Pass Rates Released for 2014 Q1 CPA Exam: BEC on Top, FAR on Bottom - AICPA

[CPA Exam Club]

The AICPA has just released the pass rates for Q1 (Jan/Feb 2014). BEC had the strongest pass rate for the first quarter of 2014 at 53.28%, followed by REG (49.17%) and AUD (47.35%).  The lowest passing rate of all sections goes to the section appropriately named "the beast" with only 44.06% clearing FAR.

So how bad is the Q1 passing rate for FAR?  Comparing Q1 2013 to Q1 2014, the passing rate dropped from 47.16% to 44.06%.  However, if you take a look at how this year's FAR Q1 stacks up against other years you'll see its performance is fairly in line with other years revealing 2013 as the aberration:

Q1 FAR Scores by Year

2014     44.06%

2013     47.16%

2012     43.84%

2011     42.43%

2010     44.95%

2009     45.54%

2008     45.95%

2007     43.65%

Keep in mind trends have shown Q1 scores are generally lower than the annual cumulative so technically FAR's %'s should improve through 2014.

[Niusha H]

Any theories out there about how 2013 experienced 4 percentage points higher in passing rates?  Also, is there a place that AICPA shares information about which courses people used (if any) and their scores?  I'm curious.