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CHAPTER 6

LINKING EXAMS TO THE CPA EXAM

SHOULD YOU LINK YOUR EXAMS TO THE CPA EXAM?

SHOULD YOUR CLASSROOM EXAMS MIRROR THE CPA EXAM? NO. IT’S IMPOSSIBLE – ESPECIALLY GIVEN THE FACT THAT THE CPA EXAM HAS BEEN A NONDISCLOSED EXAM SINCE 1996. WE DON’T KNOW WHAT’S ON THE EXAM. THE CONTENT, QUESTION FORMAT, AND A FEW SAMPLE QUESTIONS ARE MADE AVAILABLE EACH YEAR. SO, WHAT’S THE INTENT OF THIS CHAPTER? THE PURPOSE OF THIS CHAPTER IS TO GIVE FACULTY IDEAS ABOUT HOW THEY MIGHT SIMULATE PORTIONS OF THE CPA EXAM. MANY FACULTY AGREE – IT’S NOT UNTIL THE MAGIC WORDS ARE ANNOUNCED: “YES, THIS MATERIAL IS ON THE TEST,” THAT STUDENTS SIT UP AND TAKE NOTE. WHILE WE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO DIRECTLY LINK OUR CLASSROOM EXAMS TO THE CPA EXAM, WE CAN DIRECTLY LINK THE STUDENTS’ HIGH LEVEL OF INTEREST TO MATERIAL THAT IS TESTED. WHEN YOU TEST IT, THEY WILL LISTEN. IF YOU DISCUSS IT, AND DON’T SUBSEQUENTLY TEST IT, YOU ARE SENDING A SIGNAL THAT THIS MATERIAL IS NOT IMPORTANT.

Today’s accounting student is very goal-oriented. They diligently work on the material that they know is linked to their grade. They do what is necessary to earn points. Designing portions of exams that test the concepts, use the CPA exam test medium, or test content in a particular format, will most likely heighten your students’ interest. They will see points to be earned and therefore will put in the time to learn the material. Your finished exam product doesn’t need to mirror the CPA exam. It just needs to have enough similarity to peak the students interest.

Forming Multiple-choice Exam Questions

Most likely, your quizzes or exams already contain some multiple-choice questions. However, are your multiple-choice questions similar to the CPA exam? Let’s review what the AICPA has shared with us so far. First, we know the questions use a four-option, letter a through d, answer subset. We also know that there is only one correct answer presented. “None of the above,” is an unacceptable answer. Candidates are required to “select the best answer,” as there may be more than one correct answer presented. This is of course more relevant to the auditing and business law type questions rather than to financial accounting, since most intermediate accounting questions require computations and as a result have only one correct answer.

Second, we know that the questions are divided into three “testlets” that consist of 15-40 questions each. Third, the questions are presented on the computer rather than in pencil and paper form. Candidates are allowed to go back and forth within a testlet, but they cannot jump from one testlet to another without completing the entire testlet that they are currently working in. Finally, we know that the first testlet will be classified as “easy.” Upon completion of the “easy” testlet, candidates are given a second testlet of medium or hard questions. As of the writing of this supplement, the AICPA has not released a formal definition of the easy, medium, or hard difficulty levels nor have they provided us with any examples of such questions. Here’s where your expertise will really pay off.

You are an expert in the financial accounting area. With years of experience in preparing and grading exams, you have become quite skilled in selecting and writing questions that are of an easy, medium, or hard difficulty level. You know your students and therefore you could design an exam that contained three groups of difficulty levels. You could also design your quizzes to be of a certain difficulty level. Some faculty design “bonus point” questions that are added to the bottom of an exam, challenging students to earn additional points by completing exercises that are more difficult. It would take little or no effort to simulate the exam question format. The link is the identification of question difficulty. Ask your students to rank the difficulty levels. You might be surprised. What you find difficult just might be easy to them. Get them involved. Once the format is set, it’s time to worry about the exam content.

Question Content

Chapter 5, “Links to Intermediate Accounting, 11th edition Chapters,” can be used to identify CPA content. Your past experience is again very useful in identifying the content areas where students typically struggle. Definition questions are easy. A deferred tax computation is more difficult than a classification question asking students to identify if the difference is permanent or temporary. The area of fixed assets is less challenging than bonds. Investments are of medium difficulty. At this point, without information about the AICPA classification process, it’s only a guess. However, we could at least come close. Raise the student awareness level about how the CPA exam process works, by informing them about the easy, medium, and hard classification system. It’s a beginning. Another area to help students to become accustomed to is the testing medium.

Testing Medium

How close can you get to the AICPA computerized format? Since none of us has seen any multiple-choice examples (as of the printing of this supplement, only simulation examples have been provided), we can only guess. We know there will be a clock that times candidates. We know there will be an on-screen calculator and scrap paper most likely will not be provided. We are assuming that candidates are expected to click on their answer choice. We know students will be allowed to change answer selections while they are still working within a single testlet. Can you simulate this?

