[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

[BMATTS]

Best advice I can give:

1) Before starting with an accounting firm, whether it's a Big 4, or a smaller firm…PASS your CPA exam (or at least a few parts). Time will be limited when you start working, take advantage of your free time.

2) Practice a lot..A LOT of MCQ's, and set reasonable goals with studying.

3) Never give up, the road will be long but will definitely benefit your career. PERSEVERE!

[Tropical82]

Exam tip: Once you decide you want to take on the CPA. COMMIT YOURSELF! Do it once and do it right.

[Happy]

Exam tip:

If you are a fast test taker and can knock out the multiple choice questions quickly (they take me around 1 hour) –

spend a lot of time on the Sims!!!

Use the research tool that the exam provides and look up everything that you need to look up until you are satisfied that you are pretty confident about all of your SIM answers. The SIM's are 40% of your grade and incredibly enough, THEY ARE ‘OPEN BOOK'!!! If you use the research tool to ace your sims, as long as you get more than half of the MCQ's right – you win!!!!

I've used this technique and it's served me quite well!

REG- 2/12 - 90 | AUD- 4/12 - 94 | BEC- 5/12- 85 | FAR- 8/12 - 82
DONE!!! I used Becker Self Study & Ninja Notes/Audio

[Anonymous]

Career Tip #1: At least, get a small amount of accounting and/or office experience. In our office, we shy away from folks without anything at all. It takes a while to adjust to even office work. Answering phones in the accounting office would get you an interview over the person who has nothing at all.

Career Tip#2: Don't go into public accounting if you don't have natural accounting ability. If you fought your way thru accounting classes then public accounting might not work for you. Public accounting is hard work that takes talent and the ability to think fast and offer solutions for a large variety of issues. It’s not a job when you learn something today and apply it to every client going forward. You learn something today and might not need to know that for twenty years. Every client is different. People either love or hate public accounting. Learn who you are and run with the answer!

Exam Tip#1: Don't wait years. Take the exam fresh out of school when your study habits are still intact.

Exam Tip#2: Don't buy Becker because everyone says it is best. It's not the right teaching style for everyone. There are lots of review programs and another71.com is a great site to learn about your options.

[kappa1032]

Exam Tips: Don't spend too much time on one question. If it takes you longer than a couple of minutes, highlight it for review and move on. You may be able to answer it at the end of that testlet. Remember that it is a marathon, not a sprint. Have a hearty breakfast the morning before your test.

Career Tips: This should be applied to all aspects of life, but be respectful and courteous to everyone you come in contact with for an interview. It doesn't matter whether they are the receptionist or the managing partner. Don't be afraid to come into the interview with ideas on what you'd like to see the firm do in the future, whether it be adding an office to an attractive market or creating a volunteer group. Always keep thinking about how you can improve your firm as only good can come out of it.

Hope that helps!

FAR - 81
REG - 74, 87
AUD - 88
BEC - 88

Finally.

“The only guarantee for failure is to stop trying”
― John C. Maxwell

[l3r0wnEyedGurL]

Exam tip: as everyone said, live, breathe practice MCQ and simulations! and don't just do them, truly understand why the answer is correct and why the others are incorrect.

as all review program styles are different, the practice questions truly give you a better feel for the “voice” of the exam and how they like to word the problems.

Additionally, schedule some breaks for yourself. without it, you'll go insane.

I PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FAR - 65 (8/13/11), 85 (8/13/12...literally 1 yr later?? I had no idea!)
REG - ?? (10/1/11 - CPA exam crash day, btwn testlets 3 & 4); 71 (10/8/11); 77 (11/12/12)
BEC - 81 (11/14/11)
AUD - 65 (2/6/12); 91(2/25/13)

[Nicole]

Time. Set aside all the time you possibly can for reviewing. The scope of the exam is demanding and you're going to need all the time you can get to prepare.

FAR - 11/26/14 - 83 - DONE
REG - 02/01/15 - 68 8/14/15 - 71 11/22/15 - 83 - DONE
AUD - 04/01/15 - 81 - DONE
BEC - 05/27/15 - 79 - DONE

[holliemyoungblood]

First and foremost, Time Management! Set a schedule or timeline to study and stick to it!

Do lots of multiple choice practices.

Becker and Ninja notes are the best!!!

[hfought]

Anyone can pass this test– but you have to put the time in. The MCQ can get repetitive, so make sure you actually know how to do one when you see it a second or third time, instead of just clicking the correct answer. Finally, rewrite all your notes and rewrite topics you don't understand a third time.

[tstein13]

Sit for the exam as soon as you can. The more recent you have learned the information, the better. It will make review for the exams (and hopefully the actual exams) much easier for you.

And of course, do MCQ until you are about to throw up…and then do a few more. It works.

AUD (2/19) - 95
REG (4/1) - 91
BEC (5/13) - 93
FAR (7/8)

[krissa1018]

Exam Tip: Be sure to choose your study material wisely and never give up. The CPA exam can be a long process.

FAR- 69, 80
BEC- 69, 69, 78
AUD-59, 11/19/12
REG- 79

[williamcwlee]

Exam tips:

1. No need to ask people what are the heavily-tested parts because your heavily-tested parts will be your weak points. the system is very smart!

2. No need to worry about the difficulty of the testlets. I got an easy-difficult-very easy on Far and still pass.

3. Spend as much time as you can to review the materials

Good luck everyone!

FAR-80
BEC-85
AUD-4/21/2013
REG-8/31/2013

[ThunderFan0]

Exam Tips:

1. Buy the Wiley test bank

2. Take the exam as soon as you are out of school, the longer you wait the tougher it gets

FAR - 74, 76
BEC - 77(expires 5/24/12)
REG 71, 72, 78
AUD - 69, 72, Retake 5/23/12...78!! FINISHED!!

[TSword7]

One of the best things I did while attaining my license was to use CPAexcel and be very diligent with focused study time. The things that helped me in this program was that the pieces were segmented into smaller bite-size topics and feel that was beneficial to my learning style.

I would also recommend to not limiting yourself to starting in an audit practice as I've heard many people encouraged to do. It not a problem to do that but if that's not your interest or even an intermediary goal than look at what areas interest you and begin somewhere.

With hard work and persistance you will not only complete the CPA exam, but start on a career where work is not just a place to go during the week but something you can look forward to and enjoy making a differnce in business and in life!

BEC - 83 (7/09),FAR - 80 (11/09), AUD - 84 (1/10), REG -82 (3/10)

[dnjacksn]

Career and CPA tip: Get the test out the way as quickly as you can. Your responsiblities will grow with the organization. This may make it difficult to get in adequate study time. Make sure you stay organized and answer as many MCQ as possible.

[Author]

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