Principles Of Accounting - The End Is Near

[jwturner421]

I'm scheduled to take the test this Thursday. I've been studying all day and just took my last Peterson's practice test. In the past two days I've scored a 54% on both tests getting 42 out of 78 right. At this point I'm not sure what else I can do to prepare or if I am even absorbing any more material. Managerial Accounting is not making too much sense. I suppose I should take something from the fact that I passed all three practice exams and that the CLEP is supposedly easier than the Peterson.

To all those taking the test this week, good luck....

[iwannapass]

Dont feel alone. I am taking it too on "Thursday. I feel you on the Managerial part. Way over my head. I am just praying real hard right now. I haven't even got a passing on the petersens yet. my last score was 42. Good luck to you!!!

[Matymus]

Prayer is the best advice I can give at this point. There comes a certain point when you've done all you can & you just take the plunge.

[4dkids]

My last Peterson's was a 42% also. I feel so unprepared and still struggling. I may not want to waste the money on the test. Anyone pull out of intended test date before? Would you take a deep breath and go?:o

[snazzlefrag]

Dont feel alone. I am taking it too on "Thursday. I feel you on the Managerial part. Way over my head. I am just praying real hard right now. I haven't even got a passing on the petersens yet. my last score was 42. Good luck to you!!!

Hey All,

At no point did I grasp EVERY accounting concept while I was studying for Principles of Accounting. Nor did I NEED to grasp every concept to pass the exam.

Remember that most questions on the exam will be in the AVERAGE range of difficulty. Then there will be some that are just plain easy, and some that are crazy difficult.

The key is to make sure that you know ALL the basic principles, concepts, definitions etc., like the back of your hand.

Next, give learning the harder concepts your best shot. Just keep battling away at them and see what sticks.

As for the REALLY difficult stuff (you'll know when you have hit this stuff because your ears will start to bleed)....I never fully grasped it, nor did I spend much time TRYING to grasp it...I'm not an accountant, and the exam is called PRINCIPLES of Accounting. So I read over the very difficult stuff, scared myself senseless, and then quickly backed off.

Do you get what I am saying?

When I was studying for this exam, every time I found myself in shark infested waters, I quickly swam back towards shore and the safety of the BASICS.

I sucked at the most difficult concepts....but you'd better believe I knew the ins and outs of all the basic and average difficulty stuff. It got me a 68 on the exam.

If you spend too much time trying (possibly in vain) to learn the truly advanced stuff, you will waste time that could have been better spent MASTERING the easier stuff.

Let's imagine that the exam is made up of 100 questions. Now let's break it down this way (for the sake of argument)...

20 Very Difficult Questions
60 Average Difficulty Questions
20 Very Easy Questions
---
100 Total Questions

Let's remind ourselves that EVERY question, no matter how easy or how hard, is worth exactly the same as any other question on the exam.

You've got the "20 Very Easy" questions pretty much covered. You could get those correct even if you hadn't studied. The issue now is....do you invest your time mastering the "Average" (possible 60 points), or do you invest your time trying to master the "Very Difficult" (possible 20 points)?

Which will likely bear most fruit on the exam?

Hope that helps,
Snazzlefrag

[hsing]

We have 2 'young men' in our household taking the test tomorrow, Thursday, at 1 pm. They have been using IC and principlesofaccounting.com the past 2.5 weeks. All 'entertainment' has been on hold and all spare moments have been spent studying.

One does not work full time, heading to a 4 week Bible camp soon, and has had time to do some work on accountingcoach.com He also took computerized accounting at the county skills center last year and feels he can pass, although managerial is still pretty foreign. He wants to be an accountant - but after all this - not in managerial . He scored 58, 54, and 59% on the Petersons. He has been helping coach his older brother when possible. We'll give you the results tomorrow evening.

They both passed US History I 3 weeks ago and the older one has taken and passed AIL. (The 18 yo will do that soon - maybe next week..)

We are grateful for all the helpful posts. They would not be as successful w/o all of you (especially Snag and Joanne..) and all of your time!! Jon and Dan will appreciate any and all prayers!

Thanks!
mom of 2 budding ADL (IC aided) students

[jwturner421]

Snazzlefrag--Thank you for your helpful post. I've been trying to understand some of the more esoteric concepts while in reality I should be focusing on BASICS. Most of the questions I missed on the Peterson test were due to my not picking up a small point, perpetual vs periodic for inventory calculations for example. The test is 78 questions. I know we do not know how they score it, but does not Collegeboard claim that the CLEP test is designed so that the average person with an average grasp of the material can answer half the questions and pass?

I believe that I have the basics down or know enough to eliminate wrong answers and make an educated guess. I'm stressing over the test because the range of material to choose questions from is so broad it feels impossible to prepare for it. This is my first CLEP test, so I do not know what to expect.

