[Broken Toy]

The AICPA has release the Q4 pass rates, as is normally the case Q4 was much worst then Q3 but I was really surprised that audit dropped 4.46 percent. With the exception of audit the Year over Year pass rates for all other sections of the CPA exam dropped with BEC seeing the biggest drop at 2.42 percent which is kind of disappointing.

Honest question for the forum, working off what I think is a fair assumption that every year the CPA review materials keeps getting better (not to mention increased requirements in some states to sit) how come the last two years we have had drops in the CPA pass rates?

https://www.aicpa.org/content/dam/aicpa/becomeacpa/cpaexam/psychometricsandscoring/passingrates/downloadabledocuments/pass-rates-2017.pdf

https://www.aicpa.org/becomeacpa/cpaexam/psychometricsandscoring/passingrates.html

[mesan]

The exam is meant to keep people out, not test actual knowledge. If the AICPA feels the exams are getting too easy, then they will make them harder. Also, pass rates are much higher in Q2 and Q3 so expect a drop in Q4 pass rates. Sounds stupid, but it probably has something to do with the weather and its affect on mood/motivation.

[Darth_Vadar]

Wow.

[public sector unions]

Looks like we can always expect a drop in Q4 but not due to any real changes in difficulty in the exam because they adjust scoring to make it more fair and not penalize people who get unlucky due to difficulty variances.

[Anonymous]

This past year the SIMS became 50% of the score which I am sure is responsible for the drop in pass rates…. BEC with SIMS is also theoretically harder to pass…

[Pipachu]

see see

[Accounting Adam]

If you look into how the questions are weighted it may provide some insight. I know if many peoples struggle with a question, it is worth more ‘points'.

This way of pitting our scores against each other would result in similar pass rates year after year. Example: As we're learning more and more, more of us are getting the same questions right – making them worthless.

It's all about getting the hard questions right..

[Author]

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