[Anonymous]

I’m back at my office today after failing yesterday. I’m sitting at my desk crying, staring at the mountain of work I didn’t do while I refreshed into madness. I can’t believe it. How do I deal with this? How do I tell my coworkers, the rest of my AUDIT staff, that I failed? They were all cheering me on and I left before knowing. It’s so sad and so ridiculous.

I get one more chance before FAR expires, but I just don’t know if I have it in me anymore. I have tried so hard. I am so tired. So burnt out. So angry. How do you drop 14 points? HOW?

I have had such a good attitude about it for the last few months. I killed REG and BEC so quickly. I just KNEW I was going to be done. And now… It’s six more weeks of winter. I have successfully ruined my summer. I started this journey in May of 2011, so that’s the fourth summer in a row. I want to puke. I want to quit. I want to cry forever.

I could really use some words of encouragement from people who have been there. This is killing me.

[Vlakmir]

Gorbuha,

This thread is now about you and you do not need to post the same thing 4 times in every thread. We know you don't know crap about REG. you should probably go study.

CPA means,

How long have you worked in audit? It seems like audit is mostly conceptual, and if you identify what they are asking and why each answer is incorrect or correct, you should be able to learn and retain a lot, especially if you're working as an auditor and are able to conceptualize things more clearly than someone who isn't.

I don't want to be a jerk, everyone has things in their life that keep them busy. Exactly how many hours did you study for Audit? If you don't know, maybe that's your problem – you need a very solid study schedule and to stick to it. I'm not sure how much you have studied, but it clear from your scores that you have not studied enough for you to retain the materials. Identify where you are going wrong, where you are going right, and attack relentlessly.

I kept goals, daily goals of different activities, watching lectures, doing MCQ, reviewing my self-made flash cards and passed with a 90 in 12 days of prep with just one audit internship experience like a year ago. If I can do that, you can definitely do this (note; I've definitely done bad in some of my master's courses)

Cant study for 6 hours. Noone can do that, so you better stop trying if that is the case. Study in 2 sessions of 3 hours.

Give yourself at least 3-4 days for review before your test. By this point you should have answered all the MCQ at least once, and have a pre-made list of topics that you are weak on in order to attack – flagged questions and topics to review.

Make flashcards. For the love of god, make your own flashcards on EVERYTHING. You can -ALWAYS- put flashcards aside when you have the concept memorized (ie; “Is goodwill included in amortizable base when purchasing an intangible?” a flash card i just made for FAR to remind myself that “yes, when you purchase something and the price includes goodwill. I will likely toss this one aside after seeing it once or twice and keep my harder flashcards I need to review)

constantly identify what you are -okay- with conceptually if you understand the reasoning and move on the other topics that you don't know. If you can't have a conversation about why it works the way it works, you don't know it well enough.

Hope this helps.

You need to approach your studying with new fresh ideas on how to conquer your obstacles. I don't know your study habits or activities so I can't tell what but this means no TV while studying, making your own flaschards, constantly assessing where you are and how far you need to go, giving yourself real breaks, etc…

People don't fail this exam because it is hard. They fail it because they have not prepared enough for their own personal needs. I sincerely believe that -everyone- that is eligible to sit can pass if they do enough work. Some may have to do more than others, but no one is too “dumb”. That's not an issue here at all, so don't forget that this is completely up to you whether you pass or not.

REG - 92
AUD - 90
BEC - 82
FAR - 82
BISK Review Materials
DONE! /Happydance

[gorbuha]

@Vlakmir,

Thank you for your advice. I will go study. Just don't be a jerk ok?

FAR - 89
AUD - 84
BEC - 84
REG - 49, 86
ETHICS - 96........ DONE!!!

[Guti]

Why are you guys mad at Gorbuha? He forgot about the other posts.

FAR-84
AUD-
REG-
BEC-

[Anonymous]

@Vlakmir: I'm going on three years. And that's what is so damned frustrating about it. I crushed the exam when I was an audit green horn and came up short this time. Full disclosure: I have been working in internal for the past year so I guess I'm pretty rusty. I studied for 2-3 hours every day for four weeks, with a few break days. I definitely have to up the ante this time, for sure. I plan to sit again four weeks from today.

[Vlakmir]

I doubt anyone here is mad at people on the internet saying stupid things. We just point out the obvious.

Coming into a thread of someone looking for advice and derailing it is inconsiderate. I won't acknowledge the topic further.

