[Need2Pass]

I just got my results and I failed audit miserably. i’m too ashamed to even put my score on here. Problem is I can’t understand how i did so awful. Really should I just give this up? I answered all m/c and thought, yes they were challenging but nothing surprising….then the simulations, were time consuming but again nothing surprising. The only thing I can think of is that I don’t “get” simulations. I thought I answered the 2nd one 100% right. the first one was a bit challenging in that I wasn’t sure what they truly wanted…..

Any advice on what to do? i studied for 2 months! over 100 hours. I used only gleim. And went over and over questions with a 90% success rate. Any one have suggestions? I haven’t taken any other parts as I wanted to try one section before i paid for all four and stressed myself further.

I can tell my husband is so disappointed in me. It was my life for 2 months, then to wait 6 weeks to find a failing score is so disheartening. I don’t dare tell my parents who have been waiting forever for me to get this far…….

Seriously if you failed miserably is it worth going forward? It is quite a bit of money to pay for these tests. How does every one keep up the faith after not passing the first, second or even third time. I need to know. I totally know I’m not an idiot, just a freaking horrible test taker.

I am so sad, angry and I don’t know confused. Please give me advice on what to do and if you didn’t pass the first time, how you picked yourself up to study the material AGAIN!

[Anonymous]

Need2Pass,,, I understand your frustations 100%

I failed BEC twice with a 74 and I was miserable because of it, and I recently took thinking I failed.

From what you have written, you seemed very devoted and committed to passing this exam, and don't loose this!!

I used Yeager CPA Review to review for this exam and I had a good time preparing with the course lecturer Gary B., who does an absolutely fantastic job with teaching the Auditing section.

My study strategy is this,, I have a big binder,, i watch the lecture, take notes, do questions, highlight, highlight, highlight,, as i do the questions i look in the back of the Wiley Book that comes with the Yeager CPA review book and would write one or two sentences about the question and maybe another one for further clarification if I messed up on one.

Good Luck and Happy New Year!!! And Don't Give UP!!! : )

[Anonymous]

Need2Pass

I am not sure what failed miserably means in terms of score. But I doubt that the feeling is much different among CPA candidates who scores anything less than a 75. I also failed AUD as my first exam with a 73. I was ticked, confused and felt I should have passed. From reading your post, I get the sense that the biggest disappointment was that you let your family down. I know when I received my failing score after waiting 70+ days, I felt I had let my family down since they sacrifice much in leaving me alone to study (I have a full time job and six children). Just to throw a stat your way, less than 30% of all CPA candidates pass all four exams first time. Approximately 50% of all CPA candidates fail the exam each window.

Should you give up. HECK NO!!! Have you received your diagnostic report for the exam yet. This will tell you where you were weak at and whether it was multiple choice questions, simulations or written communication and by how much compared to those who passed the exam scoring between 75-80. It was difficult for me study for a retake because my program was employer driven and we were starting FAR section so I did not have the opportunity to study AUD for a retake. Here I was with a failed AUD score and study FAR which is the largest amount of material and which everyone calls the beast. It was very difficult to get motivate for FAR, but I just set a study schedule for FAR and stuck to it while totally ingnoring AUD. I tested for FAR on Aug 2 and on Aug 3, I started restudying for AUD after a nearly 4 month break from my first exam. I studied for approximately 55 hours over 3 weeks going over all the material from start to finish. I couldn't take any longer since our BEC section was starting. Even though I did not open my AUD book for 4 months, the studying seemed more like a review. I spent approximately 175 hours on FAR over 10 weeks and received a passing score just days before my retaking the AUD exam. This all happen over July and August which really felt like a 2 month cram of CPA material. Nights and weekends. I barely remember anything I did that wasn't related to the CPA exam during that time frame. It was horrible.

I am using Becker, again not my choice employer selected. I do not have any information on GLEIM material but most of the review courses have the same basic questions from the AICPA. You need to evaluate your study habits, are you getting quality study time. Are you tracking your study time? Ensure you concentrate on learning the concepts and not memorizing the questions which is easy to do. Are you taking notes on the material. I am not a notetaker, but some candidates swear by it. For AUD, where you very familiar practically memorize the different audit reports and the location of the explanatory paragraphs. You need to know the internal control concepts, auditing standards, assertions, etc. The diagnostic report should help to determine where your weak areas are,

This forum is great, if you read through the post, I know you will find many inspirational stories, study plans, and tips to help you on this journey. Feel free to ask questions, you will get many answers/suggestions. We are all here to help each other for no one understands what a CPA candidate is going through unless they have been there. Good Luck and it is often said that the CPA exam is one of perserverance.

[strider4216]

Lee-IN

those stats seem a bit high..according to Becker less than 10% pass the first time, and typically pass rates are anywhere from 30-50% per section, so I'd say more around 55-60% of people don't pass on each sitting. Those odds aren't good, and hopefully they make you feel better about the non-pass.

To the OP:

I know Becker CPA review is expensive, but you can typically find the materials on Craigslist for very cheap, I would highly recommend it for Audit. If you got a 90% on all your study materials and studied that much, I'm confident it's not you but your review course that is the problem. Don't give up hope, and remember that this credential will pay off huge in the long run.

As for Becker, I took Audit with Becker having never seen any auditing material in my life (never took it in college or worked in audit) and I passed the first time, I think they did a really good job with the lectures/multiple choice and if you put all those hrs into Becker I'm pretty confident you'll pass.

