I've passed FAR, AUD, and REG but BEC keeps slipping through my fingers. I've failed twice now - first time with a 72, second time with a 73. The passing score is 75 and I feel like I'm so close but can't quite break through. Most of my weakness seems to be in the written communication tasks and the IT governance questions.
On Becker practice exams I'm consistently hitting 75-78% on the MCQs and TBSs but I'm losing points on written communication. I'm not sure how those are graded - I know they look at structure, relevance, and memo/letter format, but the partial credit system is opaque. For my third attempt I'm spending about 3 hours per day and dedicating one full hour specifically to writing practice.
I'm taking the exam in 5 weeks. The economic concepts section I actually find pretty manageable. It's the intersection of IT controls and business cycles that trips me up on the TBSs.
Third attempt I got a 78. Keep at it - you're clearly close and just need to find the 2-3 points you're leaving on the table.
I was at 73 twice. What finally pushed me over was drilling IT internal controls hard - that area showed up more than I expected and it's very learnable material.
The written communication tasks are worth about 15% of your score and they're almost entirely about format and clarity. Use the proper memo header, stay on topic, write clean sentences. They're not evaluating accounting accuracy.
Quick update since this thread helped me a ton. I sat down last weekend and grinded through a full set of practice WCTs plus a bunch of the free bec corporate governance questions, and I finally cracked an 81 on a timed practice exam. First time I've broken 75 on anything BEC related. The writing part still isn't my strong suit but I've stopped trying to sound smart and just answer the prompt directly, and that alone bumped me up.
I'm sitting the real thing in three weeks. Honestly I think the difference was volume. I wasn't doing enough reps before, just reading and convincing myself I understood it. Don't make my mistake and wait too long to retest, you're clearly close already with a 72 and 73. You'll get there.
Quick update since I've been lurking this thread for motivation. I sat down with a full practice set this weekend and finally cracked an 81 overall, and my written communication section was the strongest it's been. What changed for me was treating the WCs like a business memo and not an essay. I stopped trying to sound smart and just answered the prompt in plain language with a clear intro, a few body points, and a short wrap up. The graders aren't looking for poetry. They want to see that you can organize a thought and stay on topic.
I'm scheduled to sit the real exam in three weeks. I'm nervous given my two near misses but the practice scores are trending up so I'm trying to trust the process. One thing that helped, I started writing my WC responses under a strict timer because last time I ran low on time and rushed the last one. If you're stuck at 72 and 73 like I was, I really think it's a small fix and not a knowledge gap. You're closer than it feels.
Those written communication tasks tripped me up too, and what finally clicked for me was treating them like a business memo format rather than an essay. The AICPA is literally looking for a professional tone, a clear purpose statement in the first sentence, and organized body paragraphs — not sophisticated vocabulary or complex arguments. I started every practice response with "The purpose of this memo is to..." and it felt almost too simple, but my WC scores jumped noticeably.
The other thing — and this one's counterintuitive — stop trying to show off your accounting knowledge in those tasks. The graders are scoring your communication skills, not your technical accuracy. You can write something that's technically incomplete and still score well if it's clearly structured and professionally worded. I wasted a lot of time cramming BEC content thinking that would help my written scores. It didn't. What helped was practicing the format obsessively: intro sentence, 2-3 body paragraphs with one idea each, brief closing. That's it.
With a 73 you're already passing the MCQ and TBS sections at a solid level, so don't let this rattle you — you're genuinely close. Thirty minutes of written communication drills per study session, focused purely on structure and professional tone, moved the needle way more for me than another pass through the textbook.
Honestly I almost just gave up after my second attempt. I told myself I'd wait a few months and maybe retake it, but honestly I wasn't even sure it was worth it anymore. What finally helped me with the written communication wasn't practicing more responses, it was actually slowing down and reading the grading rubric for those tasks carefully. They're not grading your accounting knowledge in those sections. They're grading whether you wrote a clear, professional memo or letter that a normal business person could understand. Once I stopped trying to impress them with technical jargon and just wrote simply and directly, my scores went up.
You're so close it's not even funny. A 73 means you know the material. For the written tasks, just make sure you're addressing the actual prompt, using the right format (letter vs memo vs whatever they ask for), and staying on topic the whole way through. Don't pad it out either. Short and clear beats long and wandering every time. I passed on my third attempt with a 77 and honestly the relief was unreal. Keep going.
I passed BEC last month after failing with a 74, so I know exactly how maddening that gap feels. The thing that finally clicked for me with written communication was stopping trying to show off my accounting knowledge and just treating it like a business memo. The graders aren't looking for technical depth -- they're scoring you on whether you've got a clear position, organized support, and professional language. Once I realized that, I started writing a dead simple three-paragraph structure every time: state your point, give two or three reasons, wrap it up. That's it.
The other thing I didn't know until embarrassingly late is that spelling and grammar count more than content on those tasks. I'd been spending time second-guessing my analysis when I should've been rereading for typos and run-on sentences. Honestly, give yourself the last two minutes of every written task just to clean it up. You're at 73 which means you're not far off at all -- it's probably one or two sloppy responses dragging your score down, not a knowledge gap.