My CPA Journey

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    Anonymous
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    I have been on this site a lot over the last year and can’t even begin to describe how much it has helped me through my CPA journey. I have never posted before but decided to share my experience and just a few things I’ve done that worked for me.

    Due to the fact I went to college in a different state, I had to come back home the summer after graduation to take about 5 accounting courses and an ethics course. These courses were mostly online and fairly simple as the school teachers just used text book exams/quizzes.

    As a result of having to make up these credits, I didn’t study for the CPA until summer classes were over around the end of August, which was also when I started work as well. As I am young, I still wanted to have a life besides studying and working so I didn’t study very much on the weekends. I would study for about 5 hours either Saturday or Sunday depending on when I went out the night before. I studied during the weekdays for about 30 mins on the bus home and then about an hour and half at night for about 3 times a week. I did this from about the beginning of September to the very end of October and took my first test, FAR.

    I used the Beckers review course because that was what my firm provided to me for free. I did the video lectures and about 50% of the multiple choice questions. When I came out of the test, I felt really good about it and thought the CPA exam was much easier than I had anticipated. Immediately following FAR, I started my video lectures for audit. I started studying for audit the same way as I did for FAR. When scores released for FAR, I received a 72. Maybe I’m the only one that has ever thought this but I was actually happy about my 72. It wasn’t that far from a passing score and I knew I could do it if I tried a little harder.

    I was overwhelmed by having to work and study at the same time and needed something fresh in my study material. I did some research and decided to go with the Roger FAR review. Roger was very lively in his lectures and wrote out everything on the board. He came up with his own clever ways of remembering certain material, which I found to be very helpful. Roger really drew home a lot of the concepts for me that I didn’t understand after just watching the Beckers videos. I know that if I had read the Beckers book from front to back, I probably would have grasped the concepts eventually but reading that book just sounded so dreadful to me.

    I ended up taking audit in the fall and rescheduled FAR right after the New Year, the day before busy season started. I found out that I passed both during busy season. As anyone in audit would know, it is extremely hard to study at all during busy season. Instead of trying and failing, I decided to take a break from Jan- end of April.

    I know that I study much better when I can focus fully so instead of wasting Sundays, my only day off during busy season to study, I actually saw family and caught up on sleep. After busy season I took BEC first because I had heard it was easier and wasn’t really ready to mentally tackle REG. I passed BEC the first time and thought that was definitely the easiest section of the CPA for me.

    I know many people say that BEC can be the hardest and all over the place, I must have gotten lucky test. Then came REG, I took it once and failed. I was not really studying that hard and deserved this one. I always thought I would have so much motivation when it came to my last section but I was burnt out. I decided to take 2 weeks off and really take the test seriously. For the 2 weeks before my test, I went to the library from 9am to 9 pm everyday with an hour for lunch.

    I wrote out my schedule and what I wanted to get done for each 30 mins and stuck by it. I didn’t have any goals after 9pm so whatever I got behind during the day, I caught up after 9pm. I ended up studying until about 11pm every day for those 2 weeks. After these 2 intense weeks of espressos and library time, I took the test again and passed. It’s now been exactly a year since my last pass date but I still think about this journey often.

    I believe one of the keys things that helped me pass each section is that I would take off of work 2 or 3 days before each exam and just cram as many multiple choice questions in as I could. I realize that many people may not have the time for this but I do believe that having a good short term memory of the material really helped me on the test. I ended up buying Ninja notes and the wiley test bank, which really helped me see different ways a question could be asked. I never once opened the beckers book after listening to the lectures because it was just too much for me. I knew my goal was to pass and not master every detail in that book.

    My biggest advice would be to re-write the ninja notes over and over again until you know it by heart. After the first time I failed REG, I also bought the Ninja REG audio. I listened a few times and it really helped me in understanding the concepts. I did also get the Ninja flashcards, which came for free from a promotion. I didn’t ever have time to use them so I can’t say whether or not they were helpful.

    Basically for each section I listened and highlighted the lectures into the book to get a general understanding. Then without reading the book again, I started tackling the multiple choice. I wouldn’t even try to guess the answers, I would make it show the answer and work through it with the correct answer showing. The questions in Beckers and Wiley included everything the book explained but in a question format, which is how it is going to show up on the test. I believe this technique is what really helped me the most for passing the CPA and not making it a more painful experience than it needed to be.

    Don’t get me wrong, I spent about a total of a month and half straight in the library. There were days that seemed so hopeless and I wanted to give up. I just think that this technique of studying definitely saved me many more hours of agony. I never passed the test with extremely high scores, they were all very low 80’s with my highest score being BEC, which was an 86. I’m sure people who have read the book front to back 5x throughout the course of studying learned much more than I did but in my mind I just really wanted to pass and will learn as I go at my job. Overall this journey took 10 months with 5 months of studying and taking tests. It was definitely hard but well worth it.

    As each test approached, I always deleted all my social media accounts exactly one week before my test. And Another71 is exactly where I would be during my breaks from studying. Actually, I probably spent much longer on this site than I would have on facebook but I received so much encouragement from reading others’ posts here. So many people are taking this test with various responsibilities that I don’t have.

    I truly admire these individuals with so much ambition and dedication. I don’t think I could have ever done that and stayed so strong and focused. I do agree that this test is a test of perseverance and dedication. If you want it you will have to work at it. I would like to just end this rant saying that short pain is better than long pain.

    Don’t have the CPA hang over your head and keep you from enjoying things even when you are doing them because you feel guilty for not studying. Cram and cram hard for a short period of time. Give up things for one month and do nothing but study for one section. I believe you will see much better results.

    Good luck to everyone studying and making it to the finish line!!

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