[jeff]

I will be giving away an iPad 3 Thursday to someone in the forum. Here are the details:

Who: 1 Randomly-selected winner.

You don’t have to be a current candidate to enter – Alums are welcome too!

The selection will be recorded through a screencast.

Note – the winner will be double-checked to make sure they don’t have more than one forum account posting in the giveaway thread, so no shenanigans.

What: iPad 3 – $499 model (winner will have the option to pay for any upgrades/features they want added)

Why: iPads are awesome (I have an iPad 2 … hope I win!) 😉

How:

1. “Like” another71 on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/another71)

2. In this thread, post a CPA Exam or Accounting Career tip (or both) that you think would benefit a College Senior or recent graduate. If you work for a Big 4 or Regional Accounting Firm, interview tips or anything making the process easier would be great.

That’s it … Good Luck!

***

New Prizes Added!

– 5 Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University Memberships (Online)

– 5 Complete NINJA Audios

– 5 Complete NINJA Notes

– 1 30 Minute Muay Thai training session at Del Mar Beach (CA) in September (you have to get to Del Mar though) 🙂

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS) | Another71 | NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE

[MJ rose]

#1 is to know you can do it!! Set your mind to it ! Lay out a plan and a goal. What time of the day is set aside to studying….then set yourself goals. Set yourself achievable goals and give yourself enough weeks to study so as not to cram. AND GOOD LUCK!!!

[phall]

Exam tip: Take FAR first 🙂

B: TBD

A: 90

R: TBD

F: 88

B 11/12 - 77
A 4/12 - 74; 5/12 - 90
R 9/12 - 88
F 12/11 - 88

[Anonymous]

College Tip: Get internships as early as possible. Do stuff on campus if you can. Get decent grades. Go to the career center for resume review and practice interviews…….. And…… you should be employed on the day that you graduate!

[karynking]

Tip for students: Know your professors. Get into Beta Alpha Psi or the accounting club (if can't get that Beta GPA). Get your 150 hours ASAP and take the exam right away. The longer you wait the more your forget.

Tip for exam studying: Jeff's tip of writing and re-writing your notes is the BEST tip EVER. DO IT!

Good luck everyone!

[Nupurgupta1512]

CPA exam is one tough exam, but trust me its not impossible to pass it! I come from a science background with ‘zero' accounting knowledge, but I was able to clear all 4 exams in first attempt! All it took is lot of determination and hardwork and endless studying!

Remember its not an easy exam so there is no easy way of passing it, but one should have right motivation or drive to pass the exam. So first of all determine why you want to pass this exam so bad ( for a better job, to get CPA after my name, to make good money or whatever your reason might be), and then make a promise to yourself that I will pass it no matter what.

Another thing I learned from my experience, is no matter how much you try or want, things do fall behind schedule! You are not always able to hit targets and that is ALRIGHT. Just get up make another schedule and try your best to hit your goals, key is you should try.

[Anonymous]

Forget about studying for the simulations. Only practice them to get a feel for the format. No exam prep software will prepare you for the types of simulations you'll see on the exam. You're better off learning journal entries to help you prepare.

[OCDon]

The best advice I can get is something I learned from listening to the podcasts. Put the highlighter down! I've only taken REG (and found out I passed today!), but half way through the lectures, I realized nothing was sticking in my brain. So I went back and re-wrote my notes, rather than just highlighting or underlining, and it made a HUGE difference!

[Anonymous]

The thing about this test is that unless you want it to drag on forever, you cannot get discouraged. You have to channel the inevitable disappointment into additional motivation. And if you're a student, sit for the exam as soon as you possibly can. I think if I'd have taken it right out of school and not five years later, I wouldn't have struggled nearly as much.

As for a career tip: never settle. Lateral moves are a waste of valuable years. Don't let a recruiter or staffing firm bully you into making a move that doesn't greatly improve your situation.

[pennylane]

My biggest tip is to pass the exam right after you get out of college, and especially before you start a family. When I graduated, I had no desire to go into public accounting, and thought I would never need the CPA designation. Flash forward several years, and I'm married with 2 kids, and work for a mid-sized firm. It's really hard to find the time to study with 2 active kids and a full time job, especially one where you are expected to put in a ton of hours. I'm almost there, but it's been a really long, tough road.

[T-Account]

CPA Exam:

While doing MCQs, I set a timer for 2 minutes (I use an Ipod) for each question to practice and get in the rhythm of reading the questions quickly and determine the answer within 2 minutes. You should be very comfortable with the topic at this point in order to easily identify and know what the question is about. Not only do you save time and become more efficient you are more prepared for the actual exam. If you have time left you can go back to questions you've missed or get ahead of next questions.

Career Tip:

Be yourself. Stay positive. Be genuine. Stay connected with as many people you know/have met during school, networking events, work, organizations, clubs, societies and etc. You never know when they can connect you to your next position (or you can for them). Also, remember that people may not stay in the same position or company from where they started. Do not burn bridges – they may work somewhere you would like to someday.

IPad FTW!

B - Oct 2012
A - Jan 2012
R - Apr 2012
F - Jul 2012

[minipiperp4]

For BEC's written communication section, don't stress yourself out about it. As long as you repeat all the keywords and make logical sense, you will score fine. You do not need to be a expert in the topic of the question. The key is to respond to the prompt with an introduction, body and conclusion. In the body, you generally write elaborate on the topic. Make sure to spell check your work. You can say to debit something that should be credited and visa-versa and you can still get a high score. The focus is on coherent writing.

If you completely run out of time, then copy the prompt into the box. You will probably get a few points from the keywords.

[iwantmylifetobegin]

CPA Exam: Don't EVER give up.

Public Accounting Career Tip: Get to know your start group. When the going gets tough (and trust me… it will), your boy (or girl) will be right there with you (just at another client). Think of the tv show Grey's Anatomy (sans everyone sleeping with everyone). Just kidding. Seriously though, it's good to have someone you can talk to (and laugh) about the experiences you all are going through. They will keep you sane!

AUD - 84 (expired May '13) 84 - 08/13
FAR - 79
BEC - 77
REG - 63

[Kim4]

Well, I will try, but I'm not going to like another71 on Facebook because of my exam tip:

DEACTIVATE FACEBOOK

Mine is deactivated now so that I don't get distracted and so I can study. I made a commitment to do that, and so 🙁 I may lose out on a new iPad, but I'm not going to reactivate Facebook until these exams are done.

FAR -- 90
AUD -- 95
BEC -- 82
REG -- 92

DONE!

[Anonymous]

My tip for the test:

Try to chose a place to study where you have no distractions, like the library. Also, take time to relax and have fun, that way we are not all stressed out about the test; it is possible to enjoy the learning process.

Choose a program you like and try to complement it with more resources like the audios, and Wiley’s bank.

BEC – 5/12

REG – 8/12

FAR – 11/12

AUD – 1/13

[Anonymous]

Exam tip: When you think you're ready, you're probably not ready. Study like your life depends on it.

Career tip: Show up early, stay late. Put in the effort. It will eventually pay off.

[Author]

Replies