[spqr105]

My second testlet was certainly harder than the first which I know is typically a good sign but my question is, if one were to bomb the second testlet (let’s say get 10-15 wrong) but did fairly well on the first and third testlets, is there a good chance that is a recipe for failure? I’m very confident with my performance on the first knowing I got at least 4/5 right at the very minimum, know I got about 1/3 – 1/2 wrong on the second which was substantially harder, and probably got about 2/3 – 3/4 right on the final testlet which seemed easier than the second but more difficult than the first. I’m also pretty confident I got at least half of the alotted points for the simulations and I’m pretty sure I’ll get full credit for the written communication. I know this post is probably moot but I suppose I just need some sort of closure, which I know can’t be attained through a message board but hey, it does lend some assurance. I’m trying to get my head into AUD which I’m taking on the 26th but I’m just having a very difficult time getting my mind off FAR. I have recalled 12 questions that I struggled with on the exam and know that they are all definitely wrong after looking them up. However some of them were on newer subjects which I’m hoping will end up being pretest questions. The figures I provided are also somewhat conservative. Any thoughts or input would be greatly apreciated.

[Anonymous]

I don't know about the number you can get wrong in the “hard” testlet, but from what I understand, the way weighted questions work is that you have more leeway in answering the “hard” questions wrong (more so than the “easier” questions). It is easier to pass when you get 1 hard testlet.

Moving on mentally is definitely hard, I took FAR on 07/19 and had quite a hard time not stressing about it. But now the REG exam date (08/31) is making me tensed enough to study a lot!

[spqr105]

Best of luck on REG Anagha! As you said, it certainly is hard to move on but I've honestly accepted that I failed at this point, not because I definitely did, but because I think I more than likely did and would rather be pleasantly surprised than disappointed. I'm managing to keep my mind off it and just concentrating on AUD now. One idea that I'm kind of having a hard time understanding though is that people state that you are penalized more for getting easy questions wrong than hard questions. I thought that there was no penalty at all for getting questions wrong since they were graded on a positive scale. The AICPA explicitly states that there is no penalty for wrong answers. Therefore, wouldn't it be better to get easy questions wrong opposed to hard questions since easy questions don't add as much to your score? I say this because I recall getting a bunch of really easy questions wrong just because I was rushing through the testlets to get to the simulations. However, I'm fairly comfortable saying I got a fair amount of wordier questions containing many number correct. I know it's a crap shoot analyzing this scenario but I was just curious because I have read several times that it's better to get hard questions wrong opposed to easy ones which never made much sense to me.

[Anonymous]

Am not sure if this will help- and hopefully won't add further to the confusion!

The way I understood it from someone with an understanding of psychometrics (who was also taking the CPA exam) was that in order to get to a “certain” score, in a medium difficulty testlet you need a higher number of correct answers than in a “hard” testlet. So I think the “penalty” is in those terms- a higher number of correct answers (for the remaining questions)than about losing the points on the easy questions answered wrong. Again that's my understanding, could be incorrect 🙂

Good luck with AUD!

[spqr105]

Ya that's kind of how I was seeing it as well. I know that the questions are weighted so I just figured that in a hard testlet, getting easier questions right would have much less impact on the total score than getting hard questions right. Then again, I don't know if all questions within the same testlet are somewhat equally weighted since they are already catagorized as medium or hard. Either way, I suppose there's no real sense in trying to break something down that we can never come to a definitive answer on. Just a waiting game at this point. I took the exam on 8/4 so I'm just praying I made Wave 1.

[SEEKOR]

Good luck everyone!

FAR 82, REG 88, BEC 85, AUD XX

[Author]

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