[lggoldman1]

Anyone have any successful methods to studying for the exam with diagnosed ADHD? I failed all 4 sections in 2010, all of my materials are outdated, my funds are limited, and I’m committed to passing this exam. I just got my NTS for audit but havent scheduled yet. Planning for first week in April. Whats the best study materials to use? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

@mla119 often times I have a hard time having a conversation with a manager or even a friend because i'm so focused on what i should say next instead of actually listening to the person. or, when someone is speaking and when i hear something they say trigger a thought, i feel like i have to interrupt them to give my thought otherwise i'd forget what i was thinking.

also, whenever i ask a coworker or manager to help me on a tax return, i often find myself clicking around too fast, and end up spending more time because i often end up clicking on the wrong button and then having to go back to a previous screen. i've had a number of my coworkers and bosses say i click around too fast. and — i often time ask another question related to a tax return while the coworker/boss is trying to answer my first question.

when i browse the web — i literally have anywhere from 2-10 tabs open. for instance, i have Khan Academy open because i wanted to check out some of their finance videos later, Late Night w/Jimmy Fallon paused on Hulu, this website, and another link from this forum opened on 4 tabs simultaneously.

are these symptoms you've experienced as a bonafide ADHD patient, or do you think this is more of an anxiety issue?

[Anonymous]

@baseball cpa….I'll answer your question.

As the parent of a child with ADD and probably an undiagnosed sufferer myself, I can answer your question and misconceptions.

My Son's case was one where he began having trouble in the second grade when classes began introducing more difficult schoolwork. His symptoms were that he was quickly overwhelmed when trying to learn easy math for instance–kind of the way we feel after a long weekend of CPA studying, where we cannot pack anything else in and information stops making sense. I fought the medications for him thinking that it was just doctors creating billings for themselves and the drug industry. Finally our Pediatrician asked us to just try the medication once for a couple days and see what happened. That corresponded with some standardized testing my son was being allowed to retake because in second grade he tested at a beginner first grade level. We started him on it on a Monday, he retook the test on that Thursday and scored at a fourth grade level. Since then it's been gangbusters. ADD medication isn't a magic pill, it simply removes barriers that are preventing your pure potential from being realized. If ADD medication was a ‘smart pill' that made people smarter or more capable than they really are in life, everyone would be on it and it would be the new normal. What was that movie…oh yeah Limitless would be a reality.

As for myself, I have gone untreated although I know I have it. Counter to the misconception that ADD/ADHD people can't focus, that's actually a fallacy. Hyperfocus is one of the hallmarks of ADD/ADHD. For instance, since starting the CPA study, it is all I can do to manage my work duties. Things I routinely handled with great precision and absolutely mastery are now giving me fits and trying to manage projects that I was in absolute control of a few weeks ago is a chore. It's like whatever is at the forefront of my mind at any given time pushes out everything else. If I sit down and try to study, relax, or pray…I have 10,000 things going through my head. The best analogy is like there are 40 people in the room with you who are whispering in your ear, one after another, about any given topic. At times, it is just a handful quitely whispering and diverting your attention….other times it is like they are all talking at the same time in a frenzy.

If you have seen the kid's movie UP, there is a talking Dog in the movie who is always excited to tell the other characters something. Then in mid-sentence he yells “SQUIRREL” and forgets what he was saying to run off and chase the squirrel. We laugh about that with myself or my son when we're mid-sentence and one of the distractions runs us off on some rabbit trail. My wife will say “SQUIRREL” and we'll go back to what we were saying.

It makes studying an extreme challenge. Despite it, I have my EA and graduated with honors from my MBA program and (with the grace of God and a little hope&luck) just passed the auditing portion of the CPA exam on Wednedsay of this week.

I think that if people can find coping mechanisms, that's the best solution and what has helped me. But for some medication is the workaround (notice I didn't say solution). The meds don't cure it, they just take away most of the disadvantages of the ADD. From my experience with my son the meds don't put the person on an even playing field with the others (timed tests are usually a problem and the medicated ADD sufferer still has to work extra hard to keep up and amazingly hard to excel). Also, the meds introduce other problems such as tics which can be just as distracting as the ADD.

So as someone with experience, I don't see that giving bonafide ADD people (medicated or not) a little extra time is an unfair accommodation or gives them a leg up.

CPAPending

[mla1169]

@ cannotpass, yes that sounds TOO familiar!

Its definately worth checking out especially if it is interfering with living your life. For me, I was incredibly productive even unmedicateld (TOO productive according to most people!) however I struggled with depression and anxiety. After years of talk therapy and every depression and anxiety med known to man I reluctantly agreed to try Concerta. Mind you I am on a very low dose, a starter dose that I've never wanted to increase, but my other issues are largely under control now.

I am very resistent even with a diagnosis to the meds. I strongly believe that any person in the world could walk into a doctors office and walk out with a script for Adderall or Concerta. I find it amusing that it is more difficult to beat an antibiotic out of a doctor than Adderall. I even wonder if some of the benefits I have found are placebo or psychosematic. Maybe they are but its not worth stopping if its not, kwim?

