And the winners are...

Being prepared was the key to success for Toronto’s Baoqin Guo, who achieved the highest standing in Canada for the 2004 Uniform Evaluation (UFE). “It was a really nice surprise,” says the Governor General’s Gold Medal winner, of her win and $5,000 cash prize. “No one expects something like this; I was just hoping to do well. It’s the best feeling.”

Guo, who works at KPMG, credits the great support system provided by the firm and her participation in a course at Densmore Consulting Services Inc., which provides training courses for UFE candidates. She worked with a mentor who gave her advice and a study group made up of other first-time writers — all of whom passed. “I started studying in August; I took the Densmore course and studied up to the week before the exam,” she says, adding that for two months, preparing for the exam was “almost like a job.” She studied from Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. as suggested. At Densmore, candidates were taught to relax and be prepared, and were warned not to cram, information that was helpful in keeping Guo’s stress level down.

A Queen’s University alumnus, Guo studied Commerce. In her third year, she secured a summer job at KPMG that later lead to a full-time position with the firm, allowing her the opportunity to become familiar with the auditing world. It’s an opportunity she is happy to have received. “Auditing allows you to see things you wouldn’t otherwise see,” she says.

Other gold medal honours go to Michael Chubb of Vancouver, who had the highest standing in Western Canada, Jean-Pierre Collette of Gaspé and Nicole Henneberry of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, for the highest standing in Quebec and Eastern Canada, respectively. Each also takes home $2,500.

This year marks the first time that candidates were given the option of bringing a laptop to the writing centre. The computers were required to be preloaded with a “lockdown” software program called Securexam (CA), which allows the candidate to access approved reference materials and do calculations using Excel while disabling access to other files, programs or peripheral devices.

The percentage of first-time writers who passed the examination — formerly known as the Uniform Final Examination — increased to 78.4% from just more than 69.6% in 2003 and 71.7% in 2002. The percentage of all candidates who passed also increased throughout the country; to 74.5% in 2004 from 65.5% in 2003. The western region — BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba — had the highest pass rate in Canada: 79%.

2004 Uniform Evaluation
Summary of results -- First-time writers and all candidates
                 

* CASB consists of the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba
** ASCA consists of the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland as well as Bermuda