Yeah, dang — I just backed up and read the past 12 hours of messages. Anyway, I'll cross-post from the experience topic:
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Just got back from tackling AUD.
I went in confidently. I got 85% on the first Becker practice exam and 82% on the second, and I knew that if I could just keep my confidence throughout the test, I would be fine.
The first testlet was not hard at all. I marked 2-3, I think. What I like about audit is that sometimes, even if you don't know the right answer, you know the other three answers just can't be right. It's also a lot easier to narrow things down to a 50-50 shot if you're not sure. Finished the first testlet in 25 minutes, then spent another 10 on review, looking over everything in detail. “Wow! This isn't bad at all!” I lied.
The second testlet was rough. There were a ton of questions I was in between two options on, and it started asking some very specific things. I think I marked 4, but there were another 3-4 that I was only 60%+ confident in. After 42 minutes total, I decided to bite the bullet and move on.
I don't know if the third testlet was medium or hard, but I felt like it played to my strengths, at least. I'm thinking it might have been hard — ELEVEN questions with “except for,” “is not,” “the least,” etc.!! On the whole, it seemed to test more general knowledge but insisted that you be well-versed in whatever it asked. There was also one question that I know for a fact was never brought up in Becker. I'm hoping that was pre-test. I spent about 35 minutes on this as well.
2:08 going into the simulations.
But then something weird happened. Even though it said “Auditing and Attestation” in the top-left corner, the first SIM was FAR-related. And then the second one I chose was, too. Good thing I did well in FAR. If I hadn't taken FAR before this, it honestly would have been really tough to understand what needed to be done.
Two research questions. I do wonder if they give the same ones to all of us. One that I found in literally 20 seconds and one where I'm fairly sure I narrowed it down to the right topic but wasn't sure how broad / specific a paragraph they were looking for. I spent 20 minutes on that. Couldn't really find anything better than my original answer. I read the whole stupid thing.
So, being an accountant, I realized there were three SIMs left. I feel like I did incredibly well on the first two I picked — possibly even perfect — and I clicked on the last SIM feeling great.
Nope. Like FAR, the simulation I saved for last just crushed me. Six boxes. Six boxes of hell. If I got two or three of them right, I'll be incredibly happy.
Oh, and using the authoritative literature to help with SIMs? Not for me. I saw that some people said they found some answers verbatim in the authoritative literature, but I found *nothing* for any of mine. I spent a lot of time looking up phrases and exhibits and… well, sometimes it's just not in there. =(
So on the whole (and combined with my Becker scores) I probably passed. I feel like I did incredibly well on testlets 1 and 3, and even if I didn't do great on 2, it was a noticeable step up in difficulty. I made sure to read all the questions at least three times before moving on to each successive testlet, and I don't think I let too much pass me by. I feel amazing on three of the SIMs, really good on three of the SIMs, and awful on one.
I'll find out in a week. Study break until then!
FAR: May 1st, 2014 - 91
AUD: May 29th, 2014 - 97!
BEC: July 16th, 2014 - 91
REG: August 29th, 2014 - 88
Licensed December 2015
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