[Anonymous]

….okay, now that I got your attention 🙂

Can someone pleaseeee help me understand this statement, “…If the exam seemed easy or not as difficult that means you failed…if not, then you passed…”

My questions:
*DO you think this statement is absolute or subjective?
**DO you think this statement lines up to your experience in taking these exams??
***DO you think it’s possible for someone to fully prepare and still feel semi-confident after leaving an exam??? or are you supposed to feel drained???

Because the fact of the matter is…you never truly know if you recieved a medium or a hard testlet right after the exam…

So…I would like to know how people felt immediately after the test versus their ACTUAL SCORES…

I’ll go first,I took REG at 8am today and I was surprised because my first testlet felt like a breeze. The second testlet was kind of difficult and then I couldn’t really tell with the last testlet. My TBS were kind of difficult…

Now it’s your turn…Don’t be shy…please share your thoughts…thank you so much for your participation 🙂

[HoosierCPA]

I've sat for FARx1 BECx1 AUDx2 and REGx5 the real answer is nobody knows how they did, the questions that were driving them crazy could be pretest…their guesses could have been right etc.

-FAR was my first exam, I was unsure how to feel. I came out thinking I failed but I'm naturally a pessimist…passed

-BEC I felt like it was on the fence. Passed

-AUD, first attempt I thought I passed easily and received my worst score (64). Retake I felt confident again but cautiously optimistic based on the first attempt. Passed

-REG first attempt thought I failed for sure, failed. 2-4th attempts thought they were all a breeze, failed. 5th attempt came out of the exam feeling defeated but not from perspective that I knew I failed but because I used every second of the exam and felt like I could have used another hour. I thought it was a 50/50 shot of passing and got my best score.

FAR - 78
REG - 72,74,71...please just go away REG nobody likes you!
BEC - 82
AUD - Aug 16

[joonpark1212]

AUD felt like i was borderline.. received 75

FAR felt like i aced mcqs but totally bombed sims..ended up with 78. Very surprised..

BEC felt like i did well on both mcq and essays making me comfortable until the score release date but ended up with 76. when i actually thought i did better

Sounds like u passed REG. Hope i will do well also this May

[RE2PECT]

@dtatham10- I felt the same exact way when I left my REG retake. I hope we continue the trend of things we have in common just one more time!

FAR: 75 Roger & Ninja (notes/flashcards/audio/MCQ)
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, retake 8/29
REG:

[Birdman]

When I walked out of REG the second time, there was zero doubt in my mind I passed. The first time I took REG and AUD, I knew I had no chance in hell (but I knew that going in; don't put all 4 exams on one NTS). The other 5 times, I wasn't sure either way.

FAR- 74, 78 (10/15)
BEC- 73
REG- 65, 88 (05/16)
AUD- 7/16

[JMG]

Took REG this Q and I wouldn't say my exam was easy but I never felt overwhelmed or caught off guard by anything, left the exam feeling pretty good about my performance. Passed with a 76.

[sweazy]

REG has my head spinning. Ive taken it 3 times now, waiting on third score tonight.

First try: 68. I thought I had a chance since I thought the SIMS went decently.
Second try: 65. Basically the exact same feeling as the first, I thought there was a chance.
This time: I hate my life. I did 1800 MCQs in the 8 days leading up to the test, and I feel like it didnt help at all. I didnt think the testlets questions getting ‘longer' in the sense that they had more words, but maybe more confusing language was being used on the third testlet. I thought the sims were somehow much harder and that I did worse on them.

I really dont get REG.

BEC: 77
AUD: 67, 85, 87
FAR: 74, 74, 79
REG: ___

[Jsizzle]

Birdman, how did you improve all your scores by 14 plus points after taking them all one time each?

[CPA2BEE]

I love this topic, its just so damn mysterious. What did I find to be true in my experiences? Both!

May 2015 – FAR – I knew the questions were not getting harder yet still knew I was bombing them, BAD = 68 FAIL

Aug 2015 – FAR – Testlet 2 was like decoding alien space language, was convinced that I will never pass a single CPA exam = 80 PASS

Nov 2015 – AUD – Literally thought I got a 99, I am king of the CPA exam = 71 FAIL

Jan 2016 – AUD – Alien space language round 2, maybe the CPA exam isn't for me = 82 PASS

Feb 2016 – BEC – I only studied 4 weeks, yet the test seemed easy so I'm sure I failed = 80 PASS

May 2016 – REG – I don't know if the testlets got harder? They might have been easy? But maybe they were hard? I don't know = 74 FAIL HEARTBROKEN CRUSHED DESTROYED THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MY LAST EXAM WTF

July 2016 – REG – Same exact experience as first REG exam, so I'm sure I failed = 85 PASS

So about halfway through my exam experience, I was convinced that if the testlets didn't get harder then you for sure failed because the only 2 I had passed got way harder. But then the last two I passed I couldn't tell if they got harder. So after a total of 7 exams I still can't wrap my head around it, which makes me think its subjective.

