Hey Death what part of the world do you live in? Beers, my treat ( AICPA disclosure, I am straight, no Sandusky stuff) Kate Upton can vouche for me, I wish.
Reg 11/15/2011 - 80
Aud 02/28/2012 - 81
Bec 05/31/2012 - 78
Far 08/31/2012 - 83 Do you believe in Miracles, YES !!!
CPA License received 10/2012 !!
CFE License received 04/2013 !!
EA License received
It all comes down to sacrifices. Everyone has to make sacrifices in order to pass the CPA exam. Some more than others, of course. But those who fail the exam probably failed to make the necessary sacrifices. Stop watching TV, let your facebook account go inactive for a while, don't pick up your cell phone every time you get a text, block youtube, etc… Ditch those things that erode your attention and ability to focus. If you do it right, you can put this exam behind you in 6-12 months. If you do it wrong, you can drag it out over many years. If you make moderate sacrifices from the get go, you'll avoid long drawn out & painful experiences.
If you fail an exam, don't make excuses for yourself! Look back at your preparation, pinpoint the distractions that you allowed to remain in your life, and get rid of them (the ones you can, anyway… don't get rid of your family please!).
AUD - 79
BEC - 88
REG - 87
FAR - 86 - Woot, all done!
Ethics - 100
“Sometimes the CPA exam comes down to the ability to just be able to take a damn test. Personally, I think REG is so ridiculous because it is not representative WHATSOEVER of what someone actually does in the tax field!”
Mrs300, you hit the nail on the head with this response. The CPA exam is a test in your abilities to take tests as much as it tests your knowledge of accounting. I know some people that are excellent accountants and their knowledge of accounting rivals that of CPAs, but they just couldn't pass the exam. So I would say their weakness is in test-taking, not in accounting, and I think the CPA exam's consistent pass/fail rates were set up with this in mind.
Well I am reading 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I think the book would say something like “failure is a choice we make.”
But if a family member gets sick/passes away, or a tornado hits your house, or the prometric center explodes forcing you to take the test now when it was scheduled a month later, then that is a different story. Sadly though very few people care about that.
I guess I subconsciously decided to fail. I disagree about being “cut-out” to be a CPA. A little bit of an awful self-fulfilling prophecy and a terrible excuse there. But for me, lack of discipline and persistence, that alone would make me not cut-out for life. hahaha.
Sometimes real life trumps studying. I'm not talking about playing on FB or partying, I'm talking about a young child with the flu, baking for a school bake sale, year end at work, etc. There is no black and white answer to why some people fail we all have different circumstances and challenges.
I think you can make all the sacrifices you can and still not pass. I am working full-time. I have 7 kids. Thankfully my 19yo is acting as the nanny this summer (I am paying him.) I have started getting up at 4am so that I can study and exercise before work (it's hard to get as much done at night with all the things I have to do.) If I hit it hard, I can get about 3 hours of study in a day, with hopefully more on the weekends. It may not be enough, so I may fail.
You never know someone's circumstances.
REG - 89
BEC - 82
FAR - 87
AUD - 81
Used CPAexcel, Wiley Online Practice, and NINJA!
@ ReneeNC – Please understand that I was speaking *generally*. Obviously what someone says in a general sense doesn't apply 100% to every person on the planet. I agree with mla1169 that life sometimes trumps studying, and that some people have circumstances that make preparing for the exam extremely difficult. But we can't really deny that *most* people *probably* (notice the * – that means I'm speaking generally again) don't make all the reasonable sacrifices that they should in order to pass.
I could list all the things that take time away from my studying just like everyone else (small children, wife with pregnancy complications, full-time/overtime job, first-time home-buyer, etc…). I'm not talking about sacrificing those things. I'm talking about the mostly unproductive stuff we fill our time with that could easily be sacrificed if we just exercised some self-discipline.
Does doing that guarantee that every person will pass? No, of course not. Honestly there's an endless amount of stars that need to align for one person to pass this exam. But the OP asked for advice, and that's #1 on my list.
AUD - 79
BEC - 88
REG - 87
FAR - 86 - Woot, all done!
Ethics - 100
@jking, the first time I took reg I had what turned out to be an abscessed tooth and decided to push through studying instead of being smart and getting to the dentist lol. Second time I was in better shape. AUD was my nemesis, and the major breakthrough was the ninja notes.
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