[alan ng]

You, Lord, keep my lamp burning;
my God turns my darkness into light.
With your help I can advance against a troop[a];
with my God I can scale a wall.
Psalm 18:28-29

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Matthew 17:20

Where do I start? I’ve always mentioned to potential employers that I thought about getting my cpa license. It has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever accomplished in my life. Saying its hard doesn’t do it justice because life still happens and the AICPA (the organization that issues the tests) won’t feel sorry for you because an emergency came up that prevented you from studying or if you have family commitments. Also the pass rate for each of these tests is about 50%. The hardest one has a 45% pass rate. When you pass one exam, you have 18 months to finish all the other exams. In my case, I was working a 9-5 job, managing my side business, getting my blackbelt in Hapkido, and studying at the same time. Many times, I had to sit down and study even when I was tired and didn’t feel like it. It was literally me inflicting torture on myself. At times, I even wondered if I was taking crazy pills taking this test from hell. On top of it, I got some friendly opposition. 1 or 2 of my peers were telling me that “you don’t need to do this”. I appreciate the sincerity and yes giving up would be easier. However giving up isn’t an option.

I started studying in Sept 2016 and finally ended in Sept 2019. REG was the first test I passed. Then I started to try my luck for AUD and didn’t pass. On my 2nd attempt at AUD, I was one point short of passing. Now I decided to try my luck with BEC. During those tests I felt a spell of doom just flying over my head walking out of the test center feeling like a failure. Anxious going in and feeling inadequate and walking out thinking I failed. But God had a different plan in mind. Yes finally some success and I passed BEC. Just when I thought things were getting better, I still couldn’t pass AUD. The back to back failures kept compounding on themselves.

In the moments when I failed big time, I was pretty angry at God. Whenever someone tried to cheer me up with a promise of God, I would just sneer and be like yeah right. That sounds like total balooney sauce. Maybe its not God’s plan for me to be a CPA. I did hope things would get better if I kept trying and pounding away then my Reg credit expired at the end of the 18 month window. Looks like my 18 month plan got stretched out to what looks like a 3 year plan or maybe a 5 year plan.

Finally, I passed AUD in Dec 2018 after failing like 5 or 6x. Now, I only had 2 to 3 months to finish up FAR and REG. During this time, I was thinking of quitting my job so I could study full time and get this exam done and out of the way. With much advice and time passing and not sure of what decision to make, I saw that there was no way I could finish everything up by March 2019 because my BEC credit was expiring. And with consistently delaying my decision to quit my job, I just realized I couldn’t finish and its better to just hold onto my job and drag out the process.

Then I passed FAR in March 2019. I eventually passed REG and BEC for the 2nd time. Its a total miracle from God. Most of the time, my practice test scores were not passing test scores.

Why do I tell this story? The reason is because it illuminates God’s love. He makes up any deficiencies we have. Its a relationship and power beyond limits, human comprehension, feelings, past failures and anything else negative you can cook up. Even if things are really miserable in the moment, it doesn’t mean its going to stay that way. These sad moments are stored up so we can have a greater reward later on.

Ya just got to know him and know that he has an amazing destiny thats hand crafted and tailored for each person.

12/16/16 Reg 79
3/8/17 Aud 71
8/17/17 Aud 74
9/19/17 Bec 83
12/19/17 Aud 71
3/8/18 Aud 68
9/11/18 Far 69
9/19/18 Aud 72
12/11/18 Aud 78
3/18/19 Far 88
6/18/19 Reg 81
9/18/19 Bec 75

[CPAHOPE]

Congrats! Not everyone believes in God but nevertheless a inspiration CPA journey. I used to blame on God for my failures too but now I look back, its useless thing to do. I blame 100% on my own failures.
You were able to pass AUD on your 5th try. What did you do differently to pass? Thanks

[alan ng]

Besides divine intervention, I switched up my training materials. I transitioned to using Wiley CPA for all my educational needs.

[monikernc]

What I get from these posts is that one relies on faith and the other hope, and that these are wonderful things to have during difficult times. I agree and am happy for you both.

FAR 7/25/15 76!
AUD 10/30/15 93
BEC 2/27/16 82
REG 5/23/16 88!
Ninja Book and MCQ and the forum - all the way!!!
and a little thing i like to call, time and effort!
if you want things to change, you have to do something different

[CPAHOPE]

Thank you both! Now back to studying 😱🤦‍♂️

[Momo89]

What a great and encouraging testimony Alan. I too had a similar experience and process, I have FAR left but my AUD was the exact same, passed on my 4th try. Faith and hope certainly play integral roles in staying committed to the process, but ultimately GRACE and divine intervention are what pushed me to where I am. Thank God for your story and thanks for encouraging others. His love endures forever!

[Island Mango]

Like Momo89 said, what a great testimony.

I know I'm not the best Catholic but my CPA journey was peppered with prayers as well. Every Sunday, I would plead with God to shore up my self esteem (took a bad beating with each setback) and to help me pass.

I took my last part (BEC) about a week before Ash Wednesday last year. I wasn't feeling very confident about my chances. I went to Ash Wednesday mass to get my forehead crossed and prayed quite hard. I said, God you see me help myself, right? I did my best and I leave it in your hands. Friday, March 9, checked the website for scores and was dreading the worse. I passed! My first reaction was to keep refreshing the page. There must have been a mistake. Then, once I fully realized that really was my name on the page, I got down on my knees with tears and snot running down my face & say thank you God repeatedly.

I know, belief in God may sound illogical to some. It could even be argued that I passed solely because of my hard work. But it never hurts to believe in a higher power. Figure I'd cover all the bases LOL. To this day, I thank God for passing. Hallelujah!

[ngster]

To CPAHOPE

You can totally pass it. If I can do it, so can you. In fact my sister hates accounting and was just average in accounting. She was able to pass the CPA exam as well. Just have a little faith. And think about the great reward. Its so much greater than all the disappoint and setbacks combined.

[CPAHOPE]

Thanks NGster! Yeah i still believe i can pass them all!

[Author]

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