I will run through Principles of Accounting again and IC tonight and focus on areas that I still feel uncomfortable that relate to concepts and less on the minutia.

[snazzlefrag]

Snazzlefrag--Thank you for your helpful post. I've been trying to understand some of the more esoteric concepts while in reality I should be focusing on BASICS.

Hi jw,

Yes, it's all about the basics really. Most of these exams are called "Intro to...." or "Principles of....". That alone should tell you something about the depth to which the MAJORITY of questions will go.

I am NOT saying that these exams are easy, or that you shouldn't study as hard as you possibly can. Rather, I am saying that you have to focus your studies on what will provide the highest return on the actual exam. For most of these exams, the thing that will provide the highest return is THOROUGHLY knowing all the basics such as key terminology, concepts, principles, etc.

The REALLY hard stuff should only be considered important if you desire to earn 'bonus points' on the exam, or if a simple passing score is not pleasing enough for you.

On most exams, I went ahead and conquered the hard stuff too. But on certain exams, such as Accounting, Statistics, Principles of Finance, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, etc., I just found myself getting SO overwhelmed by some of the more advanced topics that it was hurting my self-confidence and causing me to get confused by even the basic stuff. So in the end, for these exams particularly, I focused the vast majority of my time and energy on truly MASTERING the BASICS.

When it came time to take the exam, I found that I could answer almost every single easy and average difficulty question. Any question I came across that was too hard, I simply guessed and moved on.

If you can do that, you can afford to miss most of the really hard questions, and still do well. Also, since these are multiple choice exams, you have a 20-25% chance of getting even the MOST diffficult questions right simply by guessing.

With that in mind, I would recommend that you make sure you will be able to get every single "easy" question right, almost all of the "average" questions right, and hopefully pick up one or two bonus points by guessing on the extremely hard questions.

Obviously this is a different approach than most people would consider. It would seem more logical to try and master absolutely EVERYTHING when preparing for an exam. But with some of these exams, it's just not worth the 'mental anguish, pain, and suffering' that such an attempt would cause.
hilarious

Hope it helps,
Snazzlefrag

[beckysharp]

Yeah, the Snazz we know and love is back in a BIG way!!hilarious

[Kiwi Lover]

Hi jw,

Yes, it's all about the basics really. Most of these exams are called "Intro to...." or "Principles of....". That alone should tell you something about the depth to which the MAJORITY of questions will go.

I am NOT saying that these exams are easy, or that you shouldn't study as hard as you possibly can. Rather, I am saying that you have to focus your studies on what will provide the highest return on the actual exam. For most of these exams, the thing that will provide the highest return is THOROUGHLY knowing all the basics such as key terminology, concepts, principles, etc.

The REALLY hard stuff should only be considered important if you desire to earn 'bonus points' on the exam, or if a simple passing score is not pleasing enough for you.

On most exams, I went ahead and conquered the hard stuff too. But on certain exams, such as Accounting, Statistics, Principles of Finance, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, etc., I just found myself getting SO overwhelmed by some of the more advanced topics that it was hurting my self-confidence and causing me to get confused by even the basic stuff. So in the end, for these exams particularly, I focused the vast majority of my time and energy on truly MASTERING the BASICS.

When it came time to take the exam, I found that I could answer almost every single easy and average difficulty question. Any question I came across that was too hard, I simply guessed and moved on.

If you can do that, you can afford to miss most of the really hard questions, and still do well. Also, since these are multiple choice exams, you have a 20-25% chance of getting even the MOST diffficult questions right simply by guessing.

With that in mind, I would recommend that you make sure you will be able to get every single "easy" question right, almost all of the "average" questions right, and hopefully pick up one or two bonus points by guessing on the extremely hard questions.

Obviously this is a different approach than most people would consider. It would seem more logical to try and master absolutely EVERYTHING when preparing for an exam. But with some of these exams, it's just not worth the 'mental anguish, pain, and suffering' that such an attempt would cause.
hilarious

Hope it helps,
Snazzlefrag

Hey Snazz,

Could you please copy & paste this into the "General Test Taking/Preparation Advice" thread in the Specific Feedback section? This is such excellent advice that it should be in a spot where hopefully everyone can see it anytime...especially "newbies".

Also, sometime last year you made a post where you listed out your 10 steps for studying (something like that). I looked for it but couldn't find it, so if you can find it, I think it is another excellent post that should be included in that thread.

One more thing! How about bringing to the front your historic post regarding "The Slippery Slope". We have gained a lot of new members since you first wrote that, and I think it is too good not to "share" it again!

Okay. I'll shut up now.


JoAnne hilarious