[Anonymous]

Hey everyone. I’ve gotten a lot of great advice on this website the last several months, and now that I am done with the exams I wanted to pay it forward to the community and share the lessons I learned along the way that may help others still in the heat of battle. These tips may not be helpful to everyone, but hopefully a few of you can take away something positive from this post.

This advice would have been helpful to me had I known it earlier in the process…

1. Find a study plan and study schedule that works for you and stick to it — I used Becker self-study. I watched the lectures on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s, studied a few hours Monday-Wednesday-Friday, and then hit it hard on weekends, studying 4-6 hours on Saturday and Sunday (mostly in the morning). Others may study more or less, but once I passed REG (my first section), I knew my study schedule was working, and applied it successfully to the next three sections.

2. Be selfish with your study habits — I work 50+ hours per week, and am getting married this Fall, and was able to pass all four parts in 6 months. With so much on my plate, the only way I was able to accomplish this was with selfish study habits. You basically need to tell yourself that for X amount of months my main priority is going to be the CPA exam. I can’t tell you how many nights out, weekend trips with friends, or family functions I missed in the last six months, but you have to sacrifice these things in the short-term to reap the benefits in the long-term. Trust me, your friends and family will understand. In fact, I hope they are supportive of you. The sooner you can pass the exams, the sooner you can celebrate with all of the people in your life that you may have neglected. Thinking about it… I got a free pass from family functions?? Maybe I should start studying for the CFA exams…

3. Don’t over-analyze how you think you did right after coming out of an exam — On two of the sections, REG and FAR, I was positive I failed. I would troll forums like this one, searching for any ray of hope (maybe everyone else thought it was hard? maybe I got harder questions? etc.). You need to realize that hardly anyone comes out of the exams feeling like they did well, so take a couple of days off to relax, and then start studying for the next section. Also, remember that the exams are graded on a slight curve (although the AICPA will never tell you that). Odds are that you did better than you think.

4. Do as many practice problems and practice exams as you can — I understand that everyone is a different type of learner, but don’t be one of those people who says “I learn better from the text-book.” The more practice problems you do, the better the odds are that you will see the same exact question on the exam, or slight variations of questions you practiced. Do practice problems 3 or 4 times over again if you have to. As you go through the problems you will understand the concepts more. If you are short on time before the exam, then do practice problems (especially in your weak areas), don’t bury your head in the text book. There is more bang for your buck in practice problems.

5. Everyone is nervous during the exam — During your exam experience, don’t get too low or too high. There will be questions you know off the bat, and others you don’t know at all. Don’t panic. Concentrate on getting as many questions right as you can. Don’t spend 15 minutes on one multiple choice problem when you could use that time on other questions. You aren’t going to get a perfect score, so get over that fact and budget your time accordingly. You will need that time for the Simulations.

6. Stay positive and upbeat — Everyone can attest that the CPA exam is grueling – hundreds of practice problems, hours upon hours of studying, and a lead anchor for your social and family life. Just remember the long-term goal is to be a CPA, and you will get there. The harder you try in the short-term, then the sooner you will be done.

Good luck to everyone. You will be popping champagne before you know it!