[Operation_CPA]

Hello everyone,

I am about to schedule another exam in Q1 of 2017 (preferably as late March as possible), but I am curious what availability will be like once I get my NTS. Does anyone have any tips for locking in a day / time on the weekend or is this going to be nearly impossible w/ the new changes coming? If nothing is available I plan on checking every day but still…I’m sure someone has some words of wisdom.

Thanks!

[Finally_a_CPA]

There is pretty much nothing you can do until you get your NTS. I'm assuming you know that you can check the prometric website now and see if any seat are even available at this point.
If all the seats are taken, keep checking and hope something becomes available. You never know, someone might decide to push their exams back thus leaving their slot.

[Operation_CPA]

@GSD512

Yeah everywhere is pretty much booked. Not looking good…

[industryCPA]

From what I've noticed, weekends open up when the date comes closer. Now I'm relatively new to the whole process so I don't know how accurate this information is, and it probably varies by state. I saw someone post once that as the weekday spots fill up, they open up the weekend spots. In theory, if not a lot of people are taking it that week, then they won't open up and have workers go in on the weekend if it's not necessary. Now if the week day spots are filling up, they need to open up more spots so they open on the weekend.

As for advice, just keep checking and I mean constantly. My most recent schedule, I scheduled for a Saturday. I scheduled exactly one week before my test day. I saw a 1:30 spot open up, chose it, saw it close within minutes, then about an hour later saw it open back up and an added 8 am spot.

[Operation_CPA]

@IndustryCPA

Awesome, thanks for the advice. I hope your theory is correct!

[Goingallin]

Not sure how it is where you're from but here in bay area, if you check a month before the dates you would like to book, there's always opening due to cancellation. You have 30 days to cancel without penalty so if you want to take the exam on March 7 than look at the website on Feb 1 thru 7 and almost always you will get a spot.

[CPA788]

I also test in the Bay Area. Since NTS's take a lifetime to get issued in CA I had to start studying without my NTS (for a retake) for a date I knew I wanted. I didn't get my NTS until about a week out, and by that point, those cancellations are popping up all over, and I was able to scoot right in. Risky for sure, but I was surprised how nicely it worked out.

I've rescheduled so many tests that I'm always seeing the available dates, and there is almost always 2 open slots within 72 hours from the moment you are looking (i.e. test dates available for AUD in SJ right now). While I'm sure there is an influx of test takers this quarter, I would think you find a spot.

BEC - 74, 77
FAR - 72, 71 (retake 7/29)
REG - 69
AUD - Q4 '16

CA Candidate

[Author]

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