[Biff Tannen]

I was reading on another forum that the AICPA will purposely fail candidates taking their last section of the CPA exam to prevent too many people entering the profession? Can anyone validate this?

[fsugirl2005]

Interesting you bring that up because I read the same article. If this is true then that would mean they are defrauding us out of all the money we have to keep paying to retake these exams.

I would like to think this isn't the case but who knows…

AUD - 10/21/16 (75----07/2010 expired)
FAR - 10/28/16
BEC - 11/2016
REG - 01/2017

Using Gleim CPA Review, Ninja Audio, Ninja Book

[thunderlips]

i dont believe that to be true. maybe those on the bubble might get a 74 opposed to a 75. prepare hard enough to no be on that bubble

[PDiddy2000]

I agree with @Thunderlips, AICPA will not do you any favors if you're on the bubble. I do believe they may control the passing rates via the adjusting difficulty of the exams but candidates can overcome that issue by being prepared. I noticed that the passing rates for FAR dropped by almost 10% going from Q3/2019 to Q4/2019. That's insane!

[fsugirl2005]

@ Thunderlips

I can agree with what you say. I mean, look at my near passes…lol. I can't blame that on AICPA because my score reports are spot on.

AUD - 10/21/16 (75----07/2010 expired)
FAR - 10/28/16
BEC - 11/2016
REG - 01/2017

Using Gleim CPA Review, Ninja Audio, Ninja Book

[vbmer]

No.

[Earla Riopel (NYCARE)]

@Vbmer, that's good to know. I intend to continue my USA CPA and Canadian CPA pursuit once I finish my Canadian BBA-Accounting degree in two years. I believe once I've taken newer BEC contents, I have a better shot on the CPA designation journey, both Canadian and the US.

[bigstakk]

This is not true. People tend to get burnt out and complacent when taking their last section. I personally scored my highest mark on my final exam (BEC). Possibly if you are on the bubble maybe you get juiced with a 74, but I don't believe this and actually think they would tend to give you a 75 if it's your final section over a 74 if they can. If you are well prepared it won't matter since you will undeniably pass each section. I would not even think about this and just spend your time focusing on passing these exams out right. Shoot for at least 80s to give yourself some breathing room and don't bank on passing with any 75s.

[DocJ]

What is this article you speak of?

If it's true, holy crap we need to class-action sue the absolute bejesus out of them and get every last penny of our money back.

[bigstakk]

Docj it's safe to say they didn't intentionally fail you on FAR…and I'd argue you likely got the benefit of the doubt on AUD. This is a waste of time. All of you should focus on studying and not worry about fake news.

[CPAHOPE]

Huh? Thats highly unethical. The whole AICPA board members will end up in jail and pay penalty, I dont think they would want to take this risk of intentionally failing a candidate

[AndreA]

I absolutely agree with Bigstakk.

[damieF]

I believe the scores are curved. They will never come out to admit this due to the legal consequences they risk facing but come to think of it, how come the pass rate for every quarter for the past years has always been 45-50%. The same pattern every year. I don't think it’s logical and possible that half of the candidates taking the exams will always pass & fail. It would have been more convincing if the pass rates fell within 30-70% and they’re not the same every quarter. This is why your test scores are compared with order test takers to see if you were stronger or weaker than them and why they think you should get the grades you have. IMO the scores are curved just to control the numbers of people passing and making the credential more valuable

[monikernc]

Oh please there is no grand conspiracy- people fail because they fail to learn the concepts and think memorization will suffice; they panic; they underestimate the test’s ability to cover every topic and try to take shortcuts studying. You can’t beat these tests. If you are not adequately prepared in all areas covered you fail. Simple as that. AICPA isn’t failing you, you are.

FAR 7/25/15 76!
AUD 10/30/15 93
BEC 2/27/16 82
REG 5/23/16 88!
Ninja Book and MCQ and the forum - all the way!!!
and a little thing i like to call, time and effort!
if you want things to change, you have to do something different

[Anthony]

AS someone who got slapped hard with a 74 on FAR and looking back at it. I deserved it honestly. Just wasn't up to standard that time I took it.

[vbmer]

Pass rates are relatively stable year over year except when major changes to the test are introduced because the AICPA pretests questions. There is no curve.

[Author]

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