I can't believe something that seems so theoretically simply (comparing budgeted results to actual) can be made into something so complex.  I deal with budgets everyday and it's actually quite simple.

However, doing these questions is making me want to tear my hair out.  Yes, I know the PURE DADS mnemonic, but I find it doesn't apply to several questions.....the PURE stands for price, usage, rate, efficiency.....but then I get asked about volume...or materials efficiency....or some other crap that just confuses me.

I can solve the very basic questions, but keep screwing up the problems that provide too much info.

I have been working on these ALL DAY.

Yaeger does a really good job explaining and simplifying  variances. maybe you can check out their webcast for BEC its free and its about one hour that they touch up on some things for you. I forget if they went over variances or not, but its worth a shot!