2.5 days of study time for BEC – what topics?

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  • November 5, 2014 at 9:28 am #189789
    krokofilen
    Member

    OK, so I have decided to give it a try for BEC since I will be in the US for REG mid-November anyways. I will have 2.5 days following my REG exam to prepare for BEC, or abour 30 hours (I will be able to study 12 hours a day).

    Since I am so focused on REG now, I have no time to look into the structure of the exam i.e. what it topics are the most crucial/difficult and hence worth spending my very limited time on – I need your advice on this. Based on your experience of BEC, what would you focus on if you had only 30 hours?

    This is my starting point:

    – Becker book is read about 3 weeks ago

    – Got about 60 pages of printed-out notes, covering all topics in Becker

    – Pretty confident with the content in general

    – Haven’t done any NINJA or Becker MCQs yet – could probably do 20-30 of them an hour

    My plan is to combine review of notes & NINJA MCQs (or Becker?) these 30 hours. I know it will be tough, and not the best strategy, but given my situation it is worth it. I know a colleague of mine who did this a couple of months back (she put in about 30 hours), and she passed!

    Thanks

    Big 4 Audit Manager from Europe here to pass the CPA in the U.S. of A in 2014! Niiice!

    AUD - 95 / Jul 15 / 130h over 4 weeks
    FAR - 86 / Aug 14 / 240h over 4 weeks
    (11 week break)

    REG - 81 / Nov 14 / 200h over 4 weeks
    BEC - 87 / Nov 17 / 30 h over 2.5 days

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  • November 5, 2014 at 11:56 am #634174
    Mamabear
    Member

    I would be sure to know economics, cost, IT, and formulas! Work as many MCQ as you can in the 30 hours. Good luck!

    CPA Exam - Finally DONE (November 2014)
    BEC (08/10/13) 80
    AUD (08/24/13) 65 (11/13/13) 85
    FAR (04/12/14) 81
    REG (07/19/14) 69 (11/29/14) 87!!

    November 5, 2014 at 12:46 pm #634175
    rana_cali
    Member

    Definitely Corporate Governance and Financial Management (the formulas)…those are 2 big topics that make up a big portion of the exam.

    AUD: 84
    FAR: 75
    BEC: 78
    REG: 75

    DONE-ZO!!!!!!!!

    REG: Used Becker 2014 book, NINJA MCQ, Ninja notes, ninja audio
    _______________________________
    CFE since Oct. 2013.

    November 5, 2014 at 12:47 pm #634176
    rana_cali
    Member

    Cost Acct is a big one too (need to know variances)

    AUD: 84
    FAR: 75
    BEC: 78
    REG: 75

    DONE-ZO!!!!!!!!

    REG: Used Becker 2014 book, NINJA MCQ, Ninja notes, ninja audio
    _______________________________
    CFE since Oct. 2013.

    November 5, 2014 at 2:21 pm #634177
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    COSO COSO COSO. When I took BEC I walked out of there thinking that if I was in a position where someone said I could only study one chapter for the exam, it would be the COSO frameworks. Very few economics (common sense could get you through this material). Other things would be cost variances. Good luck!!

    November 5, 2014 at 2:49 pm #634178
    greg422
    Member

    @Nicole, did you study with NINJA MC?

    REG - 82
    AUD - 97
    BEC - 81
    FAR - 84
    DONE!

    November 5, 2014 at 3:20 pm #634179
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @greg422 nope, for BEC I only used Becker materials.

    November 5, 2014 at 3:50 pm #634180
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    2 days of total study time?? Good luck brother may god be with you lol

    November 5, 2014 at 4:19 pm #634181
    krokofilen
    Member

    What about MCQs vs. sims vs. reading? What's an appropriate strategy for this exam, if limited time?

    bcarreto5: Yeah I need some luck for sure, but it's not like it haven't been done before.

    Big 4 Audit Manager from Europe here to pass the CPA in the U.S. of A in 2014! Niiice!

