[jyoung117]

You can see how many times I took audit, best advice is to take your time like others have said and make sure you are answering the right question.

I know something that kept killing me with the sims was that I kept getting the same sim question and I would change the way I interpreted the question which changed my answer and I had no idea if I was right or wrong. I really wish they’d give you your sim answers with your test results.

There are so many different types of sim questions that I don’t think it would be helpful to actually practice them, knowing the concepts would be more beneficial and if you are unsure on a question you can always use the codifications they give you access to and research if you have time.

I took my first exam in AUG 2013, so glad they have access until you pass material updates

AUD - 56, 59, 65, 74, 62, 69, 70, 74, 70, 74, 81
BEC - 74, 73, 75
REG - 74, 74
FAR - TBD

[jyoung117]

What do you think made it unique?

I took my first exam in AUG 2013, so glad they have access until you pass material updates

AUD - 56, 59, 65, 74, 62, 69, 70, 74, 70, 74, 81
BEC - 74, 73, 75
REG - 74, 74
FAR - TBD

[jyoung117]

Thank you @Painted_Jeans 🙂 I hope that ends up being the case for me, I actually struggled with audit because I learn best by experience and I never really worked in the audit field. I’m hoping FAR ends up being easier for me since I actually work or have worked with a lot of FAR type topics but we will see.

I took my first exam in AUG 2013, so glad they have access until you pass material updates

AUD - 56, 59, 65, 74, 62, 69, 70, 74, 70, 74, 81
BEC - 74, 73, 75
REG - 74, 74
FAR - TBD

[jyoung117]

Update on this, I ended up
Passing with a 75!

I took my first exam in AUG 2013, so glad they have access until you pass material updates

AUD - 56, 59, 65, 74, 62, 69, 70, 74, 70, 74, 81
BEC - 74, 73, 75
REG - 74, 74
FAR - TBD

[jyoung117]

Hey mj44,

I had a very similar experience minus the bladder part; I got the written communication section with 20 minutes left.

I got through the first one with 11 minutes left, started writing the second and pretty much ended it short with 2 minutes left and just wrote down key words for the 3rd as time ran out. Like yours, there were a lot of calculations, and similar to you had taken enough exams and gotten even 74s and below to know that I needed every point I could get to pass (I have about 6 74s to my name now between aud, bec and reg). The worst part is that the WC questions would have been the easiest on the test since I’d pretty much experienced the situations I was writing about in real life.

I got my score today and somehow someway I managed to get a 75, so not finishing is not a death sentence (I actually made the exact same post about two weeks ago haha).

Best advice is just take a little break and start studying for your next one. Continuing to think and worry about it will only increase your mental fatigue as you start studying again.

Good luck and I hope this helps a little!

I took my first exam in AUG 2013, so glad they have access until you pass material updates

AUD - 56, 59, 65, 74, 62, 69, 70, 74, 70, 74, 81
BEC - 74, 73, 75
REG - 74, 74
FAR - TBD

[jyoung117]

Thanks for the responses, makes me feel a little better knowing others have not finished and passed still.

I took my first exam in AUG 2013, so glad they have access until you pass material updates

AUD - 56, 59, 65, 74, 62, 69, 70, 74, 70, 74, 81
BEC - 74, 73, 75
REG - 74, 74
FAR - TBD

[jyoung117]

It could be as easy as misinterpreting the sims question when you get a score in the 60s

I took my first exam in AUG 2013, so glad they have access until you pass material updates

AUD - 56, 59, 65, 74, 62, 69, 70, 74, 70, 74, 81
BEC - 74, 73, 75
REG - 74, 74
FAR - TBD

[jyoung117]

When are you taking your exam?
What exam topic keeps you awake at night?
One study or career tip others might find helpful.

Hey I’m joe, I’m taking audit hopefully in the first week of September (baby coming first week of August so we will see what happens). The topic that keeps me up at night is not so much a topic, but simulations. Even when I know the material well I sometimes have trouble with what is being asked on simulations and often overthink my answer. For example, there’s a new process introduced to a company how does it effect risk, i start out thinking well that will increase detection risk but then I know that if you introduce a new process you will do more work so it will lower detection risk.

I think my best career advice is to ask questions and take notes. I always refer back to old notes and I even have a process folder I have for monthly tasks that I pull out whenever month end comes around just so I don’t miss a step.

I took my first exam in AUG 2013, so glad they have access until you pass material updates

AUD - 56, 59, 65, 74, 62, 69, 70, 74, 70, 74, 81
BEC - 74, 73, 75
REG - 74, 74
FAR - TBD

[jyoung117]

I was wondering if anyone had any good Mnemonic Devices for REG; I know when I took Audit they had a lot in the Becker stuff, but I'm using Wiley now and I didn't recall seeing any. I do still need to go through my Ninja notes, but I don't recall any during the Ninja audio for REG either (I remember some coming from the Ninja audio for AUD also).

