[Anonymous]

Are Becker questions harder than the actual CPA Exam? I’ve heard many times that Becker tends to drill tougher questions to its candidates than the AICPA. For those that used Becker, did you really feel that way? I know that Becker takes its questions from the AICPA releases, but do they purposefully take the tougher ones?

I’m studying for FAR and would love to hear that Becker users found that the FAR exam tested relatively on an overall more basic level than the ones Becker would test. I can’t imagine that the AICPA would ask you to complete a testlet full of 25/30 calculation problems. Did most people feel that each testlet had a fair split between conceptual and calculation problems? I would love to have a test on the concepts!

 

 

[rknight21]

The best way to pass the CPA is not to expect the basic and what's easy. That's just my 2 cent. With that said, yes I found becker to be more indepth that the exams I have taken so far. The ratio of theory to calculation on BEC for me was about 70/30 respectively.

[yankeeaccountant]

I think that this is such a subjective question. IMO I felt that Wiley questions were more representative of the exam than Becker. I tend to use a combination of testbanks for exams, because for me I tend to get comfortable with the format quickly. To be more specific, I felt that the Wiley testbank would take a concept in a question and go a bit further in its application, so as to really test your application of the concept rather than just a memorized fact.

So, far I have BEC and FAR behind me, mostly using Wiley testbank, Becker, and Yaeger. I have supplemented Gleim and cpareviewforfree along the way as well.

In terms of calculations…well, that depends on the adaptive nature of the exam. On both exams that I passed, the second testlet got dramatically more difficult, and both of them had double the calculations versus the first testlet. I really had to watch my time to finish. But that was my experience. Everyone's test is a bit different.

To me, it is the Final Exam that Becker has that is so hard in my opinion. It is so hard that I feel it is a confidence buster.

Best of luck with FAR!!

[kb24]

I agree with yankee. I thought that the Becker problems weren't as in depth and were much more straightforward than the ones in Wiley. I found the Wiley problems to be more representative of the type of thing I saw on the exam. I didn't use the Becker Final Review so I can't address that.

FAR 4/1/11 - 89
AUD 4/15/11 - 85
REG 4/29/11 - 80
BEC 5/13/11 - 85

[Anonymous]

For FAR—I definitely felt like the questions on the actual exam were easier(on my first and 3rd testlet). It was also my first exam and I was getting destroyed by difficult Becker questions. After taking my first exam, I expected all of the others to be the same, even to the point where I'd be reviewing some Becker HW and say to myself “no way the actual exam will have a question this difficult on it”, which in a way caused me to blow off a lot of the more difficult questions(not good, and defeats the purpose). I'd say treat Becker like its going to be exactly what you see on the exam, approach every question like “this one might be on my exam so I better nail it down”. Then if you get easier ones on the actual exam, you will be prepared!

[T-rex]

@Baked,

What was your study approach with Becker for FAR?

Sorry if I asked you this before.

AUD - 95, BEC - 85
REG - 85, Rawrrrrrr FAR - 88
Used Becker for all sections.
CA candidate not residing in CA

[ScruffMcGruff]

I have only taken AUD, which I reviewed with Becker. From my experience, I would break down the MCQs like this:

1) 50-70% of the questions should be very easy questions to answer if you have gone through the Becker MCQs multiple times and understand them. Many of them are ALMOST word-for-word. These are definitely your ‘bank' questions.

2) 20-35% of the questions are relitively hard, but you know Becker had covered the material somewhere and you can likely narrow your answer down to one or two answers. You might also be able to straight out come up with the correct answer if you take some time to analyze the question and understand what it's asking.

3) 5-10% of the questions come from out of nowhere and are not covered in Becker. Many of these I thought HAD to be pre-test/non-graded questions because they were so bizarre (it's one thing for Becker not to cover it, however, it's a whole different situation when the question(s) don't really relate to auditing).

– Overall I would say that Becker sufficiently prepared me to take the auditing exam. More specifically, it prepared me for the MCQs, the sims I don't think ANY review course can really prepare you for.

At any rate, I at least feel good knowing that if I failed AUD it wasn't because I didn't have the materials I needed to pass (I just needed to study more!).

AUD - 85
FAR - 78 (lol@ FAR Sims)
REG - 85
BEC - August

[Author]

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