[Anonymous]

First of all, I’m glad to be here amongst many other potential CPAs and to share the study experiences.

I am using Gleim to review for BEC. I also work in a public accounting firm, and part of my training has been to learn effective writing. In our communications we strive to keep the subject matter easy to understand and follow. However, when I look at the suggested responses in Gleim the letters are very technical. Of course the responses are encapsulating what’s covered in the study materials, but sometimes they don’t sound like a letter that would be authored in practice. If you’re writing as an expert to someone who has little/no experience in your field of expertise, one of the worst things you could do is overwhelm them with technical jargon. At that point the purpose of the letter is defeated. Thus, my tendency is to cut down details in letters rather than throw them in.

But then, the graders of the exam need to be convinced that you do understand the subject matter, and perhaps the real key to a good grade is to strike the balance I am describing?

How do you strike that balance of writing a true-to-life letter while convincing the grader that you understand the subject matter? What does the grader really care about here? Like I said, what’s prompting this question is the fact that the example letters I see in my software sound very technical compared to what would be effective in practice (though, perhaps someone with more experience than I will disagree).

Thanks!

[y_u_no_pass]

Well these are generally graded by a computer, so you get points for hitting the key words (technical jargon). I really think you have already put too much thought into this. The writing is such a small portion of the exam. You can pass without even doing it. Just write professionally and clearly, but through in as many key words as possible.

Florida CPA!
Took final exam 2/25/15.
Sent in Application 3/12/15.
Issued License 3/20/15.
Used CPA Excel solely for all exams.

[Anonymous]

That puts it in perspective for me. Thanks!

[jstay]

yeah honestly, get the form down of it and maybe do one or two but other than that hammer mcq like no tomorrow. My WC for BEC were kind of whacked and i didnt think i did that well on them but i must have done ok since i passed. hit the key words and read the examples. proper sentences and grammar are key. best of luck!

[Author]

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