[zman]

Hey guys, I just found out last night that I passed REG and now I am moving on to my fourth and final section, BEC. As I begin studying what are some tips on how to study and what to focus on? I am using Becker. What have your exam experiences been like?

[Cobalt60]

Congrats on REG!

Don't underestimate the “easy” BEC exam.

For me, BEC was about time management. Budget time to do the written portion including reviewing for grammar and speeling.

COSO and ERM are good focus areas.
Cost accounting including every variance analysis through production volume variance.

My exam was light on the economics, but maybe that's unusual.

[Lindsey_p87]

Main areas to focus on for the MCQ: COSO and IT
Main areas to focus on for the SIMS: Financial mgmt (ratios) and cost accounting

I had barely any Econ on my exam, but you should still know something about it for the couple of questions you will get.

Like Cobalt60 said, time management is key for taking the BEC exam. You want to make sure you give yourself time to get the written comm. done since those are generally easy points.

FAR - PASSED 11/14
AUD - TBD
BEC - TBD
REG - First take 2/16

[Painted_Jeans]

Honestly, study everything. There are so many versions of this exam.. my friend took it and had econ on the sims, IT, COSO.. I had no econ, maybe one question on the whole test. BEC is bipolar like no other. My 1st testlet was 85% calc questions. One after another after another, I wanted to die. Some were totally off the wall I had no idea wth they want me to do. It's not an easy test, dont count on that. The easiest usually is WC but thats only two small pieces since they throw one out. I would do ALL the calculations Becker has available in the final review. I didnt. Regret it and if I failed again I'm gonna make sure i do them all twice.

Some versions of this exam are cost heavy, some IT/COSO. I had COSO and IT but not more than 7-10 questions. Rest was cost, cost, cost, ratios, cap/fin mgt stuff.. WACC, NPV, payback and other crap. I hate it the most. Its not natural to me :-((((

Study as hard as you can even though u hate it and maybe get a false sense of confidence. BEC will take it away more than likely.

[MomOnTheMove]

One thing I will say is that it is not an easy exam. The only exam I had to take three times. Please hear me when I say do not underestimate it. Watch your time and give enough time to do the WC portion of the exam. Also, study everything like the last person said. There are a ton of different version of the exam that you really should just study everything. The first two times I took the exam were Econ and COSO heavy. The last one I just took was IT, COSO and cost accounting heavy. The first two exam SIMs were madddddd. This last one was not as bad.

[SIDIEULEVEUT]

Wow thats good to know. BEC is my last too and I saved it because it was supposed to be easy. Well I'm using becker and im currently on B3 cost accounting and so far NOTHING HAS BEEN EASY. Well COSO wasnt bad but lots of memorization that I already forgot. Can't wait to finish all the modules and focus on reviewing.

[1skibum]

FAR was easier than BEC for me, that’s for sure. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[runincpa]

I passed BEC using only Ninja. I just cranked out MCQs, rewrote the Ninja Notes, and put the Ninja Audio on loop. I felt like variance analysis and general accounting knowledge were the 2 keys to passing BEC.

[bigstakk]

I’m in the same exact boat. What seems to be the common theme is don’t take this test lightly and put in the same amount of effort as the other exams.

Also, it seems that different exam prep materials may be stronger than others. My coworker recommended GLEIM to me and he passed all of his exams with high 80s to high 90s. He got a 98 on BEC last year. I went with GLEIM self study and test bank with his strong recommendation and been following the same study plan although admittedly I’m taking less time per section than he has since I don’t think scoring in the 90s is necessary.

My objective is to get in the 80-85 range to give yourself some wiggle room in case you slip up in a few areas to be able to still manage 75+. I’m going to take about 5 weeks to study for BEC following the GLEIM study plan of 20 chapters and will do every MCQ and SIM per section.

For reference I took 3.5 weeks for AUD, 4.5 weeks for FAR and 6 weeks for REG. My coworker recommended about 4-5 weeks for BEC, so I’m going with 5 to be safe and if I don’t feel good about it I may add another week. When it comes to studying I’ve noticed this forum doesn’t really have much to offer as far as help goes, but it’s nice to vent and discuss things here and there to take a break from studying. It’s all a personal battle at the end of the day.

Best of luck.

[Author]

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