[Chandler]

I passed BEC and FAR fairly easily. I have now taken AUD twice and failed both times. The first time, I only had about 50 hours to study (NTS was expiring). I scored a 69. I rescheduled, studied around 50-60 more hours, and felt great walking in to the test in June 2017. Came out with a 73.

I’ve been using Wiley CPA, which obviously worked for both BEC and FAR. Can’t figure out what my downfall is with AUD since I’ve heard so many people say it’s easy.

[Anthony]

Aside from internal controls and transaction cycles sections, I found it easy mainly because the process of elimination is probably your best friend compared to the other sections. The thing with AUD it is very conceptual. You can't really crunch numbers like in the other 3 sections. I feel like it's one of those exams that you either get it or you're gonna struggle. In terms of studying, how are you doing at practicing the problems?

[tygolfer]

I think some people that are good with calculations or memorizing formulas might have a harder time with AUD. I think a lot of times the multiple choice questions could be more difficult as well, because there aren't a lot of calculations and a lot of the answers. The SIMS as well took a lot more judgement, seeing that that is a big part of auditing.

[Holly]

I HATED AUD, which is evidenced by my score. It seemed like a bunch of vocabulary words I had to recognize/memorize. Maybe I don't have common sense? Nothing made sense to me and nothing seemed obvious. I went in terrified because I knew that I would never know more than what I walked in knowing that morning; I had to pass or I'd be doomed to retake this test forever. I luckily got a 76, moved on, and went to make an 82 in FAR because that test made much more sense to me.

BEC - 79
REG - 85
AUD - 5/27/16

[Chandler]

Anthony- I have done tons of MCQ's, and typically score around 70%-80%. I've always read that the Wiley practice questions are much harder than the actual CPA, which I found true with BEC and FAR. I've never done practice Sims, they just seem like a waste of time to me since the chances of getting one that you actually practiced are so low. I did have a bond amortization simulation last time I took AUD- which surprised me and is definitely part of the reason I failed.

Holly- I hate AUD too, and I have very little experience with it since I work in corporate accounting. I took an AUD class in college 4 years ago, which I remember nothing from. I never would have thought this would be the section to hang me up!

[tskits75]

It is all relative, for me AUD was by far the easiest because I do audit every day. I have no actual tax experience so therefore REG was the worst for me. So there is no real “hardest” exam in my opinion.

AUD - 92
BEC - 79
REG - August
FAR - TBD

[industryCPA]

I think AUD is hard because for some questions, all the answers COULD be right given different circumstances, but we have to pick the BEST one. Then on top of that, there's all the different services with different rules and reports that you have to keep track of like reviews, examinations, AUP, compilations, etc.

[Todd]

I spent a year trying to pass Audit. That section gave me more headaches and trouble compared to the other sections. I work in Tax which made Reg my favorite exam, but Audit is so dry and boring it really hard to grasp if you have never worked in the industry or taken a lot of courses on it. I found the AI tab during the sims is the only reason I finally passed that damn test. Ninja MCQ is the other reason I passed. I used my old Becker book, but it was the Ninja MCQ that put over the edge for a pass.

[Scared-cpa]

It's a very relative question. Personally, I've found auditing to be the second easiest. BEC is probably a little bit easier. I think FAR was the hardest, however it was my first exam so I psyched myself out and experienced a learning curve, so that may be some of it. At least with FAR and REG, there are formulas and calculations, but like others said, auditing is more conceptual. Keep in mind I have never had an auditing course, so I knew nothing about it. The only knowledge I have is from Wiley and Ninja. I prefer conceptual material over actual calculations, but that is just me. On a scale of 1 (super easy) to 10 (awful), I would rate the sections like this:

9 – FAR
7 – REG
4 – AUD
3 – BEC

[Anonymous]

AUD was my favorite because it was all word logic.

Passed first try and got a perfect score (75) doing 900 MCQ's on my phone. I did, however, read the text which took 8 hours. All in <2 weeks.

Would've done AUD 3 times if I didn't have to deal with REG. That was hard. Everyone is different, as other posters have noted.

[HGOK]

At least AUD is the hardest one for me, I felt good after the AUD exam but failed with 73. It seems AUD is easier when you compare to REG and FAR textbooks, but I feel they probably curve down AUD in order to keep the passing rate around 45%.

[Chandler]

@GLOK – I feel like they had to have curved my score down. I still don't really understand how I failed. I felt more confident and prepared after that test than I did after either of the tests which I actually passed. I'm glad it's not just me. We'll get it next time!

[Anonymous]

@ChadlerGoodwin- I had failed audit twice before passing on third try. I recommend you reading the text front and back at least twice before retake. Do the sims. Do more sims period.

[Superdude3000]

I personally found audit to be very logical. I'd focus on trying to find the logic behind everything that is done in the audit book. Really try to understand why the concepts make sense and focus more attention on sims than MC. I found the MC to be much easier on audit than other exams.

[Anonymous]

Audit is the easiest to study for but the hardest exam imo. The material is like a foreign language at first but once you realize that the GAAP opinions are fixated on whether the F/s has adequate disclosure and GAAS opinions is on how sufficient and appropriate audit evidence is and whether or not there is a scope limitation it gets pretty easy.

Audit is hard because of the simulations. Out of all the exams the Audit simulations are the most random and unfair. You can never truly get a strong grasp on transaction cycles no matter what unless you are actually working and deal with it on a regular basis. Ratio analysis questions are another nightmare and what's worse is the possibility that they throw in FAR simulations. Journal entries and calculations. AICPA please leave that shit in the FAR exam. I did fairly well on FAR but you can't really expect me to remember something from an exam I took before.

I've failed Audit multiple times in the previous format and no matter how well I did on the M/C portion I could not get a comparable on the sims until the one I just passed in Q2.

My 73 had 3 weaker, 2 comparable 1 stronger for M/C
My 74 had 1 weaker, 2 comparable and 3 stronger for M/C

Both exams had weaker on sims.

[TommyTheCat]

AUD has been the worst of the 3 for me so far, for reasons that seem to jive with the posts above. I am a tax guy have been for my entire career. REG was by far my strongest, and BEC was pretty strong too being that I was an ECON major. Studying for FAR now while I wait for my AUD score and I already like FAR way more than AUD.

[Author]

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