[tygolfer]

I love reading through these forum posts, but the question I always ask myself is how people know they got a hard or medium testlet? And a better question, why does everyone fixate on this so much? Just because a question seems easy doesn’t necessarily mean you know it haha. I personally find the computational questions easier than short one word answer problems.

[shawn in VA]

people fixate on it because it M – H – H means you did/are doing well as opposed to a M-M-M

I always wonder if you a really prepared and know the stuff inside out aren't the testlets all easy ? And may send some into panic attack thinking they got all easy testlets when in fact they just knew the material

I think its all overrated because you can do really well in MCQ and bomb the SIMS and theres a strong possibility your not gonna pass

[EZ_Sims_4_me_Pls]

I think it's sometimes quite obvious when you have “difficult” testlets..as questions will become noticeably more complex.

for example, on one question, you could have a list of basic accounts, and be asked to calculate a ratio – medium

another question could require you to compute the NPV of an asset without giving you the discounted rates… meaning you have to compute them yourself.

the second question requires numerous more steps than the first, and is more complicated in general.

at least that's how I see it.

I imagine people fixate on it as a sort of comforting technique, especially on BEC.

-if you got a difficult 2nd testlet, that means you did well on the first
-if you got a difficult 3rd testlet after a difficult second testlet, that means you did well on a significant number of difficult (more valuable) questions on the second testlet.

[Anonymous]

I think it comes from Roger CPA. I saw on the Roger website that they use that as a measurement to determine how well you might have done.

The CPA exam is adaptive meaning the nature and difficulty of the questions will change as you progress to each new testlet.

As far as determining the actual difficulty, that is based on your own personal observation. A testtaker can usually determine if the questions become more detailed and complex overall.

[AccountantPinkHair]

I feel the same way. Just because something seems medium/hard to you doesn't mean the makers of the test do. Just because a question is long or wordy also doesn't mean it's difficult. When someone says I had a medium or hard testlet it's 100% perception. My favorites are when people say they got an easy one… there are no testlets labeled easy they are medium or hard. Again, it's that persons perception of the testlet.

I think people fixate because they are trying to grasp at something/anything to think they passed. Just because people online said you probably passed doesn't really mean anything, it just makes people feel better and nothing more.

AUD - 72, 81
FAR - 71, 78
REG - 60, 78
BEC - 60, 71, 71

IF I FALL, I WILL GET BACK UP. IF I AM BEATEN, I WILL RETURN.

[Dwill2nd]

Like others have said if you understand most of the concepts being tested you can distinguish between a medium and hard testlet.

Example if I have a simple bond Amortization question. Then I get a multiple step Debt Restructuring schedule with multiple elements being involved in the restructuring then I will know that is a hard questions. Especially considering you get a baseline on what the examiners consider a medium testlet from your first testlet.

It;s not always as straight forward as the longest question, more so the complexity of the topic and the question being asked.

Bec, 6/8/2016 - 84!
Far, 7/12/2016
Reg,
Aud,

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if the type of simulation questions you receive are also apart of this model? Or are these at random? My FAR went M-H-M which was a rather unfortunate indication.

[tygolfer]

Every question is easy if you know the answer

[Author]

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