OP : 2-3 hours day for four weeks sounds like a lot for audit, but at the same time, a little….

I took the CRAM REALLY HARD INTO 12 DAYS approach simply because the topics covered seemed to be so inter-related.

Maybe try to cover the material over a shorter period of time?

Also, Flashcards did -wonders- for me on audit. Easy to crush through and start identifying where you are weak. I highly suggest making your own flashcards, and it can be fun.

With flaschards, you can study on the train, in the car, out to lunch, commuting, or even do a quick topic review for short study sessions (have an hour before bed? Do a set of flashcards or two. Separate them out further into where you still need to review, etc…).

Have you tried flashcards? Index cards from practically anywhere and get going! I think if you tried making your own for a few topics it might help. I also think actively identifying the concepts and pin-pointing what I feel is the “pivot point” (the difference between why something is correct or incorrect) helps break down what the question is really trying to test you on.

REG - 92
AUD - 90
BEC - 82
FAR - 82
BISK Review Materials
DONE! /Happydance

[Vlakmir]

I also like flashcards separated by topic because it feels like a very fast, mini MCQ run- through, in the sense that if they are based on the MCQ, then you are identifying what you are being tested on and breaking it down further and further from 4 choices to one concept.

Flashcards are king.

Write it down gets it in your head,

Consistent review in short flash card sessions keeps it fresh and solidified

Allows you to identify where you are strong and weak in a much narrower sense

Allows you to study on the go

I really think flashcards were 100% the reason I did well on my tests. When you have 400 Flashcards, they can seem daunting. But when you have 40 / topic…it starts to seem a little more manageable to review topics. Moreso than 200+MCQ anyway.

I only ever did the MCQ one time through with a review of the ones I got wrong through a flagged question review, then studied flashcards. Haven't opened any of the books. Also, I take notes during Video lectures in the form of flashcards. “bla bla bla this is when you amortize the lease over useful life…” into “When do you amort Lease over use life? Lease term” Then label on the back “Use life – Req – XYZ, Lease term – Req, XYZ”. After seeing that flascard 2 or 3 times, a question involving that topic is -much- easier to deal with because you can practically visualize your flashcard in your head.

REG - 92
AUD - 90
BEC - 82
FAR - 82
BISK Review Materials
DONE! /Happydance

[Anonymous]

One of my favorite quotes: (John Wooden)

Success is never final,and failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts.

@CPA Means….you are really close, and you passed AUD once before. Just get back after it, take AUD in early July, and you should pass. You've already proved that you can.

[Galina-Virginia]

Vlakmir, would you please share,

do you use Bisk review course solely (Book/Software?) or you supplement it with something else?

I bought a few old used books ( 2009-2010 years, different publishers) , just to compare styles of explanations, since I can not decide yet which review course to select … and must admit that I like the Bisk's book more than Wiley, Becker, Gleim..

However, it seems that Bisk is not very popular course.. From your experience, do you find the material(s) given by Bisk was sufficient/effective for the tests that you already passed?

Thank you in advance!

[Vlakmir]

Galina-Virginia,

It seems Bisk isn't so popular on the internet, so it's hard to find a solid review of them!

I use bisk, but I am in a review course at my school. Everyday we attend class to watch Video DVD lectures. I think these are probably given with the normal material set.

As for the book, I haven't touched them. Everyday we watch videos in the morning, and then I do MCQ/Review for a few hours.

The class really helps me stay on track because it forces me to show up to watch videos. All we do is watch videos so it's not so much a class as watching the videos together, and being forced to be there. This is probably key to success – HAVING to do it. STAYING on a schedule.

I haven't hardly opened the books. I looked a bit for a topic I was completely clueless here or there, but I just did Software MCQ and, watched video lectures, and made flashcards during MCQ/video lectures.

watching lectures, paying attention, taking notes in the form of flaschards, reviewing them and doing MCQ is pretty much my study plan. Flag questions I get wrong, run through them a couple more times, then a couple final reviews. All throughout the way identifying weaknesses and working on those areas first.

I just finished my masters in accounting this spring, which included law and advanced tax topics that show up on the CPA exam, so that helped as well. I have also had 3 internships, one general accounting at an accounting firm, One in Audit, and one in Tax this spring. I believe this helped me prepare for AUD and REG.

If you're asking me if I think the material itself is -enough- to pass, I think so. But that isn't going to be what gives you a passing score. I didn't use NINJA, but if I had failed or gotten lower scores I would consider it because they seem to be structured well and make studying shorter.

