[Reese Clark]

Hello,

Both my husband and I work full time and we have a darling 3 year old. I work in public accounting and my husband works during the day and is doing his Masters at night, so he’s not too available. Life is always unpredictable with a toddler, sometimes she goes to bed at 8pm and sometimes she cries until 10pm. Those who have been or are in the same situation, can you please share your experience/advice on how you managed to study and pass the exams? Thank you! -Reese

[CPAwannab]

Hi,

I am in somewhat the same boat right now. I work full time and have two little boys (4 and 2) and doing my Masters in Accountancy. Soon I will start my CPA journey after my graduation in May. I study most of the evenings right after the boys go to bed. We have strict bedtime routine, little one 7:30 and older one at 8:00. We never let them go past that time, because then the drama begins. So I study 2-3 hours at night and as much as I can during the weekend, which sometimes isn't much, depending how the kids nap. I am going to sing them up for some swim lessons or something during the weekend so I can get extra few hours. Good luck with your exams!

[jeff]

From a recent podcast …

[Anonymous]

I had a baby back in October and had two exam passed with two more to do. I also work in public accounting and then my maternity leave ended right at the start of busy season! My husband was also finishing his bachelors. So life with a newborn, working full-time and both of us studying was well.. let's just say thank god it was winter and weather was crap. I ended up putting my head down and passed the last two in February and March and never looked back. The CPA exam is time consuming and it does turn into a family commitment.

My advice is just keep going and get it done now, especially while your daughter is still young. I did not want to be studying forever and especially with my son, I wanted to put that thing to rest. That was the real motivation for me. My drive and motivation changed significantly from when I first started this CPA journey (3 ish years ago) when I was fresh out of college and working in public accounting at 23 to now being a mom, working full-time and still in public accounting.

[ultrarunner]

CPA_M3OW, you are an inspiration. I could see that you would be a partner at the big public accounting firm in the future. Truly amazing.

FAR 72,67,79 (Roger+Wiley test bank)11/15
AUD 80 (Roger)10/15
BEC 80 (Roger)4/16
REG 63,78 (Roger+Ninja MCQs)5/16

[Missy]

Most days the only time I could study was between 10p and midnight. Up again at 5:30 with the kids and between work, kids activities and other obligations wasn't even home until after 8p. It was exhausting and definitely not as much sleep as I'd prefer but it's short term, and just like we all sacrifice sleep when our kids are newborns it passes.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[RE2PECT]

My son was born about 4 weeks before I took my first exam (FAR). It wasn't an ideal situation, but luckily I was able to pass. I basically spent every free minute I had studying and had to cut off family and friends for a year. Besides the lack of sleep, it wasn't so terrible with a newborn since they don't require as much attention as a toddler. Towards my last couple exams it became more difficult because he was a lot more active and went through phases where he didn't want to go to sleep or would constantly wake up in the middle of the night.

The main reason I was able to pass was that my wife was very supportive and tried not to add on to the enormous amount of stress I already had been dealing with due to the exams. I tried to do as much as I could to help out around the house when I came home from work, but when it was time for me to study, she gave me my space. I won't lie, it put a strain on our relationship and she was starting to get frustrated towards the end, but I really couldn't blame her.

FAR: 75 Roger & Ninja (notes/flashcards/audio/MCQ)
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, retake 8/29
REG:

[Anonymous]

@ultrarunner

Thank you for the kind words. I really needed that. <3

To all CPA candidates with kids, you 100% can do this. It's not easy but hell this is the CPA exam. You've already started the biggest challenge of life, being a parent. Nothing we can't do 😉

[HoosierCPA]

I am the minority that thinks having a kid was a blessing for my studies. I decided in Aug 2015 to study sat for my first exam (FAR) in Nov 2015, one week after my first child was born. Studying to that point was extremely hard. Without children my wife and I are active people, we like to do things on the weekends so telling her I had to skip going out was tough. After our kid everything was extremely structured, I was essentially on house arrest whether I wanted to be or not so after we put our baby down my wife went to bed and I cracked open the books!

When it was all said and done I ended up having a 2nd child before I finished my exams, was it easy? Heck no! But in my case it was exactly what I needed.

(Side note @re2pect good to see you're still around!)

FAR - 78
REG - 72,74,71...please just go away REG nobody likes you!
BEC - 82
AUD - Aug 16

[CS]

Congratulations to all of you, and everyone is certainly an inspiration!

My wife and I work full-time or more, and have an 18 month old daughter at the moment. I am just beginning studying for my first exam (FAR), and hold my family dearly, so to be there for my daughter on weekends, I will most likely follow my schedule for as per my previous online courses i.e. wake up several hours earlier to knock studying out of the way. My wife is extremely supportive and turned down promotions in order for me to study while she takes care of our daughter when I can't, so I have been extremely motivated to just get it done ASAP at whatever the cost. We'll see! Best of luck!

[tangerinemdr15]

Good luck working parents! I am fortunate to be able to study at my lunch breaks at work. I also study at night, after the kids go to bed , around 8:30. The weekends are hard, as this is the most quality time i can spend with them. My husband has been great though and his support helps. i'm half way there , just ready to be done!

[Author]

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