[TBone]

This whole fu*king test is bullshit and so is the scoring process. Fu*k this

FAR: 66, 75
AUD: 67, 69, 70, 74, 74
REG: 71, 79
BEC: 73

[TBone]

@ohiostategirlcpa: you've already passed all of your exams yet you come back to break balls on score report day? …I kinda like you.

FAR: 66, 75
AUD: 67, 69, 70, 74, 74
REG: 71, 79
BEC: 73

[Wanna_B_TXCPA2014]

Thanks credit revenue!

[Tipofga80]

I feel the same! Virtual drink for everyone. I'm really considering going back to school for a career change.

REG - 77 (will lose in Jan 2016)

BEC - 67 74, 75

AUD - 56, 70, Will try again 🙁

FAR - ??

Save the beast for last.

[jenniferleigh36]

Hot damn I am so happy I found this thread! Too many other posts of passing and excitement. Reading my score was another blow to confidence. I walked out of the exam feeling great. What the hell happened?? I am still trying to figure that out. FAR was a different story (I know what happened there).

No time to sulk and hate myself, BEC is in two weeks.

FAR: 55
AUD: 62
REG: TBD
BEC: Scheduled 5/21/16

[Misu243]

I feel like you harm your chances of passing if you do really well on the first testlet! You then end up getting extremely hard questions, things that you've never studied and at the end the questions that you aced in the first testlet are worth much less! it says it clearly in the psychometric a section of AICPA. The goal then should be just know 100% of every last thing there is out there for whatever section you're taking. Like that is even humanly possible!

BEC: 66, 74, 80* (Expired), 73, 76*
FAR: 66, 72, 67, TBA
REG: 68, 72, 74, 70, 79*
AUD: 43, 71, 77* (Expired), 71, TBA

[Missy]

Misu its actually the opposite of your theory. Every question has a predetermined value so if the first question of the first testlet is worth 1 point, no matter how you do its always worth 1 pt.

So the first testlet is always easy and has lower point values assigned to each question. Depending on how you do with testlet 1, you can either get hard or medium questions for testlet 2. The hard questions are worth more according to the psychometric a section of AICPA, so you don't need to get as many questions right. (for example in a medium testlet they may be worth 1/2 pt each and you'd have to get 20/27, but if you get a hard testlet you may only need 12/27 right to pass). Third testlet is always medium and is not affected by your performance on the prior two sections.

If you don't do well on the first testlet, you're less likely to pass in theory.

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

[Misu243]

Yes MLA, which means that if you get difficult questions wrong, you get penalized more as opposed to getting an easy question wrong. AICPA says you can pass by getting all medium testlets which means the goal then should be to avoid that “difficult” testlet. I know I should stop complaining but now I am worried about how to prepare for this exam. I am talking about Audit personally. Please provide guidance someone! I truly thought I passed. I ended up with 71 just like my previous attempt and trust me it was not the same performance. I know for a fact I did much better and even got all the sims finished with good feeling. That second and third testlet is where I am very suspicious.

BEC: 66, 74, 80* (Expired), 73, 76*
FAR: 66, 72, 67, TBA
REG: 68, 72, 74, 70, 79*
AUD: 43, 71, 77* (Expired), 71, TBA

[ohiostategirlcpa]

https://www.aicpa.org/becomeacpa/cpaexam/psychometricsandscoring/scoringinformation/downloadabledocuments/how_the_cpa_exam_is_scored.pdf

Testlet fllowchart is on page 6.

@mla, testlet 3 can also be medium or hard, based on your responses on testlet 2.

F91 A95 R90 B94
CMA since 2015
(Gleim books/PDFs, MCQs, SIMS)

[CPA2BEE]

@Misu

You don't get “penalized” for missing questions on the CPA exam, you just don't receive points for it. You don't lose points for the questions you get wrong, the exam is a process of accumulating point with the ones you get right.

FAR - 80
AUD - 82
BEC - 80
REG - 85

ETHICS - 90
EXPERIENCE - COMPLETE
Application for California license mailed 8/4/2016

[Nessie]

I get what you are both saying, but yes, I would rather (for FAR) be delt medium questions, than completely difficult, impossible to answer ones. I don't think anyone would be bold enough to answer the first few questions incorrectly in an attempt to get a medium exam.

REG Aug 20/15: 88
AUD: Feb 29/16: 80
FAR: Jun 10/16: 80
BEC?

Becker self-study, Becker Final Review & NINJA MCQS

[Missy]

You're not “penalized more” for getting questions wrong. As a very generic example, say its a medium testlet, and 15 questions correct add 15 points to your score. In hard testlet, 5 questions correct could add 15 points to your score.

You don't start the exam at 99 points and then have points subtracted for wrong answers (which would make your theory correct.) You start the exam at zero points and have points added for correct answers. Any question that is worth more points toward your score than others is a GOOD thing.

