[Anonymous]

When I attended a firm event with other students we broke off in small groups and some students started asking a 1 year staffer about the CPA exam. He said he didn’t find the exam challenging at all. When they asked him about his study strategy for the exam he said he studied over spring break for about a 4 days for one exam. He said he took the other three in one month and studied about a month.

Wow, I was pretty sure he was misguiding everyone or in the least exaggerating his experience. He was a classmate of mine and I knew he had little or no accounting experience. A couple of times I almost laughed out loud. It was a little awkward because I wanted to tell these students that what he was telling us was not typical, but it wouldn’t have been a good move to cut him down. I suppose its possible he is some kind of genius . . ..?

[mmcgrad1]

That is quite a difficult situation. Personally, I found the CPA exam to be not very difficult. That doesn't mean I don't think you need to study a lot. Yes, my first two scores are low but that's because going into the exam I was very intimidated by what I had heard from others. Also I didn't study hard enough for AUD and finished it within 2 hours. I should have studied harder and taken my time to read carefully during the exam. When I took the exam I realized it wasn't 1/10th difficult as I imagined. I could have probably taken the exam in one testing window but I would have had to study full time without taking weekends and weeks off. I think his experience is hurtful to most people.

Maybe he is brilliant. The best kid in my graduating class never read the book and only got one A- in all his years at my school. I wouldn't be surprised if he would have been able to just sit for the exam with little studying but we never know. I highly doubt what this staffer says but it is possible.

Honestly, I don't think the exam is that difficult. I think disciplining yourself to study is the real challenge.

NIU CPA Review Correspondence is awesome!

I passed all four sections on the first attempt

[mla1169]

If someone bases their own study strategy off of one person's personal story, they deserve whatever consequences there are. If the folks asking the question know anything about the exam already they know those results are not typical.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[TaxThreat]

I know people who passed all 4 sections of the CPA exam within one testing window so it is possible for some. One of my work friends scored in upper 80s on BEC with only 2 days of studying. Other guy studied for FAR and REG together so it all depends on a person. I also have friends who studied for months but could not pass a certain section. It does not mean you are stupid or smart it's just how good of a test taker you are and how well you retain large volumes of information.

REG - 7/2/12 - 88
BEC - 7/25/12 - 83
FAR - 10/01/12 - 86
AUD - 11/24/12 - 90
Ethics -DONE

[Anonymous]

Just because you do well on a test doesn't mean you are good at your job.

[Mrs 300]

I do think that it's a bit misleading to tell people that it wasn't challenging, but I have heard people say it. Most people that have said that agree that they are just good test-takers. I know people who studied for a weekend for REG, BEC and AUD and a week for FAR and passed. I KNOW they are not lying. Of course, they SUCK to me because I struggled my ass off, but oh well .

REG - 80 (Becker only)
BEC - 76 (Becker only)
AUD - 71, 76 (Becker only)
FAR - 65, 74, 81! (Becker, Wiley Test Bank, Ninja notes & Audio)

CPA Class of 2012 🙂

[Sandra]

Well I don't think it was that hard either, although I count myself in the good test taker category not “brilliant”.

It's totally individual. But just as there is no real purpose talking about how easy it can be for some people there is no purpose in the fear mongering that happens all the time. If people didnt assume the test was so difficult and panicked about it more people would pass first time around.

[Author]

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