Experience sharing of non-accounting majors from Lixin AICPA candidates: only by enduring hardship can one become a great person!

Student background: 33-year-old male from science and engineering, non-accounting major, 4 years of audit work experience in Big Four, currently working in a Nasdaq-listed US company responsible for the overall budget work in Greater China.

Currently, I have passed AUD (83) and BEC (80), and the score is not high, but for students who are usually busy with work and want to break out within 1-2 months, I think What I am saying is that you must never give up. You are busy working overtime and taking care of your children on weekends. You can get through it as long as you work hard.

BEC transcript

AUD transcript

Logistics work: Try to prepare as early as possible. I basically prepared the hotel, air tickets, and exam time 3 months ago. Everything is booked and prepared for a rainy day. In this way, you can communicate with the leader in advance to ask for leave, leaving enough time for yourself to concentrate on reviewing for the exam. This year, special attention should be paid to registering the US visa in the EVUS system. It usually takes 72 hours for the results to be available. If you check again and find that the status has changed to enrolled, remember to print it out in A4 and bring it with you to use it when passing customs. I have personally seen people being stopped by customs for not registering, so remember this.

Guam is really beautiful

Guam’s climate: It’s like summer all year round (hot – bring sunscreen, sunglasses, and a hat). Note that around July is the typhoon season, so try to avoid it . United Airlines now has a direct flight to Shanghai every week. It usually flies on Sunday night and can arrive early on Monday morning. Then the hotel can basically check-in immediately if the room is not available. I take a rest on Monday. I started taking the exam on Tuesday, and then on Tuesday, Tests can basically be arranged on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Pay special attention to the 2-hour time difference and reset the alarm clock. After the exam on Thursday, I took a walk in the afternoon and flew back to China at 7pm. Of course, students who want to play in Guam can extend their stay for another 3 days and wait for the flight back on Sunday night.

Examination room: The security check is very strict. Bring less things and drink less water. It takes 5 minutes at most to go to the toilet, and you have to go through security check again, which is quite troublesome. The temperature in the examination room is not cold, so there is no need to wear extra clothes, because an extra coat equals multiple security check steps. Don’t forget your NTS and passport. Also, be sure to arrive 30 minutes in advance. Latecomers will not be allowed in. But for example, if you take the exam at 10 o'clock and arrive at the examination room at 8 o'clock, there will basically be space available for you to take the exam in advance, so it is good to go early.

''AUD

Audit is relatively easy for candidates who have been doing the Big Four exams for several years. Becker software is actually perfect. I did the questions twice and the first time covered everything. , but you need to mark the wrong questions, and then do the wrong questions again during the sprint. Pay special attention to this course

1) Pay attention to the numbers, such as how many years the manuscript will be kept, how many years it will take to change partners, and how long it will take to archive the manuscript. Although these are very basic, if you really know how to take the test, you will lose points for memorization questions. It shouldn't be.

2) There are two new questions in the Simulation session this year. One is cloze, which is equivalent to digging out several blanks in a report for you to fill in keywords. Note that there is no need to memorize the report here, because simulation is equal to Open the book and search for an example that can be found.

3) Simulation Another type of simulation is situation simulation, which involves an interview with the financial director, and then starting the audit process on several issues. This feels very close to a real audit environment. Of course, there are still a few test points, such as materials in transit, revenue recognition cutoff, error correction, and confirmation procedures. Let me reiterate again that the Becker questions are enough. It will definitely be okay to pass the question bank twice, but you will definitely need to improve your proficiency to get high scores.

''BEC

I actually feel a little guilty about this course. Due to time constraints, I only studied it once (it was really too late). The nature of BEC determines that it has a wide range of test topics, including cost accounting, macro and micro economics, and project management. The most troublesome thing is that for me who don’t want to endorse at all, there are many proper nouns in the IT part, which makes me dizzy just looking at it. But really, I feel that the Becker textbook is very considerate, the key points are still very clear, and the concepts need to be familiar. Fortunately, it is basically multiple choice questions, and there is no need to memorize them. You only need to read the explanations and know what they are talking about.

You must do the exercises. Although I was very pressed for time, I still finished the exercises from beginning to end. Before the exam, it was still the same, focusing on the wrong questions. The calculation questions in the exam are easier than those in Becker's. Generally, Chinese students basically get points for the calculation exam. However, be sure to use the calculator in the system when practicing and get used to this silent machine.

I would like to make a special mention about the BEC writing aspect. An examinee who went with me told me that he had never been exposed to English articles. To be honest, it was quite a headache for me to write three articles in one hour. After all, there must be a main line, and then the description must be accurate, and then grammar and vocabulary must be considered. , the sentence pattern is quite difficult. I would like to recommend that students who have never been exposed to English writing can refer to the IELTS essay. In fact, there are many fixed templates for IELTS essays. For example: What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet? This is basically very close to the BEC exam questions. I encountered a question about network security. My understanding of this type of question is actually to apply concepts such as B2C and firewalls from books. It said that in today's increasingly networked life, more e-commerce, but You will also face more information security issues. Combined with some cases (you can make up your own: for example, Amazon’s credit card does not require a password, etc.), you can basically make a deal. Of course, basic knowledge points still need to be tested. For example, there is another question about exchange rate risk in overseas company transactions. In fact, you must use financial instruments to offset the risk. Therefore, you should read more, take notes and practice more in the writing part, especially for students who don’t usually use English. However, there is no need to delve too deeply into it. The combination of point of view and example can achieve very good results.

''Summary

1) I think repeating the questions is the key to passing the exam. I completed the exercises in the two courses at 100% and crossed out all the questions I saw. There is a sense of accomplishment, especially when you have to repeat the wrong questions again, because those are the areas where your knowledge is weak.

2) As for textbooks, Becker is enough. I haven’t read other materials in the two courses.

3) Lixin’s current online courses are very good, and they have already matched the Becker chapters. Consistent. The teacher's explanation is very concise, especially if you don't understand the parts in English, please listen to the Chinese explanation. Students who are short of time can review based on the notes extracted by the teacher.

4) Daily review schedule: 1 hour in the morning (review of yesterday’s review content), 2-3 hours in the evening (review of questions and mistakes), and 4 hours of effective study time on weekends. I basically persisted like this for a month and a half.