[Anonymous]

Hi, everyone. After reading others postings about their CPA exam situations, I figured I needed to post one of my own (and take an opportunity to vent a bit).

Like many others on this forum, I’ve struggled historically with this exam. I had no problem scoring between 69-72 on these exams but never high enough to pass. I’ve tested for one part recently (AUD) and am attending a live course for another (REG) and am starting to notice I’m lacking motivation. 🙁 Over the weekend I spent a little time with one of my former collegues (who of course passed the exam on the first time around no problem) who knew that I was attending a course but didn’t know it was a CPA review course. As soon as she found out what it was I was attending, she downplayed it and made me feel like I was beating a dead horse trying to pass it. She didn’t say that but you could just tell by her facial expressions that she thought I was wasting my time.

I still have about 4 weeks before my test date so I have time to get my act back together and get prepared but I know I need to start that NOW! Trouble is, I’m starting to wonder if I have anyone supporting me in pursuing this at this point.

Can anyone share some words with me to help get me back on track and feeling like I can conquer the world (and this exam)?

[75 CPA]

We are all in the same boat. My life is on hold until I pass all four parts of these exams in the 18 month window. There will be no vacation this summer, no trips to relatives, etc. Everyone that I know just shakes their head.

I have already factored in that I may have to retake a section. Retaking an exam will not deter me. These exams are all about endurance, not intelligence. I promised my wife a first class vacation after these exams, even if I have to borrow the money!

There are no failures in this CPA game. There are only people who quit. Do not be one of them. No one will care how many times you take these exams. All they will care about is if you are a CPA.

The purpose of the CPA exams is to keep you and me from becoming CPAs. That is a fact of life. Those 3 initials, CPA, do not come cheaply.

Take an exam and do not look back. Start studying for the next exam. That is my plan.

By the way, a 77 and 76 just means that you were smart enough not to study too much. It does not mean that you “barely passed.” Perfection is the enemy of good enough. If you made a 75 on all four exams, would that be good enough?

The purpose of the CPA exams is to keep you and me from becoming CPAs. That is a fact of life. See my post on “rent-seeking behavior.”

Failure is just a learning experience. You and I need to change our study materials and the way we prepare for these exams.

It helps to be a Christian. Get close to God! Children trust their parents and children do not worry. God calls us to trust Him. Worry and fear about these exams are useless. If we worry about these exams, we are not close to God. Peace and joy only come from God. Have you ever noticed the joy in a toddler? Confusion and discouragement do not come from God.

By the way, WhenI made a 68 on FARE. I did not get upset, or complain. I admitted the mistakes that I made in my study methodology and I developed a better study process. Additionally, do not become Miss Inflexibility. Inflexibility is the kiss of death. You cannot change if pride does not allow you to admit your errors.

We will become CPAs, IF we never give up! Do not substitute emotionalism for reason. Come up with a better study process that works for you, and then share it with us.

The only thing that counts is crossing the finish line! We will soon forget all of our trials and tribulations asfter we pass these exams.

[ScaredCPA]

I agree with 75 CPA. I've been out of school for the last 4 years. It is damn hard to force myself to study after a long and tiring day at work. I quit 3 times! Meaning I started studying and then gave up. Now, the 4th time, I am determined. I admire those who fail and keep going, fail again but still keep going. Because at the end what matters the most is three letters (CPA) after your name! Do not compare yourself to others – do what is right for you, study as much as you need and keep trying. That's what I am doing now! Good Luck to us all!

BEC 08/2010; AUD 10/2010;
REG 01/2011; FAR 04/2011

[Anonymous]

Boy, am I glad you posted! I do feel better after reading that. Thank you for taking the time to respond.

I guess one of the drawbacks to being Female is that your emotions tend to run higher. I know my issue has been studying… I need to make the time and just suck it up and do it. Up until now I've been as motivated as I can be to try to get this done but lately it just felt like everyone doubted me. And I think what has made it so frustrating is that these are people who I expected to support me during this and would have never expected to feel this way.

I don't intend on giving into this stupid exam!! It has consumed way too much of my life (and money) already for it not to pay off. Just for the record, I would love to be part of the 300 club – in fact I would be thrilled (75*4 parts = 300). No one asks what your scores were, just if you are a CPA so I wouldn't care if I got a 75 vs. 99.

[Soanxious]

Becks – It is tough to stay motivated, it is not an easy task, but try to think of it this way – will you be more mad at yourself for not wanting to do it, then having to rush and do and not finishing the way you wanted to. I try to tell myself that everyday. I have not passed the exam many times before, and had I known what I know now, I would have done things different. This is one place you can come and find other people who feel the same right now. So I come here and post when I need some inspiration.

