[HanahL]

I am scheduled to take BEC on November 24th. I have started studying but I am finding the material very challenging, and I am feeling discouraged. 4 weeks does not feel like enough time to digest it all…

My question is, should I push off BEC to February 2011? From what I understand, the biggest change to BEC is the 3 written communications which are replacing some of the multiple choice on the exam. I feel like this might actually work to my advantage since I am a fairly strong writer and the WC seems to provide easy points if you get down something decent.

Is this a mistake? I would appreciate any comments/suggestions. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Will your NTS expire? Will you get a refund? You might as well try! It's not as bad as you think!! Less MCQ next year…

[potatogun]

No. BEC will have the addition of the 3 writing portions for multiple topics that you might not have as much familiarity with or want to study for. You can totally prepare for BEC in 4 weeks.

FAR 92 - AUD 91 - REG 94 - BEC 86

[HanahL]

CPA Someday – My NTS is good until March, so my plan is to reschedule for February 28th. This would give me 4 months, which I know sounds crazy, but I prefer to study slow and steadily rather than under pressure (which is how I feel studying for it in only 1 month)

Potatogun, – When you say you can prepare for BEC in 4 weeks, do you mean 4 weeks that you can totally devote to the exam? Because I am working full-time now so I find it difficult to get solid studying done on weekdays. Also, do we need to memorize all the formulas? I am using only the Wiley book, which worked well for me for FAR and AUD, but I am thinking maybe the BEC Wiley book is super in-depth and it is unnecessary and only complicating my studying.

In regard to the WC, I think they are not that bad and might even be better to have than purely MC, because from what I understand they are graded pretty loosely and do not need to be technically right. If I had a score report to tell me how I did on the WC on FAR and AUD, that might help me make this decision more easily…..

[whitesoxfancpa]

I think it is foolish to be afraid of the exam in 2011.

They aren't going to suddenly drop the passing rates. If people are doing worse, they'll simply curve the exam scores up. I'm convinced of that.

The format is changing…not the difficulty level.

If you can answer yes to the following question, then I think you should wait until 2011:

If the format of the exam was not changing, would you push it back to 2011?

Also, yes, you absolutely need to know the formulas. Variances, breakeven, cash conversion, inventory turnover, AR turnover, days in inventory, days in AR, financial and operating leverage. Flat out memorize them.

AUD 96 FAR 95 REG 94 BEC 88

[HanahL]

Whitesoxfancpa – My answer to your question is a resounding YES! I am only hesitant to push it off because of the changes to the exam…

The formulas you list are all ones that I am familiar with from FAR and AUD. Those are pretty straightforward. The formulas I am refering to are pretty complicated and relate to capital/financial topics, for example calculating the yield on a bond, economic order quantity, the standard deviation on an investment, to name a few……it seems downright unreasonable to be expected to memorize them all!

Does anyone have a comprehensive list of formulas they could pass my way?

[2010Please]

HanahL

Hard to say…some of those maybe not…but one you mention was on my exam…but not extensively. I would focus heavily on the basic ones including basic financial accounting and the cost formulas. I used becker and used about everyone I learned…sorry don't have a comprehensive list though.

AUD 92, REG 85, BEC 90, FAR 85
Ethics 100
Obtained License 7/11/11 🙂

[2010Please]

I meant to say have a good working knowledge of basic finance and cost formulas, in line with what whitesoxfancpa mentioned above.

AUD 92, REG 85, BEC 90, FAR 85
Ethics 100
Obtained License 7/11/11 🙂

[whitesoxfancpa]

Here are the ones I memorized. I suggest writing them all in one place so you can pull out your sheet and study it every day or two to keep them fresh. These formulas should net you some big points.

Financial formulas:

Payback period

Effective interest rate

Degree of operating leverage

Degree of financial leverage

Combined total leverage

Cost of preferred stock

CAPM

Return on investment (know the profit margin and investment turnover parts)

Residual income/Economic value added

Discounted cash flow (D1/P0 + g)

Current ratio

Quick ratio

AR turnover

Days of AR

Inventory turnover

Days in inventory

Cash conversion cycle

Inventory conversion period

Receivables collection period

Payables deferral period

Economic order quantity (it's not that difficult once you know it!)

Cost accounting formulas:

Cost of goods manufactured

Cost of goods sold

Weighted-average equivalent units of production

FIFO equivalent units of production

Weighted-average cost of equivalent unit

FIFO cost of equivalent unit

Contribution margin

Contribution margin ratio

Absorption formula/approach

Breakeven point in units

Breakeven point in sales dollars

Target profit required in sales dollars and units

Margin of safety in dollars

Margin of safety percentage

How much to produce (sales + ending inventory – beginning inventory)

Direct labor variances

Direct material variances

For the overhead variances, I didn't memorize them but I had a decent working knowledge of how they work. I had to draw some pictures and never fully understood it, but I hope I understood it enough.

Take them a few at a time. Step by step, you'll learn them all in no time.

AUD 96 FAR 95 REG 94 BEC 88

[HanahL]

Whitesoxfancpa,

Thanks very much for this list! I will most definitely use it!

[HazeEastwood]

I just took BEC Sunday. I would say Hanah that the questions in the book seemed FAR more complicated than the actual exam questions although the exam questions were no push overs either. I prepared for BEC in 7 weeks. the first 2 or 3 of which i didn't do a whole lot of studying. I would say taking it in a month is doable. I think the most complicated confusing part is IT. Learn the formulas and work as many problems as you can and the night before the test go over IT and you should be good to go. I'd try for this year, get it out of the way. Just my opinion

FAR-81
BEC-84
AUD-91
REG-89

[HanahL]

HazeEastwood,

Thanks for the feedback. After much deliberation, I pushed off BEC to 2011. I'm glad to hear that the Wiley questions are way more complicated than the actual test questions. That was my general impression after using Wiley for FAR & AUD. But I guess its better to be overprepared than underprepared….

[Author]

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