[Anonymous]

I haven’t posted on here in awhile but thought I might run this update by anyone who can possibly give me some advice. I finished Roger’s FAR course a month or so ago. It took me 2 months to do about 80% of the course, and then another month to finish it up because I took a job in September. By the time I was done with it, I had pretty much forgotten a lot of the smaller details that I studied earlier. Over the past month, I have gone back and reviewed about half of the 31 Roger FAR chapters. I worked all 1,750’ish MCQs and TBS’s. I was going to take FAR on December 8th – the last possible day to test this year. I cancelled it because I can not afford to take another day off work, and pushed it to January 7th.

I am absolutely burned out before I’ve even taken one test. I am sick and tired of reading and re-reading the FAR material. Much as I do like Roger’s course and his lectures, his textbook (and MCQ explanations) are way too wordy and not neatly summarized like they should be. In frustration, and because I know that the new version of BEC is going to be harder, I have stopped studying FAR and moved on to BEC. I may take BEC before I do FAR because it’s not as much material and is easier. Although, BEC starts off with a review of macroeconomics, and the last time I took an economics course was in my college days 15 years ago. Looks like it gets easier and stays easy after that though. Why supply and demand curves and all that useless economic theory crap are covered on the exam is beyond me. Just another way to torture us even more, I imagine.

My question is, does anyone else move on to other sections like this? Or, after failing one exam, do you move on to another section or go back and re-study? I just have this awful feeling that I’m going to have a ton of failed scores before I pass any. I can’t do most of the questions quickly. I take far longer than 1.5 minutes to do most calculation questions. I don’t have a pile of money to drop on failed exams. I’ve already paid for all 4 exams and there is no way that, with my 9-to-5 job, that I will be able to take all 4 in 2017 before the payment expires.

I’m just really freaking pissed off at this whole thing and wonder why I even got into it sometimes. I am not 26 years old anymore. I just wonder if I need it or if it’s even worth doing. The *only* reason why I’m still working on it is because I’m too far into it to turn back I think. I have a coworker at my new job who has an MS in Accounting. He’s a whiz. He said to me last week, “I will not be taking the CPA exam. I couldn’t handle it. I’ve done too much school already and am not up for going through a review of all that stuff and trying to pass those four exams.” Which is weird, because I think he could pass all 4 even without reviewing. But I also talk to CPAs who say “I could never pass that exam now. When I took it, with a pencil and paper, it was actually do-able.”

I think my biggest mistake was starting with FAR. I can see why many people leave it for last.

[Anonymous]

Don't worry about two tests or more, nor worry about the next testing window and the next after that.
Worry about one test at a time (in one quarter)!
Since it's your first time, JUST think of one test at a time for now!!
After your first test and you've tried and tasted the real feeling of how to sit in the CPA test, then you can get it all figured out and see how you can handle the next second, third, and fourth section, and decide when to take each section accordingly.
Do not even think of the CPA changes as of yet. You've never sat just yet. Don't allow yourself to be overwhelmed by your worries and fears about the changes.

I am not sure if canceling your FAR this quarter was smart. However, switching one section to another without even trying it is to me, a bad move.

[Paydirt123]

crazyleon: chillax, take a couple days off, you sound burnt out. The human mind is a touchy thing. Get your mind right, fresh, then hit FAR again. This accounting #!&? is easy, just so much!!!

[Track55]

see this is why I tell people who graduated after me to leave FAR for Last (None of them listens to me). I left myself 4 windows to pass it before I started losing scores, and it's a good thing. I did not pass it on the first try.

Normally I tell people to stick with a section till they pass it, but in ur case you need some mojo, and you'll get mojo by knocking one out. BEC is the easiest. Also I learned the hard way not to pay for more than one section, and I also had to take unpaid days.

It sucks taking the tests when ur old (I'm 40) but if use the Ninja the way it's intended u will pass. Keep at it bro.

AUD - 74, 99 !!
REG - 74, 92
BEC - 83
FAR - 73, 86

Studying for Ethics exam

California candidate
Business and Industry

[Anonymous]

@Track55 I really don't get the exam fees. The state board charges you money every time you need to re-take an exam…just more profit for them, for basically doing nothing. And, if you want to schedule your exams a la carte, you have to pay the state board four different times in order for them to tell NASBA that you want to schedule an exam. It sucks and it's a ripoff. I'm 40 as well – I look 30, but this CPA journey, which has only really just begun, has turned me into an angry asshole. If I'm like this now, I can't imagine what I will be like at the end of it all. If I'm still alive and haven't been committed to an insane asylum. I am not sure that Ninja is something that I or anyone needs to purchase. I'm sure it's good and all but – I've already worked 1,700 questions for FAR. That seems like quite enough. So I need to work another few thousand more questions in order to pass FAR? And another 9,000 for BEC, REG, and AUD I guess? No thanks. I don't have the time for something like that. Perhaps if I had no job and someone funding my whole CPA exam experience, I could do that, but I currently do not have that luxury.

[sancasuki]

Actually economics was the easy part of BEC for me. The cost accounting and finance MCQs in Ninja were horrible and very time consuming.

Don't worry too much about the 1 1/2 minutes per question thing. That also had me worried when I was studying for FAR because CPAExcel gives you that much time when you do quizzes. During the actual FAR exam I was pleasantly surprised that most of the questions were either conceptual or only required very short calculations. You do have to be mindful of the time though because the simulations are very time consuming.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the comments. I'll see what happens. I really don't know why they make the CPA exam such a freaking labyrinth…it's just accounting, not neurosurgery.

