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California CPA Exam Scores Were Like Really, Really Late But It’s All Good Now, Brah

Posted on by Adrienne Gonzalez

This morning I planned to let you know about an ongoing situation involving the California Board of Accountancy and hordes of angry CPA exam candidates, but wouldn’t you know, just as I fired up the ole CRM to write the post, the situation was magically resolved. I figured I’d go ahead and update anyway in case any Twitter-averse California CPA exam candidates are out there waiting for an update.

So here’s what happened. After scores were released last Friday, the CBA announced “an unexpected outage” that would delay scores. California candidates are already used to their special system (not to be confused with the streamlined NASBA service a majority of states use) but this was like next-level delay.

Naturally, candidates were not pleased about this, but to their credit, they were insanely polite about it all weekend.

Unfortunately for them, asking for updates didn’t really get them much of one. CBA responded with the same canned text each time:

We will post the scores as soon as they become available. We do not have an ETA at this time. Thank you for your patience. As the scores become available, they will automatically update on the client accounts.

By this point in the story, the already tightly-wound CPA exam candidates usually start throwing a fit, hurling expletives, spamming disappointment memes, and threatening to burn down entire villages to avenge their honor. But I have to give it to this bunch of candidates, they kept their cool all weekend. I know the stereotype of the “chill Californian” is played out at this point, but as a former Californian myself, I have to say I’m not really surprised everyone behaved.

Monday came and went, still no scores. And still no big candidate freakouts. You guys make me so proud.

But here we are, Tuesday morning and still nothing. CBA got around to posting an update but let’s just say it was less than informative.

Had this thing dragged out any longer I think we would have gotten some Grade A candidate rants, but lucky for the CBA, no sooner did they post an update than the issue was resolved. Just like that.

So there you have it: The anti-climactic non-saga of the California Board of Accountancy’s outdated system letting candidates down and candidates being mostly OK with it because folks just do things differently out west.

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Four Time Management Tips for the CPA Exam

The subject of time management can be a sore one for CPA exam candidates, mostly the ones who have taken and failed at least one part knowing this was largely due to blowing too much time on a particular section or dedicating too much time to one component, like MCQ, and not nearly enough on simulations.

In order to combat this problem, it’s critical to set yourself a little countdown clock on your scratch paper as soon as you sit down at the computer to make sure you are leaving yourself plenty of time when you need it most.


Always allow 45 minutes for each simulation – Be sure to do each written communication first as only one is graded but you don’t know which and it’s an easy 10 points if you at least manage to scribble something down, even if you don’t have time to get through all the simulation tabs you can still pass if you have done the communications. It’s a crapshoot but stranger things have happened.

No more than a minute and a half on each multiple choice question – Add up the number of MCQ in a testlet and count up, writing the time you should be finished on your scratch paper. Let’s say you’re taking FAR and started at 10 am; you will need 45 minutes for each testlet if you are going to have 45 minutes left over for each simulation. So by 10:45, you should be on testlet 2, by 11:30, you’re on to testlet 3. That leaves you plenty of time for the sims. For REG, you’ve only got about 1.25 minutes per MCQ as you’ve got 3 hours total to get through the entire thing. If you’re doing well on time, go back and check the MCQ you marked for review (if any) otherwise trudge on to the next part and never take a break! You don’t have time!

And remember: never leave any questions blank! GUESS! – If you get it wrong, it’s wrong. If you get it right, you’re smarter and/or luckier than you thought and are that much closer to your CPA. The exam is a plus-point basis exam meaning you don’t lose points for wrong answers, you can only add points as you go.

If you’re short on time, forget the research – If you are running out of time on the simulations, try to complete as much as you can in each tab and blow off the research, as yet it isn’t worth much. This may change when CBT-e hits in 2011 but for now, it’s not worth it if you don’t have the time. You’d be better off reviewing your written communication if you only have two or three minutes to spare.

You learned all about time management when studying for the exam so take that knowledge into the testing center and knock ’em dead!

Adrienne Gonzalez is the founder of Jr. Deputy Accountant, a former CPA wrangler and a Going Concern contributor . You can see more of her posts here and all posts on the CPA Exam here.