It seems to me life gets in the way, people don't understand (unless they are another CPA candidate) what you are trying to do, and it makes it hard to function around normal activities that now you can't have at all, plus stay focused, study all the time, and trying to do your best at everything else you are required to do in your life at this very moment.

However, we can all do this, we have all met the requirments, we just have to try to plow through it. Set a goal like you don't want to deal with the changes next year or to beat the annoying coworker that passed all the exams the first try even it is just by saying “Ha – I am a CPA also.” At the end of the day really who cares if you took it 10 times or one – no one in your professional career is going to say “So did you have to take the exam more than once”. They are going to look at those beautiful letters behind your name and treat you as a fellow collegue. I have one of those people I work with the “rub it in your face I am almost done people and I passed them the first time – except for one exam.” They just started the exams in end of last year (failed one) and has now passed the other three sections, and resat for that last part two days after my last exam in May. Now this person is probably all done, likes to remind me of that, and I am still working on passing one. I use this person, their comments and the 2011 changes to keep a fire under me. It seems to help because I know it is not impossible – it is how to manage it all that works best for you – that is the secret.

I hope this helps. Just believe you can do it!!!!

:O)

IL - 11/24 AUD

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

[Anonymous]

Oh my goodness!! You all have no idea how thankful I am that I found this site and also that you took the time to respond.

Soanxious, you hit it right on the head…there are so many people out there that rub it in your face and believe it or not, right now I have the opposite. I'm not the only non-cpa at the firm I work for right now…one of the others has officially called it quits and the other is too wrapped up with family life to find the time to do this…so this equates to two people who are probably hopeing that I won't pass and yet I still have no one to vent/share my exam frustrations with. You're absolutely right, life gets in the way. I never have anything exciting going on (except for attending my review class – and yes right now in my life that is exciting) and it gets SO frustrating.

ScaredCPA, I so wish I would have thought of your username first! 🙂 I admire those as well who can just keep right on fighting and going back in and not let a low score get them down.

I took my first part of this round on May 24th and have not yet heard on my score (not a big surprise since it was only a few weeks ago) and I've already been wondering what I should do if I get it in the mail before July 9th which is the date of my next exam. Part of me says to wait and not open it up until I have already sat for my next part and the other part so if I didn't pass I won't be down when I test on the 9th. However, if I pass it may be the fire under my butt that I need to be motivated again and study the way I need to. So, now I'm not sure what to do. I'm avoiding NASBA's website…the score page just terrifies me because it has the power to deliver bad news rather quickly. 🙁 You just can't win with these exams, can you?

[financeguy]

I will give you my advice, which I apply to not only the cpa exam, but try to apply to nearly everything in my life.

The key term is Instant Gratification. Americans are obsessed w/ instant gratification. Their lives and minds are controlled by instant gratification. People focus on instant gratification and lose sight of the opportunity costs which come along w/ that instant gratification.

Here is an example w/ diet: You go get a big greasy meal from a fast food place w/ a giant soda. Your instant gratification is that you have to do absolutely no work in terms of cooking and preparing the meal, and the fries and greasy burger satisfy your test buds for those very FEW minutes in which you savor the meal. Now think of the long term health effects of those few minutes of instant gratification of that meal. Think of how many minutes of intense cardio you will have to do to burn those fat calories.

Skipping out on the exam, or skipping out on studying for a day or 2 – that is your instant gratification, because lets be realistic, studying f*cking sucks. Now what are the opportunity costs of not taking this exam? Say you have 25 years ahead of you of working, what is the opportunity cost in lost wages of not being a CPA? I'll let you figure out your opportunity costs.

So you take the next 6-12 months and you buckle down and you pass this exam. yes, you have forgone some opportunity costs of maybe a vacation, some time to be lazy, some tv watching, time w/ friends, etc. But that is merely 6-12 months of opportunity costs given up, vs opportunity costs for the rest of your life of not enjoying the benefits of becoming a CPA.

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

[Anonymous]

Well put financeguy!

[Soanxious]

Personally I changed my “when I am done with this exam” vacation from a few days in a cottage to a trip to the South Pacifc. I want to take two weeks off when I am done and be glad it is finally over. I also put that into my long term goals and motiviation to get it done. I don't have kids (almost 40) and my life won't move on until I pass. Big picture! financeguy is very right! Think big. I so regret not doing the research I did now a few years ago. I didn't have other candidates to talk to, I didn't know near what I know now about the exam, and I have learned from every mistake along the way. But it is time to move on and get this done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am going cruising somewhere it is hot with all the alcohol my body will let me drink for at least two weeks.