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Anonymous]

I've always suspected I had ADD and reading more here is actually confirming that suspicion. Well, I tell you which review will help…Roger CPA. I've actually tried the NIU live review as I'm in Chicago and they do hold a downtown review sessions. It is great just didn't work for me.

Gleim books helped me pass my EA exams, but couldn't do it for the CPA. Finally, a friend who has passed all parts recommended Roger and since I started using it I was able to pass AUD & REG in one testing session and just sat for BEC on Wednesday and feeling pretty good about it.

Roger style is entertaining to me and uses simple terms to explain complex theories, which makes it stick. And because the way my brain functions, I enjoy doing puzzles like the poster said above. So I did a ton of questions. For AUD I had done over 1500 practice MCQ and it is reflected in my score. Although I'm an EA Roger helped me understand some of the little issues here and there that kind of always puzzled me about taxation. However, REG has a tone of Biz law so my score was affected by that.

[Anonymous]

@CPAPending, thank you for your thoughtful post.

As for the extra time or frequent breaks, those accommodations make perfect sense to me observing a tutoring student who had ADHD.

I'll never forget the time she had some simple algebra homework early in the school year — multiplying out sets of equations (not solving them) . The 15 or so problems were all the same, just with different numbers of factors and different letter variables, pluses and minuses, etc..

It took her 45 minutes. Because the same exact method was used for each problem, and she understood completely how to do the problems, it was sheer torture for her to sit there and do the same thing over and over again. She actually got up and left and did some other little task several times during that 45 minutes. She would be a good accountant, she's naturally good at math and logic and “puzzle solving” complex situations, but imagining her doing a bond amortization by hand is not a pretty thought. It would make her crazy. She does take meds when she needs them for a particular class or assignment — very helpful, but I agree the meds are a helper, not a normalizer.

[lggoldman1]

CPApending – Very well said.

[Anonymous]

Just to clarify, i wasn't busting on baseball…just clarifying.

CPAPending.

[Anonymous]

Haha no problem, CPA Pending, I didn't take it that way at all. Thanks for the clarification.

[Anonymous]

Awesome, it can be hard to tell how someone meant something when in written form. I've had people get mad when I was truly just writing a harmless letter/email.

I used to hang out on an adult ADD forum and my first post was titled “what was I saying?” 😀

I have a buddy at work tell me he was going to be talking to his doctor about an ADD medication while studying. The guy is truly one of the most intense, thoughtful people I know. I thought to myself, if you get any more focused you'll turn to stone. If I was in better health physically, I'd ask just to see how I felt but with high blood pressure already it isn't worth the risk.

CPAPending

[Pippy Longstocking 93105]

I think I have ADD and so does my Dr. I have not been officially diagnosed, but trying to prepare for FAR sort of brought things into the light. I was just having so much trouble focusing on that material. So we tried some medication.

The long and the short is that the meds work for me brilliantly. I became a study machine, easily put in 400 hours preparing for the 2nd pass. Got thru, even though I got caught up on those time bomb questions, precisely because I was so well prepared.

I've actually passed all the other sections without medication, but I was never able to study more than about 5 hours a day, and I made very poor progress if I was working and trying to study. With the meds, I study about 300% more effectivel I figure. I can easily cover in 2 days what I used to take a full week, maybe even more. And I know the material better. I know the meds only help certain traits, but it seems to be like lightning grease for exam preparation purposes.

ADD is a real handicap in the modern world. Discovering I have ADD gives me a great deal of insight and a new perspective into what's been going on in my life up to this point. And here I'd been having trouble all my life reading a textbook. I always thought they were just poorly written!

Of course besides the medication there are lots of other ways of coping. I've already developed many of these skills already.

A CPA with ADD sounds like a bad joke. I wonder what a career coach would suggest.

I see all these contributors with these long drawn out exam experiences, I'd recommend they go talk to a Dr. Trouble focusing is classic ADD, so by the way is persistence.

Passed all 4
Done!
If I can pass, you can too!

[golfball7773]

Disclaimer: I didn't want to start a new thread because there is a lot of good advice here.

I was recently diagnosed with Adult ADHD and was wondering if more recent peeps have advice or are looking for advice. It completely makes sense now as I can do a set of 30 MCQ without checking facebook, cnn, etc. Before it was maybe one or two questions before moving on to a new task.

FAR: 63, 55, 62
REG: 65, 77*
AUD: Fail, 64, 71
BEC: 72, 74, 81

*expired

[CPA soon]

Adderall+Coffee+Pomodoro Technique+No Sleep and you'll be alright

FAR - 71, 68, 74, (8/31/14) 78 ✔
REG - 67, 71, 71, (10/18/14) 78 ✔
BEC - (11/29/14) 86 ✔
AUD - 73, (4/4/15) 86 ✔

I can't believe this is over! 2 years and 3 months..

[golfball7773]

My doc won't give Adderall yet – I just got bumped to 54 mg concerta ER

FAR: 63, 55, 62
REG: 65, 77*
AUD: Fail, 64, 71
BEC: 72, 74, 81

*expired

[Author]

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