[Missy]

I have a ms in accounting, was 41 when I took FAR and want to say I did about 5k mcq. It's very much about your attitude. If you're angry and haven't even been inside a prometric yet you're in for a long hard road. If you can have a positive attitude (not polyanna but just a calm acceptance of the effort required to pass) you'll get through it.

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

[Missy]

And that labyrinth is a barrier of entry be thankful for it. cpa would mean little more than a bachelor's in accounting if it was cheaper and easier.

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

[mtaylo24]

At least sit for the exam if you invested all of this time into it. Do FAR early the next window then BEC towards the end. Also, re-assess the way you study, sounds like you're going to the traditional route of reading every page, watching every lecture, doing every mcq and sim, stretching it over 3 months per section. It works for some, but many of us on here were let down going that route. Personally, my worst scores (anything under 70) come from going that route.

AUD - 1st - 60 (12/12), 61 (2/13), 61 (8/13), 78! (11/15)
REG - 55 (2/16) 69 (5/16) Retake(8/16)
BEC - 71(5/16) Retake (9/16)
FAR - (8/16)

[Jdn9201]

To the OP – I feel for you, I really do. I can see why FAR would be extremely tough just starting out this process – that's why I left it for last. I'm done now, thank God, but the hardest part of this process for me was getting started and building positive momentum. I do think that switching to BEC before you even take FAR is a bad idea. Once you go back to FAR, it's going to be like starting all over. I used only Roger's program for all of my exams, and I have heard that he is less wordy and thorough than some of the other programs (which was a good thing for me). Some advice I can give you is especially when you are first starting out, don't be too hard on yourself. You are supposed to take more than the average time to answer a question – otherwise you'd be ready to take the exam now. Don't be too hard on your study plan either. I'm not sure what your time constraints were outside of work, but build your plan for flexibility. What I did was I knew my exam date, and I'd break it up into 3 or 4 chunks. I'd have a goal chapter to hit by the end of my 1st chunk, for example but I didn't have a goal of pages or questions per day. This allowed me to not freak out if something took longer than expected to learn. When you do go back to FAR – I'd try not to study for it longer than 8 weeks (shorter if possible). The problem is the longer you stretch out your time, the more time you have to spend in the end reviewing what you previously learned. I also would do rolling 30 question quizzes (that would contain multiple chapters), so that helped me remember the earlier stuff better. You can do it – once you get your first pass under your belt, you will feel so much better. Good luck!

BEC - 88 8/29/15
REG - 82 11/14/15
AUD - 83 1/8/16
FAR - 80 2/29/16

[Anonymous]

@jdn9201 I started Roger's program when I was in between jobs. I purposefully did not work for over 2 months simply because I wanted to knock out FAR. I was almost done with the Roger program when I started working again. Since then, my continuity has pretty well been broken. I do like his program but not every topic gets a complete and clear explanation and some of the questions (and explanations of answers) are way too wordy, taking more time to get through. Some people have said that he is not good for BEC (very incomplete). I don't know if that's true or not. Like you say, forgetting what was previously learned/studied is a common problem in CPA exam studies. What I did not mention is that I actually first tried to go it alone, for well over a year, with my own resources. I wasn't going to do any review program. I studied two of my old audit textbooks and my advanced accounting and intermediate accounting textbooks. But, I'm glad I got onto Roger. I would have needed him for REG anyway because I wasn't sure what all I needed to study for that one. I ended up just buying all 4 parts.

@mla11692 Are you saying I should go into a Prometric testing center just to see what it's like? I could do that…
But, it seems like the CPA exam has just a few too many roadblocks. Black-out months, expiration of passed exam scores, constant revisions of the exam to make it even more difficult…I'm still not sure if it's even worth it. There are many fine accountants out there who have no CPA license. They might make 20K less per year than someone with a license, but hey, money isn't everything.

[Missy]

No I'm not saying that at all, I'm saying the challenges ahead of you are much more exhausting than where you are now, it's like you're two miles into a marathon and already limping.I was so exhausted while I was doing the exams, sacrificed sleep, meals, holidays, etc. But I was committed to just finishing whatever it took.

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

[Anonymous]

I don't even think it's so much a question of someone “wanting” to be a CPA anymore. It's more a question of “Do I need this credential for what I DO *want* to do in my career?” Myself, I want to do internal audit in a financial institution or government. Most people who do have those jobs are not CPAs (I have met only 2 or 3 in the past 10 years who were.) Some are CIAs, but many don't even have that credential. I started studying accounting 5-6 years ago, never really with the intention of taking the CPA exam. Then, everyone pretty much told me “You should just take it, since you've already completed all the state requirements to sit for it.” And…..here I am.

[Missy]

And you can have a perfectly good career without a CPA, you're right. But when it comes to job searches it's ALL about who your competition is for a job. If you and another candidate have similar experience but she has a license and you don't, her resume will get more careful review initially. You'll have to bring something equally compelling to the table to compete. The job I have now was initially offered to another candidate with public experience and I have none. Luckily for me she declined the position and I've been told how lucky they are to have ME but I wasn't first pick lol

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

[Anonymous]

Yes, that is right, it's all about competition for jobs – or, “not what you know but who you know.” In other countries it is not usually that way. For many years I worked in a Japanese-owned company. In Japan, they use the factory approach – everyone goes to school, everyone graduates, everyone goes into a high-paying job and they stay in that company or one of its subsidiaries indefinitely and move up the ladder within the organization. In the US, most people bounce around to another job every couple years after getting bored, and everyone is competing for the same job, to the point where the hiring managers throw away or delete 90 percent of the resumes they get from HR. True, CPA will make sure your resume stays at the top of the stack. If I ever do become a hiring manager, I'd probably hire the candidate who wasn't a CPA but who took it and never did pass. Why? Because they had the tenacity to keep trying before giving up!

[Author]

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