[RE2PECT]

Just received a 73 after getting a 71 in June. Both exams I had were heavy on IT/COSO topics that seemed foreign to me so I’m not sure where to turn. Waiting for my score breakdown to see where I was weaker, but I have a feeling IT was definitely on there.

I used Roger and pretty much the 10 pt combo, minus the Ninja Book, for both exams and I feel like I have a good amount of the Ninja questions memorized after around 5000 attempts. I’m considering purchasing a different test bank, but not sure which one. I’m leaning towards Wiley since it’s cheaper than Gleim, but Wiley only has about 700 questions and I heard Gleim is better.

I’m also considering adding either the Ninja Book or the new videos. I used the book for my AUD retake and went from a 73 to an 81. Not sure if the BEC book follows along with the mcq’s like AUD, but I felt like it helped keep everything in order.

After BEC I only have REG left, which is scheduled for 11/21. I’m starting to regret paying for it in advance because it expires on 11/26 and I’d rather give myself a little more time to study for it since I have no tax experience and only took one class in school.

Any advice would be appreciated. I knew BEC was going to give me trouble from the beginning, but didn’t think I’d be taking it this many times.

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

Roger & Ninja

FAR: 75
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, 73, 82
REG: 68, 82

FAR: 75 Roger & Ninja (notes/flashcards/audio/MCQ)
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, retake 8/29
REG:

[mtaylo24]

Sometimes it doesn't even matter how you prep, it comes down to the test you get. The Wiley book is $45, you can work all of those questions for extra practice, I wouldn't focus on blowing any more money. Its old school, and you have to flip pages and juggle the explanations, but you can review your calcs. I've already been through it and I have my calcs/notes scanned into a pdf doc. I wish we can share notes, because I have some good stuff, with calcs, online.. I've been through Gleim, Wiley, and Ninja for BEC. Learning wise I prefer Wiley/Gleim, review wise I prefer Ninja. I didn't get the IT/COSO test on Thursday, mine had a pretty good blend of everything. Sorry about not getting over this window, i know all about it. It sucks, but keep grinding!

CPA (2017)

REG:  75

BEC:  76

FAR:  77

AUD: 78

 

CMA (2019)

P1: 380

P2: 360

AUD - 1st - 60 (12/12), 61 (2/13), 61 (8/13), 78! (11/15)
REG - 55 (2/16) 69 (5/16) Retake(8/16)
BEC - 71(5/16) Retake (9/16)
FAR - (8/16)

[FUBARFAR]

Man, I hate to hear that @RE2PECT. My exam was super heavy in that material as well. I had a lot of trouble with the IT items, but the COSO stuff I actually thought I did okay on. I read the actual COSO Internal Control Framework and I actually thought it explained a couple of aspects better than Becker. It's located here if you want to look into it: https://www.coso.org/documents/990025P_Executive_Summary_final_may20_e.pdf.

AUD - 84
BEC - 88
FAR - 83
REG - 82

4 up 4 down!

FAR - 7/19/2016 - 83
BEC - 8/30/2016
AUD - TBD
REG - TBD

[pfloyd]

Damn Respect I hate to hear a fellow yankee fan fail an exam. I just took BEC and got a 89 my first time and only used Roger videos and NINJA MCQ's. That being said I think god gave me an easier exam, because I had a lot of cost accounting, with no economics but a good amount of COSO and IT. For COSO I feel doing questions for that is a waste, non of my review questions were similar to my exam. The key is reading the whole COSO section in the ROGER book and knowing it cover to cover, helped me a little. For IT do a lot of questions and read up on new IT devlopments such as cloud computing. Hope that helps.

AUD - 86
BEC - 89
FAR - 75
REG - 79

B#### Don't Kill My Vibe

AUD 5/27/16 74 &#%!! 7/13/2016 86!
BEC 8/17/2016
FAR 11/04/2015 73, 1/4/2016 75 (phew!)
REG 2/26/2016 74. 4/2/2016 79

[RE2PECT]

@mtaylo24- I honestly feel this exam is 50% preparation and 50% luck. I have a 2014 version of Becker on pdf I may use for some extra mcq's. I studied about 150 hours for each attempt and felt like I knew the material really well for the second exam. I had all the important ratios and formulas memorized and felt much more comfortable with cost accounting, but had maybe 5 questions on that area. Spent a lot of time getting process costing down and didn't even get one question smh.

