[PassPassPass]

I’m interested in something off topic. When I was at school, I was pretty sure how well I did the exams, and I could even estimate the scores. But for the CPA exam, I have become nervous when the release date is reaching. I’m wondering why everyone cannot even estimate if he/she gets 75.

[Bourne]

Because 12 MCQ's aren't graded, one sim is not graded, and each question is weighted differently based on difficulty. It's too hard to guess based on how you felt you did after the exam. I was the same way in college, college exams are all graded equally. This is a different beast

[aaronmo]

I think there are a few reasons…

You don't know what counts and what doesn't.

They have “experimental” messing with you questions that negatively impact your perception.

The grading/scoring isn't really transparent and you don't know what they curve, or how much.

SIM sections have a ton of extra lines and you won't be exactly SURE if you may have missed something.

There's enough stuff to remember that you'll still end up making a lot of educated guesses.

I generally knew how college exams went…heck, I probably could predict things BEFORE an exam just based on how much I studied. The CPA is different…there's just SO MUCH material…and you won't cover EVERYTHING. You won't remember EVERYTHING.

I was pretty sure I failed my first exam…ended up with a pretty damn solid score. I knew going forward to just relax. I did walk out of Audit knowing I blew it out to be honest, and after the first experience, I was far more confident.

[Recked]

I consistently performed slightly better than failing in my practice, and certainly no where near my actual performance scores which ended up being a 92 average across all 4 parts.
I left each exam feeling like I would not be surprised if I fail any of them. My most confident was REG, given 15 years in tax, but even that one I would not have been shocked to see a 74.

I'm a nervous tester.

[Anonymous]

I would agree with Borne and aaronmo. In college, generally every question on the test counted. That's not true for the CPA exam. The additional unknown lies in the scoring, because you have no idea what kind of performance on the questions leads to a score of 75. That being said, I felt very confident after FAR and scored a 90. I felt that audit could go either way and scored a 76. I felt pretty good about REG when I walked out, but as I thought about some of the sims, significant doubt crept into my mind. I don't know how I ended up with 93. I'm waiting right now for my BEC score. As I left, I felt that it could go either way. I am hoping for a passing score, but I am also considering what strategy I will take if I have to repeat it. BEC is released soon. This is the longest half hour of my life.

[Skynet]

It is like a guy who is at a bar and somehow managed to pick up a Hot Chick.

At first he may think that he got really lucky, however, it turns out the really Hot Chick was really a guy even when there are no clues.

So not matter how good you may feel, you may end up failing.

[fwesley]

People joke if you leave the testing center feeling good, you probably didn’t pass. If you’re not sure or felt like you bombed, you probably passed.

Thought I bombed BEC and got 81. Thought I killed it with FAR and got 72.

FAR: 65 (still drying my tears) 2nd attempt: 7/2016
BEC: 81 5/2016 (WOO FIRST PASS!)
REG: 5/2016
AUD: 8/2016

[Anonymous]

All the above reasons are correct – the dozen or so MCQ that aren't actually counted, the dropping of a SIM and WC (for BEC), the weighting of the various questions, and if there are any other considerations that go into how your score is derived. All of those make your ‘feeling' of how you did almost irrelevant. It's a huge mystery.

For what it's worth – I walked out of FAR (my first test, first attempt) and cried in my car because I knew I failed. Somehow passed with a 77.

I then studied for 35 hours for BEC, did 0 TBS prior to the test (I felt confident as all hell on the topics), went to the center, totally smashed the test and had over an hour and 15 minutes to spare. I told myself if I didn't get 90+, I have no idea how this scoring is done.. Turned out I got a 79. Yes, a 79. Only two points more than the exam that literally broke me mentally and emotionally.

They're both passing scores and I'm extremely pleased with both, but how I came out of the exams was clearly not in line with the scoring.

[Nate]

The only time I accurately guessed my score was when I absolutely bombed AUD because I studied for less than week with no auditing experience, it was bad. I knew I did terrible and got a 54, but besides that, I haven't been too accurate. When I first started in 2015, I underestimated and didn't study near enough. Despite that, I thought I passed FAR, got a 73. Knew I bombed AUD, got a 54, thought I bombed BEC even worse and got a 70. Then, two years later, after a crazy journey and some auditing experience, I started the exams again. Started with BEC, and was sure I failed, got a 90. Then took AUD, thought I nailed it and was expecting a higher score than BEC, got an 83. Then took FAR, thought I did meh, pretty good, probably barely enough to pass, and I got an 88. It's ironic, that with the three exams I've passed, my best score was on the exam I was least confident about, and my worst passing score is the exam I felt the most confident. So basically, I overshared and talked about myself too much to say, I pretty much agree with everyone else, with the amount of extra questions, it's hard for me to predict how I did each test accurately, which causes me to be a nervous wreck before the score release everytime. The only people that don't worry at all are the amazing students that either get close to the Elijah Watt Sells award, or actually get it.

[Accounting123]

@recked, I love reading your posts sometimes. I am just starting to study for REG and was wondering if you happen to have any advice about how long it took you / what materials you used.

[Recked]

110 Hours 4ish weeks.
AUD was 12/7/17
Did not start in earnest until Dec 19th score release, REG was 1/18/18.
Roger videos and all the MCQs.
Also have 15 years in tax, and did the EA exam in 2013/2014.

If you search or read through my old posts you'll see a lot more info on trending averages etc.

[Missy]

Its because in school every question in your exam was “fairly” evenly weighted. If it was ten questions, they were most likely ten points each OR you were told the first two were worth 20 points each and the last eight were 7.5 points each. The CPA exam is more like this:

1- 1 point
2-5 points
3-30 points
4-10 points
5 20 points
6-0 points
7-14 points
8-0 points
9-10 points
10-10 points.

So you could get 8 questions right and still fail if you got #3 wrong, or you could get 5 questions right and pass as long as they were questions 3, 5, 7 , 1 and 4.

The person who got 8 right and failed is scratching their head because they thought they blew it away and the person who passed with only 5 can't imagine how they got a 75.

Problem is you don't know WHICH questions make or break you.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Author]

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