I'm not trying to stir any Kool-Aid here, but I've heard a lot of talk lately about how “being prepared is the only reason people pass the CPA exam”. Enough already. Some people are just really good at taking tests and others, like me, suck at it. For some candidates, their first instinct is right and they don't question it. For others, a lack of confidence will cause them to change a correct answer to an incorrect answer. I've been around for a while, nearly 6 years, and I've heard of people studying for a few weeks and passing an exam and they still don't know how to do a basic bank recon. While others can compute effective interest and create a bond amortization table in their sleep, but they get a 71 when scores come out.
I'm not downplaying the importance of preparation, but attitude, confidence, your health, faith, and frankly, a little luck, are also factors in passing this exam. The MCQ's are the only part of the exam that is adaptive. The Sims are selected prior to you ever getting in Prometric's parking lot. There is a specific, limited, pool of questions the examiners can ask. That's why the exam is NON-DISCLOSED. Maybe someone gets lucky and pulls a Sim they know like the back of their hand and maybe they pull one that their review course barely footnoted in the text. The problem that I have with the blanket statement of “if you prepared properly, you will pass” is simple, some people will be better prepared than others and still fail. There are no guarantees with this exam and blanket generalizations really only serve one purpose; to make someone who did their best, but lacked confidence or faith in themselves, feel like crap.
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