[Anonymous]

I have seen a lot of posts recently asking about preparing for the writing component of BEC, so I thought I’d share this small piece of advice. Dislcaimer: I have absolutely no idea if this helped me in any way, shape or form, but it can’t hurt.

Pay very close attention to how the question on the exam is punctuated and use the exact same format in your answer.

A couple of examples…

On my exam, they added an extra comma to a series that I would have normally left out.

Exam: I went to the grocery store to buy milk, bread, and eggs.

What I would normally write: I went to the grocery store to buy milk, bread and eggs.

Exam: half-year

What I would normally write: half year

Again, I have no idea if this makes a difference or not. Both ways may be acceptable, but since it’s computer graded, it may be marked as incorrect if the formatting is not the same as in the question.

[Anonymous]

I do not know if this made a difference, but I copied the format of 2011 AICPA Released memos. :)..All three memos were boring…”The following has been prepared to help you blah blah blah…”

[gettingthere]

What helped me the most was to take a deep breath and remember that it is not graded for accuracy. When I got my first memo question, I thought, “What? I'm not supposed to have to know this!” But when I remembered that it didn't matter, I just got busy writing a well-formatted memo that addressed the question, albeit with incorrect information. Based upon my score report, I think I earned near-perfect points, despite the fact that the content of my memos was total bull.

AUD-April 2012-CPAExcel only-86
BEC-April 2012-CPAExcel w/ additional practice questions from Becker-91
REG-May 2012-Becker primarily w/ practice questions from CPAExcel-78
FAR-July 2012-CPAExcel primarily w/ Becker supplements-81

[Anonymous]

I also passed BEC by just writing a well formatted letter which answered the question.

Shoveling bull is one way to pass 🙂

[kbadkins12]

Are the written WC graded for proper header and signature format? I know some formats require 4 spaces after the conclusion and then a signature and some formats require it to be all left aligned or portions centered, such as the header (To:, From:, Date:). I wasn't sure how picky the grading is.

[Lizzerz79]

The header is actually hardcoded in. You can't change the header and you don't need to add an additional header. For a closing sentence I just put something along the lines of: Please contact me if you have any questions… I am looking forward to discussing this project further…etc. I never saw anywhere where you had to have a signature but maybe if you were writing in an email or letter format you would. Mine were all memo format.

I am wondering about spelling on one of them. It had the word e-commerce spelled just like that in the problem and I remembered reading somewhere to use the same keywords from the problem in your writing so I put e-commerce in there a few times. But, it was underlined red like a mispelled word. I left it because at the time I figured it's exactly like what they have in the problem so it's not a real misspelling but of course now I'm worrying about how these things are graded. Is the computer just going to tag “misspelled” words and deduct points? For what it's worth I added the word e-commerce to the dictionary so it would stop showing as a misspelling. Don't know if that helps or not.

Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

AUD 4/1/12 98
FAR 5/30/12 96
BEC 7/1/12 92
REG 8/18/12 94

[MeaDebitum]

@OP

The comma usage you referenced is called the Oxford Comma. Both methods of puncuation are accepted. It is not right or wrong, but more of a matter of preference.

For reference: https://oxforddictionaries.com/words/what-is-the-oxford-comma

[Anonymous]

Where can I find the 2011 AICPA released memos? I tried looking on their site but I might just be too darn tired to search correctly. Thanks!

[Author]

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