[Anonymous]

My first day at work started at 6:45am with the alarm ringing; I had only slept 3-4 hours because as a college student I was never accustomed to waking up this early. I hit the snooze button hoping I would gain some energy boost with the next 15 minutes.

However, it is my first day so the fear of accidentally sleeping through the alarm frightened me enough to get out of bed soon before my snooze alarm went off. I get into work by 9am and after a relatively easy day (involving basic orientation routines), I hope back on the train and am home a little before 7pm.

Finally, around 8pm, after wasting time on the computer and chit chatting with some friends at Starbucks, I start up my Becker program in hopes of finish up the rest of F4. The entire 3 hours I was there, my body was awake because of the 2 cups of coffee I had consumed throughout the day, yet my brain was dead. I couldn’t process anything and even had trouble reading the questions.

This is only my first day at work -_-. It’s now 11:30pm and I have to be up by 6:30am to do it all over again.

I don’t know how you guys do it — the people with 3 kids, a fulltime job, and yet seem to still find the time AND mental capacity to study after a long day. Do these long days get easier in time? I sure hope so, otherwise I think my chances at passing the CPA are little to none.

*Embarrassing moment of the day: during lunch at the Chinese restaurant, I return to our table and a lady at another table stops me and asks, “excuse me, can we get some more soy sauce please?” I said, “uh..sorry I don’t work here”. She laughed and I sat back down. She didn’t even apologize )=. Lesson learned: don’t wear a white collared shirt with dark slacks if you’re going to be dining at a Chinese restaurant.

[Minimorty]

lol CPAMan. I should just start telling people that I wasnt even aware that review materials existed and I just went into the exams cold turkey.

@Veronica – Just keep at it and it will come. Keep putting in the time and you will be rewarded.

[iPass]

@Veronica, and don't forget that Mini also is a gifted one 😉

I do believe though that anyone can do it. Not saying that everyone will pass, I just think everyone has the ability to pass, but not everyone is fully committed. When you want to succeed as bad as you wanna breath then you'll be successful (thanks for Eric Tomas video, Jeff!)

BEC - 10/12/2011 - 78
AUD - 11/23/2011 - 84
FAR - 02/22/2012 - 76 (I'll take it!)
REG - 08/31/2012

“Win as if you were used to it, lose as if you enjoyed it for a change.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Minimorty]

lol iPass.

[Veronica75]

Thanks guys. Someone once told me, “Life Happens.” It's true.

FAR - 79 (2x)
AUD - 81 (expired), 77!
REG - 74! omg (3x) 87!!!!!!! I'm done! OMG!
BEC - 81 (4x)

[markiux88]

I think Minimorty comes from another planet…

[Anonymous]

@jomarie you're one those people I was referring to in my original post! you go momma! keep working and inspiring others like me, you'll get that cpa soon enough

@ROACH why do you say so? the only thing that's worse than studying for the cpa when you're exhausted is trying to work while you're exhausted. the job has higher priority right now because it sustains my living

@markiux88 i feel you on this bro..however, my fb/twitter (or anything related to downtime) has dramatically decreased since i started working. i just check fb/twitter on the train ride to and from work since i have nothing better to do. plus, i always feel like i'll be missing out on whatever my friends are doing on the weekends while i'm busy studying. if i can't go out and play, i want to at least live vicariously through them :P. but you're right though, if i deactivate my FB, i could get an extra hour or so studying done while i'm on the train

@Hut-Hut thanks bro..i feel relieved after hearing your words. good luck on FAR next month, you got it baby. my original schedule was to take FAR at the end of november, too, but i haven't even signed up/paid for the test yet. i have registered and been approved by the state board to sign up for the exams though. i hope it's not too late to get a seat at prometrics

@CalCPASoon you're right man. i shouldn't feel too bad if i don't get too much done on the weekends, as long as i dedicate and focus all weekend. however, even 20 hours over the weekend isn't enough, is it? it takes me at least 3-4 days to finish just 1 chapter in FAR using becker. i plan on taking FAR at the end of november, and i'm not even on F5 yet. i still need to take into account review time, doing the sims (which i've skipped thus far), and making flash cards.

