[Jack Molitor]

Hey all:

As I probably start transition out of this community, I wanted to impart some encouragement and some advice for anyone seeking it, particularly if you just got back some bad news.

I started this exam journey in August of 2017. Without *really* knowing what I was getting into, I still knew it would be a massive undertaking, probably the most challenging of my life to date (spoiler alert, it has been). So I let my family and friends know what that would entail, probably for more than a year.

It turned out to be every bit the challenge I expected and more, but I passed the first three sections with solid scores. Then came AUD. I had done the prep work to get ready for the exam, but compared to the previous three, I let off the gas, just the slightest bit. I took fewer notes. I didn’t make flashcards. I got through the MCQs for each lesson just to get through them, not to actually learn and comprehend the topics. At night, instead of circling back to lessons I struggled with, I’d watch cartoons (at my age, I know, it’s a problem).

But I was overconfident, buoyed by my three prior triumphs. I thought I had done enough to get by, especially since I thought AUD would be my strongest area and I had saved it for last thinking it would be the easiest section. The September week leading up to the score release felt more like a celebration, and I had already mentally moved on to all the things I had put on the backburner for months.

Then I got it: 74. It felt like a slap in the face. It’s literally the worst score you can get. I almost think they should just tell you that you failed and not tell you, you got a 74. That’s just painful. For weeks and even still a little now, it felt like such a personal failure. As if someone at the AICPA had singled me out for a cruel joke. It meant that I couldn’t yet move on with my life, that I wouldn’t be one of the elite that pass all the sections on the first try, that I would be one quarter closer to my scores lapsing. But beyond all that, it felt like an attack on my character and who I was. Like most people, I had faced failure before this, but this particular failure made me doubt everything. Maybe it’s my own personality (I’m very hard on myself), or maybe it was a side-effect of the stressful, pressure-packed experience of the exam. In any case, I questioned whether I should even re-study, re-focus and re-take, despite all the work I had done to that point, despite being so close. I felt entitled. Like I had done enough to pass, and if they didn’t want to recognize that, then screw it.

Then I got honest with myself: I HAD sloughed off, compared to the first three. I HAD taken AUD lightly. I let up. That 74 was on me. And I had the ability to change it. I just had to decide to. So I left nothing to chance for a few more weeks, I re-took, and just got back a solid passing score.

I guess that’s all a long (and probably boring, uninteresting) way of saying: This is a test of your character as much as anything else. This exam is long, it’s brutal, and statistically, you’re going to fail, at least once. You have to decide how to bounce back from it when it happens, and THE RIGHT WAY is being honest with yourself. Did you put in enough work? Did you really dedicate to learning the concepts? Is this exam really even something I can do at this stage of my life? Almost all of us who have qualified to sit HAVE the raw talent to pass the exam. But a lot of us might not have the time, discipline and/or desire to do it. And that’s fine, too. But be honest about it.

So if you didn’t pass this time, especially if you were very close: You CAN do this, but be real with yourself. Just doing lessons to get them done doesn’t serve you well. Skipping over concepts because you don’t pick them up easily is a recipe for disaster. Watching TV when you should be practicing MCQs won’t do you any good.

But I’m rooting for you. I believe in you. I think we all are rooting for each other. So thanks for being with me through the good and bad of this journey. I’m hardly the smartest guy around and I did it. So I know you can, too. I hope for nothing less for all of you. Love.

[rahee]

Congratulations!!

[Recked]

Nice inspiring story, thanks for sharing.
Congrats on finally being done.

[ak_cpawannabe]

Congratulations on being done!!! I absolutely agree on everything with you. I failed exams 5 times before I decided that I need to do it for myself and not because my manager was pressuring me to do it and I didn’t feel like it. After I failed REG the last time, I left prometric center thinking omg I really have to be almost an expert in this material to pass this test because the test is really hard and all over the material. So my advice to others is also to try to master everything and no cutting corners. If any materials are unclear from your learning software, watch YouTube videos or read some articles online on the topic. I watched a bunch of YouTube to help understand concepts for BEC since lots of economics materials were not very clear from my learning software.

Work hard, really master material, and pass this certification for yourself, because this is one of the best things you can do for yourself in this lifetime.

[Sandy]

Congratulations on passing the exams!
I did feel the pain through your description.
You are a good writer for sure 😛

[Author]

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