[75 CPA]

College was a piece of cake. I can teach anyone to be a 4.0 student. These CPA exams are something that I have never faced, however. I am teaching myself 50% of the material and with good review materials, learning the material is not a problem. The problem is the volume of material to learn. It just never ends.

Do not think for a moment that college prepared you for these CPA exams. The CPA exams cover twice the material that I had in college, but not in the same depth. I literally needed three cost accounting texts to cover all of the variance analysis questions on the business exam. Additionally, I have four intermediate accounting texts for the financial exam. If you just waltz into these professional exams like this was college, you will limp out of these exams with a failing grade.

All of the CPA candidates who took Becker with me have failed. They failed because they used the same study habits that they used in college. They crammed with Becker. That will not work. The CPA exams are not about short-term memory. These professional exams are about long-term memory on more subjects than Becker covers.

Short-term memory will not work with these exams. Only long-term memory will work. One of the major points of long-term memory is to study a little every day, even if it is only for 10 minutes. It is better to study 10 minutes for six days than it is to study once for 60 minutes. Additionally, I am using more than one review program. After I finish one program I go into another review program.

Pick your review materials carefully. You will not pass the CPA exams without good review materials! If I had to pick the best review course, I would pick Yaeger. No one matches his personal help. If it were not for Yeager, I would have failed the REG using Becker and Gleim. Yaeger is a teaching course. Becker is a fast paced review program for students who have a solid academic foundation. Gleim does not have a teacher; however, I use their multiple choice questions and simulations.

No review course can cover all of the subjects tested. Therefore, I am now using the strengths of each review program to help me pass. I would rather spend the money now then have to retake these CPA exams!

Those three initials, CPA, do not come cheaply! I have no friends, no family and no life. That is the price that I have to pay to pass each of these exams the first time. Each of these CPA exams is a monster. Studying for these exams is a full-time job. Good review materials and serious study equals success

[financeguy]

how would an auditing course not help you on the cpa exam? That makes absolutely no sense at all.

AUD - 81, BEC - 74, 80, FAR - 82, REG - 81
Done!

[Anonymous]

Hi, All

I have a question regard items under “other comprehensive income”

1) gain/loss on cash flow hedge

2) excess adjustment of pension PBO and FMV of plan assets at year end

3) unrealized holding gain or loss(AVS) arising during period

4) Translation adjustment of foreign currency

where above 4 items record to? I/S or B/S

Above 4 items record to I/S 1st or B/S?

Thanks in Advance

[fsucpa]

I took Advanced Taxation and yes, it covered Estate Tax. It wasn't required for the degree, but I knew it would be on the CPA exam.

My government accounting class wasn't required for the general accounting degree, but I was on the “public” accounting track and it was required there. I chose that track, again, to prepare for the CPA exam. And yes, it did cover NFP. They go hand and hand with Government accounting.

I took three audit courses, yes…to prepare for the CPA exam (see a pattern) and if one of my professors would have told me that it wouldn't help on the exam, I would have found a different course. I never wanted to be an auditor, but I knew I had to pass AUD. That's the point.

I think you did yourself a disservice with the courses you selected. I'm sorry for you, but it sounds like you're getting close. Good luck.

BEC 89, REG 78, AUD 76, FAR 7/6

[Anonymous]

No college course I had covered everything in our textbook. In fact, I got to use one textbook for two courses because it was so comprehensive.

I took Taxation I and II, Auditing, and 4 semesters of Financial Reporting among other courses. In Advanced Taxation, our professor let us choose which topics to cover because we couldn't cover EVERYTHING. We chose S-Corps and Partnerships in lieu of Estates and C-corps. A lot of what you learn depends on your professor.

I never took a class in gov't. and non-profit but those were some of my stronger scores on FAR. Becker apparently taught me in 2 lectures what some people spend a semester learning. Go figure.

[Soanxious]

I never had goverment and I was in a program directly to prepare me to be a CPA with all four review programs at the end for college credit. I know we never did our books from cover to cover in some classess. Every school is different and maybe my school thought that thier curriculum was enough to get us up to the level we needed for the review courses and then the review course would pick up the rest.

