[Anonymous]

I am having a tough time deciding if I should continue this road to becoming a CPA. At what point do you say that the short term cost of reveiw materials, exam cost, and just the overall stress and misery of studing out ways the POTENTIAL long term benifits? I have taken FAR 3 times and BEC once in the past 12 months and have not pased one yet. I have spent well over $15,000 in the past 3 years on getting addtional college credits, review material and exam cost.

Is anyone else in the same situation?

[Sandra]

I feel the same way besides you limit yourself when you don't have those three little letters behind your name. I'll keep at it until I pass. Good luck to you all.

AUD 58, 59, 61, 70 (8/31/11)
BEC 51, 58, 59, 57 (7/11/11)
FAR 51, 63, 64, 65, 61 (10/31/11)
REG 55, 63, 74, 68, 65, 71, 69 (4/21/11-waiting)

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the words of encouragement, after spending about 10 hours yesterday rewatching Homestudy Videos I feel a little better than I did a few days ago.

I will take ideas and sucess stories from here and apply them to my study schedule…the next 19 days are going to be rough!!

@ potatogun that is a great way in considering the money I have spent as sunk cost…makes sense!!

[75 CPA]

Persistence Pays Off

Be Prepared and Be Flexible

Be Open to New Opportunities

Do Not Let the Sandstorms in Life Throw You Off the Trail.

Although it may sound strange, I am actually enjoying the challenge of preparing for these exams. I am 64 years old and I have always worked independently. I never look at the score; I just keep putting one baby step in front of the other. What I love about the CPA exams is that you always get another shot at passing in the next window.

You have to admit that the CPA exams are the best game in town. The AICPAS has done everything in their power to get us so discouraged that we quit.

After 2 – 3 years of these CPA exams, I am tired. I am praying for a passing score on my last exam, AUD. It is not a matter of IF I will be a CPA; it is just a matter of WHEN I will be a CPA. I have the enthusiasm of a 20 year old and the wisdom of a 64 year old. However, my enthusiasm is wearing thin.

[Anonymous]

cpaindiana,

First, quitting should not be in your vocabulary. Everyone here has a lot great advice. You said you studied 3-4 hours and 8-10 hours on weekends. How many weeks did you do this for each exam. I don't know about you but I could never do that many hours in a week. My brain would be fried. Do you have a study plan and track your hours. My goal was to study 2 hours day sometimes I did 1-2 and other 2-3 but I averaged about 2 hours a day EVERYDAY. Weekends are about the same except the two weekends before my exam which I studied between 5-7 hours as a cram per say. I put in about 100 hours of doing multiple choice questions, I never counted the lecture/video/reading time in my studying for each section plus about 125 hours for FAR. I also added at least 10% additional time for when life (work, family, emergency) events got in the way.

And I am sure that you have heard this before, but if I can do this anyone can. I am married work full time, 49 years old, have six kids 4-13 years old. So believe me you can do this.

Also, where you from in Indiana? I am from Indianapolis.

[Anonymous]

@ Lee_IN…I from Huntington.

[OH – CPA Hopeful]

Just make sure you try to study every single day. I wouldn't studying as much as I should have, anything to me was more fun than sitting and reading more review material. It wasn't until I finally got serious and actually put the effort in that I finally passed this thing. What really helped me was the Multiple choice questions. I could read a section 3 or 4 times but it didn't stick until after I did the questions. Then I started to understand what it was that I read. For FAR since you have already taken it three times, you probably have read through the material 3 or 4 times now. Re-reading it again will only do so much. You need to start understanding what you have read. Also on the MCQ's, understand why the answer is correct and also understand why the others are wrong. Too many times you start to memorize the questions and answers that you don't truly know why the answer is C except that you just know it's C.

Another thing that I found was that if you know a section very well, you can skim over it. You don't need to do every question on it or read the entire section. Trust me I took two sections 4 times, I'm pretty sure you have areas that you could teach others how to do. Those aren't the sections that are stopping you. Really concentrate on the sections that are giving you troubles. Don't forget about those other sections but put most of your effort into the areas that are giving you problems. It's what I did to finally put me over.

Also why start a new section of the exam when you have already started two? Keep concentrating on FAR and BEC until you pass them and then move on. You only need to be working on two sections at a time in my opinion. This way you can take two per window. You take the first one and then you can start studying for the next section while you wait for your grade. This way you are not trying to memorize four sections but just two.

FAR - 67,79 BEC - 71,73,81 AUD - 48,47,70,75 REG - 50,66,71,75

[magic_8_ball_did_i_pass]

ok you guys have peaked my curiousity. I need to find a study group in chicago so i can see what is so special about Cindy!!!

IL - BECKER=============> DONE
REG - 80; FAR - 65,79; AUD - 53,78; BEC - 71,68, 75 (used becker and yaeger for 3rd BEC)Ethics 95

I'M GONNA CELEBRATE AND LIVE MY LIFE SAYING AYE OH BABY LETS GO!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Failed again. This sucks!!!

[greeneyesCPA]

@cpa indiana, are you a CPA now?

FAR Passed
BEC Passed
AUD Passed
REG Passed

[Author]

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