[onemorepass]

NOTE: This description is long, so if you just want the summary of what I wrote you can refer to the TLDR at the bottom. 🙂

Hi all,

I’ve been a long time lurker on the forums and while I’ve refrained from posting for my previous sections, I think the pressure of this being my last exam has caused me to want some advice and opinions from some of the regulars.

I prepared using the Becker Course Material, taking the traditional route of watching all lectures, reading the book and taking notes, and doing as many MC to drill in concept. Up prior to the test, I was scoring 95%+ on all Comprehensive tests I was doing R1-R8, I also got curious and took the AICPA Practice Questions/SIMs – scored 100% on the MC and 4 of the 5 SIMS 90-100%; the last sim 50% 🙂 (according to Roger, the last SIM was supposed to mirror the new Q2 Testing Format, so no surprise that this one was tougher).

Regarding my actual exam, I rated my first testlet as medium – it wasn’t exactly easy, but I was comfortable with a the material being asked, and flagged any questions that I was a bit unsure of and wanted to review before moving to the next testlet. I didn’t need to guess on any, however. I don’t typically flag anything I know for the most part is 100% correct.

My second testlet I rated as HARD – I knew the material being asked and while there were some easy questions thrown in, there were lengthy questions asking me to call upon the use of multiple concepts, rather than one single concept that Becker’s MC usually requests you to do. I felt “okay” with my answers but felt that I was flagging every other question for review.

My last testlet was EASY – Other than 3 questions, I knew every single question from my preparation. Many were at least similar (same question, different inputs), or exactly the same as Becker, I was able to get through the material within 20 minutes and then about 5-10 minutes to review (I tend to get overconfident with MC I am familiar with, so I started double reviewing to avoid stupid mistakes).

Simulations:
SIM 1 – EASY; Concept was never addressed by Becker, but the answer was directly in the AL.
SIM 2 – HARD; Concept was discussed by Becker VERY briefly. When I mean briefly, I mean one short example, and one line of text in the textbook.
SIM 3 – VERY HARD; I don’t want to give too much away for the sake of other test takers, but I will say that the SIM was very similar to what I saw asked in the Practice AICPA SIM, which I mentioned was supposedly designed to mirror the new testing format. If I were to bet money, this was the pretest question.
SIM 4 – Research Question – VERY EASY – I found it in 2 minutes. It was a major concept, so I knew the right answer. It was just a matter of finding where it lived in the AL.
SIM 5 – MED/EASY – I felt good about it. Just a couple parts where I wasn’t sure.
SIM 6 – VERY EASY – Major concept. Nothing complicated and it took me 3 minutes to complete.

So the reason I am more nervous about this exam experience versus others is 1) This is the first time I’ve had a third testlet that I could definitively gauge as Easy 2) This is my last exam and I really don’t want to fail and take the new format 🙁

TLDR;

Testlets – Med,Hard,Med (Easy???)
Sims – REALLY Easy, HARD, REALLY HARD (Pre-test?), REALLY Easy, Med/Easy, REALLY Easy

OP is worried because he got easy testlet similar to Becker practice, but never happened on any of his other tests that he passed.

If any of you read my entire post, you’re a champ! Thank you!

[Namstut]

@onemoretopass, it looks like you were prepared for the test and at this point all you can do it just wait…a whole month! You have people coming out of the test center feeling very confident that they passed and they fail, others, going nuts and being absolutely positive that they failed and getting a passing score.

I never understood how anyone could tell whether the testlets were getting harder or easier, in my mind it's all about your personal perception of “easy” or “hard” since we all absorb the material in a different way and topics that seem easy for some are hard for others.

Good luck! I bet you passed!

AUD 7/6/16 Passed
BEC 9/3/16
FAR TBD
REG TBD

[alangold]

I had a similar experience in December. First testlet OK, 2nd blew me out of the water, and the 3rd was slightly harder than the 1st, but much easier than the 2nd. 2 of the SIMS were brutal, 2 I was good with and 2 I was comfortable with parts of the question but not all of it.

It was my 3rd exam and I felt much worse than the other 2 (which I had passed).

Ended up with an 88.

Hang in there.

[onemorepass]

Thanks guys 🙂

That makes me feel at least a little bit better and as odd as it sounds, I was more calm during this test than FAR, where I felt like I was struggling with some of the SIMs and I knew afterwards, I had done one completely wrong. However, I mustered an 87.

I guess fate will tell, but waiting a month is terrible. I'm also going into busy season, so I'm hoping that'll distract me away from worrying!

[abig]

How did you do?

I thought my last testlet was sort've easy today on REG

[Namstut]

I am curious too.

AUD 7/6/16 Passed
BEC 9/3/16
FAR TBD
REG TBD

[Anonymous]

@onemorepass – I posted my experience before. I took the exam on Feb 13th. At least in the MCQ's section mine was exactly similar to yours. Easy/Medium – Super Hard – Easy/Medium.

I marked 2-3 in 1st testlet. I can answer only 2-3 in 2nd testlet. Again 3rd testlet I might have missed 2-3.

SIMS – 2 I was confident. Reserach I don't know. DRS didn't had time to work on it.

Yesterday I received my score and it is 86. So definitely you will get higher than that.

All the best 🙂

[Author]

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