Don't let your score get you down, sometimes luck plays a huge role, most of the time on the CPA exam I've noticed it's narrowing questions down and getting lucky that have to do with a lot of it, and maybe you were just unlucky. Keep your hope up and don't worry about what others think, nobody understands what you are going through but the people who are also going through it. Even the people who've gone through it before often forget how bad it was. Good luck to you, I hope you pass next time 🙂

[Anonymous]

I have passed 3 of 4 sections of the Exam with Gleim online and the CD with the multiple choice questions. I actually only use Gleim online to always have updated outlines but I really like their system. They have a lot more options with Gleim online. You get to practice True/False, Multiple Choice and the Sims for each chapter.

I have AUD for the 2nd time tomorrow morning and am finishing up the last chapter right now. Good luck!

PS: Gleim also has an online SIM practice where each section of the exam has a full practice sim for each chapter. This may also be helpful to you if your main concern is being prepared for the sims.

[Anonymous]

Need2Pass,

I have always been a horrible standardized test taker, so I knew that I needed a great review course…I decided to use Becker. I know its expensive, but worth every penny in my opinion! I passed my first exam with a 94.

My graduate school provides us with Gleim, so I tried it out AFTER completing my Becker review and about a week before taking my exam. I was failing very bad and it freaked me out. One of my classmates, who had already passed most sections by using Becker, had to calm me down and explained how Becker worked verses Gleim.

I agree with Strider…if you were committed to studying that much, it has to be your review software and not you.

Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't touch Gleim with a 10 foot pole.

[Need2Pass]

Thank you everyone for the advice and comments. They are much appreciated and really needed.

Deep inside I know I need to get back on the horse and I actually tried to yesterday. I have Becker home study material for 2009 (from ex-coworker, she hasn't passed either). I started to reread the chapters and honestly every thing is super familiar. I mean I was doing homework questions and totally knew these answers. So how do I end up not passing? I think Strider is right, it is partial luck, the rest is my terrible test taking skills.

I can tell you guys that I finished up the m/c questions pretty fast. I had over an hour to work on each simulation. And with the m/c I was able to narrow the answer down to 2 if I didn't absolutley know the answer.

So I'm thinking that maybe I ended up memorizing these questions on some level? Maybe I need to work backwards. Like learn the explanations to the answers and try to figure out what is being asked? I don't know but i do need advice on how to retackle this.

If I don't fall back into the worthlessness I felt for 2 days, I'll reschedule this for the end of Feb and plan another 7 weeks on studying. I can commit 30 hours per week so if anyone has ideas on what works and how to organize, please share.

Again, thank you to everyone for the support and comments.

[gmb]

I highly recommend using the Becker text books. The topics that they focus on are high yield. I feel that it is important to focus on the main concepts and not get bogged down in the detail. If you can master the main concepts in Becker, you will pass.

I also feel that Gliem offers the best practice questions. They are relatively cheaps (about $50 a section) and have the best answer explanations. (This is what I mainly focused on).

These are the materials that I used and I felt that they prepared me well.

FAR-88, AUD-94, BEC-87, REG-90

[Anonymous]

I used Becker for AUD and it worked great. On the MC questions before you look at the answer try to explain why the wrong answers are incorrect. Read all the answer solutions including the incorrect choices. Reading the solutions repeatedly drills in into your mind. I put in about 90 hours over 3-4 weeks with Becker and felt great during the test. You can see my blog (linked below) for the day by day how/what I did as well as a good post on my Becker AUD thoughts.

[Anonymous]

Need2Pass-

Please don't give up! I am a horrible test taker also. (you can see how horrible by the # of times I've taken this-studying for #14 now & will take #15 in Feb since I lost BEC in Nov)

All I can tell you is that:

1. It IS easier to restudy a section b/c information will come back to you easier than you think

2. The people that pass the exam on the 1st time are a VERY big exception. I don't mean this bad against those that pass it but I have to keep reminding myself “they are the weird ones, not me! I'm in the normal range of people that take the exam!” It works for me to keep my confidence up so I go with it-again I mean no harm to you rockstars out there! 🙂

3. If your hubby & parents are disappointed in you, they may not be understanding the statistics of people who fail vs pass each time. And just b/c you were smart in college, it has no meaning to your chances at passing the exam. I am lucky in this aspect as my mom is a CPA so she knows exactly how hard the exam is & my hubby is back in college after being out for 7 yrs so he knows how hard it is to study.

4. If you pass the 1st time, you could be missing out on a mentoring session for future employees at your firm when they are starting to take the time. I promise you this-I have 2 coworkers who passed the 1st time & started when I did. We now have 2 employees who are getting ready to start studying-they are coming to me for advice rather than those who passed the 1st time b/c they know I have experience in the exam. Great mentoring experience for me 🙂

5. Use this forum-it really can be a lifeline! Whether it's to vent or if you are confused on a question-someone here has had the same ? and can offer different ways to explain it to you.

Good luck & keep your head up! It's us against the AICPA & people pass their final parts everyday! Someday it will be our turn!

[Anonymous]

Need2Pass:

Seems to me like you have a big problem if you're afraid to post a failing score on an anonymous forum. Maybe you have the same fear of the exam.

[Need2Pass]

Tim, excellent point. I appreciate the comment. Maybe i am afraid of the exam. Don't know, haven't dug deep enough for that one. I really think that my not wanting to post the grade is because it really sucked. And not that you know me, it's just I know me and I can't even face to type it.

To everyone else (& u 2 Tim) thanks for the add'l posts. sounds like Becker is probably the one I should focus on. I just got my results in the mail and the section that really did me in was Information. I have to pull out my material and see what i don't get about that.

[Author]

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