I think it varies from candidate to candidate. I've taken BEC twice in the past 3 months (71 on first attempt, waiting on the results for the second). On my first attempt, I thought I'd focus more time on the MCQ, since they make up 85% of the grade. So I concsciously made an effort to flag MCQ questions I either didn't know or knew they'd take a few minutes of calculations. I went through each testlet like this … I answered all of the “non-calculation” ones first, then went back to do all the ones with the calculations, and the theory ones I didn't know right off the bat. I finished the 3 MCQ testlets with 30 minutes for the written communication, so I thought OK, 10 minutes for each … let me read each one first and see if I can whip one out quickly. That was the case. Finished one in about 5 minutes, leaving me about 12-13 min for the other two. Then I did the harder one, and lastly the easier one. I finished with about 5 seconds left … might sound tight, but I was watching the clock for the last 2 minutes and adjusting my answer based on the time left. So I get my 71, ugh, and saw the areas I was weakest in. I was strongest in the written communication, Corp Gov'c, and Econ. Weaker on Fin Mgmt, Strategic planning, and IT.
So second time around, I didn't study anything except the parts I was weaker on. I finished the MCQ the second time around with 45 minutes to spare, and still finished the exam with 5 seconds left. We'll see how I did soon … the Godsend was that all 3 of my written questions were questions that I knew extremely well.
Point being, is that regardless of how much time you have after MCQ, you kind of find yourself adjusting your written communications on the fly, based on the clock. If you have anywhere between 30-45 min left for WC, I think you will be fine. (BTW, I didn't practice or study one written communication … I figured if I knew all the material needed for MCQ, I'd already know the answers to any written comm questions.) That was just my game plan … and it seemed to work ok for me (regarding WC), but as I said before, it depends from candidate to candidate and what each's strengths and weaknesses are. Best of luck.
Licensed Florida CPA:
B: 71, 73, 79
A: 83
R: 78 (expired), 77
F: 74, 74, 80
It's finally freaking over.
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