[Anonymous]

BACKGROUND:

“You know, you don’t need a 3.8 GPA to sell insurance…” said the managing partner of a small boutique consultancy, as he began his interview questions for me. I had to bite my tongue in order to refrain from replying, “Well.. you don’t really need a Harvard MBA to figure that one out.” Incidentally, he DID have a Harvard MBA, and I didn’t get offered the position. Usually when you hear feedback from an interview, it’s hard to tell if they’re being euphemistic, excessively politically-correct, or truly honest. However, when you hear the same thing over and over, you start to believe it. For me, it was: “Everyone really liked you, and you’re obviously a bright guy…. We’re just looking for someone with slightly different skill-sets/background.” That’s frustrating. How could I change my skill sets? I really wanted to work in a field/position where I’d be able to think and work with financial data in a very analytical and quantitative manner, but my general sales experience and ‘Business Management’ degree didn’t seem to convince anyone I was capable of doing so. Going back for another bachelors degree would be prohibitively expensive, and I had nowhere near the necessary credentials to get into a top MBA program.

I actually brainstormed this quandary with my mom in late 2009. I randomly mused that I could take the CPA exam. Being a part time instructor at the local community college, my mom informed me that they had a pretty good accounting department. Within five minutes, I had mapped out two years worth of courses. The plan was to work full time while taking two classes per quarter. Fast forward to August, 2011, and my Academic Credentials Evaluation had been approved. Rock and roll.

Fast forward to a week ago (March 8th), and I have officially passed all four parts, and the ethics test. Rock and roll.

BEC – 10/15/11 – 91

FAR – 11/25/11 – 89

REG – 1/17/12 – 81

AUD – 2/25/12 – 97

There are obviously a lot of different factors that go into a successful CPA study-plan. What works for some may not work for others, and my approach may very well not be the best for you. Nonetheless, if even some small part helps someone else out, I’ll be glad. I’ve segmented the different components of my study plan into several categories, including: Attitude, Personal Life, Time Management, Study Materials, and of course, the Four Exams.

ATTITUDE: TL;DR: Be very serious about passing the exam – treat it like a commitment you can’t break. Also recognize that by even being eligible for the exam, you’re already at a level of knowledge that few people will reach.

I’m convinced that having the right mindset about the exam played a huge role in being able to get through not only the actual exam, but also the classes preceding it. For me, I approached the exam as though I had only one shot at passing each section, and that failure was not an option. Sure, that may sound a bit like ‘locker-room’ garbage, but having met people with a blasé attitude, I believe that being serious about the exam is important. Next, I always kept in mind that even BEFORE taking the exam, I had reached a level of education that a large majority of the world never will. This may sound cocky, but everyone on this website who has sat for (or will shortly be sitting for) the exam probably has a Masters-equivalent number of college credits, and has managed to pass quite a few hard courses (I don’t care what anyone says, Intermediate Accounting was tough!!). Next time you feel like giving up, just reframe the situation – you’re playing on a level that few will reach. If you’ve made it this far, there’s no sense in quitting now – time to fully commit!

PERSONAL LIFE: TL;DR: Set expectations with your significant-other/friends/family – they’ll think you’re less of a dick for doing so. Go out and get drunk from time to time, fly a kite, or do something you enjoy.

I’m not married (I do have a wonderful girlfriend), and I’ll be the first to admit that this exam would be remarkably difficult to study for if you have a great deal of family responsibilities. It was difficult enough having to constantly keep my head in the books and ignore my girlfriend. That being the case, I found it beneficial to actually explain the situation in detail and get her ‘buy-in’. No significant other wants to hear that their loved one is going to be stressed, busy, and unable to participate in many fun weekend activities for the next 6-9 months. However, by setting expectations and putting a timeframe on the test, I found that she was pretty understanding. The same idea applies to friends. If you simply ignore texts and don’t return calls, your friends will justifiably think you’re a jerkoff. However, if you let them know what’s going on, and when you’ll be free, they’re a bit more understanding. I’m a big believer in balance, and I definitely didn’t want to become a complete recluse as a result of this exam. To that end, don’t forget to go out from time to time. I found that going out for a beer, or 10, every so often really helped keep me sane. As long as I was ahead of my study schedule, going out on a random weekend definitely helped keep my life in perspective.

TIME MANAGEMENT: TL;DR: Be an ogre about your time – it’s very valuable. It’s not enough to simply set aside time – turn wait periods into study periods.