IL - 11/24 AUD

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

[ScaredCPA]

I like this thread and I also need support. Who doesn't? I am so glad I found this website. You guys are the best motivational speakers (oh, well, writers) ever. 🙂 It is soooo tremendously helpful to know that I am not alone in this boat. I've not started this thread but I want to say Thank you to you all who responded.

BEC 08/2010; AUD 10/2010;
REG 01/2011; FAR 04/2011

[Melissa3223]

Its so nice to be able to get on here and talk to others that are going through the same thing as me. I have taken audit twice (65 and 67), and have taken regulation once (72). I am so embarrassed to have to tell family and coworkers (who have never taken the exam) that I have failed yet again. I know they are thinking I am stupid and should just give up. But, like all of you, I know I cannot give up. I have changed my study material from Becker to Yaeger and am scheduled to take regulation in August. Unfortunately, I will not be able to take all 4 parts before the big changes in 2011, but maybe I can knock 2 out of the way. I am so stressed about the changes, and feel like if I cannot pass now how am I going to pass a more difficult test in 2011? Anyone feel the same way I do, and if so any suggestions?

[Anonymous]

Becks…hang in there. You are close.

Financeguy, you hit the nail on the proverbial head!!!

I took FAR and AUD back in April and May respectively. Not really “knowing” what to expect other than what people told me, I went into studying “thinking” I can do this. BOY WAS I WRONG! Reality sucks when it slaps you right in the face. After crying about my results (47 and 57), I had to figure out what went wrong. It is not that I can't understand the material. It was just I did not KNOW it. The ONLY way to know it is to FORCE it. Screw buying flashcards, or having someone babysit me through a lecture. When they say you give up everything, you LITERALLY have to give up everything in order to learn this massive amount of information.

I have a friend who took the CPA exam back in 2002 when you had to still take all 4 parts. He used Becker. Their methodology has not changed much. He passed all 4 parts the first time he took them and averaged a 93 across all 4 parts. 97 in FAR was his highest and 91 in AUD was his lowest. We were in grad school together and he always got an A in all of our classes. After I got my results of my exam, I admitted that I did not study enough for FAR and I took AUD for granted since that is what I do. (caveat: I have NEVER studied hard in my entire life) I went to him for advice. I always assumed he did well was because he was just a genius. NOT THE CASE. He told me he just has this internal motivation that is so strong to be the best at everything. So when he studied, he gave it everything.

Studying is HARD WORK. I FINALLY realized that, because I know I cannot give just a little effort here and there and expect to pass. Not for the CPA exam. It is designed to show whether or not you really KNOW it. Set a schedule and commit to it. In order to do well, YOU HAVE to internalize the material. If you are using Becker, Yaegar, Gleim, etc., Outline each section on notecards. If you have the lectures, that is great. You know what to focus on in your outline. Add things you might see in MCQ that maybe were not highlighted in the lectures. If you bought notecards, you are wasting your money. Trust me. I did. That is the easy way out. Outlining a section is a long and arduous process. I spent all day Saturday and Sunday outlining R1 and R2 from Becker. You want to get the information down, to where you don't NEED the book anymore. I was shocked how much I learned about the little things in the material by going this route. I am essentially teaching myself and really learning it. When I do the MCQ, I am scoring in the 90s on MY FIRST TRY. I NEVER did that using my old “path of least resistance” process of studying.

When people who have successfully passed say to you, you have no life. YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THIS IS THE TRUTH. You cannot have your cake and eat it too. My problem is I want to please everyone. My wife, my kids, etc. I figured I gotta study but my son wants me to do this. So I would “study” and once I felt good, I thought that was OK? WRONG….Now, my only commitment is my Becker books and CDs. I gave up going to the beach a couple of weeks ago with my family. They are going out of town this weekend for Father's Day. I wish I could go, but I know if I COMMIT to suffering now, the reward (CPA) will be great later. I know it is cliche, but it is true when they say, “Pain in temporary, Glory is forever!”

Create a schedule for everyday of the week, and DO NOT divert from it. This is the biggest key to success. DO NOT DIVERT from your schedule. No time for ANYTHING OR ANYONE. If you put in the hours and quality WORK, you will get over this sooner rather than later. READ READ READ your note-cards OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

FIND the motivation and just keep that in the forefront of your thoughts. I know everyone has their own “demons” they deal with. I have my own. You just need to figure out what is the most important thing to you. I even saw a shrink before I decided to re-focus. She asked me, “ask yourself do you want to work hard to get the CPA?” My first reaction was no. Then she said, I really do not want it then. But I really do want the CPA behind my name (just not the pain that goes with it). Well, the ONLY way to get it is quit trying to find excuses as to why you are not getting it, and just work through all the BS and commit yourself to getting it. That is the ONLY way. Even though we think people who get the CPA have done it because they are smart. We don't know that. More than likely they probably worked really hard at it. They did it because THEY COMMITTED their life (for x amount of time) to it!

