[FutureCPA8]

Hey all,

I have been pretty down about failing FAR (I had invested a lot of time into it). I’m in Cali, so I got my score at 6am-ish and when I saw I failed I had a breakdown. I was SURE I walked out of there passing. The others in the office would not talk to me for 2 weeks until we got our scores out of envy(the irony right? I ended up failing), and I would hear them snicker about how much I studied and am whining and will “probably get a 100.”

Anywho, I called in sick that morning because I was having a mental breakdown “woe is me” moment that I’m sure ya’ll have felt at this point.

It rains it pours, so my manager was causing personal conflict with me (personal, not work related) and on top of this, my fiancee who I have been with for 9 years has turned off his phone and been MIA for two nights; saying I’m a burden and too depressed for him.

I just wanted to post on here and hopefully other can make me feel a little better. Not sure how to handle my fiancee essentially leaving me within the same 48 hours I would fail my first CPA exam. I’m ready to give up on life completely.

If you have nothing nice to say, please don’t. I get enough of that as it is. I just needed someone to talk to who understood, and since you’re all accountants I figured you were my best option.

I love this community so much. Looking forward to any positive, kind feedback I receive about my current situation.

FAR - 01/30/2016 - 57,
REG - 02/27/2016 - ?
BEC - 04/30/2016 - ?
AUD - 05/28/2016 - ?

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

I failed with a score of 56 so please don't give up. I've thought about it as I'm studying for AUD coming up on Monday and I should be studying now, but here I am looking for motivation and encouragement just like you. Can't stop, won't stop. Keep pushing. Everyone's telling me it's not just you who fail. And I know I know. So just hang in there

[Stilgoin]

Everyone tests different. I have never failed anything in my life until these exams. I agree with everything previously posted. This has definitely been a humbling experience. I too have learned not to tell people so they can't turn the screws on me when waiting. A couple things I have done that seems to have made a tremendous difference for me personally- I added an exercise regiman. I sweat every day in some way and that keeps me sane. I suggest every time you get upset about your significant other, go run a couple miles and you will feel better. Only the people taking these exams understand the associated stress. Another thing I've mentioned in other posts is taking a day off before exams. That makes a world of difference for me.

As you can see, I have experience in this (failing exams). Haha. I have used Becker and NINJA MCQs. I have learned to write the highlighted parts of the book for a week, then use the NINJA MCQs to zero in on my weak areas. That's what I'm starting next week for FAR.

DONT GIVE UP! Quitting is worse than failing. Some people aren't even in the game. 😉

B | 62, 78
A | 73, 67, 79
R | 82
F | 59, 59, Waiting

Ethics | 93

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
~Winston Churchill

“In a world full of critics, be an encourager."

[Anonymous]

My signature here has every failure on my way to completing this horrible journey. The failures hurt super bad. I spent almost 2 years away from my infant children and wife. It was without a doubt the most stressful time in my life. But now that i'm done , I take great pride in my accomplishment and my work performance is 10 times better. Even after my failures, when the clouds parted, I kept noticing that I was getting smarter anyway so it wasn't a total loss. Now in hindsight, I think I am much better off for having failed so many times because I really know the material and apply it daily.

Also want to add, life must go on. The test is a big deal but you still have to make time for your fiancee and yourself if you can. I would study primarily from 4-8am daily so I could be home in the evenings after work. I would often study or have to work past 5pm many evenings , so that plan wouldn't always work , but as soon as I got some “free” time I would do something special for the kids and wife. Was your fiancee put in the back seat entirely? Also , why have you been together 9 years and not married? Is there something else more serious at play? 9 years and not married is unusual. Just saying.

The only thing that matters now is getting back up and get ready for the next battle. You still have a long journey ahead.

[Anonymous]

I have struggled more than my signature shows so I understand the difficulty of this test. Here are the things that helped me (keep in mind, these were good for ME, some might help you and some might not!). I failed numerous times before I even got close to passing. Once I got close, I got a 74…it seemed like nothing would go my way, so here is my advice…

1. Passing this test HAD to be a selfish thing for me. My significant other, my family, my friends had to take second place in my priorities! I cancelled plans I had with them, skipped family vacations etc because I knew this had to be #1 in my life for me to get through this.

2. I came to the realization that I havent done enough studying until I pass. My best effort is the one where I pass, anything less (even 1 point less!) isn't enough and isn't my best work! I am very hard on myself and worked my butt off, which is sounds like you did too, but it's not enough! You have to work harder and work more efficient. I know that might sound negative, but it helped me when I was depressed and saying to myself “i tried my hardest!!” I realized that if I truly believed that about myself, I would never pass. I didn't work my hardest…not even close..and it took a few failing scores to realize.

3. Keep studying to yourself. At work, or at home, when someone asks you to do something but you planned on studying, tell them you are busy with something else. If you need to tell a white-lie…so be it. I don't go around living a second life but when friends ask me to come to happy hour, I tell them I am working late. There is enough pressure studying/passing this test, you don't need friends and family adding to it by saying you are going to get 100 and laughing when you fail. Keep it off social media and STAY HUMBLE about this test.

TRUST ME when I say this! Your struggle now is going to feel SOOOOOOOOOO good when you do pass. This test is very very difficult and I still have a long way to go to finish, but the motivation is knowing the excitement I am going to have when I am done. I got my score for BEC at 1am and did not go to sleep that night. I was DANCING in my room at 3 am and had to be up at 5. When I calmed down around 430 I realized I might as well get a heard start on the day! My co-workers understood when I decided to leave at 4 that day to get some sleep. KEEP IT UP YOU WILL GET THERE!

[Anonymous]

My 2yr relationship ended before I started studying for the CPA. I honestly thought he was the one. However, I am glad it ended it now and not when we are married. I have faith that I will find the right guy for me.

