[jalban1324]

I just wanted to share my experience to hear what others think and see if maybe anyone has had a similar experience. I initially took REG on July 2nd. Testlet 1 went great, almost easy. After two questions into testlet 2 the power went out and would not be restored! I was fortunate enough to get in on July 3rd. Testlet 1 the following day was substantially more difficult. I am not sure what to think. I understand that there are many variables including my level of preparation, but shouldn’t both testlet 1’s have at least felt close in difficulty?

A (05/23/12) 92
R (07/02/12) 77
F (08/29/12) 69 Retake 2/27/13 80
B (10/22/12) 79

[mena je twa]

See, this is just my 2 cents based on my experience of taking these exams so many times.

Once you sign in and put in your control number, the CPU exam database picks up a test. That test will be labeled according to the AICPA as yellow, green, red. If you get yellow, testlet will start easy and then adapt to your answers, in the second testlet and so on. If the CPA gods give you a red testlet out of the gate so then may be you will start with a moderate one and it will tailored up & down to your response in the second testlet.

And then again each question is weighted differently as per the difficulty level…. and than also how many people appear for the exam in a quarter and so many other variables must be added in to come up with the magic 75…Its anybody's guess.

Licensed CPA, Texas - 2012

[WantToBeDone]

I think it's pretty tough to know what's medium and hard. Hard ranked questions just means that more people got those questions wrong and they're weighted heavier. If you happen to know that hard question, it seems easy to you. If you don't know the material on the medium questions, it's going to seem hard.

BEC - 80
AUD - 85
FAR - 76
REG - 75

[mena je twa]

If someone is properly prepared…he/she can make out the difference between a hard and a soft testlet.

In Audit for me the first testlet was a breeze and then second one was like 6 line questions with long ended answers.

You are correct , anybody with inadequate preparation will feel all testlets are hard.

Licensed CPA, Texas - 2012

[jalban1324]

@mena je twa

It's a bit comforting to see that someone else experienced some randomness and unpredictability in their exams. I guess I'll just take the passing score and shut up.

A (05/23/12) 92
R (07/02/12) 77
F (08/29/12) 69 Retake 2/27/13 80
B (10/22/12) 79

[mena je twa]

Ofcourse, just take your 75 and go home and burn the books….. ANything more and you overstudied….

Goodluck

Licensed CPA, Texas - 2012

[Anonymous]

There's also another variable here that can skew someone's perception of a hard/medium testlet: subject matter preparedness. Take for example FAR…maybe you're a rockstar at Pensions, Leases, Bonds, Deferred Taxes, Rev Rec, Statement of Cash Flows, but you really suck at…I don't know, let's say Governmental and/or NFP. You could potentially get basic (i.e., medium testlet level difficulty) questions on Gov't/NFP and get a lot of them, however, if you perceive that area as difficult, you are going to perceive the entire testlet as difficult (esp if you got like 5 – 7 of them in the first testlet), whereas the difficulty of the questions may not have been that high.

Additionally, our brains have a knack for remembering the bad and not the good (e.g., you encountered 4 out of 30 questions in one testlet that gave you problems; you literally had NO idea what the answer was and you guessed). Well you're going to feel like crap and only remember those 4 questions and apply that feeling to the entire testlet and/or exam.

So I don't think there's any objective way of determining the difficulty of a testlet (other than giving the same set of questions to 100 candidates and plotting the results).

[jalban1324]

@BaseballCPA2

I totally agree- as I mentioned, the biggest variable is likely my level of preparation. I felt very prepared, but that's besides the point. I feel like I got a rare opportunity to take the “same” exam in the same testing window 24 hours apart. The bottom line is a 24 question sample of REG will swing in perceived difficulty. I was just surprised at how much.

A (05/23/12) 92
R (07/02/12) 77
F (08/29/12) 69 Retake 2/27/13 80
B (10/22/12) 79

[Author]

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