[Okiehiker]

Hello all, first time poster!

New here and love to hike, camp, fish, etc when I am not working or studying.

I just finished my classes through Keller for my MAFM degree (to get my upper div accounting credits while working full time), and have begun the Becker lectures. I decided to begin studying BEC as I feel that is one of my weaker areas when it comes to the mcq’s, (cost acct is ugh!) but feel confident in my writing skill for the sims.

So far I have noticed that the majority of my learning is coming from mcq’s. If I do not know the answer I look it up in the becker book or will guess and write the explanation down on a notecard. Lectures are entertaining and good introductions to the material I have forgotten or didn’t want to bother to learn the first time through, but long and lots of “highlighting.”

Question 1: It seems as though becker mcq’s either build on each other or one mcq will have a handful of steps to calculate the correct answer. Is this in line with cpa exams? I assume so, since each question is a cpa#### so I assume it is from an old BEC exam?

Question 2: I have done about 400 mcq’s and have noticed that I am beginning to read the first and last line of a problem before I look at anything else like problem data or the 4 answers. Is this a bad habit I am starting and need to nip it in the butt before it becomes an issue or is this type of “material dissection” seen as a positive for these exams?

So, how do you tackle your mcq’s? Skim through searching for buzzwords that bring the formula’s to the forefront of your brain, or read each question thoroughly before any attempt at solving the problem at hand?

Reason I am asking is my progression exams in becker are around 70-75 right now, and I would like to get that into the 80’s before I even think about taking the real exams.

Sincerely,

-Okiehiker from Oklahoma

[Kettlepot]

The questions on the Becker and Ninja exam are very close to what you see on the CPA Exam. Sometimes those “multiple step” questions are worth more points than an “easy” question.

Personally, I think it's a bad habit for the test but okay for practice questions. When you miss a practice question because you glossed over a keyword that flips the question on its ear, you can tell yourself “oh, i just misread a part of the question, but I knew the answer, no biggie”. If you miss questions because of that on the exam, you are gonna be so maaaaaaaaad!

I'd say once in a while you should do a practice exam and use your time to the fullest. You don't get bonus points on the exam for being done in 2 hours!

Far: 49
BEC: 79 (Expired)
AUD: 51, 67, 64
REG: 59, 64, 59, 69

[taxgeek83]

I didn't use Becker, but the instructors I had (Yaeger) teach you to read the stem of the question (last sentence) first, and then go back through the problem. I don't think they ever explained why, but I'm guessing that it makes you focus first on what the examiner is asking for, and then going through and figuring it out. A lot of the practice questions do build on each other, and (at least for me) it's easy to start reading the question, assume you know what the examiner is going to ask, and then pick that choice instead of the correct choice.

If that made any sense at all. 🙂

[Anonymous]

When the question is long it usually pays to start with the questions stem (the “call of the question”). If you know what they want then you can go back through the question and grab what you need. This doesn't mean you shouldn't read the whole question. It just saves time because instead of you trying to figure out what they want while you read the question you already know what you need to look for. I don't think it's a bad habit at all and has saved me a lot of time.

[Author]

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