Give up the exam if you bombed the First Testlet?

  • Creator
    Topic
  • #1394609
    ahsq
    Participant

    Is it true that if I bombed the first testlet, lets say was medium hard to me and got easy/easy for second testlet and third testlet, I pretty much wont get 75+?

    That is what i felt when I took AUD, i got medium hard questions and answered to my best knowledge and got easier/easier 2T and 3T. Did comparable on SIM and got a 74.

    When I took BEC, i got medium hard questions in 1T, was confident I got 90% correct and 2T/3T was BRUTAL HARD, Got an 81.

    So If I get an easy 2T and/or 3T, is it implied I failed?

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Author
    Replies
  • #1394628
    skylark
    Participant

    To answer the title question in my humble opinion: hell no! Even if you do poorly on that first one you can still make it up on the latter ones. I definitely don't think it's implied you've failed. And if you did well on the second one, then the third one should be a hard testlet, regardless of your performance on #1. That 74 is brutal though, sorry about that!

    In the 3 exams I've taken, I'd say it hasn't ever been completely obvious that they've gotten more difficult as time has gone by. You have to remember that the questions are “hard” or “medium” (I don't think there's actually an “easy” type question at all, but obviously only the AICPA knows) based purely on past trends in grading the same/similar questions. Just because a question has been hard for more of the population doesn't mean that it's going to be hard for you, and same with “medium” questions – they could be harder for an individual than they are for the population as a whole. So it's possible that questions you thought were easier weren't actually lower-point questions.

    If I was going to give any single piece of advice, it would be to try as hard as possible to not read into how the questions seemingly change in difficulty between MCQ testlets. And also to definitely not give up just because you feel like you bombed the first one! As someone who just passed FAR, it's very easy to feel like you bombed a section and then get a passing score.

    #1394630
    fruity snacks
    Participant

    Just focus on your test rather than psyching yourself out imo

    #1394666
    EZ_Sims_4_me_Pls
    Participant

    makes no sense to me..

    the difficult testlets still have “medium” questions on them IIRC.. even still, you can't really gauge how difficult a question is.. if you studied it, it should be easy, regardless of how it is scored.

    #1394787
    Gary
    Participant

    I thought I bombed FAR because my 2nd testlet was (seemingly) a disaster, and the third testlet reflected that. I ended up stopping for like 5 minutes during the 3rd testlet and sat there in disbelief because I truly thought I was going to fail. Turns out that wasn't the case.

    AUD 8/18/16
    FAR 11/16
    BEC 1/17
    REG 2/17

    #1394885
    tg7174
    Participant

    Honestly all of my exams have felt like medium testlets and I passed all but the first one. I try not to worry about it.

    #1395902
    LonelyRonPaul
    Participant

    Test time is the worst time to judge how you think you are doing on the exam, because you are probably wrong in your analysis and you will waste valuable time. Your only focus on test day should be to give the test your full effort regardless of the situation that may be in front of you. It's a cliche phrase, but “You miss 100% of the shots you don't take”, and giving up on the exam after the first testlet will guarantee your failure on the exam as well as solidify that you wasted a few hundred dollars in testing fees just to give up.

    FAR - 78, 5/7/16
    AUD - 87, 7/16/16
    BEC - 8/27/16
    REG - 12/3/16

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • The topic ‘Give up the exam if you bombed the First Testlet?’ is closed to new replies.