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June 18, 2014 at 4:10 am #186390
floacct
MemberSo since starting this journey 22 months ago I’ve accumulated an extra 35lbs. I now take perscription strength acid reducer called pantaprozalone. I now need glasses and my therapist says this is all stress related. Oh by the way I scored a 59 on my last exam and have yet to receive any passing score. What’s ur story? Needing motivation.
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June 20, 2014 at 8:02 pm #577266
Anonymous
Inactive@John Tucker – I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with your assessment that “people fail the CPA Exam from piss-poor preparation….period.” I will admit to walking into the testing center unprepared, but it didn't take long to figure out that being unprepared was a waste of money so I didn't do it again. I was certainly prepared on more than a few occasions and ended up with another 73. There are a lot of other factors to consider when making a generalization such as the one you made. There are a myriad of medical reasons that may prevent a candidate from passing. I found out pretty late in the game, that the reason I wasn't passing was thyroid cancer. Baxter had severe anemia, which also causes mental confusion or what doctors refer to as “brain fog”. Yes, that is a real thing. Saying that everyone who fails a section of the CPA exam is guilty of “piss-poor preparation” is extremely short sighted and an incorrect assessment.
Exactly how many exams have you taken? I ask this because you said you weren't a “CPA Exam Vet yet”.
June 20, 2014 at 8:57 pm #577267John Tucker
MemberKricket,
Yes, medical conditions are an exception because that's something beyond your control, I also read your post on that earlier and I'm sorry to hear about that. I am not making light of that situation at all. I'm sitting for my first section in August (BEC) and FAR later this year in October.
Right now my stance is more of a “hypothesis” and will be more verifiable after I take and pass the exams, but it's just everything that I have researched, other people I have talked to, and just reading the forums in general that lead to my hypothesis. It's a reason my preparation process is taking longer because due to my work schedule, I don't have a lot of time to study but I have developed a procedure that works for me to comprehend all of the content.
But when I talk about piss poor preparation, my focus are on individuals that don't have any health issues, but just didn't prepare fully, or that they didn't finish their preparation procedure but they are going to TAKE the exam anyway and see what happens. Well, that's how most of us got through college because with college, you could skate by without quality preparation. I don't think that's happening with the CPA Exam, if you pass the CPA Exam it's because you:
– Comprehend the Content
– Have mastered the “art” of taking the exam (through a series of practice testing and replica timed exams)
I could be wrong though, I admit, but when I take the BEC exam in August I will immediately update my thread here and post my results to see what happens. I know that when I sit for BEC I will have all of the content comprehended, have done all of my practice testing and replica exams.
* State of MA CPA Exam Candidate
- BEC: Sunday, August 24th
- FAR: Saturday, November 29th
- AUD: TBA for February 2015
- REG: TBA for May 2015June 20, 2014 at 11:37 pm #577268Anonymous
Inactive@ John Tucker It really amazes me that someone who is in study mode and hasn't sat for one exam can talk to so many people and conclude that they fail because of piss poor preparation. Apparently, your demographics for this scientific conclusion was very small. I am 52 years old. I had been out of college for 22 years when I decided I wanted to pass the CPA exam and get those three precious letters after my name. I started studying in 2010 and it was one year before I passed a part. I had to learn the material all over before even to begin a review. It was on February 22, 2013 that I found out that I passed my final part. I was within THREE days of losing that first credit had I not passed FAR. But you know what, if I had not passed I would have picked up and carried on until I had completed the exam. I spent two and a half years and, thousands of dollars on exam fees and material and took a total of 13 exams. Not ONCE did I attribute those non-passing scores to piss poor studying. I attributed PASSING all four parts to:
DESIRE, DEDICATION, DETERMINATION AND DISCIPLINE
Maybe you can add these words to your vocabulary.
June 21, 2014 at 12:22 am #577269John Tucker
MemberCandothis,
I understand, I just don't get how someone would need to retake the exam that many times if they sat down and had a quality preparation process the first time. But again, that's just my opinion and observation, once I take BEC in August I will update my progress thread here to see if I'm correct on the quality preparation theory or not.
* State of MA CPA Exam Candidate
- BEC: Sunday, August 24th
- FAR: Saturday, November 29th
- AUD: TBA for February 2015
- REG: TBA for May 2015June 21, 2014 at 12:24 am #577270Anonymous
InactiveI hate when people make generalized assumptions based on their own experience and extrapolate that to everyone else who's taking this test. Drives me crazy.