Although I always tried to be polite, there were definitely times when I had to tell people not to disturb me unless the building was on fire or my pets were being kidnapped. Given how busy life gets, it’s important to be capable of telling people to leave you alone while you study – don’t let distractions interrupt a good session. Additionally, I found it beneficial to block off certain times – generally between 9:00-11:00pm. Having a structured time for studying definitely aided my willpower. However, being the OCD and ‘urgent’ person that I am, I couldn’t help but notice how much down time I had during the day. A 20 minute commute in congested traffic, a 45 minute lunch break, 15 minutes here/there waiting for my girlfriend to get ready, and other such blocks of time became the perfect opportunity to read the notecards I had made while studying. To that end, I literally filled in all the cracks of my day with CPA studying.

STUDY MATERIALS: TL;DR: The Wiley book/bank combo is the best value out there hands down. Wiley can be frustrating, and the use of a second study-book set can make a world of difference.

Given that I didn’t have an employer paying for my study materials, exam fees, or the classes I took to meet eligibility, cost was definitely a large consideration in deciding upon study materials. Although the most common answer regarding study materials seems to be Becker, I was unimpressed by what I saw, and it seemed like a poor value (in my opinion – ymmv). Anyone who has an above average memory, can learn well solely through reading, and has a lot of willpower could pass the entire exam with Wiley alone. That being the case, having a second book – such as the Gleim text – can make a world of difference. While Wiley tended to read like legalese, Gleim was a bit more well-reasoned and the explanations were a hell of a lot easier to digest. I found myself starting with the Wiley book, and if I was having difficulty grasping a concept, I’d switch to Gleim. Regardless of the order, I read both books and answered every single multiple choice question – in addition to doing thousands of questions in the Wiley Test Bank. Additionally, I pretty much did every cpareviewforfree.com question, for all the sections. I found it to be most helpful for BEC and AUD, and least effective for REG (in my opinion).

THE ACTUAL EXAMS: TL;DR: Do as many multiple choice questions as you possibly can. Then do more. If you find yourself getting stuck on a concept, pretend you are explaining it to a sophomore accounting student – if you can explain it to them, you probably understand it yourself. Steal other people’s ideas and acronyms.

While working in sales, I coined the phrase, “Don’t reinvent the wheel – just paint it your favorite color.” When it comes to exam prep, the advice regarding multiple choice questions is correct – do a boatload of them. Not only should you do a lot, but understand why you got a problem wrong (or why you got it right, if by accident). Take Notes, and actually review the notes on a regular basis. Additionally, if someone has a great acronym, study tip, or anything else, then steal it! For instance, I now have a giant box of ear-plugs – I highly recommend them, and I’m glad someone told me to use them. In terms of test specifics, for BEC I found that studying the calculations was very helpful – my reasoning was that if I understood the calculations, I should be able to rationalize the theory behind them. To that end, I committed a lot of formulas to memory, and I believe it helped. For FAR, I tried a similar approach – ie, memorizing formulas and hoping I could figure out the theory behind it if needed. In retrospect, this may not have been the best idea, and I probably would have spent more time on concepts if I could do it over again. Also, I found that the most efficient way to learn IFRS was to focus SOLELY on the differences relative to GAAP. While IFRS is supposed to be all “conceptual” and less prescriptive, the study materials tend to suggest more similarities than differences (between IFRS and GAAP). For that reason, I focused on the much more narrow set of information related to differences. My logic while preparing was that if I didn’t know an IFRS question, I’d answer it as if it was a GAAP question, provided I didn’t have a specific reason NOT to. REG was by far the most difficult exam for me. For REG, the devil is in the details. As we all know, the questions found on any given exam could be at least a little bit different than those found on the test of someone sitting across the room. To that end, I probably would have spent more time on personal tax issues, rather than business law (I can’t help that I find business law to be a lot more interesting than tax!). Additionally, REG was definitely the exam where I really started practicing my technique of ‘explanations’. For instance, after completely f’ing up a series of questions on corporate distributions, I focused on that material until I could literally explain (out loud) exactly why certain distributions received certain tax treatment. I figured that if I could explain the logic behind it to someone with a sophomore level of accounting knowledge, then I was probably in good shape for the exam. AUD felt difficult at first, but after reasoning through a great number of multiple choice questions, I started feeling comfortable with the logic. In essence, if you understand the concept of segregation, can memorize a few of the ‘lists’ (ie, what is control environment composed of? What are the elements of a quality control system?), and can grasp the logic behind audit procedures, then AUD is very passable. Given that I had only taken a single intro-audit course coming into the exam, I found multiple questions to be the absolute best way of learning AUD.

Also, it should be noted that I did indeed wear lucky red boxers for all four exams – and this started before I read about the benefits of lucky red undwear. This would suggest to me that this is a best practice worth following. I also wore the same blue flannel button-down and worn out Asics for all four exams. That all being said, it appears I have rambled out a damn near novel. I hope someone finds some use in it, and I’d be happy to answer any questions.