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March 11, 2016 at 1:18 pm #200739jjordan022Participant
I’m now studying for my fourth attempt at BEC. I’ve scored 65,69, and 72. I’ve obviously got some fundamental areas that need to be addressed. I was trending over 80% before my last fail so I thought I had pretty good knowledge of the subject matter. I used the Wiley book, Ninja MCQ, and Ninja flashcards for the last attempt.
Any suggestions to get me over the hump? I’ve looked at Roger CRAM and a few other reasonably priced options but wanted to get some feedback first. I plan to sit again in early April so I have about 3-4 weeks to focus on my weak areas.
AUD - 75
REG - 79
BEC - 79
FAR - August
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March 11, 2016 at 2:39 pm #762194jessica8926Participant
@jjordan, I am in the same boat as you. I rescheduled for April 12th and would like to hear what others have to say to get us over this hump! I considered Becker Final Review, but was not sure if it was even worth it!
AUD - 77
BEC - 82
FAR - 75
REG - 81Illinois Certified Public Accountant 2016AUD - 69, 77
REG - 74, 81
FAR - 75!
BEC - 71, 82IL candidate!
Finally done (5/24/16)!! Yahooooooo!
March 11, 2016 at 3:10 pm #762195Titleistg0lferParticipantI did pass the first time with BEC, but I kept telling myself if I didn't pass I wouldn't study the crazy long problems that Becker kept testing me on, but I would focus more on the conceptual side of COSO and IT and just do a refresher for the other items. I felt really good going into the exam about all of the formulas and problems, but then was hit with way more conceptual questions than anything else. Good luck to both of you, and I hope you both pass next time around!
REG: 84 (10/5/15)
AUD: 83 (11/23/15)
BEC: 77 (2/27/16) - The bubble sucks
FAR: 90 (7/20/16) - AND DONE FOREVER!!!!!March 11, 2016 at 3:17 pm #762196jjordan022Participant@Jessica, did you use Ninja notes for BEC? I thought about doing that and just hammering away at re-writing them like Jeff suggests. I also have a list of all the formulas from another post and might re-write those everyday as well.
AUD - 75
REG - 79
BEC - 79
FAR - AugustMarch 11, 2016 at 3:19 pm #762197jjordan022Participant@Titleist, I agree with you on the COSO & IT conceptual stuff. It seems like the exam is shifting more in that direction.
AUD - 75
REG - 79
BEC - 79
FAR - AugustMarch 11, 2016 at 3:38 pm #762198jessica8926Participant@jjordan022: I have actually never used any of the Ninja materials as crazy as that sounds. I bought the flashcards when they went on sale and attempted to use them for REG I think, but it was difficult setting them up in brainscape and I just gave up. I have strictly just used Becker self study and it has worked for me this entire time. I have four weeks to study so I think if I feel I need more, I might choose the Ninja MCQs.
Do you mind sending the link to the post with the formulas? I had super easy questions that I could have flown through if I knew the stupid formula haha so I agree I need to study those. Also, to your point on COSO and IT, I saw soooo many IT questions on my exam and again I could have flown through them if I had rereviewed that part but at the time I thought it was easy enough.
AUD - 77
BEC - 82
FAR - 75
REG - 81Illinois Certified Public Accountant 2016AUD - 69, 77
REG - 74, 81
FAR - 75!
BEC - 71, 82IL candidate!
Finally done (5/24/16)!! Yahooooooo!
March 11, 2016 at 4:00 pm #762199jjordan022ParticipantHere is the link for the formulas:
https://www.another71.com/cpa-exam-forum/topic/first-time-poster-bec-formulas
I'm going to go back through the IT chapter again as well. We WILL pass this time! Good luck.
AUD - 75
REG - 79
BEC - 79
FAR - AugustMarch 11, 2016 at 5:06 pm #762200sar_rahParticipantI thought NINJA notes were most helpful for BEC compared to the other exams, since its so high level! Also, although I thought I BOMBED my exam because of it, focus on acing the MCQs, even if it means falling short on the writing. I walked out of my exam in tears because I thought I failed, because I took too much time on the MCQs and only had 20 minutes to pull together 3 memos. Its only 15%, and I'm pretty sure you can rack up at least half credit from just copy/pasting the prompt as your intro sentence (which is what I did) and change some words around to make it make sense. And then just format the rest of the memo as 2-3 middle sentences and a 1-2 sentence conclusion. Thats all I did. NO more than 7 sentences in each memo, and I got an 86. I probably got the majority of my points from MCQs, but even as I was going through though, I didnt feel like I was doing too well.
AUD: 98
REG: 91
BEC: 86
FAR: 83DONE DONE DONE and DONE all on the first try! It IS possible, just keep on studying!
March 11, 2016 at 5:39 pm #762201CPA2BEEParticipantIf you guys are spending a ton of time working through those 10-step calculations, throw those away right now. I think its safe to assume you won't see anything on the exam like that, most of the calcs are straightforward. Other than that, COSO and IT all day. If you don't have NINJA MCQs, I highly recommend it, it has worked for me with my last two exams. Just practice practice practice! Good luck guys!
