Why do I keep failing the scenario questions on accounting exams?
Students often nail the calculation-heavy problems like balance sheets and cash flow statements, but lose points on conceptual scenario questions they didn't know how to approach. Specifically, writing about topics like fraud risks forces students to guess or write vague answers because they aren't sure what standard procedures to include.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Practicing much more and focusing on understanding the reasoning behind the process rather than just memorizing stepsDid this help you?
- 2writing generic filler textDid this help you?
- 3rushing through complex analysis sectionsDid this help you?
- 4Discussing module difficulty with peers to gauge what to expectDid this help you?
- 5Studying for hours on end several days a weekDid this help you?
- 6Using the internet and AI to try to figure out solutions keysDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“My professor for AFA only teaches theory in class and the extent of solving problems (NPO financial statements) is just annotating off a printed solutions key.”source ↗
“I aced intermediate 1, did alright in intermediate 2, and I’m completely DROWNING in advanced.”source ↗
“I attempted the practice midterm and got about 20% correct.”source ↗
“With the current program being retired soon, which PEP module was the hardest for you?”source ↗
“I personally think Core 2 is harder than Core 1 but I haven't experience the electives yet so im interested to see what you all think.”source ↗
“Ive heard Audit is easy and tax is a little difficult but I havent heard much about PM or Finance”source ↗
“I also don’t know if my procedures were good enough I had no idea what to write about fraud risks :/”source ↗
“Except intermediate 2. I failed it the first time and I just got my exam grade back and it was a 50.”source ↗
“I freak out on intermediate 2. (Panic attacks when taking exams)”source ↗
“I just am so lost on this and am rethinking if accounting is for me.”source ↗
“Kinda bummed out got a 78/100 or a 39/50 on my test i got all the long ones right balance sheets statement of cash flows etc it was the specific scenarios that i got wrong anyone relate to this?”source ↗
“I also had no idea what to write about fraud risks and I had to write a bunch of bs for it”source ↗
“My quants were completely messed up, honestly :/”source ↗
“Anyone completely bomb FR/MA on day 2 and still get depth for level 2. Wrote the day 2 CFE today and trying to figure out if I still have a chance my MA was weak td not going to get depth and for FR I got maybe 1 C, 1 borderline C-RC.”source ↗
“I just want to know what to do when I’m taking a test and can’t ask anyone, so I don’t do anything to Novembers numbers?”source ↗
Where this came up
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