[jeff]

This is for people taking their exams in the July/August 2010 testing window.

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS) | Another71 | NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE

[Anonymous]

have you taken any parts?

[gabe1475]

Have taken FAR on 8/4, felt ok about it. For me auditing seems like more of a challenge than FAR. I don't know if it has something to do with the fact the the material is not as interesting or the fact that I hate statistics.

I should have a signature that states that, but not sure how to add.

FAR - 95
AUD - 82
REG - 94
BEC - 84

[Anonymous]

OK. From my experience, I liked FAR more than AUD because I like numbers and calculations. For me, AUD is more like you need to stick all the information in form of a bottle in your brain. I don't like that

[Anonymous]

Give me AUD any day over FAR. I hate FAR with every ounce of my being.

[Anonymous]

hahaha. I know that people hate FAR, but I don't. It kept me calculating 24 hrs a day

[Anonymous]

I promise to love auditing if I pass it!

[Anonymous]

me too.

[gabe1475]

I go back to an example someone gave on this site:

FAR = Hard, but I passed.

AUD = Easy, but I failed

If the grades are curved for difficulty , both would be just as hard to pass. For example if you get a 78 on AUD, but 60% of candidates score above 75% or better they will assume they made the test too easy and come up with a lower passing rate consistent with what we have seen in the past. Now they may never need to do this for AUD, but perhaps you actually have to score a 75 on AUD while you only have to score a 65 (before curve) on FAR to pass due to difficulty.

Also depends on your strong points. Mine are calculations, not so much memorization. Did I mention I hate statistics.

FAR - 95
AUD - 82
REG - 94
BEC - 84

[Anonymous]

But let's see it from this point. If you have great written communication skills and you know you nailed the two reasearch taps, you have 12 points in those 3 tabs (one memo is not graded). I think people need some extra points in the simulation to have a shot at passing the AUD test. There are 90 mcqs, which 20 of them are pretest. So I pray that the ones that I marked or got wrong were the pretest questions.

[Trying_to_be_CPA]

I have taken 2 sections – FAR & AUD. I feel ok about both, but I guess only time will tell – that feeling may be a good or bad sign. FAR was a bit better for me since I am better at remembering processes – calculations – than I am at pure memorization.

I am taking my time between now and Aug 28 (start my next review class – REG) to spend quality family time and focus on work to get my mind away from worrying about my scores. It is all out of my hands now, so now all I can do is wait…

FAR - (7/13/10) 84
AUD - (8/9/10) 88
REG - (10/4/10) 85
BEC - (11/8/10) 86

[Anonymous]

cpa journey: That's encouraging. I really wish breaks were additional time slots and not deducted from the testing time slot.

You sound like you were pretty comfortable with the simulations you were given. I always worry about that because in my head at least, those 18-20 points will make or break your grade. And with some simulations, there is no guesswork involved as there is on the multiple choice testlets.

Which review course materials are you using? Did that prepare you well enough for the simulations?

[Anonymous]

Unreal

Becker is my main study material but I use Gleim test bank MCQ. Becker teaches the concepts but I like having close to 1800 – 2000 additional questions. There is some overlap between the Becker and Gleim MC.

For the sims I did not do too much — just looked at the Becker sims and how the sims were set up. For me the toughest part of the sims is determing just what the tester wants. Is the fact pattern layering informaation or is each piece of data separate. By the 3rd box I knew.

For the communication my goal was to write clear, concise and short responses. This is a place where I wasted a lot of time doing too much. There was a lot of time on the clock and I ended up writing too much and editing too much. It was my first exam – live and learn. The first WC was way too much – the second one was short and too the point. Did not hurt myself – but no way could I do that on another exam.

My plan was to do really well on the MCQ and the written communication and then I just do okay on the sims. I thought the sims would be tough to study for. Endless possible testing layouts. Becker's sims were a good tool. I got lucky – the written communication was over familiar topic. The research tab was not bad.

I knew I had done well on the MCQ – but I did not see any difference in the testlets. Took the test before I found this site – did not know I could use the research tab. But, I would not count on using it anyway.

Hope this helps!

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I believe “Gabe” hit the nail on the head about how AUD is scored. I'm with those of u that like FAR n its calculations but most ppl are the opposite. Thus, the avg person will perform better on AUD than FAR. Something to note is that the pass rate for both exams is uggest that u need a better performance on aud to pass.historically the same. Taking the last two points I made together suggest that u need a better raw score performance on AUD to pass.

I am sure this is the case.

[gabe1475]

Anyone have any benchmarks on where you should be using Wiley Test bank befor you are ready for the exam. I know for FAR low to mid 80s seems to be a good spot, but wanted to see if this is the same or if you should be doing better since the curve is not as great.

I am currently scoring in the mid 70s, but have 70 additional hours to work MC/Simulaions. Just want to know what point I need to be in two weeks so if I do not expect to be there I can increase study time.

FAR - 95
AUD - 82
REG - 94
BEC - 84

[NJCPA2B]

gabe1475, I was scoring between 95-100% in the Wiley Test bank before my 3rd AUD Exam, And I was also scoring between 95-100% in the Gleim Test Prep. But, Aud gave me trouble even though I always thought I did great each time I failed my first 2 Aud exams…….I finally passed AUD on my 3rd time…after doing over 3,000mcq multiple times…finally scoring on the 3rd time between 95-100%……good luck with AUD

BEC=77, FAR=78, REG=73,74,80, AUD=70,69, 84 DONE!

[Author]

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