June 21, 2014 at 12:57 am #577271Anonymous
Inactive@JT Don't even go there when you have NO IDEA what lies ahead of you. You need to go read some of the stories on the NINJA HALL OF FAME.
Good grief.
June 21, 2014 at 1:07 am #577272mla1169
ParticipantWell I failed 3 exams and passed 4. I can guarantee you that I prepared better for my 2nd AUD attempt than I did for my first and only FAR attempt. I will say it's laughable to decide that the 40-50% of people who fail a section each window must have all prepared poorly. Apparently only half of exam takers have unlocked the hidden secret of actually preparing? That hypothesis might have some clout if the scores were based on a straight % of correct answers but it's entirely possibly that someone could answer a greater quantity of questions correctly but score lower than someone who happened to answer the “right” questions correctly.
FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.
June 21, 2014 at 1:25 am #577273Mamabear
MemberI find it interesting that the OP hasn't chimed in once she started this thread.
CPA Exam - Finally DONE (November 2014)
BEC (08/10/13) 80
AUD (08/24/13) 65 (11/13/13) 85
FAR (04/12/14) 81
REG (07/19/14) 69 (11/29/14) 87!!June 21, 2014 at 1:40 am #577274Anonymous
InactiveAmanda_88 – I agree with you when it comes to assumptions and generalizations. This exam is different for everyone It may be called the “Uniform CPA Exam” but the only thing “Uniform” is the title. Everyone gets a different test, every time, without fail. For some people this process is a sprint, for others its a marathon and then for people like me, it's a train ride through hell.
Some people might offer an apology in advance for what I'm about to say. But I'm not one of those people. This is how I feel. I'm not ashamed of it and I won't apologize for my beliefs. I believe that God has a plan for each of us. I believe that we have to accept that sometimes we aren't in control. But His plan is perfect. If I had found out that I was sick before taking the exam, I probably would not be here today. The old me would have told the surgeon “okay” when he said that he wanted to put my surgery off for 6 months and that I needed to let him do the worrying. CPA me got up in the surgeons face and told him that he could do all the worrying he wanted but I had to do the dying. The surgery proceeded as originally planned. The exam taught me to fight. It taught me to find my feet and my voice and stand up for myself. It happened in His time for a reason. I had to learn to fight because He knew the fight I was facing and would face the rest of my life. He was just getting me ready. I can see that now and I'm thankful for it.
I will never tell anyone to give up on their dreams or quit anything they feel will give them a purpose in life. Maybe they don't achieve it as soon as they want, but if they feel called to do it and are committed, then it will happen in His time.
June 21, 2014 at 1:42 am #577275nicole2035
Memberi'm scared i'm going to start gaining weight. i always feel this tension in my mid back and right on my shoulders anytime i even think about the exam. I started using a foam roller. When i study, i have this neck massage and back massager i got for cheap at target (both $20 each). I try to clean up between study breaks. Trying to get back on schedule with prepping my meals before the day etc. I've been eating horrible and barely exercising but you really have to set aside time. I don't want to take this exam and then have to restart with my fitness goals etc. I try to exercise anytime i can whether 10-15 minutes on the elliptical, squats, crunches, you name it between study breaks.
I know it sounds difficult but def a reward if you stick to it. I also think it makes it easier to study because with the chaos of studying, when you look around and then notice you look a mess, your household is trashed, etc it will only heighten the stress
June 21, 2014 at 2:03 am #577276John Tucker
MemberOkay Amanda, Candothis, MLA and Kricket, if having a quality preparation process is NOT what leads to passing the exam sections….then what leads to a pass? Luck?
It seems as though you guys are arguing that you can actually KNOW all of the content material, have gone through all of the practice testing and replica exams with scores over 80% – 85%….and STILL fail the exam? If this is what you are arguing, can you please elaborate?
I totally understand about having “determination,” but I can be determined to “pass” all day long, if I don't fully comprehend the content I'm being tested on, I'm not passing the exam.
But again, it appears as though you guys are saying there's a missing element to my stance, so can you elaborate further? Like you said Amanda, I don't want to make a “generalized assumption” lol.
