Saturday, April 10, 2010

Hmmmmm

4 days remaining (adjusted to final test date - saved 9 days over October 2009 estimate)
Mood - Unsure
Study Time – 4.0 hours (397.5 total - FAR: 117.5 - BEC: 74.5 - REG: 118.0 - AUD: 89.5)
Scores:  AUD-94, REG-97, BEC-93

I just scored the lowest I've scored on any practice final exam of any section.  By my calculation I 66 before any consideration of the written.  While I am nervous about the written in general, I've done average to better than average on the actual exams.  If you add 5 points for the written that puts me at a practice final exam #1 score of 71.  This is a couple of points lower than what I did on the second BEC one where I got a 73.  All in it isn't too horrible.  I've done at least 12 points and as much as 20 points better on the actual exam, which would put me at 83-91.  I expect this exam to actually be my lowest, but I should be ok based on this practice final exam.  Obviously I'd like to be higher, but it should be good enough.

Onto the practice exam itself.  I had 3 RTCDQ issues (2 in MC, 1 in a simulation).  These are pretty silly mistakes that I should know better.  I had 5 misses that I consider stupid.  These are basic things that I know that I just plain missed (net of tax, mis-added/math error).  While I'm sure I'll miss some on the actual exam, between these two areas I lost 5-7 points on the exam.  If I could get half of those back I'd have gotten a 74 or 75.  Three of the questions I knew the topic being asked but due to piss-poor wording in the questions and answers missed them.  I'll see a couple like this in the exam and they are frustrating there too.  I just have to remember there is nothing to be done about them and do what I can without wasting time.  

On the timing I am ok.  I am not getting through the MC as fast as I would like, but my goal on the MC question timing is a bit unrealistic.  I want to have an hour for each simulation so that I can spend extra time on the written.  This means I have to do the MC in 2 hours which is like 1.5 minutes per question.  This just isn't practical or reasonable.  If I can get 45 minutes on each simulation I should still be in good shape.  On the practice final exam #1 I had a bit over 30 minutes to work on each written.  It is less than I'd like and less than I've actually used on the other exams, but I'll have to make due.

2 comments:

  1. This may sound like a dumb question but how do you grade your tests with simulations? I know MC are 70% and that written communication is 10% but do you just allocate the other 20% evenly by averaging the scores that Becker gives you? I just do not know how to check how I am doing on these practice tests.

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  2. This is not a bad question at all. There is no way to mimic the actual exam scoring. The best I've come up with is to look at it mostly on a correct percentage basis. When grading your simulations you have to look carefully. I did a journal entry out of order (Debit B first instead of Debit A) and it marked it as wrong, although the entry was correct.

    I take # of correct MC / 90 questions = MC%. I then multiply that by .7 (for the 70% of the score from the MC). I then count up the total number of answers items in both simulations and the number I got correct. I count each research as an additional item (you have to look to see if you got it correct, the computer won't grade it for you). # of items correct / # of items available = % on simulations. I then multiply that by .2 (for the 20% the simulations count for). I add the two number together and that is my score for the exam before counting the written part. Since I've always hated the written part my goal has always been to get a 75 before counting any points for the written. I have done average on one written and above average on the other. I figure I can get 5 out of the 10 points on the written. I add 5 to my previous number and I have an estimated score. It isn't an exact art, but its the best I've come up with.

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