@ FUBARFAR- I read through that link the day before my exam and couple other outside resources as well. I think I did ok with COSO, but can't say the same for IT. Not sure where to turn to brush up on it since they can throw so many random terms at you.

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

Roger & Ninja

FAR: 75
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, 73, 82
REG: 68, 82

FAR: 75 Roger & Ninja (notes/flashcards/audio/MCQ)
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, retake 8/29
REG:

[RE2PECT]

Thanks jstella1993. At least our Yanks are playing great and right in the middle of a playoff push! Definitely excited for the future with all the young talent we have now.

Congrats on passing BEC. Do you have any resources you used to read up on IT?

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

Roger & Ninja

FAR: 75
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, 73, 82
REG: 68, 82

FAR: 75 Roger & Ninja (notes/flashcards/audio/MCQ)
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, retake 8/29
REG:

[pfloyd]

@ Respect I can't believe how good we are doing, only one game out of the wild card. I just hope we kick the red sox ass, I can't stand those bums. We have two huge series next weeks, but it's great seeing young talent. For IT I took another IT class in college so a lot of it was fresh in my mind, honestly I would just re read the Roger book for the IT section cover to cover, I feel all those MCQ's in NINJA for it didn't do a damn thing.

AUD - 86
BEC - 89
FAR - 75
REG - 79

B#### Don't Kill My Vibe

AUD 5/27/16 74 &#%!! 7/13/2016 86!
BEC 8/17/2016
FAR 11/04/2015 73, 1/4/2016 75 (phew!)
REG 2/26/2016 74. 4/2/2016 79

[Ib]

@Respect. Grab Wiley text book and read through IT/COSO chapters. They are fairly straight forward. Then do all MCQs in those chapters. If possible, buy online wiley MCQs. Obviously, focus on your weak areas in score card.

AUD - 87
BEC - 78
FAR - 79
REG - 81

Licensed CPA in MA, OCT 2016

FAR 79
AUD 87
BEC 78
REG 08/31/2016

[RE2PECT]

@ jstella1993- We have alot of games left against against teams in our division so we control our own destiny. I feel the IT chapter in Roger doesn't represent what's on the exam, but yet again I don't feel like any review course does.

@ IB553- Is this the book you're referring to? https://www.amazon.com/Wiley-CPAexcel-Review-Study-January/dp/1119119987/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473524835&sr=8-1&keywords=2016+wiley+cpa+bec

I have a 2014 version of it on pdf. Do you know if there's been any major updates since then?

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

Roger & Ninja

FAR: 75
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, 73, 82
REG: 68, 82

FAR: 75 Roger & Ninja (notes/flashcards/audio/MCQ)
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, retake 8/29
REG:

[Ib]

You can use 2014 version. Some minor changes. But it should be fine☺

AUD - 87
BEC - 78
FAR - 79
REG - 81

Licensed CPA in MA, OCT 2016

FAR 79
AUD 87
BEC 78
REG 08/31/2016

[RE2PECT]

So I just scheduled BEC for 10/3. That gives me 3 weeks to try and hammer down my weaker areas. What would be the most efficient way to attack this? Just hammer out as many mcq's as possible and read through my notes or try and read through a different text like Wiley or Becker? I have 2014 versions of both, but they're each around 500 pages and it would take a lot of time to read through one of them. Maybe I'll just read the IT/COSO chapters of both books and try the mcq's for fresh questions.

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

Roger & Ninja

FAR: 75
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, 73, 82
REG: 68, 82

FAR: 75 Roger & Ninja (notes/flashcards/audio/MCQ)
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, retake 8/29
REG:

[60sixx]

Hi RE2PECT –

Just my 2 cents. I've found a lot of the test banks are the same (have the same questions). Myself, as far as MCQ banks, I've used Fast Forward Academy and NINJA. I like NINJA because you can pare down by subjects on some that you can't on FFA, but on the whole, I like FFA better. Just cleaner, more intuitive, can ask questions for further explanation.

