Professor Elam

Sunday March 6, 2011

After a recent presentation at an  SA CPA meeting, one guy remarked that he was not a CPA. I commented that the difference was only four or five correct answers to multiple choice questions. Someone laughed suggesting I sounded like a college professor. Well, as a matter of fact, that is the difference for thousands of people that do not make the grade. 

Modern mass testing is now virtually all multiple choice questions. Out of necessity, it is hard to 'fairly' grade essays or written answers. And mass testing means candidates expect their grades in short order. 

I passed the Practice part of the CPA exam then a two day nine hour marathon exam with the minimum grade, back then a 75. One of my friends commented that most people who did pass, made that section with the minimum 75 grade. What's the difference, probably about four or five multiple choice answers, figure that is the case across the four exams and bingo, twenty answers makes or breaks you as a certified professional. 

For that reason we will be having quizzes before our exams, this is for practice, but it is very serious practice. Never blow off practice, it is meant to simulate the real thing. You can test your readiness both for test taking (reading, timing, filling in the right answer, being on time, etc)

If you grade exams you will notice that yes there are usually outliers at the top and bottom with very high and very low grades. But the great mass in the middle, a sigma each side of the mean that catches most folks. The difference of even two answers is either side of the A or B or C demarkation. Each answer counts. 

Many people pass three parts of the four and then have a mental block on whatever number four is for them. As I have said, failure leads to an even greater psychological hurdle, knowing that one indeed can fail the exam. Plan to pass the first time. Plan to succeed, never walk in to an exam to 'see what it is like.' If you are unprepared, it is like

HARD.