[Ib]

Hi everyone,

I have scheduled for BEC exam on 5th May and AUD exam on 2nd May. This is my retake for AUD. I have already studied 100+ hours for AUD and around 30 hours for BEC using Becker. For BEC I have completed B1 and half of B2. AUD is almost finished only reporting chapter is left. I can devote another 80-90 hours for BEC and atleast one week revison for AUD before exam on 2nd May. I am still confused. Shall I only focus on AUD or also try to take BEC in the same window? Any suggestions will be highly appreciated. Thanks.

FAR 79
AUD 87
BEC 78
REG 08/31/2016

[EuroAddict]

Take it one at a time. I don't see why people get caught up in trying to pile up on these exams. I'm sure that contributes to the pass rate.

-----------------------------
BEC - 77, 03/2015 (first try)
FAR - 79, 05/2015 (second try)
REG - 83, 12/2015 (first try)
AUD - 84, 03/2015 (first try)

I got 99 problems but the CPA ain't one.

[Ib]

@EuroAddict. Thanks for your advice.

FAR 79
AUD 87
BEC 78
REG 08/31/2016

[How many letters do you need]

It really depends on your background. Mine was heavy in Finance and Cost and I did about 30-40 hours over three weeks and scored in the 90s somewhere. If you have zero experience in those areas I would suggest slowing down, since the subject matter is so different from Accounting a lot of people with a straight Accounting background have trouble with it…

MBA,CMA,CPA, CFF?, ABV?

[CPA2BEE]

I recommend doing one at a time as well. But if you are in a situation where you want to cram one, BEC would be the exam to do it for. BEC is a mile wide and an inch deep, you might be able to pull it off skimming through the materials and just cranking MCQs like never before.

FAR - 80
AUD - 82
BEC - 80
REG - 85

ETHICS - 90
EXPERIENCE - COMPLETE
Application for California license mailed 8/4/2016

[the LAST Coffee]

I've did it in 20 days (see my signature). However, I recommend you only completely focus your attention on AUD and immediately after completing the exam, switch over to BEC.

It helps that AUD and BEC have a chapter that's exactly the same (in Roger CPA course anyways) so you will see duplicate items again when studying BEC.

Don't mess around, studying everyday, and when you're through with your course materials/videos, start cranking out those Ninja MCQs for review/practice.

FAR 84 (AUG '15)
BEC 83 (AUG '15)
AUD 79 (OCT '15)
REG 71, 78! (NOV '15, FEB '16)

[Ib]

I do not have finance and cost background. I took finance courses at university several years ago. I got 72 in AUD last time and dont want to risk failing again. I agree it is better to keep focused on AUD. I will reschedule BEC. I was comparable on mcqs and weaker on SIMS last time. Any suggestions how to improve in this area? Im considering to use authoritative literature better this time.

FAR 79
AUD 87
BEC 78
REG 08/31/2016

[Anonymous]

It depends on your experience and knowledge. I had a career in tech before I moved to finance a few years ago. So I had work experience with IT, operations, internal controls, budgeting, and general economics/finance. I probably studied 50-60 hours for BEC in November, mostly review, and got an 81 when I took it Thanksgiving weekend.

No way I could I have squeeked by with a 77 on FAR last month if I studied FAR that little though!

[Anonymous]

Are you having to travel a long distance to take these exams, so trying to schedule them within a couple days of each other to make one trip for taking both of them? I think taking AUD and BEC both in May is very attainable, especially with AUD so early in May, but I'd just be in favor of moving BEC later in May. Like, AUD on May 2nd (and, as others have said, focus solely on it till you pass it), then BEC towards the end of May – say the 25th. That'd give you a solid 3 weeks plus a bit after you were finished with AUD. Unless there are major travel issues to take into the picture, I would suggest studying for exams separately when taking them in the same window, but think that most people can and should take more than 1 in a window. Different people study in different ways, so that won't work for everyone, but most people I think are quite able to take 2 in a window, just best to study and take 1, then study for and take the 2nd.

However, I know that for some people – especially those who live outside the US – if they have to make extended travel plans to come take the exams, then there may be a need to take them back-to-back. I have heard of people on this site taking and passing all 4 in the same week if they had to fly in from another country to take them, but for those who have the convenience of being able to just drive for an hour or two in order to get to their testing facility, it's better to study and test separately.

So for OP, I believe you can get BEC and AUD both this window, but that you'll have a better shot at it by separating them. 🙂

[pickanicken]

I agree that it depends on what you already know. I studied for BEC in 9 days total of the course of 2 weeks and probably only put in 4 hours each day. I passed with an 83, but I felt really comfortable with most of the material going into it.

REG - 81
BEC - 83
AUD - 86
FAR - 78 (Done!)

[Ib]

@Lilla. Thanks for your valuable comments. Yes, I have to travel to US to take this exam. I do not live in US. That is the main reason why I wanted to attempt both of them. I will be staying in US for 13 days and therefore scheduled both exam in May. I might consider to move AUD bit earlier to give some free days for BEC right after AUD. That being said, I definitely need to study BEC If I have to attempt BEC in the same window. In terms of knowledge tested in BEC, some areas are known for me like economics, finance and corporate governance. However, I took these courses several years ago and don't remember much of it now. I am using Becker for BEC. I am overwhlemed by the material in text book and they have tons of mcqs. I am not sure how I can cover all those in this short period. I am planning to use CRAM version of BEC to get some overview of main topics and hit as many MCQs as possible before the final exam. What do you suggest?