Good luck with your retake!

AUD - 76
REG - 86
BEC - 76
FAR - 9/3/16

[mtaylo24]

@60sixx…hmm Fast Forward Academy. I've never heard of that one. I just checked out their site, didn't see any demos. What do you think about it?

CPA (2017)

REG:  75

BEC:  76

FAR:  77

AUD: 78

 

CMA (2019)

P1: 380

P2: 360

AUD - 1st - 60 (12/12), 61 (2/13), 61 (8/13), 78! (11/15)
REG - 55 (2/16) 69 (5/16) Retake(8/16)
BEC - 71(5/16) Retake (9/16)
FAR - (8/16)

[hasy]

So @OP, I will admit this exam is the luck of the draw. I did pass with some breathing room but I believe I could have gotten a higher score, hadn't there been so many NPV and IRR problems. Seriously, I feel that anyone should KNOW that IN and OUT. As well as converting an ordinary annuity to an annuity due.

Regardless, you should study for everything. Instead of relying on the score report, I would actually take some assessments on whichever program you're using to see what areas you need to make sure you understand MORE in. When I studied for my FAR retake, I literally started from scratch and scrutinize all the areas that I was scoring <80 in. But we don't have time for that, you have 3 weeks for your retake. If you're getting some Econ wrong, go back and review that section until you understand to a GOOD degree and THEN move on. If IT/COSO is what you're weak at, I would LITERALLY go and takes note on those sections until you could practically recite those definitions and sections word for word when you read it. Seriously, because it is exactly what those sections are, memorization.

However, don't neglect the other parts. Make sure you have a comprehensive understanding of ALL parts going into your retake, which is actually the same date as my audit exam. So we can suffer together. You honestly NEED to shoot for at least 85 in ALL areas if you're using NINJA. Memorizing answers isn't bad if you make an effort to understand how the answer was received.

AUD - 83
BEC - 80
FAR - 83
REG - 78

BEC - 80 (Roger + NINJA MCQ + WTB)

FAR - 72; 83 (Roger + NINJA MCQ)

AUD - 83 (Roger + NINJA MCQ + WTB)

REG - 52; 78 (Roger + NINJA MCQ)

Ethics - 68, 96 (how I dislike you)
-
This forum is more addictive than drugs. Still returning after licensure.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved - Helen Keller

-

BEC 80 (10/23/15)
FAR 72 (4/2/15); 83 (7/11/16)
REG 52 (4/28/15)
AUD (9/9/16)

Roger + NINJA MCQ + WTB

[AccountantPinkHair]

I don't have any advice and since I've taken and failed BEC 4 times I'm really the last person who should be giving out advice on how to study for this section! Just wanted to say good luck on the retake! WE WILL PASS!!

BEC 60, 71, 71, 73, 81
AUD 72, 81
REG 60, 78
FAR 71, 78

Licensed CPA in Texas

AUD - 72, 81
FAR - 71, 78
REG - 60, 78
BEC - 60, 71, 71

IF I FALL, I WILL GET BACK UP. IF I AM BEATEN, I WILL RETURN.

[RE2PECT]

@ hasy- Thanks for the input. The thing is, I studied for my retake like it was the first time and went through all the material from the beginning. I even took my own notes, which was something I didn't do the first attempt. I was scoring much better on all topics and was averaging 74 and trending 93 on Ninja after around 2500 attempts. The exam I got was just so much different than the material I studied. I had a ton of IT questions that were using terminology I never heard of and a lot of the calculation problems included different variables that I never came across.

I 100% agree this exam is the luck of the draw and I'm 0 for 2 in that aspect. I'm hoping third times a charm and I can get this thing behind me. I've seen people say you have a better chance if you take the exam before the first score release of a new window. It worked for me since I got an 81 on my AUD retake during this one. I guess we have that going for us next month lol.

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

Roger & Ninja

FAR: 75
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, 73, 82
REG: 68, 82

FAR: 75 Roger & Ninja (notes/flashcards/audio/MCQ)
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, retake 8/29
REG:

[Author]

Replies