—You can't study for more than 3-4 hours effectively.

—You can't let any topics go unstudied.

—You can't treat correct answers as correct until you know why they are correct.

Passing is more about the effort you put in than the materials you use, assuming you use one of the common materials, with lectures, and have a MCQ database.

Topics were fresh from my masters, so I spent less time learning and more time fine tuning, rather than you know, hearing about estates or trusts for the first time.

sorry to be so long. I felt there was a lot more to it than telling you “yes bisk is great and you'll pass by using it!” kind of feeling.

REG - 92
AUD - 90
BEC - 82
FAR - 82
BISK Review Materials
DONE! /Happydance

[nbad311]

It's definitely a challenge to go back and face the world after a fail, especially when family/friends/co-workers were following along with your studying and test-taking. But with time it'll hurt less, your motivation will come back and you'll get those 2 extra points…… or maybe like 10 or 20 extra points! I got a 73 on audit my first time and was pretty pissed. It's a hard test (2nd hardest on Nbad's Official CPA Exam Hardness Rating scale). I too did my re-take the first week of July (last year) and used the long July 4th weekend to my advantage. It worked! Best of luck to you! Go study!

REG - 65, 70, 80!
BEC - 35, 62, 79!
AUD - 73, 75!
FAR - 65, 73, 70, 75! DONE.

[MintsRGood]

Auditing was the worst thing that ever happened to me on my CPA exam journey. I despise it!!!!!!! What materials are you using? What took me from a 68 to 92 was the Wiley Textbook & Ninja Audio+Notes. I worked through every page of that god awful boring book, took notes on incorrect responses, did 2,000+ MCQs, made diagrams and flow charts of the audit cycles, and even went as far as explaining topics to those unfamiliar with auditing to see if I understood it well enough to teach it. I was SO ****ing angry and channeled all that rage into understanding evil audit. It's the only way to beat it.

YOU will do this. YOU are a fighter. Get mad and get even!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

REG: 75 DONE 🙂
AUD: 61, 71, 68, 92 DONE 🙂
BEC: 76 DONE 🙂
FAR: 72, 74, 79 DONE 🙂
Licensed Michigan CPA 🙂
-Some people dream of success...others wake up and work hard for it!!!
-The cowards never start and the weak die along the way!
-You better work, b***h!
-Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.-JFK

[Anonymous]

I registered specifically to respond to you. Don't get discouraged! As a senior auditor with a Big4 firm, I understand how embarrassing it must feel to know that some staffs are passing and you're not. But it all depends on so many other circumstances. Your work load, commute time, traveling assignments, family demands, your individual study technique. For instance, I'm a really bad test-taker and have a really hard time concentrating on things. agghh. But I've been passing lately and it's a beautiful thing to see those scores. I've been taking the exam on and off for 4 years now. Truly committed only during the last one after I magically passed BEC. The journey for both of us is almost over! We've invested way too much time and money into it so suck it up! Bring out the warrior and do it!!! Tell people in the office you didn't pass it this time but you know why and will gun it down in a month. Have a positing attitude about it and they will quickly forget. Noone really cares as much as we like to think.

I also wanted to offer a piece of practical advice when it comes to AUD SIMs. See if you can find the answers in Authoritative Literature. I found most of my SIMs answers word for word in AL which is probably why my score is so high. While I do know that it's not always the case, you might get lucky!!!

DON'T GIVE UP!!! RIGHT NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO FEEL SORRY FOR YOURSELF!!!

[Galina-Virginia]

Thank you very much Vlakmir for your extensive and helpful comment!

So, when you mentioned about the video, you meant the Bisk's /video and their software?

[Anonymous]

@CPA means Cant Pass Again One thing that helped me get through the exams personally, is that I would write down after each exam what poor decisions I made as far as studying or taking the exam. What i found is that everytime i failed there was something that did wrong whether it was too much anxiety at test time, not doing enough MCQ's. I would take a very hard and objective look at the differences between your studying and test taking experiences this last time as compared to when you first passed audit. Don't give up, you haven't failed until you quit.

[Anonymous]

@ATG… I wish I could remember all the way back to the first time I took Audit. I took it in May of 2012 the first time. It's like ancient history at this point, and I've had 10 or so tests in between. But you're right, and that's good advice. I didn't do as many MCQs as I should have. I really needed a few more days to study. No more worries, though. In 25 days I'm going to retake it and destroy it. 🙂 🙂 🙂

[Author]

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