to work.

Right now, my biggest obstacle with this exam has consistently been trying to figure out this Strategic Planning/Flex Budgeting. However, I'm at the point where I'm just going to give up studying this portion of the exam. I find it somewhat foolish to be dedicating 90% of my study time to a section that makes up 10% of the overall exam. Bad Idea?

I'm starting to think that I should focus primarily on the concepts I am strong with and the concepts I am somewhat fuzzy on and avoid the concepts that are kicking my butt and leading to the destruction of my confidence, leading to me not wanting to study, leading to me not wanting to take this exam. Any thoughts?

Any advice on how to spread my time? Let's say I can squeeze in 5 hours a day for the next 24 days. How should I spread my time? One hour of note review? One hour of reading? Then 3 hours of MCQ's? Let me know what you recommend.

"If you're going through hell, keep going"
- Winston Churchill

"I've missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost over 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot, and missed. I've failed, over and over and over again in my life. And that is why, I succeed."
- Michael Jordan

BEC: (54), (72), 80 (losing credit on 02/02/15 - nervous)
AUD: 78
REG: (74), 91
FAR: (71)

[FlipACoin]

Blaugh! Flex Budgeting. I realize that the CPA has a lot of theory but speaking as somebody who has been in FP&A for 10+ years there is no greater useless knowledge in the realm of financial theory than flex budgeting. Parts of the philosophy are used, for example extremely influencial variable costs like COGS or Direct Labor are always budgeted as a percentage of sales. Everything else is almost always as a percent increase over prior year. This is almost universal over my experience which spans different industries, company sizes and functions of the budget. The idea of using a flex budget to budget small mixed and variable cost items is just a joke and I am saddened that you have spent so much time trying to learn such a useless topic. Of course it could still end up on the exam but if it helps at all…..it really is stupid.

[I'm, Ron Burgundy?]

@Flip: I realize it's stupid, probably the reason it's giving me such a hard time: lack of motivation. I also realize that it's highly doubtful that I will see it again in the “real world.” However, this was the case with about 90% of the material I learned in college. However, just because I'll never use it doesn't mean I don't need to know it, at least for this exam! Any study tips?

"If you're going through hell, keep going"
- Winston Churchill

"I've missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost over 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot, and missed. I've failed, over and over and over again in my life. And that is why, I succeed."
- Michael Jordan

BEC: (54), (72), 80 (losing credit on 02/02/15 - nervous)
AUD: 78
REG: (74), 91
FAR: (71)

[FlipACoin]

Yes you should definitely still know it (or know it as well as you can) when you step through the doors to take the exam. Although it didn't sound like it, I was trying to be semi-encouraging noting that most people don't really “get” it, which is why it's not used in real world application :).

Regarding study tips, I'm afraid I am the wrong person to ask. I am still gearing up and don't plan to take my first exam until August. If you had any specific questions on the theory though, I might be able to help….

[Anonymous]

@Jared

I want to try and address you questions by paragraph and the way you have presented them.

First of all your study locations. I personally don't see how anyone can concentrate TOTALLY studying in a public place like Starbucks. Way too many distractions. I think you should stick with the library. And if you have three hours at home, there is no reason that you can't take a break from your computer, do laundry and STILL study while you are doing laundry. This is where audio recordings come in. For example, when recently studying for FAR at home, I would set a goal of what I needed/wanted to complete before I took a break. If the MC's I was working on took an hour I would complete them before I moved my rear end out of the chair. If they took an hour and a half then I would break. When I got out of the chair, I would have my voice recorder with my whether it be to take the dog out, fold laundry or go to the mail box. Whatever I was studying at that point I would be listening to. Say if I were working on bonds, when I got up to take a break I would listen to the note cards that I had recorded relating to bonds. I have all of the Becker note cards recorded.

Second, yes you are spending way too much time on this topic. Nail down and I mean nail down all of the other topics but by no means sit this topic aside. When I was taking BEC I remember that the variances were my nemesis. I did save those problems to the last but I did know them. You never know, you may be asked to write a memo about this on the written communcations part or you may never see it. Would it be possible for you to get some help with this topic from a college professor?

If you have five hours a day for the next twenty four days you can and will do this! If I were you, I would start off by doing a progress test of at least 20 questions and more if possible. If you want to spend a hour on this great! Are you writing the problems out it detail when you are answering them? I have tons of legal pads where I have done this. When I used Becker for BEC, it was five chapters. Have you completed all of the Becker lectures?

Do you have the Becker Final Review? I have used this for all four parts. The final review seems to bring all of the topics together.

One more thing I did to keep track of where I was at and what tasks I needed to complete was I made a study grid on a dry erase board. For example, for FAR I down the left side I wrote F1, F2, etc. The headings across the top were, listen to lecture, work MC's, listen to FR, work FR MC's, SIMS, read chapter. As I complete a task I would put a check mark in that box. I realize you may not be able to implement this for BEC but it may help you with the other parts. As the days pass and your test draws closer, you may find that you don't have time to read the chapters. That's okay and that is where being flexible with studying comes in .

With all of this being said, I firmly believe that the MC's are the key to passing this exam. You have to be able to get through them at least twice.

Finally, start thinking positively over this test! I got my rear kicked THREE times by BEC before I passed.Repetition is the key. Talk about shaken confidence! You have to keep going. You have to keep trying. You will succeed.

Good Luck on your exam and keep me posted on how the studying is going!

[Author]

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