[Anonymous]

I took REG in Jan/Feb and got a 65. One mistake I made, I didn’t take the research seriously enough. I might have gotten it wrong. Passing rates were 41%

I took REG in APR/MAY and got a 79. I know I got the research question right this time. I really do believe that question is worth more than just 6.5-8 points. It might be worth 10!

Anyway, I also have a theory that Q2 passing will be much higher for all sections due to the fact that there was some type of glitch with the 1st Quarter in 2011. I think this is the reason they have delayed releasing the passing rates.

[Anonymous]

I think so too. They probably are higher. I can't wait until the passing rates are announced!

[Anonymous]

Also, keep in mind that for the 2nd quarter you may run into busy season problems moreso than the 1st quarter. With the 2nd quarter, the testing months are April-May, with March being the dead month. Beginning of April and March tend to be the worst for busy season, so while you may be taking the exams after the deadlines, your prep time was during your hellish months.

On the other hand, if you're taking the exams in January or February, you had the dead month of December to prepare where it's pretty dead in offices, and frequently January isn't that busy either. So I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't much of a relief in passing scores.

And I think that it may be a 1 or 2 before there's really a learning curve with this new format. It wasn't so much about the people being unfamiliar with it (let's face it, you only need to pass it once, so all candidates are really newbies) but it's more about how the review courses are handling it. And it will take a while for them to really get up to date material for this stuff. But don't worry, everybody else is at the same disadvantage. This way if you pass it, you'll really reap the reward of the licence, as your peers will be less likely to have it.

[NoScores2Display4thisSection]

Jeff said they would be out soon after the holiday weekend so hopefully any day now!

I predict higher pass rates but only SLIGHTLY higher but who knows

and i say that because

1) Q1 is always the worst (winter blues time maybe? people busy studying around the holidays)

2) yes, some learning curve w/ the new exam format

3) pass rates in early 2011 could be affected by those unfortunate suckers who didn't manage to be done with it in Q4 2010, therefore Q1 2011 test takers aren't part of the typical crop of testtakers? id like to think im wrong as I was one of them 🙂

done

[Anonymous]

The research question is only worth a point. The 65 you got the first time wasn't because you got the research question wrong.

[Peanut]

@bullandre, Research is not worth one point. It was one point in 2010 with the old format. Research is worth just as much as the other SIMs as of the new format

https://www.another71.com/cpa-exam-forum/topic/how-many-points-for-research-question

AUD 81 (X4) Previous scores 59, 72, 72
REG 80 (X3) Previous scores 59, 60
FAR 75 (X2) Previous score 67
BEC 79 (X2) Previous score 58

[Anonymous]

When will the pass rates for Q2 be released?

[WhyEvenTry]

They have been released for Texas. See the link below. Btw….I highly doubt the research question is equally weighted compared to the other sims. Some people have had two research questions on the same exam, that would be about 14 points or so just on research. No way!!

https://www.tsbpa.state.tx.us/php/fpl/unvsectcnt.php

BEC - 71, 74, 77 (Feb - 2011)
FAR - 73, 78 (Feb - 2011)
REG - 83 (Nov 2010)
AUD - 71, 84 (May 2011) - Done!! CPA licensed in TX (July 2011)

[Anonymous]

Oof!! FAR had the lowest pass rate in TX. It had 45%.

BEC had 48%

AUD had 52%

REG had 50%

This probably is a sign that either BEC or FAR will have the lowest passing rate in the 2nd quarter, not REG. I find that odd. I thought BEC is the “easiest” section with the smallest amount of material.

[HazeEastwood]

CPAman you never really know. I didn't think BEC was the hardest but I have heard some people find it extremely difficult. The only part of BEC I had problems with was IT

FAR-81
BEC-84
AUD-91
REG-89

[kb24]

Fellow Texans

I looked at the link WhyEvenTry posted and found the school breakdown very interesting. I was surprised at how high the AUD and REG pass rates were and then looked at the school breakdown. Doing a quick scan, all of the schools had much lower pass rates than UT and A&M. Since they were over 30% of the total AUD and REG tests, their high rates skewed the overall results. They were also high in BEC and FAR, but made up a much smaller percentage of the total tests in those areas so their results didn't have as much impact. I graduated from U of H 5 1/2 years ago and thought most of my professors were excellent, but the CPA exam was rarely mentioned. I don't know if that's still true of U of H, but I was wondering if UT and A&M do anything different as far as preparing their graduates for the exam. Anyone have any insight?

FAR 4/1/11 - 89
AUD 4/15/11 - 85
REG 4/29/11 - 80
BEC 5/13/11 - 85

[Anonymous]

@HazeEastwood- You're right! I was listening to Yaeger's blog radio show yesterday and someone called in and was upset because he lost his FAR, AUD and REG credit because he kept on failing BEC in the low 70s. I sure hope I don't end up like him. That is really terrible to lose all your credit over one section. If that happens to me, I'd quit. No way am I going to do this all over again.

One of my accounting professors in college told us students that if we can pass FAR and AUD, we're pretty much at the finish line because FAR and AUD are the hardest parts and REG and BEC are a lot easier. He even said that he never met anyone who can pass those two and can't pass REG and BEC. Well, I passed FAR and AUD and I don't even think I'm close to the finish line because REG is such a difficult section to study for. I don't know why my professor would say such a thing. I could very well be one of those people that's stuck on REG and BEC. Though, I'm probably more likely to get stuck on REG because I always did well on my business courses. So, I don't see myself doing bad in BEC if I put in the effort.

[HazeEastwood]

CPAman I've heard of those stories. At one point I thought REG was going to be my nemesis. I can't stand the way the taxes are structured. I went so hard the last time for REG, I literally felt sick. LOL

FAR-81
BEC-84
AUD-91
REG-89

[Herbieherb]

If research is really worth that much points, its like the new WC.

I really don't know how you can get the research wrong. Its kinda like Googling something. In my 2011 Far, Yaeger went thru all these key terms and I completely ignored that list, I know I nailed the research question it wasn't hard or challenging. Unless your mind comes up blank its pretty easy.

How do you study/prepare for research question?

NEW YORK- DONE

[Anonymous]

The Research questions are harder than you think. You'd be surprised! If you got easy ones, then consider yourself lucky because some of us have gotten difficult ones.

[HazeEastwood]

I had a research question on my first REG test that wasn't so easy

FAR-81
BEC-84
AUD-91
REG-89

[Author]

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