I took my first exam in AUG 2013, so glad they have access until you pass material updates

AUD - 56, 59, 65, 74, 62, 69, 70, 74, 70, 74, 81
BEC - 74, 73, 75
REG - 74, 74
FAR - TBD

[jyoung117]

I think it depends on what type of role you would enjoy more, the accounting role is more accuracy and looking backwards while the analyst role is more of a looking forward role.

At the company I'm at, I was in an accountant role and was eventually offered an analyst role which I took and personally I'm enjoying it (although I'm doing both jobs at the moment until we can hire a new person). The accounting job was repetitive for the most part, once I was in a rythym it was very routine. Even though I'm still new to this new position I can already see that it will be a lot of different challenges from day to day that will require more of a problem solving approach. Currently there are what if scenarios about how my company will move forward (recently switched CEOs) and I get to do a lot of projections on different cases which I find fun and challenging. My company isn't probably a medium size company edging more towards the small side so I am the only analyst (manager of FP&A left so I basically took his role but at a lower level), so my input goes a long way. I am definitely glad I went the analyst route but I have a very outside the box thinking mind that's very inquisitive but I think the fit is more to what you enjoy. If the position is higher up on the analyst chain, you may be required to do presentations to the leadership team, so if you wouldn't like that, that may be something to think about.

Oh also, I would say I end up working longer hours than when I was in an accountant position, but then again I am working both jobs at the moment.

I took my first exam in AUG 2013, so glad they have access until you pass material updates

AUD - 56, 59, 65, 74, 62, 69, 70, 74, 70, 74, 81
BEC - 74, 73, 75
REG - 74, 74
FAR - TBD

[jyoung117]

I consider it a promotion, it should be more money (I am meeting with the COO Tuesday and if I still want it then it's mine and then we will talk money), but in reality it is probably more of a lateral movement. They are pretty much creating the role since after our manager of FP&A left, they didn't think it was necessary to have someone at that level.

I think they are definitely confident in me, as I said earlier, the manager of FP&A was our only FP&A guy so when he left, I took more of an analytical role on our cash forecasting and they thought I did a pretty good job. They pretty much came to me to see if I wanted it before they put a job ad out probably because they might be able to save more money moving me over and filling my role.

For goals, the main thing on my mind is passing the CPA, I absolutely need to list out goals both short term and long term, but at the moment I am stuck on whether I would want to go back in to public and aim for a partner position somewhere or start my own firm or shoot for a CFO/CEO position. I definitely think it would be beneficial for the CFO/CEO role and probably even the partner role, with the little exposure to it I've had, I have really enjoyed doing it, possibly because it's new and challenging but it looks like it would be something where it's constantly something new that you are digging into and analyzing.

They mentioned that I would be making suggestions and decisions on different things and where the company goes so that's going to be exciting and scary at the same time but I think ultimately I will do a lot more growing in this position than any of my other positions.

I took my first exam in AUG 2013, so glad they have access until you pass material updates

AUD - 56, 59, 65, 74, 62, 69, 70, 74, 70, 74, 81
BEC - 74, 73, 75
REG - 74, 74
FAR - TBD

[jyoung117]

[cpa exam]

The flags are your friends, if you are stuck between two answers, mark the question and move on, sometime another question will jog your memory and help on a prior question. This will allow you to move on and then go back and know how much time you have allotted to that section left. If you have 10 extra minutes on a section you won't feel rushed when you go back to that question.

Bonus:
plan and allocate your time for each section. you want to make sure you have time for the sims at the end

I took my first exam in AUG 2013, so glad they have access until you pass material updates

AUD - 56, 59, 65, 74, 62, 69, 70, 74, 70, 74, 81
BEC - 74, 73, 75
REG - 74, 74
FAR - TBD

[jyoung117]

Oh also going to try to listen to ninja audio while I work, probably won't help too much but I figured if I can remember one thing a day it could be helpful.

I took my first exam in AUG 2013, so glad they have access until you pass material updates

AUD - 56, 59, 65, 74, 62, 69, 70, 74, 70, 74, 81
BEC - 74, 73, 75
REG - 74, 74
FAR - TBD

[jyoung117]

I may try reading splitting my studying like an hour or two in the morning then 2-3 hours at night.

I am thinking of reading through the book this week(cpaexcel or I have a 2015 rogers cram book), reading through ninja notes a couple times each week, and then doing two weeks of mcq and hoping that's good enough.

I took my first exam in AUG 2013, so glad they have access until you pass material updates

AUD - 56, 59, 65, 74, 62, 69, 70, 74, 70, 74, 81
BEC - 74, 73, 75
REG - 74, 74
FAR - TBD

[jyoung117]

2nd time taking it, but the first time was about a year ago so it might as well be my first.

I have pretty much just written ninja notes for corp governance, performance measures, risk management, financial planning and analysis, and half of the economics.

I have take about 60 mcq.

I took my first exam in AUG 2013, so glad they have access until you pass material updates

AUD - 56, 59, 65, 74, 62, 69, 70, 74, 70, 74, 81
BEC - 74, 73, 75
REG - 74, 74
FAR - TBD

[Author]

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