@Minimorty #1 is an excellent idea. an hour lunch is a lot of downtime and time that could be put used towards MCQ's or lecture. i've actually packed a sandwich both days now, except today i forgot to take it out of the fridge and yesterday it sat in the fridge at work because the staff had treated me to a welcome lunch that i'd never be able to talk myself out of. #2 — yea, i'm still working on it. i'll get some major flashcard making done over this weekend and review those while i'm on the train. right now the train ride is just an opportunity to play on my phone and check out hot girls from my peripheral vision. #3 – working on it = it's hard when i keep running into people here. that, and i'm a smoker, too = i guess i really need to find a study spot outside my house (i can never study there). i know i can go to the library, but it's so lonely there = double-edged sword.

“You need to change your mindset to get through this thing. You need to be fully committed.” — probably the best advice anyone could give. i just need to instill that into my mentality. i'm 27 but i still have a lot of maturing to do, methinks.

@jelly thanks jelly 😉 what's the cause-and-effect relationship? can't pass the cpa due to kids, mortgage, spouse, or is the cpa causing me not to have a spouse and hence kids! lol

@markiux88 — there was another guy on here who took becker fast pass (4 months, all 4 sections) and passed all 4 parts in 2 months. sigh…(not to steal @miniMorty‘s spotlight or anything)

thanks everyone! ….for wasting another 30 minutes of my study time while i read and responded 😛

[misanthrope87]

When do you eat dinner? I would skip the Starbux thing.

B 2/12 87
A 11/11 90
R 8/11 86
F 5/12 88

[Anonymous]

Mini is a bad mamma jamma who kicks cpa @ss and takes names lol

[Minimorty]

Ha! This from the guy who puts my scores to shame.

[makinthemagic]

First, tell your friends and family that you will not see or talk to them for 6 months. You might get lucky and have a few days after a test to unwind before you have to start the next test if you are lucky and get optimal exam dates. Otherwise, DISCIPLINE. I went to work, I picked up dinner on the way home. I lived on burritos and Burger King. I would eat as quickly as possible, and start studying as soon as I was done. I would study till midnight and go to bed to wake up at 7 am. I didn't watch tv at all. I filled up my DVR. It”s going to take me weeks to watch everything I recorded. On weekends I would wake up, eat, shower and study. That's it. My apartment was disgusting. I didn't clean because I nobody was allowed to come over anyways so nobody would see the mess. The only thing I did for fun was play softball on Friday nights. It was garbage time that I wouldn't be using for studying and the release helped me focus for the rest of the week. It was horrible and exhausting but it paid off

Bec 4/11/11 91
Aud 7/11/11 75
Reg 8/31/11 80
Far 5/24/11 86
Ethics - 98
California Licensed CPA
Illinois Registered CPA

[jomarie]

@cannotpassagain – Good Luck finding a routine. It took me a while, but things are starting to sink in. Every chance I get I study, somehow somewhere. I drive 45 minutes to and from work everyday, so I bought Yagear's Audio Lectures for the drive. I've picked up a lot of stuff I missed with Becker. Just a suggestion for your train ride.

Started sitting in May 2002, on and off. But since 2008 I've been nonstop and my scores are....
AUD - 39, 48, 56, 65, 68, 73, 76!!! (Finally passed in Oct 2011!!!) Becker, NINJA, & Wiley
REG - 75 (Lost Credit) 72, 68, 73, 75 (Passed again in Aug 2011) Becker, NINJA, & Wiley
FAR - 65, 68, 75 (Lost Credit) 68, 73, 73, 80 (Passed again in May 2012) Roger, NINJA, & Wiley
BEC - 65, 68, 71, 72, 72, 71, 76 (Lost Credit)- 70, 76!!!! I AM DONE!!! - Roger, NINJA, & Wiley
After 10 long years of studying, I AM DONE!!!! Finally a Licensed CPA in the State of New York!!

[Author]

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