Computer-based Testing Launched

Computer-based Testing Launched

Continued from the Home Page

On April 5, a little more than 144 hours later, the AICPA launched the exam, in conjunction with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy and Prometrics, a credential testing service.

The debut of the test marks a major shift from paper and pencil examinations to a more flexible test for accounting students seeking their CPA credential. The computer exam cost $20 million to develop, according to representatives of the three partners on the project. All 54 boards of accountancy in the United States, Washington, D.C., and U.S. territories now administer the uniform exam.

“The state boards were the key component in this project,” NASBA Executive Vice President Lorraine Sachs said. “The boards have been highly involved.”

NASBA, on behalf of the accountancy boards, is managing a database of candidates taking the CBT.

The New York State Board for Public Accountancy administered the final paper version of the exam last November. Beginning in April, New York state students will take the 14-hour CBT in three “testing windows,” with a fourth testing window to be added in 2005. In the past, students could sit for the test only two times a year.

The CBT comprises four parts: auditing and attestation, financial accounting and reporting, regulation, and business environment and concepts. Each of the four parts is further divided into “testlets”—three multiple-choice testlets, and two simulation testlets based on real life case studies, according to Johnson.

Test design included focus groups and a pilot study in which students who took the paper exam in November were asked to also take the CBT and provide feedback to the developers.

A little more than 140 students across the U.S. were expected to take one or more parts of the computer test on its inaugural day. The exam is administered at Prometric sites around the country.