[Anonymous]

How long Should i spend on WC? Is 30 minutes enough for each WC for a combine total of 1:30hour.

[Anonymous]

About an hour for all 3 WC should be enough. You're not writing novels here. An intro, 2 to 3 body paragraphs and a close is what you're looking. Stay concise, use good grammar and make sure your spielling is gud. Biggest piece of advice is to not overthink the WC. Answer the question to the best of your ability and move on. If you don't know the answer then just make stuff up that sounds good. All indications are that format, grammar and spelling are more important than content.

Assuming you can go from Medium to Hard and staying on Hard for the MCQ, plan for about 20 minutes for Testlet 1 and about 30 to 40 minutes for Testlets 2 and 3. That will give you about an hour and a half for the WC. But take up to two hours if need be on the MCQ since it's weighted much more heavily. You're better off nailing the MCQ portion and missing some points on the WC than Vice Versa.

Finally is the caveat that a lot of this depends on how fast of a test taker you are.

[Anonymous]

@Angelwatch

I think you nailed it. I am definitely following your advice. I thought to spend close to 2 hours on all testlets and the rest on WC. I would rather get solid points on MCQs then spending a lot more time than needed on WC. At the end i am sure I am going to BS anyway in WC.

You made me laugh when you said I am not writing novels there!!! lol

Anyway, I am definitely spending 30minutes 1st testlet, 40minuts for 2nd testlet, 40 minutes for 3rd testlet. 10 minutes allocated to read the promote for all 3WC and 20 minutes each WC writing.

I passed REG and Audit by making sure I have a well laid out plan. I am sure a couple minutes here there be short but this is my final plan for this coming test on Saturday.

[mw798]

When I took BEC, I left myself 1 hour 15 minutes, but only needed 45 minutes to write and re-read all my answers. So 1 hour is more than enough.

[Anonymous]

@mw798

English my second language, but I think i should be fine right around an hour for 3 WC.

[Thrawn]

I finished BEC in about an hour and a half. I spent a half hour on the writing portion.

BEC 87 Feb 14
REG 84 Apr 14
FAR 82 Nov 14
AUD 86 Feb 15

[Anonymous]

@Thrawn

it appears that BEC was a breeze for you as evident from your score.

[PamG]

Angel is right, and either you know it or you don't. Either way you're just pounding on that keyboard typing a short page.

Something that I believe helped save my ass on my second go round in BEC is taking short notes throughout my testlets when a question sparked something me in that I knew I had trouble remembering. I had a mcq that asked which one of these is not xyz….I had struggled to remember the other xyz offhand, so I jotted them down. Sure enough a WC was on those and I didn't even have any issue recalling to write my WC (of course I had to have a clue what to write, which I did, but I didn't waste precious time having to remember wth I needed to write about)

REG (11/14) 81 Pass
BEC (01/15) 73
(04/15) 80 Pass
FAR (8/15) 73
Rematch (10/15) 71 ugh
Third time is the charm! (2/16) 78
AUD (11/15) 77 Pass

[Yukkeko]

I would say leave as much time as possible for WC – as long as you're not rushing yourself on MCQ.

This helped me because I know i'm bad at writing and i didn't practice for WC at all. And the subject i got are not really the familiar ones. I did use up the whole 3 hr (i left about 1 hr 40 min for WC).

FAR (4/14/14) - 97
REG (11/17/14) - 94
BEC (11/30/14) - 92
AUD (2/28/15) - 99
TEARS!

[Anonymous]

I left an hour and finished WC in 54 minutes. I reread every answer twice, so I could have finished faster, but I felt it was sufficient time.

[Anonymous]

@2ndgoaround

How did BEC go for you? I am taking it July 11.

[Anonymous]

It was difficult! My MCQ covered every topic just about. I think the questions increased in difficulty as I moved along (that or I was just brain dead). My Sims were all fair and not anything out of left field.

I sure am glad I took AUD and FAR before, for the info that repeats. I did fill up both “whiteboard” cards front and back. I have never used all of the space before and I would not have thought I would on BEC.

Good luck!!

[Thrawn]

@AK27, BEC was a challenge, but I am a very fast test taker, and always have been. I took longest on FAR and left that one over an hour early too. My approach would be trust your gut and work through the MCQs at a quick pace and then go back to review any you were unsure about and just ot make sure everything makes sense. Certainly set yourself some mental time limits to keep yourself on track, and try to avoid taking breaks if you are concerned about time.

BEC 87 Feb 14
REG 84 Apr 14
FAR 82 Nov 14
AUD 86 Feb 15

[Anonymous]

@Yukkeko

Waow man. I see you did great on BEC. I am never nervous for any of my test except BEC due to its writing section.

@Thrawn

Thank you for your advice. Will definitely keep in mind.

I took the CPAexcel practice test and did not do well. I did 87, 75, and 58 (not sure what happened) and did not do the Writing except one which i got 50% on. I am not sure how CPAexcel grade WC but oh well its not looking good. Note that I took this test while working so not completely focused (I work 16 hours a day, 5 days a week)

I just started watching IT (then COSO, Variances, CVP) videos and redo the MCQs in CPAexcel. I hate the feeling of not sure what's AICPA is going to throw at me. I will have 4 complete days off from work and just drill MCQs and watch a and take notes on weak areas.

I would welcome any suggestion for the last few days studying.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

@AK27 Based on your posts, your writing is perfectly fine for the BEC WC. An hour should be more than enough for the writing section.

Originally, I was worried about the BEC writing section too since English is not my first language either. However, I managed to pass it on my first try and I got comparable on the WC portion. So you shouldn't worry too much about the writing portion. What kind of accounting work do you do for 16 hours per day? I can't imagine working 80 hours per week and studying for the CPA exam….

[Anonymous]

@CalCPA

am starting with one of Big4 this September. Will be in florida for training pretty soon. Anyway, I am managing a chain hotel where I am a manger on site. I have been given all the responsibility to run and manage. Its pretty ridiculous to work 16 hours but pay is good.

I am quitting august 5 to focus on FAR which will be my last exam if I passed BEC this window. I am taking FAR end of August and hopefully be done forever and end this journey soon.

[Author]

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