[CPA_VT]

Thanks everyone in this forum who encourage other candidates and give advice. I am so happy to be done. Last was REG with a 81..

A few highlights of my experience with this. I made a lame attempt in 2004 and ended up with pathetic scores and then never got serious about it until after my father passed away last fall. This is kind of bittersweet as my father used to remind me of this unfinished business once every year and I did not really take it up seriously all these years. Life rolled on by. I finished my MBA from Virginia Tech as my son was finishing up his freshman year in college. Then I realized the longer I postpone the CPA endeavor the harder it will get.

All this material is entirely foreign to me in that I have a under-grad degree in accounting, CA and CWA diploma from India which unfortunately is not recognized here. So I had to first finish MBA to get over the 150 hrs requirement. Then I took one class at a community college just in case I do not have the mandatory accounting credits. In the end Virginia Board of Accountancy gave full credit to my CIMA and I ended up with way more credits than I needed. All this preliminary work was exhausting, including the 1 year I took to get a sealed transcripts from my under-grad coursework. All said, it was roughly 15 months by the time I had all my ducks in a row and be in a position to actually. register for the CPA. After that I did not let up. I set myself a goal that I should be done before end of 2020 and I am so relieved that happened.

So here is my story-

9 months, 600+ hours. GLEIM all the way.. What I believe worked for me. I took the first of the 4 exams a week before my 50th birthday.
a. I did not overthink it. I religiously the followed GLEIM methodology even if it was exasperating at times as it would not let me get through a study unit. I just happened to pick GLEIM and decided stick with it all the way through once I passed BEC comfortably with it.
b. I took BEC first because I felt a pass would give me a boost and for me it did.
b. I did not skimp on SIMs hard as it was . I found GLEIM very difficult for REG but stuck with it
c. Managed time well on the exam. Did not leave any MCQ or SIM unanswered
d. Did only MCQs in the last week after the model exam on GLEIM
e. About 1000 MCQs in the last 7-10 days a little bit more for FAR
f. I had 40-60 pages of my own short notes on a MS-Word document that I rushed through the night before the exam
g. I studied sequentially each chapter and scored low and many of those end of chapter quiz/simulations. I had to redo many quizzes but I soldiered on

I have been work in IT since last 25 years and not in accounting. My undergrad was back in 1989 though I did complete an MBA from Virginia Tech 2 years ago. That came in handy for BEC, I must say. My challenge was not comprehension but retention and recall. I was forgetting what I studied in week 1 and 2, by the time week 6 rolled around.

I was worried all along because I was forgetting a lot and had to re-study several study units especially for GLEIM and FAR. I realized that conceptual clarity is more important than minutiae of $$ limits on exemptions and such.

Good luck with all those who are toiling away. It is not too far away. Hang in there.

I would feel border-line after every exam but ended up passing comfortably except AUD which I thought I may have done well enough to cross 80. I had about 5-10 point pick up in the actual exam compared to the full-length model exam in GLEIM.

AUD - 78
BEC - 95
FAR - 88
REG - 81

Ethics -100
Licensed Virginia -Nov 2020
Glad to be done!!

[CH89]

Congrats on passing this exam! That's awesome you decided to come back and tackle it so many years later. Huge congrats again, and enjoy this moment and live in that relief!

AUD - 84
BEC - 82
FAR - 76
REG - 79

What a journey! It took me 12 attempts, do not give up, keep going! Praise God!

Passed Exams: 8/25/2020

Licensed in Pa: 11/24/2020

[Author]

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