IL - 11/24 AUD

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Anonymous]

I do not have a degree in accounting, but I took enough of accounting (about 40 credits) in order to qualify for the CPA exam. I do not think that those accounting courses were a piece of cake as you said (my GPA is 4.0 in all these courses). I also want to say that the classes I took at college prepared me well for the CPA exam.

AUD: I took only one auditing class at college, which covered everything except for information technology aspect of auditing. All other areas were adequately covered. For AUD, 85% I picked up in college, 15% in my review course.

REG: I took only one course in taxation and two classes in business law. The taxation class prepared me well for individual taxation topics covered on the CPA exam, but hey, I never took a course in corporate or partnership taxation. Hence, I do not have any grounds to complain that I had to spend a lot of time learning corporate and partnership taxes. For REG, 65% I studied in college, 35% in my review course.

BEC: All the finance and managerial accounting classes I took prepared me well for the exam. The only portion of the BEC exam was information technology; this I had to learn on my own. Besides I do not know a review course or a formal college IT class that would adequately cover the topic. For BEC, 80% I studied in college, 10% on my own, and 10% in my review course.

FAR: I took two courses in principles of accounting, two courses in intermediate, and one course in advanced. I do not think that whatever is covered on the CPA exam related to these topics was any different from a review course or from my accounting coursework. Well, except for pensions (which I decided not to study much while at college), and governmental and non-profit (which I never took a formal class on). For FAR, 75% I studied in college, and 25% in my review course.

I also know people who did well in their accounting classes at college and were able to pass CPA exams right after college, without taking any review course.

The bottom line is – it all depends on an individual and how serious this individual is while studying at college. I also think that no review course will be any good if you never studied (or pretended that you did study) accounting at college. I did not go to a top accounting school, but all my professors knew what they were talking about… Most of my professors were either CPAs or JDs, and knew what the CPA exam is all about, and tried to prepare students for the exams. My college auditing exams were very difficult – later the professor told us that many questions he took from Wiley.

[weareallone]

Great Post!

I have much to agree with “live42″‘s comments.

Other than that, I completely agree that our University Education does not prepare us for the CPA Exam. This is coming from a FIN & ACCY double major who recently graduated from what is supposed to be one of the best ACCY schools in the United States based on WallStreeJournal's poll, and not just graduate, but graduate with High Honors for both subjects.

Don't get me wrong, like “cpanyc007” says, you can add your College education to your Review Course studies and pass, but I definitely disagree that the CPA Exam is an Exam that you can pass without any review course (aka, just from College Education and studying hard while you are in school). “cpanyc007” says “I also know people who did well in their accounting classes at college and were able to pass CPA exams right after college, without taking any review course.” – without any review course? Never seeing a question other than the 20 free/sample questions or so that AICPA posts on its webpage? Well, if you ask me, I don't know anybody like that from my University.

When I do see people who have scores around 95% in FAR or AUD or REG, it is either because they've been working as an internal accountant, risk manager, or a tax side of the industry (a la experience) rather than thanks to their recent and fresh education.

REG[5/18] - P BEC[8/5] - P
FAR[7/9] - P AUD[8/30] - P

[hardworker]

I've never been good at these kind of tests either. Its funny because yesterday I spent like an hour on the phone with Phil Yeager from Yeager CPA review and we were going over some things that I needed to clarify but I realized that I know this stuff. Like I really understand it. Memorizing doesnt work for me which is why I had to change from Beckers to Yeager but why is it that I still fail these exams? I took AUD and BEC studying with Beckers and I failed both. I decided that Beckers wasnt working for me so I switched to Yeager. I'm really liking it and I'm learning alot. But it seems like on test day I completely forget everything. Its very frustrating because I know I know this stuff but I still manage to fail. I wish the tests were in person and someone evaluating whether you know the material or not because I would so pass this. But whatever, here I am trying to not give up and keep going at it. AUD and BEC with Beckers didnt work out, so lets hope FAR with Yeager works out.

[Mayo]

Why was this year-old thread resurrected?

Mayo, BBA, Macc

[Author]

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