[Minimorty]

Sooo….I am 27, married, and have a 2 yr old and a 5 week old. I am working full time and studying my tail off when I have the time. My main goal is not to go bat $&@$ insane during this process. Anyone else dealing with anything similar?

[yankeeaccountant]

@minimorty,

For me the opposite. I have one in college and one in high school—both will be sophmores. I have a husband who has been anxiously awaiting for this time, when the kids are busy and never home, and we are able to do more together and he is looking over at me like: REALLY?? CPA, now?!!!!

Good luck with attacking this exam process with little ones, I can only imagine how difficult that must be. I think we can all agree that the madness of this exam was not what we originally anticipated. UGH. Best of luck to you…..and congrats on the newborn. 🙂

[Need a Napa]

Minimorty

My daughter is 3 and a half and my son just turned 1 last week. It is not easy to study when you have a full time job and kids. I have to say that what has suffered most of the past year is my job performance. I've been so burned out from studying that I can hardly concentrate at work.

That having been said, the only way I have found to be successful is to study after the kids go to bed. That means I try to get them down by 8, hopefully they fall asleep before 9, and from there I study until I'm too tired (usually 10:30 or 11). Also I have tried to study on the weekends during naps.

This has not been a fun road, and I definitely couldn't have done it without the support of my wife. I guess my best advise would be to not take the tests until you are pretty confident you are ready for them (I have only taken one per window). As much as studying is a drain on your life, you don't want to prolong it any more than necessary.

Good luck!! It can be done!

BEC - 83 (8/31/2010)
FAR - 85 (11/30/2010)
AUD - 82 (2/27/2011)
REG - 87 (5/31/2011)

[jeff]

I now leave the house and work from a coffee shop each day. There's no way I could study at home if I were taking the exam again. Then again, I have five kids. 🙂

[Minimorty]

@yankee – Wow. Sounds like you got through all of the hard work of raising kids. Congrats! Now (once you pass the exam) you get to enjoy the time with your husband. I know it is always important to enjoy every step of the process of raising children, even when it is challenging. Just got to keep plugging along. Good luck with the test!

@napa – Ahhh, two toddlers running around! Thats gotta be tough too. Hopefully though, unlike me, you are getting some solid sleep in between your crazy days. My two year old sleeps from 6:30pm to about 6:30am. He is a champ. My little 5 week old girl is a whole different ballgame. She wants to be help 24/7 and despises her crib/swing/bouncer. She is adorable, but SO MUCH WORK. Yeah, I'm also taking one test per quarter. I just cant find the time to do it any quicker. We'll get through it. Good luck!

@Jeff – I think I am on about 7 diet cokes a day right now. Probably going to shorten my life by a couple years. I cant imagine doing this with five kids. I'd say we are definitely at our max with two.

[pshustler]

I have a 5 month old. She's just now discovering the noises she can make. It can be difficult since we dont have a big house where I can go and hide away. I try and stay late at work and study when I can, but then I walk in the door and she is ready for bed and I dont get to see her. It sucks. Cant wait until this is over

BEC - 86
AUD - 94
REG - 88
FAR - 89

[Anonymous]

I can't study at home because of all the distractions. Study when they sleep and take advantage of any help you can get.

We are on vacation this week and I was way more realistic this year than last year: I am having a study-free week. Last year I ended up getting upset because I couldn't stick to my study schedule during vacation. My husband is in school so I am on my own with two restless boys.

Set up a strategic plan and stick to it but most importantly, be realistic. If you think it will take you 6 weeks to study REG, plan on 7 just in case.

It's the hardest thing you'll ever do but when you pass, it will be the best feeling in the world – right up there with childbirth . You'll never forget how much it hurt to get this baby!

OK, we're going bowling now 😉 Good luck.

[HazeEastwood]

I give anyone with kids doing this test a TON of credit. This test has been hard for me and I only have a girlfriend who doesn't live with me. I can't imagine what it would be like with kids. I'd go freaking nuts!

