The computerized CPA exam: A first-hand account

Note: The following account of the new computerized CPA exam was provided by Tomorrow's CPA member Laura Wisman.

"Honestly, I liked the computerized version better. I first took the exam in May 2003 and, after conditioning, actually waited to try it! It was a bit awkward — you had to keep clicking back and forth between the calculator and the main screen to enter the answers, but other than that, I thought it was great. The simulations were essentially the same as the other objective format questions were on the written, but at least now, you don't leave with a sore hand!

"The BEC section was the more stressful of the two sections I took. Since it was mainly new material (very little of which I learned in college), it was almost like no one knew exactly what to expect. I used the Becker course, and they said over and over that they really weren't sure a lot of the material they covered would be on the exam, but it was better to get the main concepts down.

"I would have to say, though, the best thing about the new format and testing is the flexibility in scheduling. Due to the NASBA / Maryland law issues, my testing was actually a little more crammed then I would have liked, but I ended up taking one part on May 10 (the earliest I could schedule). I then took the following three weeks to do my final review of the second part, which worked out incredibly well. That way, I wasn't cramming it all into the same time constraints. I figured if there was flexibility, I'd use it!

"One thing I would recommend to anyone else taking the exam is to be a bit wary of the new system and 18-month rule. I might not be understanding this correctly, so please pardon my ignorance if I don't. There are four testing windows per year and you need to pass all four parts in six. If you were only to take one part per window, that would allow you only two parts to need to take over. If you have passed three parts of the exam by the fifth out of six windows and are banking on that last window, if you don't pass, do you lose all conditioning since the 18-month time frame has expired? I mean, theoretically, since you only have to study for one part at a time (if you want), you should plan accordingly to really nail the section and thus do better overall than when you had to take all four at once. But while the new system seems pretty nice at first, if I'm understanding it correctly, it might be deceptively laid back!

"I hope this information can be passed on to someone who can use it!"