CPA exam advice request for non accounting major with no accounting experience.! - Page 2

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  • #174414
    thedavep
    Member

    My question is this, should I read through the college accounting textbooks, before I go through becker.

    I do not have a degree in accounting or experience in accounting. Most background in terms of both degree and job is in marketing. I scrapped together the requirements with some 2.0, passing courses with online accounting courses couple years ago with the help of my husband often..oops… do not know how i passed… as i was working in multinational marketing, travelling with kids, just carried along somehow to qualify for the exam.

    Due to career shifting plans and stability and growing respect for accounting, Now I am thinking of taking the exam…

    My strategy. I am properly reading intermediate accounting textbook and the advanced accounting textbook before i study becker for the far. and then with auditing read the auditing textbook then do the becker stuff… then read tax textbooks before becker, and then take regulation.. and finally just do becker for bec, as I have some idea of the content in this section.

    So is this the right approach. Also I heard that becker simulations were not as strong as required and to use wiley simulations as an extra prep tool.

    I was going to give one month to reading the textbooks and dummies version of the content, and sometimes doing problems, but focusing on understanding the technical side if accounting and then two months for becker and wiley prep stuff where I will practice all the problems. Average of 5 hours a day of studying at least.

    Is final review of becker worth purchasing?

    Is this enough?

    Please advice on these questions and am i on the right track. I do not know where to start. I want to finish all the 4 sections in 2013.

    I have a very rudimentary knowledge of accounting and I need your guidance folks. PLEASE respond appropriately. Thank you

Viewing 9 replies - 16 through 24 (of 24 total)
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  • #380237
    jelly
    Participant

    I don't know if I'll get to all of your questions. Usually a textbook is a little bit overkill for studying, although it's good for reference. It seems that any of the study aids (Becker, Wiley, Yaeger, etc) will be pretty good at organizing and slimming it down for you. Becker can admittedly, be a little esoteric in explanations.

    Another career path to maybe consider, based on what you've written so far, is fundraising and/or grantwriting, which are pretty much the sales aspects of nonprofits and foundations. They really bring in the bacon, the rest of us just count it (and allocate and temporarily restrict and release and etc). If you can bring in donors and interested parties, you've pretty much guaranteed yourself at least the development position, if not the executive director position in these places.

    Couldn't pass again!

    #380238
    thedavep
    Member

    Is there alot business combination questions in FAR simulations and other sections simulations?

    Is reading advanced accounting textbook helpful, after reading intermediate accounting, and which textbook for advanced accounting would you recommend.

    Do you get any scratch paper or pen/pencil in the test center?

    #380239
    thedavep
    Member
    #380240
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I'm a marketing major from a little state school in Oregon and took a few accounting courses later in life at a UC extension. I also have almost completed an MST.

    I think anything is possible, but judging by the fact you must have taken a boatload of tests and have the intelligence to get into MIT, I think you'll be just fine with the CPA. I'd just go through an exam course and try sitting for a section to see how you do. If you need to learn more, then go at it. Most of it is tolerance and endurance for boredom.

    #380241
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    People want to take this exam and are not even accountants – I just woke up in a twisted dream ! lol – At this point i just want to teach finger painting to pre-K kids 🙁

    Read a section chapter ( any section ) and take a quiz. If you seem to mildly get it, then you might have a shot, if you are realizing that this is beyond your grasp, then re assess and re consider.

    Also, go on the college boards and speak to an accounting professor or two from your former alumn; see if you could come by the school and perhaps “sit” in during the lectures. Most decent professors will admire your passion for learning and allow this.

    #380242
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    People want to take this exam and are not even accountants – I just woke up in a twisted dream ! lol – At this point i just want to teach finger painting to pre-K kids 🙁

    Read a section chapter ( any section ) and take a quiz. If you seem to mildly get it, then you might have a shot, if you are realizing that this is beyond your grasp, then re assess and re consider.

    Also, go on the college boards and speak to an accounting professor or two from your former alumn; see if you could come by the school and perhaps “sit” in during the lectures. Most decent professors will admire your passion for learning and allow this.

    #380243
    thedavep
    Member

    do they give you scratch paper and a pen or pencil

    #380244
    momto5
    Member

    Yes, a booklet of paper and pencils.

    FAR - 92 (4/27/12)
    AUD - 96 (7/17/12)
    BEC - 92 (8/30/12)
    REG - 91 (11/12/12)

    #380245
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    All of my accounting classes were online. I have only used the Wiley review book and online test bank questions to study for the exams. I worked for two years at a small accounting firm and then left to become a sole prop preparing tax returns. I only work about 10 hours a week and spend the rest of my time studying. I've passed three sections in 9 months, and that includes time spent getting married and going through tax season and extension deadlines. If you have 8 months to study full time, you can do it. I can't stress enough how well Wiley has prepared me for these exams. Read every page and answer every question. Then answer every question in the online test bank, and you are guaranteed to have a fighting chance. Best of luck.

Viewing 9 replies - 16 through 24 (of 24 total)
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