Some might say it’s just not worth the time. Some prefer to focus on activities that connect to the content, rather than those that deal with the simulation of the exam environment. Most of us would tend to agree. Teach the concepts, cover the content, and test it. This is what helps students to learn and retain. If it’s possible to develop tests on the computer, do it, especially if you have a classroom management system available such as Blackboard. Most colleges don’t have enough lab time to administer a test to a large group of students all at the same time. Give the tests at different times and risk the students sharing knowledge. If given the choice of spending time connecting with students on content or developing processes to match the test medium, content would always be the winner. The AICPA promises to release web-based practice tutorials for candidates to see how the process works. CPA review courses will also have materials to help train students. Your time is best spent on teaching and testing content. Don’t forget, the exam is only 80% multiple-choice. Help them prepare for the simulations too.

Developing Simulation Exams

Here’s a challenge. The area is entirely new. We have no experience. Use one of the examples at the end of each chapter in the 11th edition of Kieso, Weygandt, and Warfield text. If you believe that the answer solutions are out, alter them somewhat. Are you worried about your students working this on a computer? Don’t be. Some practice, even in a manual environment, is so much better than nothing. Think about it in parts – communications, spreadsheet analysis, FARS (financial accounting research system) research, and other financial accounting skills.

Communications

Give short quizzes dealing with just the communications component. Recall from Chapter 4, the communications section replaces the essay format used on the pencil-based exam. Take an exercise in the text, ask them to compute it, and then add some questions that require a written response. Grade the communications response in a positive manner as discussed in Chapter 7. Require students to use complete sentences, proper grammar, and correct punctuation. Ask them to respond as if they were writing to their boss or to an important client. Make sure they avoid the use of abbreviations, unexplained jargon, and too many bullet lists.

Spreadsheet Analysis

Spreadsheet analysis – you already have that covered. By using the chapter assignments on the Take Action! CD, students are already working the types of exercises that will be tested on the CPA exam. Require students to develop their own spreadsheets rather than completing partial spreadsheets. The examiners are suggesting that both types of spreadsheet exercises (fill-in the blanks and create your own) will be utilized. If a student can create their own spreadsheet, they can easily fill-in blanks on a partially completed example. Expect your students to present a complete product by showing headings, properly formatted amounts (correct spacing, decimals, and dollar signs), and by labeling amounts. Be fussy about presentation. The AICPA examiners are hinting that they will award points for proper presentation. Help them learn some skills that will not only help them to pass the CPA exam, but just might help them to perform better in the workplace.

FARS Research Skills

Get them some exposure! If you don’t have access to FARS, at least assign a paper or presentation dealing with what FARS is and how it is used. Any level of knowledge will give your students a boost. Get them started. Read the CPA Connection quarterly emails for more FARS research ideas. The plan is to provide more information as soon as the AICPA provides examples.

Other Financial Accounting Skills

How can you simulate the testing of other skills such as preparing journal entries, computing and interpreting ratios, and preparing financial statements? You probably already simulate these activities everyday in your classroom. Every class-period assignment, discussion, and presentation helps your students to hone the skills that the AICPA tests. Keep on doing what you do. This part hasn’t changed. It won’t matter whether you type a journal entry out on the computer or present the answer in handwritten form, the challenge is to master the technical content.

It might take some reminding – it’s the technical content that’s most important. Students are concerned about the new exam format and could forget how important content is. Use the end of the chapter simulations to help ease their fears.

Students Can Help

Allow the students to create sections of a quiz or test. Delegate the task. Interact with students in a different way. Yes, assign students the task of writing some test questions. This is an excellent group exercise. Assign a chapter to each group with the requirement that they must prepare six to nine multiple-choice questions. Conduct a training session to show them how to write the questions. Have them prepare the questions, rank the difficulty level (easy, medium, and hard), and provide detailed written answers explaining the thought process. You might be surprised. Students often write more difficult questions than you do. They have had years of training in taking tests. Let them use their test-taking skills to develop questions. Remember that the CPA exam includes 10-15% pretest questions. These are questions that all candidates must answer but are not included in the final grade. Therefore, the students will learn by preparing and answering student-developed questions without affecting the overall test grade. This exercise is just another form of group exercise that creates some direct benefits.

The benefits of an assignment to create test questions are numerous. First, students learn more when they are expected to explain the material to others. Second, the process instills confidence as they work to develop something as important as a test question. You are operating as a team, working together. Third, the questions and answers are in written form allowing you to grade not only for content, but also for writing skills. Even the students taking the student-developed exams will benefit. Students become accustomed to a test method. By interspersing your questions with student questions, you are stirring up the mix and stimulating more of a real-world situation. Allow the test-takers to react to the student-developed questions. Let the developers see what works and what doesn’t work.

Give-up some control. The students just might see that your work is harder than it looks. It’s not easy to develop the perfect test question.

Summary

Ready or not, the AICPA is changing the test. We can stand back and continue to teach and test the way we have always have before. Alternatively, we can move forward and attempt to adjust for some of the key changes. If you have read this far, you believe change is necessary. You are ready to move forward, even if there are limits.

You may be limited by time and resources. Admittedly, developing new exams takes time. Your classes are already time consuming. Your institution may not have enough computer time available to allow you to test your students online. We have little time left before the first computer-based CPA exam. How can we change when we don’t even have examples to use as our model? Will there be enough time left after the AICPA releases their examples?

There is a variety of challenges. Time is the most critical. We must begin now. We can’t afford to wait and see this time around. Jump in and begin now. We can refine the process later as we learn more. Your students need your help. There is no time to waste.

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