Regarding audit, get the ninja notes. Do not just read or highlight them. Copy every single word. Do ten pages per day (if typing) or 5 if you're really good and handwrite them. Also do at least 50 mcq per day. Trust me it works.

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

[Misu243]

@MLA Correct me if I am wrong? The more difficult questions there are, the higher the chance of losing out on accumulating points since they are worth more by getting them wrong. Don't you think this is the same as being penalized? Hope you catch my drift. Again, the purpose of discussion as far as I am concerned is just to understand the grading process so I can prepare better.

Here officially from AICPA psychometrics:

Can I get all medium testlets and still pass?
Yes, but for this to happen, you would have GOOD BUT NOT EXCELLENT performance on the first two testlets, and then excellent performance on the last testlet.

I think based on this my strategy should be opposite the next time I take the exam. I should somehow make sure my third testlet is “medium” and absolutely ace it!

BEC: 66, 74, 80* (Expired), 73, 76*
FAR: 66, 72, 67, TBA
REG: 68, 72, 74, 70, 79*
AUD: 43, 71, 77* (Expired), 71, TBA

[Anonymous]

I think what Misu is saying is if your knowledge level is such that you can get 80% of medium questions right, but only 30% of hard questions right, then it seems like if you get 80% of your first testlet right, then you'll get a hard testlet, of which you'll only get 30% right, so then your average percentage for the two is 55%, whereas if they'd left you with medium testlets, your average would be 80%. Granted, a 75% isn't a 75 average, but when you know you've just bombed your 2nd testlet and only gotten 30% right, it shakes your confidence going into your 3rd, and may affect your performance. In theory, the AICPA weights the questions such that your 30% you got right of the hard ones gives you as many points as your 80% right in the medium ones (if that drastic of a difference is the average difference – probably not, but exaggerations are helpful for illustration 🙂 ), however, it still seems like you'd do better on the exam if you had 3 medium testlets and averaged 80%, than if you had 1 medium at 80% and 2 hards at 30% each for an average of 46.67%.

Or maybe more to the point – Misu or others may feel that they're able to perform better on mediums, so if they could choose at the end of testlet 1 to have either a medium or a hard next, they'd choose a medium, knowing they had to get a higher percentage, but believe they could get more points requiring a higher percentage than having higher-point questions.

I guess if I had the choice, I'd probably choose the medium testlets, too. I don't think hard testlets ruined me, but the mediums do take some stress off. Let's say questions in hard testlets are all weighted at least three times as heavily, so a question in a medium is worth 10 points and a question in a hard is worth 30. (I know in reality each question is weighted differently, not everything in a testlet is even, at least from what I can tell, but for simplicity let's say the whole testlet is the same.) I would rather know that each question I am doing is only risking me 10 points, and that I need to get most of them right, than to know that each one is risking me 30 points even though I know the trade-off is that I can be wrong on 3 times as many and be OK.

So, the theory of some testers – like Misu – is that if (just picking a number to use for an example) a 78% correct rate on the first testlet results in a hard testlet for the 2nd, then they'd want a 77% on the first and second testlet, then up to a 100% on the 3rd testlet, so that they always got medium testlets but did as well as possible on them without crossing over into the hard testlet area. I get where you're coming from, Misu…I never tried to do that, but I understand the thought process.

[Missy]

No, not at all. Unless you can say with absolute certainty that you are more likely to get a medium question correct than a hard question. You can't say that at all because of the variety of topics tested. A medium question on the color blue is going to trip you up if you didn't study the color blue, just because its medium in difficulty doesn't mean YOU will know it. A hard question on the color red might be more likely for you to answer correctly if that's where you focused your study time. A question considered hard might be the easiest question YOU see. When the aicpa says you “can” pass with all medium testlets that means there are still enough points available but you'll have to answer more questions correctly. Generally held wisdom says hard 2nd testlet is more likely to produce a pass.

The third testlet is always “medium”. You have more room for error with it if you had a hard 2nd testlet though. You don't have to do “excellent” on testlet 3 unless you had a medium testlet 2.

Getting off track, understanding how the exam is scored isn't going to help you pass. This I can say after being on this forum for five years and having this conversation hundreds of times. You've passed AUD before and I doubt that was the “easiest” of your aud attempts, it just lined up correctly that you had more questions that you understood and less questions that were on your soft areas.

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

[marqzho]

Misu243

I don't think you are correct. For argument sake, let say there are two questions total in the exam. you need to get 2 out of 2 easy question to get a pass where the other hand, you only need to get 1 out 2 difficult question correct to get a pass. How is that a penalized ?

If you answer one easy question incorrect, you are fail.
If you answer one difficult question incorrect, you still have a chance.

REG 90
FAR 95
AUD 98
BEC 84

[Author]

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