[Matthew Krol]

Hey guys,

I took audit in Septemeber and got a 69. I did Becker lectures, and MCQs and Ninja MCQs, no flashcards,and did no simulation problems. When I took the test my first 3 testlets went Easy, Hard, Medium. Then when it came to the sims I felt like i absolutely bombed them considering I had to guess on about 2-3 of them. When I got my score performance back, it said I was weak on 3 sections, comparable on 2 sections, and strong on 1 section. My overall was COMPARABLE on MCs, WEAK on sims.

I immediately resat for audit. I did Becker lectures and MCQs, a lot more Ninja MCQs, made a ton of flashcards and reviewed them, and did no simulation problems. When I took the exam, my first 3 testlets went Easy, Medium, Easy and then I took my time on the sims because they were challenging but I felt like I had only guessed on a few dropboxes. I just got my score back….63!?!?!?!? I am absolutely devasted. I did more work and studied harder and I got 6 points worse??? I got my score performance back and I got weak on 1 section, comparable on 3 sections, and strong on 2 sections. My overall was COMPARABLE for MCQs, WEAK on sims. If my performance was stronger in the MCQs this time around, how did I score 6 points worse? Can someone please let me know? Thank you!

AUD - 79
BEC - NINJA in Training
FAR - 64
REG - NINJA in Training

MJK

[Anonymous]

Possibly you did worse on the SIMS then you did the first time. Also, you may have missed MCQ's that counted for more than others. You may have done well on a lot of sections, but they were easier questions that were not weighted as high. There are so many confusing variables that go into our scores on these exams. You'll never be able to find out exactly.

Just keep studying and don't let it get to you too much.

[Stilgoin]

This is a common recurring theme on this board. I took FAR the week my dad passed- 59. Killed myself the next time and spent – I don’t even want to think about how many more hours- 59. Keep studying and move on. Every exam is different. 😉

Stilgoin, CPA

There are enough critics. Be an encourager

B | 62, 78
A | 73, 67, 79
R | 82
F | 59, 59, Waiting

Ethics | 93

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
~Winston Churchill

“In a world full of critics, be an encourager."

[Anonymous]

I don't remember the specific ranges (if they're even known), but let's pretend that weak/comparable/stronger is split out as:
Weak: < 72
Comparable: 72 – 77
Stronger: > 77

Let's also pretend all 6 MCQ categories are evenly weighted. Then let's assign pretend values to each MCQ section.

Your first exam, we're going to say your MCQs were:
Weak on 3: 55, 61, 64
Comparable on 2: 74, 76
Stronger on 1: 84
1st exam scores would average to 69.

Then your 2nd exam:
Weak on 1: 20
Comparable on 3: 72, 72, 72
Stronger on 2: 78, 78
2nd exam scores average to 65

So, you can see with this numerical example how your MCQs could have had more stronger results in the 2nd exam and still a lower average overall. Throw in the weaker SIMs, and you've got even more range for variation. SIMs are 40% of the grade, so if your SIMs the first time were just barely in the weaker range – say were 71 – and this time were substantially weaker, say 60, then you'd have lost about 4 points off your total grade by having weaker SIMs than last time, even though both are marked “weaker”. It could be that your MCQs improved or the SIMs improved but apparently both didn't improve. You can play with the pretend numbers for last time and this time in many different ways to get the final scores, but given that this is all based off of assumptions, there's not much point. The key is that something MCQs and/or SIMs had a lower overall score this time, regardless of what individual categories were.

My advice to you would be to ignore the score reports and study everything like it's fresh. Figure out what you're missing (given it's AUD, a likely piece is the mindset – AUD is more about learning how to think like an auditor than about memorizing specific details), add it to what you did the first time added to what you did the 2nd time (meaning methods – not that you have to do 3x studying, though 3x studying might not hurt), and pwn it this time.

[Author]

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