Stop worrying about testlet difficulty!!!

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Stop worrying about testlet difficulty!!!

21 posts from 11 voices

Started 1 year ago by whitesoxfancpa
Latest reply from Jason

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whitesoxfancpa

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I have seen so many posts of people who are worrying they failed because their testlets did not get harder.

STOP!

Don't think about it. Ever. Not before the exam, not after the exam, and certainly not during the exam. Just take the test and don't think about it!

What's hard for you may not be hard for others and vice versa.
You will get easy questions even in a hard testlet. You will get hard questions even in an easy ("medium") testlet.
If you know the material well, none of it will seem especially harder than others.
You may get questions that the AICPA considers "hard" that were covered in detail in your review program that were a piece of cake for you.
You may get questions that the AICPA considers "easy" that were not covered in your review program at all.
Stop driving yourselves nuts! You CAN pass if your testlets did not seem to get harder. I did on my first two exams.

I took three exams so far:

AUD - all testlets seemed about the same - scored a 96
FAR - all testlets seemed about the same - scored a 95
REG - second and third testlets were way more difficult - waiting on score

REG is my weakest area of the three, so I expect it to be more difficult.

The bottom line is that I performed extremely well on two tests in which I thought the second and third testlets did not get harder. If that happened to me, it can happen to any other candidate as well.

Take a deep breath and enjoy the score release wait!

AUD 96 FAR 95 REG 94 BEC 88
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Posted 1 year ago #
tcpa85

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I couldn't agree more! I didn't notice a change in difficulty and was convinced I failed FAR based on what everyone was saying. Everyone kept talking about how their second testlet was a beast and insanely difficult. I didn't experience anything like that, but I passed.

FAR- 89
AUD- Oct. 2nd
BEC- Nov. 20th
REG- 2011

Posted 1 year ago #
futurecpa1986

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you're definitely right. thanks for this post, whitesoxfancpa!

FAR: Passed
BEC: Passed
AUD: Passed
REG: August 2011

Posted 1 year ago #
potatogun

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Reading about others' experiences can be just as detrimental as helpful when people start to let the idea of what the test is like consume them more than learning the material.

Put in the work, be level-headed, and take it one step at a time. Worrying about the specifics of how the test might work probably won't gain you much. Just take the test; don't let it take you.

FAR 92 - AUD 91 - REG 94 - BEC 86

Posted 1 year ago #
Trevor

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I agree, but look at it a different way... I was not upset or worried that I got an easier 3rd testlet today, was actually excited. The way I see it it gives me a chance to get more points... how? because if I am not answering the tough questions right I am getting zero points, but if I am getting the easy questions right I am at least getting something... I just hope some of those random questions in the testlets were pretest questions, throw them out baby!!

BEC: 73,81(7/6/2010); AUD: 75(5/24/2010); FAR: 76(8/31/2010); REG: 77 (10/18/2010) - DONE!!!!

Posted 1 year ago #
geaux11

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@whitesoxfancpa

Amen, brother. I wanted to say the exact same thing. I noticed NO change in any of my exams. If you are prepared on every topic, they should all be on the same level. Just answer the questions to the best of your ability and conquer the exam.

AUD: 95 (7/14/10)
REG: 94 (7/22/10)
BEC: 87 (7/29/10)
FAR: 95 (8/12/10)

Posted 1 year ago #
Trevor

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@geaux11 - congrats on passing all the exams in such fashion! did you every leave the test site? lol... nice work!!!

BEC: 73,81(7/6/2010); AUD: 75(5/24/2010); FAR: 76(8/31/2010); REG: 77 (10/18/2010) - DONE!!!!

Posted 1 year ago #
Florida_Candidate

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@geaux11 - holy crap!!! did you do a becker fast pass program or anything? That's insane! Great job!

and yeah I second what everyone else is saying. My FAR testlets all seemed the same difficulty and I passed just fine...

FAR-91 (7/29)
AUD-99 (8/23)
BEC-90 (10/1)
REG-99 (11/3)

Posted 1 year ago #
Date4SaturdayNight

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This is a little easier said than done. Every test I have taken I noticed a difference in the level of difficulty in sections 2 & 3... especially FAR, REG, and BEC. I felt like I knew the material, but I could tell that the section 1 questions had some freebies and tests 2 and 3 had questions over more difficult concepts. I agree that it's not smart to be thinking about it during the exam, but something like that is always in the back of your mind while sitting. This thread probably made more people aware about exam difficulty changing throughout the exam, which will make them think about it even more... lol.

I agree with you guys though, you won't pass unless you put in the work. You have to be strong enough mentally so factors like this don't affect you while preparing or sitting.

