[scootter]

I just took the BEC exam and don’t feel real great about my performance. I found myself guessing on what I thought were way to many questions (some was material I had never seen before, some wasn’t). Also, one of my written communications was about …what??? Needless to say, I really had to wing it on that one. Anyway, I’m not sure whether I actually answered 75% of the questions correctly. So I’m wondering, is the test graded on a curve? Is it possible to pass while getting actually less than 75% correct? Am I just graded relative to other students and their scores?

[mla1169]

The official word is that they are not graded on a “curve”, however getting 75% of the questions right does not mean you will score a 75. Some of the questions are thrown out and the ones that are used have different values based on their difficulty. I dont have the link but check out the AICPA website for a better and more thorough explanation. And GOOD LUCK!

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[mla1169]

Oh and by the way, so you know for the future you may not disclose what you saw on the exam at all. It was part of the agreement you made when you took the exam. Stick to saying things more along the lines of “I saw questions I had never seen before”.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Anonymous]

I deleted the naughty part.

Scooter, you may have done better than you think. As long as your written communications were grammatically correct and addressed the topic, you may have done just fine. Besides, only 2 out of 3 are graded.

The mcq you saw that you has no clue on could be pretest material and not counted.

Keep your chin up. You'll know for sure in another month.

[Minimorty]

Yes.

[Anonymous]

No, it's graded based on the number of points you accumulate. Difficult questions are worth more points than the medium difficult questions. So, that's why getting difficult testlets is a good thing. You don't need to get 75% correct to get a 75. You may only need to get 50% correct, possibly less. But if all your testlets are Medium difficult, you may need to get 75% or more correct to pass.

[Minimorty]

And how do they determine which questions are hard or easy? By how well candidates have done on them in the past. The CPA exam is curved. Do you think it is a coincidence that the pass rate hovers around 44%?

[mla1169]

This is the official (albeit vague) explanation

https://www.aicpa.org/BecomeACPA/CPAExam/PsychometricsandScoring/ScoringInformation/DownloadableDocuments/How_the_CPA_Exam_is_Scored.pdf

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Author]

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