I'm about to show just how obsessive compulsive I have become about this test so, please don't judge me! I know I'm not wrapped tight and need to seek professional help.
I hate BEC! I was willing do to ANYTHING to avoid losing that credit, including taking REG and FAR on the same day. Nice try, I passed REG with an 84 (finally) but got a 73 on FAR. So I lost BEC anyway. I was determined to only have to sit for that (dirty word) one more time. There aren't enough dirty words in all of the known languages to describe how much I dislike that test.
I didn't want to leave anything to chance so I made a massive spreadsheet in Excel using the MCQ's out of Mr. Wiley's big book of questions and the Wiley BEC book (most of the questions are the same but I didn't really notice which ones were different). I have a different tab for every module in each book. The answers are in hidden columns and there is a formula in the next column to show if your answer is right or wrong. If you get it right, then nothing shows up, if you get it wrong then an X appears in the cell. Each of these tabs had a percent score at the top. Each of those scores rolled over to another tab that had each module listed under the section of the Content Outline and a calculation as to how much each one could be weighted according to the Content Outline. Granted this is “COULD BE WEIGHTED”, because there is no way of knowing what will actually show up on the test. In cell A1 there is a calculation using a weighted average and computed at 85% because that is typically the amount that the MCQ's are given. I left room to enter scores from the Wiley Online Test Bank too.
I also had a tab for the written communication. That one also has a calculation in cell A1 weighted to 15% because that is the average of the written communication weight. Those I typed in Word and then typed the Wiley answer on another sheet. I graded my written communication against the Wiley answers using the readability statistics in Word to come up with a score for each of the stats given in Word.
Finally there is a tab that has the Total Computed Score. There is a formula in there that would give me a percent score and tell me if I needed to “Keep Going :(“. Once I hit 80%, it changed to “You Got This :)”.
I realize that this sounds crazy as hell but this is what the CPA exam has reduced me to. I kept working questions until the Total Computed Score said 88%. I was shocked as hell to see an 85 for my actual exam score. If you are going to sit for BEC in the 4th quarter, I'd be happy to take out all of my answers and send you a copy of the “spreadsheet from hell” if you'd like. It won't really be worth anything next year unless you know how to use Excel and don't mind changing the answers.
I'm working on FAR now but I'm using a Bisk book. I've memorized all of the answers on the Wiley Test Bank and in their books. When I say I've “memorized the answers” I mean that I can read half of the question and not only know that the answer is $100 but it's also B! I want my life back so badly!!!!
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