    AUD - 95 / Jul 15 / 130h over 4 weeks
    FAR - 86 / Aug 14 / 240h over 4 weeks
    (11 week break)

    REG - 81 / Nov 14 / 200h over 4 weeks
    BEC - 87 / Nov 17 / 30 h over 2.5 days

    November 5, 2014 at 5:01 pm #634183
    Riley_N
    Participant

    COSO. That's all I'm legally allowed to say I think. It's big though.

    FAR: 85
    AUD: 78
    REG: 84
    BEC: 89
    I made it into the 300 club!

    November 5, 2014 at 5:13 pm #634184
    Mamabear
    Member

    @krok–you may want to look over a couple of written communication samples just to get a feel for what they are looking for, but really if you know how to write with good grammer and can list out some key points for all of the topics covered by the MCQ then you should be fine for the written portion. I definitely didn't practice writing any of them beforehand, but I read a couple. If you've already the book from cover to cover then I think you should just focus on MCQ. Work as many as you can and only go back and read if you are struggling on a topic and need a better understanding of that particular topic.

    CPA Exam - Finally DONE (November 2014)
    BEC (08/10/13) 80
    AUD (08/24/13) 65 (11/13/13) 85
    FAR (04/12/14) 81
    REG (07/19/14) 69 (11/29/14) 87!!

    November 5, 2014 at 7:07 pm #634185
    krokofilen
    Member

    Mamabear: Will do.

    Are the MCQ primarily calculations, or theory? FAR had a rather large portion calculations, whereas AUD did not.

    Big 4 Audit Manager from Europe here to pass the CPA in the U.S. of A in 2014! Niiice!

    AUD - 95 / Jul 15 / 130h over 4 weeks
    FAR - 86 / Aug 14 / 240h over 4 weeks
    (11 week break)

    REG - 81 / Nov 14 / 200h over 4 weeks
    BEC - 87 / Nov 17 / 30 h over 2.5 days

    November 5, 2014 at 7:23 pm #634186
    Kimboroni
    Member

    You should probably expect calculations due to the preponderance of things like formula-based analysis and cost accounting in the CSOs.

    AUD 84 (1/9/14-Wiley books/TB + free materials)
    FAR 83 (5/21/14-the above + NINJA 10 Pt Combo Lite)
    REG 84 (7/9/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC/Notes)
    BEC 76 (10/5/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC)

    Disclaimer: My ninja avatar is not meant to imply that I have any affiliation with this site other than being a forum member. That's a pic of a T-shirt that my daughter gave me for my birthday. 🙂

    November 5, 2014 at 8:26 pm #634187
    Mamabear
    Member

    Truthfully I don't remember hardly any calculations on my BEC exam, which I thought was odd. Many people on here had the exact opposite experience. It's just luck of the draw unfortunately.

    CPA Exam - Finally DONE (November 2014)
    BEC (08/10/13) 80
    AUD (08/24/13) 65 (11/13/13) 85
    FAR (04/12/14) 81
    REG (07/19/14) 69 (11/29/14) 87!!

    November 6, 2014 at 3:50 am #634188
    noSleepCPA
    Member

    Just a quick tip on the BEC sims – I took the exam 3x and did not study for the SIMS at all. I still got “comparable” each time. As long as you focus on the format of your response (regardless of whether you know the topic or not), you should be fine. Your format should include intro, paragraphs supporting the views, and conclusion. Good luck!

    BEC-61,68,75
    FAR-63,63,58,77
    AUD-64
    REG-59,64

    When can I get my life back?

    November 6, 2014 at 4:56 pm #634189
    krokofilen
    Member

    Sounds like the sims = the business writing task, correct? Are there more than 1?

    Big 4 Audit Manager from Europe here to pass the CPA in the U.S. of A in 2014! Niiice!

    AUD - 95 / Jul 15 / 130h over 4 weeks
    FAR - 86 / Aug 14 / 240h over 4 weeks
    (11 week break)

    REG - 81 / Nov 14 / 200h over 4 weeks
    BEC - 87 / Nov 17 / 30 h over 2.5 days

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