FAR-81
BEC-84
AUD-91
REG-89

[Shanti]

I too have small kids and a teenager. The little ones are 1 and 2, so I know how hard it is to study. They usually wake me up early, so I can't imagine getting up any earlier to squeeze in an hour or so. I try to study at night, but am so tired before they go to bed that it's hard to keep my eyes open.

One of the things I found out recently was that my gym offers 2 hours of daycare while you're there whether or not you're working out. It's hard to pack everything up, but at least the kids get to play and I can usually find a quiet corner to work on something. It might be worth checking out.

[Minimorty]

@ HazeEastwood – That cracked me up. You never know though, some girlfriends can be higher maintenance than five kids! hope yours isn't one of those.

@ShantiK1 – Yeah, I thought about getting up earlier than the 6:30am my son wakes up. I just dont have the energy after battling the 5 week old all night. Since I am working all day, my only opportunity is to squeeze in an hour (two if i am lucky) at night.

[75_stay_alive]

Not sure if anyone will see my post, as I've been noticing that they dont come up unless I log on. I'm not really sure if that's how it's supposed to be but it wasnt like that before. In any case, regarding the subject, I have a 7 yo and 11 yo, am a single parent working fulltime. We're still in the middle of our busy season (our company is a fiscal year filer). I just sat for FAR last week, hopefully the last time for me. Good luck to everyone!

[yankeeaccountant]

@minimorty,

My second was a handful to say the least. He dropped napping by 18 months, and would be wide awake at ten o'clock at night. I don't envy you now, but what a great time it was. It seems as though when you have had enough and wish for times to be easier all of a sudden you turn around and your boys are hovering about 6 foot 2 inches, and it went by so fast. I hope that you swing through the exams quickly so that you can enjoy your kids.

I use the library a ton. It is too hard to study with music blaring…..my library also have private rooms. Very swanky too! I use those when I am in the last week of review for an exam. A clean room to study–a huge bonus.

Best of luck to you!!

[MOMCPA2B]

@Minimorty. Just breath. Take your time. Slow and steady can win the race. I have an 8 year old and its been a challenge as a single parent. I live in another state with no physical support and I have a full time job. My daughter quizzes me in the morning with flash cards I created on the way to her school. When she was younger I was in college so a scheduled bed time is KEY!!! and essential for your mental health. LOL. Get those kids to bed. At 8 years old my daughter can barely stay up pass 9. LOL..Yes this is challenging and the guilt sometimes is just more than you can stand. But your kids are getting a wonderful lesson in life. Example- My 8 year old decided she is going to college as soon as she is done with High School because she sees how hard it can be but she also knows that you can accomplish things if you put your mind to it. Hang in there. Sing you mnemonics to the baby, lol. They dont know the difference. LOL. Make your family a part of it. Go for a walk and recite things like poems. Heck you have a kid that reads make them quiz you. You will be improving their vocabulary and working on studying. I have tried so many tricks. Yep its not easy but its so worth it.

I cant wait for this to be over.
AUD-7/25/11-77
BEC-11/27/11-Failed(UGH)Back to the drawing board
REG-2/27/12
FAR- Aug 2012

[Minimorty]

So it looks like a decent percentage of CPA candidates have children and are still making their way through the process. I am glad to see that. It's also interesting to hear everyone's tricks for finding study time; a couple of them definitely made me laugh. Thanks to everyone for posting your stories!

[kandisjoy]

Props to you guys. My fiance and three cats are enough to keep me from being able to study at home. I don't know how you do it with kids! Good luck to all of you. 🙂

FAR: 71, 77
BEC: 70, 82
AUD: 62, 78
REG: 71, 68, 85

CA Licensed 11/2011

[macha1909]

I guess with 2 kids and a full time job its a herculean task to study for CPA exams. I have an 8 month old boy. He has colic, reflux cries a lot…my husband would be busy with his office so i need to take care of house hold chores completely and also take care of my boy for most of the time. I hardly find time during the day. At nights i get so exhausted that i am unable to sit with patience n study..finding it so difficult to focus on the exams..i wonder how all of you guys are concentrating…i have to sit for REG section latest by Aug 10….

[Author]

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