[moscheck]

Tired of taking AUD, I really thought I had it this time. Felt comfy with the SIMS, second testlet felt harder. A lot of tough questions but still felt prepared. I’m not an auditor, I don’t care to be an auditor, I have no desire to be an auditor. But this exam is keeping me from being a CPA and is the reason I will have to retake REG and BEC. How does a 6 year tax professional pass an exam based on choosing the best audit procedure or other type of audit malarkey. Nothing against people who are auditors, but I see auditors passing REG easier than tax people passing AUD

[CH89]

AUD is tough, very tough. One word can change the dynamic of the question. AUD definitely gave me my biggest challenge trying to pass these exams. It took me 6 attempts to pass AUD. If I can do it, so can you!

You really have to make sure you understand these concepts, and make sure you are reading questions very carefully too. Looking out for any negative words and the likes. I found what helped me out with AUD was being able to explain to myself why that answer choice I'm picking is correct, and why the other three were wrong.

Now is the time to be honest. Was there any sections and study units you absolutely hated? I know I hated transaction cycles, so I spent a considerable amount of time doing MCQs and SIMs until I finally understood the material. Do not get discouraged, tomorrow is a new day, and you got this!

[moscheck]

@CH89 thank you for the advice. I do not like any of the sections, the only one I enjoy/tolerate is like the ethics part and corporate governance. Everything else is pretty much a chore, I get the basics and even some more difficult things. I just feel what I study doesn't translate to questions I receive in the exam. I will obviously not divulge information from the exam but it's frustrating to believe you're ready and be told you're not good enough. Try again k thanks bye

[CH89]

@Moscheck – It is a frustrating process, especially when you feel good about it, only to get stomped on come score release. Trust me, I've felt good about some AUD takes only to get slapped with a 60. I found that my issue was I was trying to hard to memorize stuff, rather than make the effort to actually understand what is going on.

If you really do feel that the information you are studying does not translate to the questions come exam day, then it sounds like you don't fully understand the material or concepts. I'm not trying to be mean, so I apologize in advance if you disagree, but I'm just providing my input in hopes to help you. As much as you probably do not want to do this, I'd go through the material again and really try and make sense of it all. When doing MCQs, be sure to read the provided explanations to see why that answer is wrong, and why those other answers are incorrect. You should also definitely take advantage of this forum too, and post any questions you have. There's some really awesome and brilliant people here that I'm sure would be more than happy to help!

Just out of curiosity here, what review course are you using? I was mainly using Wiley, then switched to Gleim where I saw a nice bump in my score that finally got me over that hump. Sometimes it takes someone else to explain it for it to start clicking.

[moscheck]

I'm using Surgent which has helped me pass FAR. BEC and REG were also passed with this but I lost them recently because of AUD. I have a coaching session in my plan so someone can guide me as to what I can work on. Worst case I was also looking into tutoring, the funny thing is I understand Audited FS from work when I work on projects that require me to read and understand notes and stuff. And I'm not completely lost when it comes to reports and all that. I'm going to wait to see how my score breakdown looks like to see what I messed up but it's most likely Internal control/testings, cycles and single audit/other reports

[CH89]

That's great! I'm glad you are doing anything you can to help you get through AUD. The internal control testing and cycles were definitely a struggle for me, and if you come across any MCQ that isn't making much sense, post here, and I'm sure someone will help explain it or simplify it.

Best of luck going forward, you got this!

[sandysprotege]

@Moscheck I feel your pain. I am a 15 yr tax professional and AUD felt impossible. I just kept trying and finally got over that hump. For what it's worth I started fresh this time around (after a 6 month break from AUD) and studied for 4 weeks using Wiley videos and NINJA MCQ. For the SIMS (my historical weak point) I only used the AICPA sample questions and that REALLY helped me pass on test day.

From one tax professional to another, don't give up!!!

[fsugirl2005]

I just left the testing center taking Audit for the 6th time. I used Surgent this time around and passed FAR using Surgent. I had been a faithful Gleim user but I needed a change because I was coming close to passing but not passing. Hopefully I passed Audit this time. Now, off to REG.

AUD - 10/21/16 (75----07/2010 expired)
FAR - 10/28/16
BEC - 11/2016
REG - 01/2017

Using Gleim CPA Review, Ninja Audio, Ninja Book

[CPA-Man]

Haha funny I feel the same way as an auditor taking REG, although I'm only kinda just beginning in audit anyways. No offense to any tax pros out there, but learning about tax is gross :/

Even in my college courses, I could tell REG was gonna be my hardest exam and lo and behold I've already failed it twice. It just feels so…non-conceptual if that makes sense. Like it's just a bunch of random ass rules and exceptions to rules and random thresholds. I hate it.

But I guess really you can say the same thing about AUD. To each their own I guess.

[Author]

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