CA CPA - est. Dec 2016FAR - 80
AUD - 82
BEC - 80
REG - 85ETHICS - 90
EXPERIENCE - COMPLETE
Application for California license mailed 8/4/2016March 11, 2016 at 5:57 pm #762202AnonymousInactiveI can fall in love with COSO and can really master it. But not IT:)
XML, PASCAL,BASIC, and the list goes on. Do I really need to understand those terminologies.? Tax, financial, and audit are very straightforward. But man, IT is just a bunch of generic words that sound monotonous to me. My husband is an IT expert, but when I asked him to help me differentiate file librarian, data librarian, and systems librarian, he said that it's ridiculous that I have to be tested in that level.
March 11, 2016 at 6:03 pm #762203StilgoinParticipantBuy the NINJA MCQs and do them until you are trending 85. Good luck!
Stilgoin, CPAThere are enough critics. Be an encourager
B | 62, 78
A | 73, 67, 79
R | 82
F | 59, 59, WaitingEthics | 93
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
~Winston Churchill“In a world full of critics, be an encourager."
March 11, 2016 at 6:59 pm #762204jessica8926ParticipantUnfortunately for me I did have a few questions that, if I had know the more complicated formulas, would have given me the answer. I think I am going to focus on the basics though and not the super long complicated ones Becker throws at me because I definitely was not asked to calculate NPV with a bunch of other things going on etc. However, I do think taking a look at some of the basic formulas provided in that link as well as COSO and IT will get me there next time!
Thanks for all the support and advice guys!
AUD - 77
BEC - 82
FAR - 75
REG - 81Illinois Certified Public Accountant 2016AUD - 69, 77
REG - 74, 81
FAR - 75!
BEC - 71, 82IL candidate!
Finally done (5/24/16)!! Yahooooooo!
March 11, 2016 at 7:04 pm #762205AnonymousInactiveIt seems like you are really close but need to learn the material a little bit better. Many people keep stretching the importance of thousands of MCQs but I realized that no matter how many MCQs I did, I was unable to get to 80% or whatever score everyone talked about. I think it is very important to go over the material few times before attempting the MCQs.
I found a healthy balance of 1-2-1 weighing for myself. It means that for every hour of lecture videos, I spend 2 hours writing notes/studying/reviewing the material, and 1 hour of MCQs during the first pass. It helps knowing how much time to ideally spend for taking notes/studying or MCQs for time management. I leave 2 weeks for a final review, reset my MCQs, and solve as many as I can.
As a background, I work full-time, have a family, and study somewhere between 12-16 hours a week.
Hope these help.
March 11, 2016 at 9:11 pm #762206AnonymousInactiveI only used CPAexcel to pass my first two exams, but I felt like I was really struggling while studying for BEC. So I added Ninja MCQs to my study plan, and things started to make more sense and I think that's ultimately why I was able to pass on my first attempt. Don't bother trying to understand the questions with very detailed computations, though. I feel like I wasted too much study time on some of those and it would have been better spent on studying COSO and IT stuff. Besides that, I suggest doing ridiculous amounts of MCQs. I got an 85 on BEC and was trending close to 90% on Ninja MCQs when I took the exam…maybe that gives you some kind of idea of what to shoot for. Best of luck to all!
March 12, 2016 at 2:06 am #762207ILCPA2014ParticipantI am in same boat as you. I will focus more on COSO and IT part, since those were the areas I am weak. 2 weeks using Wiley test bank then final 2 weeks using Ninja mcq. We can make it.
@jessica8926 We almost got the same scores on every part. I am taking BEC on April 11. We will pass in April retake.
AUD - 80
BEC - 77
FAR - 77
REG - 81IL CPA License:
08/22/17 - Received Final Passing Score
08/25/17 - Received email from ILBOE (Certificate # and Issue Date)
09/07/17 - Received email from IDFPR (CPA scores received) Applied for License online
09/14/17 - License # posted on IDFPR websiteLicensed CPA 2017!!
AUD Passed 78 (4x) Thank you Lord.
REG Passed 81 (2x) Thank you St Joseph of Cupertino
FAR Passed 77 (3x) Thank you St Joseph of Cupertino. Thank you Lord.
BEC TBD
My CPA journey started in 2013 and it will be finished in April 2016. That's for sure!!
Ethics 91March 12, 2016 at 7:11 pm #762208MaLoTuParticipantI just found out this morning that I got a 74 on BEC, my second time taking it. I did stronger on corporate governance and comparable on IT. I got stronger on the written section. So, although knowing those areas are good, you really need to have a grasp on all the concepts to pass. FAR and BEC are my personal hell (just failed a FAR retake with 70 last window also).
I am going to go over the entire book again. Write notes on every chapter, again. And do all the MCQ, again. The only way to do a retake is to start from scratch. I find that many of areas that didn't quite click the first time I studied start to coalesce the second time. My weak spot is definitely financial management because of the awful way they word the problems.
Almost always from my phone... please excuse my typos!All 4 passed - 2016
CA CPA
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