[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) 🙂

[mrocha]

Career tip – make sure you ‘learn' and not just memorize the CPA material you're studying. Many jobs will also give you test on accounting concepts.

[sarahem]

I've just started the studying process for “the exam”. What I can tell you so far is what you think you know is nothing compared to what you need to know. Doing the MCQ's and understanding what you don't know is a great place to start.

AUD - 4/3/13-60 Retake 7/2/13-72 Retake 11/13/13-74 Retake 5/14/14
BEC - 5/30/13-76
FAR - 2/14/14-79
REG - 4/4/14

[Natashah]

My tip is to make sure that you pay attention in college.. It actually helps on the CPA Exam more than you think. And take it ASAP after graduation.

[jtb328]

My advice to a graduating student who has the ultimate dream of becoming a CPA is start studying now! One thing I wish I did differently was studying while I was finishing my last semester of my MBA. It would have just given me a better start on completing them before I started working for one of the big four accounting firms. My other tip of advice…if you have time from the moment you graduate to the moment you start working (for me I had 3 months). TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT TIME! Study..don't get a part-time job to waste away the time, just study. It can be a culture shock graduating and beginning your career, which takes time to adjust to, studying and starting a new job is difficult, but not impossible! =)

My advice for those of you who will be beginning the interview process…be yourself. Don't try to think ahead on what you think the interviewer wants to hear, just be true to yourself. When I interviewed for my job, I was so nervous, and I was honest about it, I made jokes with my interviewers about it and they enjoyed the fact that I was not afraid to be true to who I was. The one thing you do not want to happen on your interview is for the interviewer to think you have everything rehearsed, which is why you just need to remain relaxed, and let the conversation flow.

One more thing…never get discouraged by an exam score and remember there are thousands of people in your position (like me!). Just brush it off…pick yourself up…and try again. Never give up.

BEC - 67, 68, 68
AUD - 44
FAR - 40, 50
REG - 68, 68

[JWS]

Internships and networking are the key to getting any job. I just got a new job and the only one where I received a call back after applying was the one where I knew someone who worked there.

[Anonymous]

Exam Tips:

– Do all of the MCQs from your practice software; if you are running out of study time, do as many questions as possible in lieu of reading your textbook

– During the exam, take note of the common topics the exam is testing you on. Keep paper in your car so that when you leave the testing facility you can immediately note all of the most tested topics. Use this as material to go over in the event you don't pass this particular exam.

– If you do not pass an exam, immediately apply to take the exam again. Allow yourself a reasonable — but not too generous — amount of time to restudy.

Career Tips:

– Network, network, network. Attend all Accounting functions your school organizes if you want to have a chance working at a Big 4.

– If you don't get asked to join a Big 4, don't freak out. Chances are you might be able to work at another firm where you'll get more money and more experience.

[IwannaBaCPA]

I work for a Big 4 firm and can offer some very general advice that can be applied to both CPA and your career:

Work hard. That's it! Do it because it will get you the things you want and deserve…in the long run. It sucks in the short run, but it will pay off.

Everyone wants to know “the secret” to passing the exam or to landing a job in a Big 4 firm, but of course there is no true secret. Just work hard every day and succes will find you…who knows, you may just end up on a totally different path than you ever thought you would!

Good luck everyone! “The journey is long, but in the end, it is only with yourself.” -Baz Luhrmann

BEC: 79 - April 2011
FAR: 78 - May 2011
AUD: 81 - May 2012
REG: 79 - October 2012
Ethics: Passed - March 2013
I am finally DONE!

[Anonymous]

My biggest study tip is to make a schedule and stick to it. Be practical about your study schedule and take into account life. This was hard to do as a dad and husband, but it has helped me greatly.

[Anonymous]

I think the best advice I can give is to really pay attention to the so called “Ancillary” material. You would be surprised how many of the questions that you think are out of left field come from there. Study everything you have at your disposal cause you really will never know what could be asked. The other tip I can give is to keep repeating to yourself that all this studying is temporary. There wasn't an hour that went by that I didn't think about how much i would rather be doing anything else. But now that I am a CPA, not ever having to worry about that test again makes all the countless hours of studying so worth it. Just stay on the grind and know that if you put in the honest time it's a means to an end!!! There is nothing like the satisfaction you get when you're done!!!

[Anonymous]

1). Be realistic about your timing. If you face busy season of any type, you will come against obstacles Keep this in mind when planning for it.

2). Turn off the television and use DVr. You will most likely be out of commission for at least half a year. Prepare to miss your favorite shows. 😉

3). Study on lunch breaks at work, listen to audio in the car and wake up a half hour early to get I'm extra study time.

4). A lot of the test is mentality. Believe you can!! As you wait for results, keep studying. Nothing makes those nasba releases go faster, especially sitting around overnight to get your grade when you could be getting 5-6 hours in!

[Showtime]

For those of you who are gaving a hard time finding public accounting jobs, make sure to look at government agencies. There are tons of different state agencies which you probably havent heard of. Be sure to utilize google

BEC-84
FAR-69
AUD-71
REG-

[wcbrent]

One thing that really helped me with REG is that anything that I missed on MC (that I didn't go “DUH”), I wrote down short “fact nuggets” on a sheet of paper (it was about 3 pages long). That's actually what I took to the test center to study before my exam and there were 2 questions that I can specifically remember that I probably would have missed had I not read over those…

FAR - 72, 78
AUD - 74, 90
REG - 78
BEC - 76

Done!

[majorbread]

Tip: In the interview, have plenty of questions to ask. No questions to ask shows you didn't put that much effort in prior to the interview.

Take the CPA tests asap after you finish school. Still in the study mode, much easier

[Anonymous]

CPA study tip : Repetition is the key and understanding the concepts rather than memorizing the answers helps.

Career tip : Do your job in such a way that you should be proud of it, that you did it.

FAR – Passed

AUD – Passed

REG – Passed

BEC – 5/30/12

[Author]

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