* State of MA CPA Exam Candidate
- BEC: Sunday, August 24th
- FAR: Saturday, November 29th
- AUD: TBA for February 2015
- REG: TBA for May 2015June 21, 2014 at 2:18 am #577277Anonymous
InactiveYes, preparation and/or intelligence is what leads to a passing exam. I don't think anyone is arguing that. However, lack of preparation is not necessarily what leads to a failing score. There are a lot of other factors that come into it. There are plenty of incredibly intelligent people who have test anxiety and perform poorly on exams even though they prepared extremely well. I'm also confused as to how you can comment on this without having taken or passed a section. To me, it seems like you're not even really sure what leads to a passing or failing exam since you haven't done either yet.
June 21, 2014 at 2:20 am #577278Anonymous
InactiveHow about a consistent 45% – 48% average pass rate? Is it clicking yet? Luck does play a part in it. If everyone went in prepared and could recite every FASB standard verbatim, there would still be roughly 50% of the people testing that would fail.
My last attempt at FAR I had a 98% on every topic on the Wiley Test Bank. I memorized the answers. So I wouldn't get too caught up in those percentages until you actually sit in the hot seat and go through a score release.
June 21, 2014 at 2:39 am #577279John Tucker
MemberIf you actually did a couple Replica Exam tests (in the 3 or 4 hour format of the actual exam section you are studying for) wouldn't that assist with decreasing the exam anxiety? That's apart of the quality preparation process, it is to actually take the Replica Exam in the Prometric format so you can practice the “art” of taking the exam itself.
I'm a CPA Exam Candidate in preparation, using Wiley CPA Excel, just because I haven't sat for a section yet doesn't stamp my post as invalid. Reason being is that before even deciding to TAKE the CPA Exam, you have to sit down and try to gauge an understanding of what it “takes” to pass or otherwise, how would you know if you have what it “takes” to pass it?
From what I have gathered, what it takes to PASS the exam is a quality preparation process, this is what Wiley CPA Excel teaches and it's also what Becker says over and over. It's just an educational procedure, if you put in the quality preparation to comprehend the content and practice the testing routines, you will pass. That's my understanding, as a result, that's why I'm pursuing this because I'm willing to put the time into quality preparation.
* State of MA CPA Exam Candidate
- BEC: Sunday, August 24th
- FAR: Saturday, November 29th
- AUD: TBA for February 2015
- REG: TBA for May 2015June 21, 2014 at 3:04 am #577280Anonymous
InactiveI've done practice exams trying to replicate the Prometric environment and I can tell you there is a HUGE difference between sitting at your desk or kitchen table taking a Wiley practice test and actually taking the CPA exam. Quality preparation is essential, no one is arguing that it isn't. But saying that is all it takes to pass the exam is a gross understatement. You have to have a certain mental attitude that will allow you to sit for up to 4 hours without going to the bathroom, getting a drink of water or thinking about anything but the question on the computer screen. Every time you click to the next question, there may be a little voice in the back of your head asking “Did I RTFQ?” Then you start the next testlet and you are wondering if the questions are getting easier or harder, while you are doing everything you can to focus on the question in front of you. Oh, and seeing what feels like the same question on the third testlet that you think you saw on the first testlet will seriously shake your confidence. And the whole time there is a count down clock at the top of the screen right in the center reminding you that your time is limited and running out quickly.
And don't forget that you aren't the only person in the testing center and you aren't sitting in a chair that you bought because it fit your butt just right. Oh, the nightmares I could tell! I once had to sit on my knees for 4 hours because the chair I was assigned was broke and wouldn't go up high enough for me to reach the keyboard. I've had people next to me sneezing, coughing and sounding like they were hacking up a lung during exams. Then there was the guy who shook the table through an entire exam. I left that exam needing a Dramamine because the screen was shaking so bad I ended up with vertigo. Then there was smelly guy. That was great fun. Three hours of the most unbelievable body odor imaginable. I wanted a bath when I left that exam! And of course there is almost always someone in the room taking what can only be described as a marathon speed typing test. Some Prometric centers don't have the quiet touch keyboards. The worst was during check-in when my fingerprint brought up someone else's information! Now that one really shook my nerves. So you see there is a lot more to passing the exam than the content.
I certainly hope you pass every test on the first try because if you fail one, I'm afraid the fall from the ivory tower you have put yourself in is going to be devastating.
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