[financeguy]

I workout a lot and am really into learning about fitness and nutrition, etc. I just read this, it is about bench pressing, but I think you can also apply it to the CPA exam:

Mistake #3: Self-doubt.

Hopefully you don't need a pep talk, but here it goes anyway. Excuse me as I impersonate motivational speaker Anthony Robbins for a moment. Your subconscious mind believes whatever you tell it, so do yourself a favor and program it with positive thoughts. I cringe every time someone asks me for a spot and they bash themselves before they even start the lift. Comments like, “I don't think I'll get very many reps,” or “I can't do this much, but I'll try.” If you're not confident, fake it, and tell yourself you're going to succeed. Trying is a part of failing. If you're afraid to fail, you're afraid to try.

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

[Soanxious]

You are all so right! I have seriously looked back at my mistakes and realized where I had to study harder than what I thought I did the first times. Those first scores were a series of trial runs of finding out what not to do. I can't even begin to start to tell you what I did wrong before I changed everything (because the list is so long), and then still made some mistakes once I figured it out due to timing issues. I made hysterical errors looking back and thinking I did enough to pass. Not anymore though. I cringe at the thought of not being done by the 2011 changes. I have not even looked at posts in regards to it. I have to balance work / studying somehow to be done with this by then or just have BEC to deal with if any. Must pass FAR and AUD by next year.

I have never seen material in all the books I read that I couldn't grasp the concept of – my struggles have been in strategy and practice. I don't find the material so difficult that it could never be learned. I find it to be a lot of dry, boring, and blah material. If it was a good mystery you could read the entire book in one day and repeat the story line to your friend. I try (really hard) to read my study guides as a book that I just can't put down until I finish as I would do my favorite mystery. It is tuff after all these times to pick it back up again, but I know in the end it will be worth it!

IL - 11/24 AUD

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

[Anonymous]

All – I just love to read threads like this. Since I finished last window, I know your pain, trials and tribulations. This site is one place a CPA candidate CAN get support. You are not alone, someone has been there before. This was said in more than one post, I think you really need to commit to the CPA exam. Set a plan, put it in writing nothing fancy, an excel spreadsheet will do with the hours, time and subject matter you can study. Be realistic in your study plan, plan your total hours, I plan 100+ for BEC, AUD and REG and 125+ for FAR. Some people study more, some less. Build in a 10% buffer for those days when life (work, family, etc) gets in the way. You should gear to at least 15+ hours a week if you are working full time, if not you probably can do 20-30 hours per week without getting burnt out. Track your actual hours that you study, this helped my confidence with knowing I have put in the time. I found putting everything in excel made me accountable for my actions.

If you are failing, please take a look at what you are doing. If you continue to do the same thing in your studying, you are likely going to get the same results. As for as other who cannot possible understand unless they have done, I would not let them know what you are doing. What I mean is if they ask, “When are you taking your next exam?” just answer, “I not sure, I am still study” even if your scheduled to take it tomorrow. We all now they mean well, but it is difficult for them to understand if you failed likewise it is difficult for you to answer. I know candidates who just dropped the whole subject altogether and told people that they are no longer studying.

Anyone just starting out when people say “YOU HAVE NO LIFE” believe them if you commit to the exam that is as true as statement you will read on this forum. Also, regardless of what review material you use, you can pass if you apply sound studying habits. Many of the practice multiple choice questions used by the different review companies come from the same source, AICPA. Another thing, never feel like your situation makes it impossible to pass this exam. You will find many encouraging stories on this forum and I am included. Married, full-time job, 49 yrs old and 6 kids from 3-12.

I probably could go on but I will leave with this last comment. It really comes down to wanting to pass and taking the actions necessary to do so. Only you can do this.

[Soanxious]

Lee_IN – Thanks for the very good advise! I have enjoyed reading your posts over the last few months. It is nice to see candidates that are now CPA's come back to help us that are new at this or just struggling through. It is comforting to know there are others inflicting this pain on themselves at the same time and some that have survived.

I have recently been telling people that I am studying and don't know when I plan to sit or just dropped it from my frustrated conversations all together. I have found venting with the other CPA candidates much more beneficial than someone who has no clue what it is about. It really does help take the pressure off.

IL - 11/24 AUD

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

[Author]

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