Spend a few minutes in a CPA exam group and you’ll see questions like, “Did you see bonds on FAR?” or “What simulations did you get?” Candidates are nervous, and they want some idea of what to expect. I get it … I went through the exam myself. Asking these questions can feel like ordinary reassurance after a stressful test, but it can also move quickly into details that candidates agreed to keep confidential.
What caught my attention was how often other people tried to figure out whether those conversations were allowed. If someone says they saw bonds, have they disclosed exam content? Does it change things if they say they had a bond simulation? People had opinions, but I kept seeing them speculate about where the line was.
Then the AICPA filed a lawsuit against a candidate over alleged disclosures of exam content on Discord. That made the question feel less hypothetical and more real. I didn’t want to weigh in based only on my interpretation, especially when other candidates might rely on what I said.
While researching the issue, I came across Reddit discussions mentioning Taryn Bauer, the AICPA’s senior manager of CPA exams compliance. I reached out to ask for a meeting, and she agreed. I wanted to bring her the questions I was seeing in the CPA community and hear how she approached them.
I started with a distinction that seemed sensible to me. The AICPA publishes Exam Blueprints showing topics eligible for testing. Candidates also accept a conduct and nondisclosure agreement when scheduling an exam. If I say, “I saw bonds on FAR,” I’m naming a topic that’s already public. If I describe the face value, interest rates, and calculation from a bond question, I’m telling someone what an exam item contained. Was I thinking about that correctly?
“Topic levels are fine. Sticking with the blueprint is fine,” Bauer told me. “[The concern arises] when you teeter off and start asking more specific questions.”
That answered part of what I’d come to ask. But Bauer brought up something I hadn’t focused on as much: the person asking those more specific questions.
“What we see more now than anything is what we call solicitation. People take the CPA exam, they get out of the exam and they ask people, ‘What did you see? Did you get anything on this?’”
Two candidates come out of the exam and start talking. One asks, “Did you get a simulation on this?” The other says yes, and soon they’re comparing what it asked and how they answered. That’s the exchange Bauer was concerned about.
Bauer said people sometimes “want to drill down into the task-based sims and they start sharing stuff.” She understood why. “Most people are just trying to pass the exam,” she said, and they’re stressed. But a candidate who presses someone for details is helping move the conversation from a public topic toward a confidential item.
That conversation can happen right after the exam, too. You walk out with one difficult question still in your head, and you want to know whether somebody else got it and how they answered. I remember that feeling. Comparing the facts of that question and the answers you chose, though, requires both people to discuss the exam item itself.
Bauer didn’t suggest that every post is simple to judge. She told me her team reviews reports that may be close to the line, and even sharing the format of an item can reveal information the AICPA considers proprietary. I took that as a reason to focus on what you’re trying to learn, instead of trying to work out the maximum you can say about a question you saw.
If you need help with bonds, ask someone to explain bonds. Work through a published practice question or make up an example. If you’ve just taken the exam, you can say it was hard, talk about waiting for your score, and ask for help with a concept that still bothers you. None of that requires someone else to tell you what their simulation said.
Bauer made another point about the “what did you see?” posts: the answer might not help you anyway. Candidates taking the same section can receive different questions. I personally learned that the hard way when I studied topics other candidates said had appeared on their exams, then sat down for mine and got a different mix. Knowing what someone else saw can give you false confidence about what to focus on. The public blueprint is a better guide because it tells you what could be tested, regardless of which questions another candidate received.
The clearest answer I got from Bauer was this: candidates can discuss topics in the public blueprints, but the details of an exam question or simulation should stay in the exam room. That applies whether you’re about to share those details or you’re asking someone else to share them. If you need help studying, ask about the concept. You’ll get a more useful answer anyway.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Harut “Jack” Yerikyan, CPA, is the founder of Pass With Jack, a supplemental CPA exam review course. He took the CPA exam in 2024 and remains active in online communities for candidates. He also founded Yerikyan & Co., a California CPA firm.
Photo credit: American Institute of CPAs
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Tags: Accounting, AICPA, confidentiality, CPA candidates, CPA exam
