[VTHokie13]

I have really appreciated the support and community this board has given me through my CPA exam journey and just to sign off I figured I would share my strategy (I know hearing other’s stories/strategies seemed to help me the most).

(Disclaimer: I know this strategy won’t work for everyone, and I promise I am not trying to rub this in on anybody. For all you who are working full time, I have so much sympathy for you. I don’t know how I would have done this if I wasn’t lucky enough to be able to take a whole summer without work and just study full time. That being said, if you have a free summer, I would hiiiighly recommend this strategy if you have the drive. I didn’t really know if I had the drive in me, but I guess I had just enough).

First of all, I am a graduate student at Virginia Tech. This is my last semester, just three classes to finish up. I received my undergrad degree in accounting from Virginia Tech in 3.5 years then started my masters and will finish for a total of 4.5 years (GPA about 3.5 for those looking to compare). I interned for 2 summers in a row at a regional accounting firm in VA. Loved it there and will start full time in audit with them in January (busy season, kinda nervous, but i’m sure it will be ok). Since I had a job offer in hand and I figured the firm would appreciate it if I could get the CPA exam under my belt before I started, I decided not to work again this past summer and instead just study full time for the CPA exam.

I decided to go with Becker since I had heard the most about them and Virginia Tech pushed the bootcamp each school year. I came to find out all they do in the bootcamp is play the self-study videos for you in class time so I decided to get the self-study and prepare at home. I looked up the bootcamp schedule online and just stuck to it. I started studying on May 17. The bootcamp schedule had class Monday – Thursday each week until the end of June.

Each day I would get up early, watch all of the videos for a chapter, review the chapter, then work all of the problems for the chapter. It took me about 8 to 12 hours each day and was no fun, but in the end it paid off. I started reviewing FAR first. The 9 section took about 2 weeks (9 days working M-Th each week). I then moved to REG (7 sections, 7 days), then AUD (5 sections, 5 days) and finally BEC (5 sections, 5 days). I definitely had days during this first pass through where I had no idea how I would get through all the material in time but I just kept pushing.

After the course “finished” at the end of June, I began to study again for and take each section of the exam. I did this in reverse order so the first up was BEC. I took it on July 10, so I had about 2.5 weeks of full time studying before I took it. I was so nervous because I had struggled with the cost accounting concepts (my least favorite in school). Ended up not being so bad and I later found out I had indeed done well enough to pass.

Next up was AUD. I had spent 5 days on it previously and then gave myself one week in between the BEC and AUD tests. I was scared about the simulations, but I also felt like it would just be luck and I would try my best to max out on MC points and just do my best on the sims. Turns out this worked. Walking out, I felt like AUD was harder than BEC but I still felt like I gave myself a good chance of passing. My feeling was right.

Next up was REG. I gave myself 2 weeks between REG and AUD since REG had 7 sections for Becker compared to 5 for BEC and AUD. I felt fairly good about my studies for REG, but tax is another of my least favorite topics so I was a bit nervous about the MCs and sims. When it came to the actual exam, I felt like it was extremely tough. Not because I hadn’t studied enough, but I felt like there was a ton of stuff I had never seen in the study course. I marked many questions and felt like I had a slim chance of passing. I just did my best and got through it. Turns out I did enough.

Finally came FAR. I gave myself another 2 weeks for this. By the end of my two weeks, I felt extremely under-prepared. I came to this board to ask if I should reschedule or not because I sincerely felt I did not have a grasp on much of anything. In the end I decided to go for it just in case I might get lucky. Turns out I did. CPA exam done. The exam was very tough but I just did my best and tried not to get frustrated.

I’m sorry this post has been so long but I thought someone might like a reference if they’re thinking about using Becker/doing the bootcamp/studying in one summer. If you have any other questions, please feel free to email me: betrthnezra13@yahoo.com.

I hope this helps someone after all the help I’ve received from this forum. Thanks everyone!

Virginia: Becker Self-Study (Followed the bootcamp schedule)
BEC (7/10/10) 84 REG (7/31/10) 80
AUD (7/17/10) 81 FAR (8/14/10) 76