[Anonymous]

I took FAR last Thursday, and I know for a fact that I had the same exact multiple choice question twice. (If it was someone else, I would wonder if the wording was slightly changed. Trust me – it wasn’t.)

I saw the question in T1 and then again in T3. Anyone ever seen this before? It really threw me for a loop – I don’t think I passed anyways, but just wondering if this is a well-known exam trick or something lol.

Thanks 🙂

[Anonymous]

Adaptive exams (including the CPA exam, which is semi-adaptive), sometimes repeat questions as a confirming technique. You get a certain amount of credit for correctly answering a question; if you later answer that same question incorrectly, the evaluation algorithm tosses out the credit (or perhaps just part of it) that you got earlier.

Adaptive exams have way more going on in the background than test takers realize. The CPA exam questions themselves are written by accounting experts, but the evaluation methodologies that score your exam are designed by people with Ph.D's in weird fields that have nothing to do with accounting.

Did the order of the 4 answer choices change in your case? That's usually the way I've seen it happen.

[tdeadman]

I had this exact same thing happen when I took FAR on 11/28! I know for a fact it was the same question because I struggled with it in T1 and was able to refer back to my notes when I got to T3. It kind of threw me off because I was sure it was a sign I was not doing well on the MCQ's.

However, I passed FAR with an 81!

BEC 68 (7/11) rematch 1/14

REG 76 (2/12)

AUD 84 (10/12)

FAR 71 (6/12), 81 (11/12)

BEC 68, 84
REG 76
AUD 84
FAR 71, 81

And I am DONE!!!!!

[Anonymous]

@CheeseDog – thanks for the info! Now that you explain it that way, it makes sense. I can't remember if the answer choices were in the same order or not – it's certainly possible. I just know that they were the same 4 choices

@tdeadman – OK, glad I wasn't the only one who felt a bit thrown by that 🙂 thought I was starting to go crazy lol. And way to go on passing FAR! Your post gives me a *tiny* bit of hope 🙂

[Anonymous]

I had this happen on my far exam on 12-07 but I did notice the answers were in a different order. I have also had it happen on past exams.

[Anonymous]

@bnrhilton – Thank you – I'm guessing mine were likely in a different order too then. All I remember is that the answer that came to my head (before even looking at the choices) was there in both cases, so I hope I got them right. Good luck on your FAR score!

[UCFCPA]

I had the same question in T1 and T3 of BEC. I ended up with an 82, so don't let it worry you! 🙂

REG (8/7/12) 77
FAR (10/4/12) 70 Retake 5/25/13 84!!!!!!!!!
AUD (11/2/12) 78
BEC (11/30/12) 82

[Goal75]

I had the same question on my REG exam on 12/8, not Twice but Three times. They were all in the same testlet, two of the questions were identical, word for word but on the third one the question and answer were flipped around. I thought my testlet was messed up or something as it kept coming back to the same question. Wasted almost 5 minutes there, hopefully it works out like for the poster above and I get a passing grade. Waiting!!!!

REG 83 (Lost credit), 78 🙂
AUD 8/29/13
BEC 67, 75
FAR 76

[Workinonit]

This has happened to me on at least 5 different times I've taken one section or another.

BEC - passed - Oct 2012
AUD - passed - May 2012
REG - passed - Dec 2012
FAR - passed - Nov 2012

[Author]

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