MO,BECKER
FAR 96 (4/24), AUD 95(5/29), REG 90(7/31), BEC 8/28

Posted 1 year ago #
geaux11

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@Trevor -- lol, it seems like I never left the site! The brutal 4 hours of driving each exam day reminded me that I did though!

@Florida_Candidate -- Actually, I have never opened any Becker material. I attended the University of Northern Iowa, and our last semester there is a CPA Review for FAR, REG, and AUD (with some BEC sprinkled in each course). We are encouraged to take all 4 exams right away in May, but I was 3 hours short of the upper level accounting requirement so I had to wait to receive my transcript before I could apply for my NTS. Hence why I had to wait until the July/August testing window. UNI's accounting program is one of the tops in the country. Great, great program.

AUD: 95 (7/14/10)
REG: 94 (7/22/10)
BEC: 87 (7/29/10)
FAR: 95 (8/12/10)

Posted 1 year ago #
geaux11

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@Trevor & @Florida_Candidate -- thanks for the congratulations as well! I'm sure you guys will be there very soon! Good luck!

AUD: 95 (7/14/10)
REG: 94 (7/22/10)
BEC: 87 (7/29/10)
FAR: 95 (8/12/10)

Posted 1 year ago #
Trevor

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@geaux - I guess UNI has a good program, I would not have been able to come out of college with enough info to do what you did, and I went to one of the better private schools for its size... I hope I am 3/4 of the way there without knowing it, but it is really hard to say. Also I think REG should be decent, I have mostly done taxes in my career (2 yrs lol) so... Thanks

BEC: 73,81(7/6/2010); AUD: 75(5/24/2010); FAR: 76(8/31/2010); REG: 77 (10/18/2010) - DONE!!!!

Posted 1 year ago #
whonis2002

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whitesoxfancpa your on the money..... thanks for the advise (Dodgers fan)

FAR 75 REG 79, AUD (Probably Jan 2011), BEC (TBA)

Posted 1 year ago #
geaux11

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@Trevor -- I believe each year that UNI's pass rate is ~45% for students passing all four parts the first attempt. Pretty crazy. Have you liked doing taxes? I start work Oct. 1 and that's what I will primarily be doing.

AUD: 95 (7/14/10)
REG: 94 (7/22/10)
BEC: 87 (7/29/10)
FAR: 95 (8/12/10)

Posted 1 year ago #
whitesoxfancpa

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whonis,

Thanks for Manny. I hope he could do for the Sox what he did for the Dodgers in 2008.

AUD 96 FAR 95 REG 94 BEC 88

Posted 1 year ago #
whonis2002

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whitesoxfancpa... dawn that waiver claim that gives whitesox exclusive rights to make a deal to acquire Ramirez. :) Well I guess he wasn't feeling LA anymore.

FAR 75 REG 79, AUD (Probably Jan 2011), BEC (TBA)

Posted 1 year ago #
financeguy

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Manny is so weird...he was worth putting up w/ his weird antics in his prime, but once he got busted for roids he hasn't been so great.

AUD - 81, BEC - 74, 80, FAR - 82, REG - 81
Done!

Posted 1 year ago #
whitesoxfancpa

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Last season: .914 OPS
This season: .949 OPS

Manny is still a tremendous hitter.

AUD 96 FAR 95 REG 94 BEC 88

Posted 1 year ago #
geaux11

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Manny is one of my favorite hitters of all time (this coming from a Yankees fan). He is still a tremendous hitter, but he's only played 134 out of ~297 games in the last two years.

AUD: 95 (7/14/10)
REG: 94 (7/22/10)
BEC: 87 (7/29/10)
FAR: 95 (8/12/10)

Posted 1 year ago #
financeguy

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yeah he is a tremendous hitter still, but not worth the money that the dodgers paid for him imo

I'm an A's fan...I would love to have manny...he is one of my favorite players to watch. Haha remember when he cut of the throw from center field?

AUD - 81, BEC - 74, 80, FAR - 82, REG - 81
Done!

Posted 1 year ago #
Jason

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Hi guys,

Basically the test difficulty from what I've experienced is the harder testlets have about 2 or 3 super long questions that are difficult and a maybe 3 or 4 tricky ones, and the rest of the questions are the same. It doesn't mean the whole testlet will be hard. If you get a testlet near the end that has a few questions that are like two paragraphs then you are doing well on the exam. However, do not worry about it during the test just answer the question in front of you to the best of your ability.

I was worried about test difficulty during BEC, and come to find out after that the exam wasn't even adaptive. You can see that I did not do well on BEC. So please, Do not test your nerves during the test just do the best that you can. If you put in the time, you will come up with the right answer.

FAR 81, BEC 75, AUDIT 92 ,Reg 88

Posted 1 year ago #