FAR - 80
AUD - 82
BEC - 80
REG - 85

ETHICS - 90
EXPERIENCE - COMPLETE
Application for California license mailed 8/4/2016

[SaveBandit]

@blessing010

FAR – First test. Thought I failed. 85.
AUD – Second test. A complete nightmare. Thought I super failed. 94.
BEC – Third test. Felt similar to FAR, so I figured I scored in the mid 80s. 86.
REG – Fourth test. Not bad at all. Such a vastly different feeling from the first 3. Thought I scored in the high 80s or low 90s. Of course, because I was so comfortable with it, I kept thinking, “maybe I failed because it seemed so much easier than the other 3.” Got a 90. Sometimes you just know the material really well and the questions are slanted your way.

If you put in your time and felt you were grasping the material in your studies then you are probably fine.

4 for 4

FAR 85
AUD 94
BEC 86
REG 90

[gigabyte2001]

Took REG yesterday.

AUD 4/16/16 – I honestly had no idea. Passed with 87 – I was STUNNED
FAR 7/26/16 – Same as Audit, Passed with 82
BEC 11/9/16 – Felt pretty good about it. 78
REG 3/6/17 – first testlet seemed easy, like I was way over prepared for the level of difficulty of those questions. Second testlet had more difficult questions than the first, third I'm not sure. Thought the SIMS were so very much easier than Gleim. I'm scared I failed because it felt too easy, like there were bits of information in there that I missed and so I got way more questions wrong than I thought. So at this point, with barely passing BEC after feeling pretty good about it, I'm pretty much terrified I failed REG and will be absolutely mortified if I did because I have a Master's in Tax (from over 10 years ago and lots of things have changed but still I feel like MTAX = I should pass Reg.)

So there you go. You are the only people I'm being this honest with.

B - 11/11/16
A - 4/16/16 87!!
R - 2/17/17
F - 7/26/16 - Waiting for 8/23

[tacctfin11]

@gigabyte2001

What was your preparation like for the exam? I did 500 MCQ in ninja doing only new questions…hope it worked

FAR- 76 01/08/2016 exp 08/04/2017
AUD- 82 04/14/2016
BEC- May 28th

baby

REG- TBD

[HoosierCPA]

@re2pect tonights the night. I'll be on the lookout for your post! I agree lets keep this trend of weird similarities going!

FAR - 78
REG - 72,74,71...please just go away REG nobody likes you!
BEC - 82
AUD - Aug 16

[Birdman]

@Jordan commitment. As simple as that.

FAR- 74, 78 (10/15)
BEC- 73
REG- 65, 88 (05/16)
AUD- 7/16

[gigabyte2001]

@tacctfin I used Gleim. Started studying 12/3 for a 3/6 exam date. WOrked through all 20 study units and left myself about 9 days to review. Of those 9 days, 4 were weekend days and I took 2 days off to devote to studying. (My office is pretty generous that I've been allowed 2 days off with pay to study plus the day of the exam off with pay.) In total 1,408 MCQ's between all the “coursework”, “study sessions” and “final review quizzes.” Some of the questions were duplicates. Gleim has an “Adaptive Learning System” that basically keeps track of questions you get wrong and hounds you on those. Most of my effort was with that turned on (the default setting) but during the review period, I turned that off about 1 of every 5 quiz (20 question quizzes.) Roughly 825 of the total MCQ's were in the last 9 days.

In the last 4 days I bought the Ninja notes for REG and read through them twice writing down the parts I struggled with in Gleim. They actually better defined in my head the diff between 1231, 1245 & 1250 or at least defined it in a way I could remember it better.

B - 11/11/16
A - 4/16/16 87!!
R - 2/17/17
F - 7/26/16 - Waiting for 8/23

[mschnei42]

I thought every one of these exams was easy.

AUD: 98
FAR: 95
REG: July 11, 2016
BEC: August 8, 2016

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