@pickanicken which course did you study and what was your approach for study during those 9 days? Please share your experience. Thanks

FAR 79
AUD 87
BEC 78
REG 08/31/2016

[pickanicken]

I studied using Gleim. I skimmed all of the reading material and then just did tons of MCQ. I didn't study at all for the writing portion of the exam. If you have already taken a CPA exam and know the style of questioning, then BEC (and AUD) is probably the exam that is most conducive to using good test taking skills. I focused on understanding the concepts and made sure that I memorized a few of the highly emphasized calculations. Other than that, just doing a lot of multiple choice and referring back to the book, if needed, worked for me.

REG - 81
BEC - 83
AUD - 86
FAR - 78 (Done!)

[Anonymous]

I was similar to pickaniken. I studied for 9 days for a total of 83 hours study time and scored an 80. I have 20+ years in finance and an MBA so much of the material was a refresh. I used Becker and listened to as many of the videos as I could. I studied the calculations very diligently, worked all the questions until I understood them and memorized, memorized, memorized CRIME, EBOCA, IS EAR AIM. I'd say if you have a strong grasp of the components of cost accounting, variance analysis, and economics before studying, it's definitely doable. If you don't have a strong background in all those areas, I'm not sure I'd chance it. But hey, the worse thing that happens is you fail and you have to pay for another test. I will say, it was very stressful and I learned that I don't want to cram like that again. I wish you luck!

[Anonymous]

@IB553 Traveling to the US makes a huge difference in the situation, and also makes a lot of sense why they were scheduled so close together. In that case, I would schedule them as far apart as possible in your 13 days here, though of course leaving yourself time to recover from travel before taking AUD (including recovering from jetlag, if that will be a factor in your travel). Given that you have a good reason for doing them close together, though, I think you can definitely find a way to make it work well. I've seen several people on here who were traveling from overseas take more than 1 exam within a couple days and still do quite well on them, so I think the key is in the preparation, which I'm sure you can handle! 🙂

The good thing with studying for BEC and AUD together is that even though they don't overlap much, they don't contradict each other much either. Something like REG combined with AUD or FAR would have a lot of contradiction, because of the differences between GAAP and IRS rules, but BEC and AUD won't contradict each other much. They also share some material (the IT chapters for example), so have some overlap.

Everyone's study methods are so different that it's hard for me to advise the best way for you to study both simultaneously. If you can stretch out the time between the exams to be allow a week of study between them, and if you think you could study for 10 hours a day during that week, then that'd be 70 hours of study between when you take AUD and when you take BEC. If you think you'd only manage 8 hours of study per day, that's still 56 hours of study, if you can get a week between the exams. So, I'd say plan to do the majority if your BEC studying after you take AUD. With that in mind, you're just looking for a few hours a week of studying BEC between now and when you take AUD.

I don't think you've mentioned which review course you're using… Does the course you're using have a good book, and do you learn well from reading? If so, I'd suggest focusing on reading through the book for your study time prior to your AUD exam. If you don't learn well from reading or don't have a good book in your course, then probably do the same with the lectures, to use them as your study materials prior to the AUD exam (in other words, save notes, MCQs, etc. for after the AUD exam). If you're not working and just studying full-time, then I'd suggest spending 5-8 hours a week (maybe pick 1 day each week? or an hour every day?) focusing on BEC prior to AUD. If you are working, then I'd just pick 1 work-day that you devote study time around work to BEC, and save the other work-days and the weekend for AUD. Especially if you can get a week between exams, and study hard during that week, you probably just need 15-30 hours of study time for BEC prior to the AUD exam. Of course more is always better, but you've got roughly 6 weeks still before AUD, so 2-4 hours a week for BEC if you're working too should be enough to give you a good shot at it, but if you're not working I'd aim for 5-8 just to make it safer.

[Ib]

@5TIronman Did you do all MCQs in Becker homework or Ninja MCQs? How many MCQs you did in those 9 days? There are way too many MCQs in Becker homework.

@pickanicken Did you worked with Gleim online MCQs or Ninja Mcqs or both? How many MCQs you did in those 9 days?

@Lilla. Thanks for your comments. I just recalculated my days in US and it seems like I only have 11 days. I have therefore rescheduled AUD exam two days after my arrival in US and BEC 5 days after AUD exam. This will give me 5 days to study for BEC. I plan to study atleast 45-50 hours during these 5 days. However, I will definitely try to study a good chunk of material in advance. I am using Yaeger for AUD and Becker for BEC. I learn well from both reading and watching videos. However, I don't think that I have enough time to watch all BEC videos now. I am planning to only watch videos for difficult topics and read the book for the other topics. I am using wiley book for AUD and Becker text book for BEC. I am currently working full time. I am planning to have atleast one week off before AUD exam to review the course material.

I know this is very tight schedule but It's worth trying atleast.

FAR 79
AUD 87
BEC 78
REG 08/31/2016

[Anonymous]

I think your plan sounds pretty solid. Honestly if you're able to study very efficiently during your 5 days between the exams, then 45-50 hours of study could be enough if all 45-50 hours are productive, so given that you'll be doing some studying beforehand, too, that's just a bonus. I'm not familiar with the Becker textbook for BEC, but I read the Wiley text book for BEC in about 30 hours (note that I am a native English speaker and not a slow reader; not sure if you're a native English speaker or not, nor your reading speed, so those factors will play in). So, if you read at a similar pace, and if the Becker book is a similar size, then theoretically you could read the entire BEC book after your AUD exam and still have 15-20 hours for MCQs. I wouldn't suggest saving it all for that week! But my point is to illustrate that there's ways it's attainable, so your plan of focusing mostly on AUD and then cramming for BEC should be OK.

Can't wait to hear how it goes when you take the exams and, more importantly, when your scores come out! 🙂 You're going to have a rough few weeks, but if you can pull it off it will be worth it!

[Author]

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