I took FAR and made a 37. I have to admit I didn't put in enough time to study. Also, I needed to brush up on my accounting principles. I decided to take Audit while I waited for the FAR score. I ended up making a 61 in audit.

Even though I failed, I feel that I am closer to passing the CPA. I learned from my failures and studying strategies. I have to put in more time studying. I have some friends that passed the CPA and they did a lot worse than me in college. I say to myself if those guys can pass the CPA I can too. Also, I want to pass the CPA in 2016 because is going to be a lot harder in 2017. When you become a CPA nobody is going to ask you how many times you failed the exam. You can always lie 😉

You should google or youtube Famous Failures. Don't give up and keep a positive attitude. It's part of being successful.

[JohnWayneIsGod]

‘my fiancee who I have been with for 9 years has turned off his phone and been MIA for two nights; saying I'm a burden and too depressed for him.'

You sure this is the person you want to call your partner for the rest of your life? Because believe me, you two will face things that are more trying than a failed section of the CPA Exam.

There are more important things in life than a failed test. Making the right decisions in your personal life is so much more important than passing or failing a test.

And keep in mind you haven't passed anything yet, so you are not in danger of a losing a previous passing score. And it's not like your failed scores are kept on record. Sure you lost time and money, which sucks, but this is a hard exam. It is nothing like what we see in college as it is meant to be so much harder.

FAR - 80

Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.

-John Wayne

[shmogma]

@FutureCPA8.

Repetition repetition repetition.

Keep in mind that although you studied enough to get score you did, you fulfilled a portion of the amount of studying really needed to get passed the 75.

You've already got a solid understanding of the material now you gotta reinforce it through insane repetition.

Personally I need to review the entire Becker material 3 times over before I even enter the review week. and when I say 3 times over I mean I better be able to resight the info while dribbling a basketball.

this test isn't a joke. I personally passed FAR by literally murdering the material 5 times over. and not just an understanding but to the point where I can teach the class

granted REG I got a 74, but that's only because I ran out of gas come exam time mainly do to being understaffed at work.

WE ALL FAIL, so you aren't alone. What matters is that you need to regain momentum by studying again and again

FAR - 80
REG - PENDING
AUD- PENDING
BUS - PENDING

[superhenderson13]

like others have said, failing this test hurts. it isnt like school where it's only a small part of your grade, these tests matter and you invest a lot of time into them. just remember, if the cpa was meant to be easy, everyone would have a CPA. it's meant to be hard and meant to fail people. you arent the first and wont be the last.

the key is to get up and keep going. thinking about your failing grade will do nothing for you. i took reg a couple months ago and got a 74. i was heartbroken, not so much that i failed, but because i was that close. i took a couple days to detox and then i hopped back into it. i passed reg and far back to back within a month of each other. the thing that will prevent you from doing this is your own willpower.

and it's none of my business nor anyone else on this board, but your fiance sounds like a real piece of work. im single, but i have friends in a relationship and their significant other is always there for them, especially after they failed. if your fiance runs out on you over a failed test, what will happen in the future when other problems pop up?

good luck, have faith, and get back into it. if you do, you will get to where you need to be.

REG: 74/76
FAR: 75
AUD: Early April 2016
REG: Late April/Early May 2016.

[superhenderson13]

like others have said, failing this test hurts. it isnt like school where it's only a small part of your grade, these tests matter and you invest a lot of time into them. just remember, if the cpa was meant to be easy, everyone would have a CPA. it's meant to be hard and meant to fail people. you arent the first and wont be the last.

the key is to get up and keep going. thinking about your failing grade will do nothing for you. i took reg a couple months ago and got a 74. i was heartbroken, not so much that i failed, but because i was that close. i took a couple days to detox and then i hopped back into it. i passed reg and far back to back within a month of each other. the thing that will prevent you from doing this is your own willpower.

and it's none of my business nor anyone else on this board, but your fiance sounds like a real piece of work. im single, but i have friends in a relationship and their significant other is always there for them, especially after they failed. if your fiance runs out on you over a failed test, what will happen in the future when other problems pop up?

good luck, have faith, and get back into it. if you do, you will get to where you need to be.

REG: 74/76
FAR: 75
AUD: Early April 2016
REG: Late April/Early May 2016.

[Anonymous]

Getting your CPA is no noble cause, we do this for more money and better job prospects, you are probably 25-35 years wise and it is time to decide on what makes you happy, if you only work and only study then it will cause relationship problems, don't blame your spouse either because again the CPA is not a noble cause. I was guilty of almost ruining my relationship with my soon to be wife until I realized what was actually important. And that was her, but I'm still studying 20+ hours a week, all I am saying is continue on dates surprise your husband, surprise him with something sexy and remember you can get this certificate whenever but it's hard to get back lost love ones.

[lysol12345]

To give u perspective…

I recently passed the last part of the cpa, and yesterday mailed in my cpa application. It was really spaced out over 4 years. Lots of exams scheduled, but too busy at work to study. I had to prove myself at work because the recession hiring freeze was still in effect in 2010. Lost probably $2,000 in exam fees. Scheduling an exam to motivate yourself to study is a stupid idea. I have a 4.0 gpa in college because i brute forced it. I had no social life because i studied everything, pulling all nighters and getting 30 pounds fatter. That was a dumb approach for the cpa exam. A few times I showed up confident and scored 72, 71, even a 62. I never thought I was stupid. I knew life constraints kept sandbagging me. Even lost BEC credit one time.

The reality is that the exam is a crap shoot. In my opinion, there is no difference between a 75 and a 90. The difference is the people taking the exam that u are curved against. The curriculum is deep, but the mcq on the exam are not. The make-or-break is the sims. Sims topics are a luck of the draw. As someone else said, the mcq are bulimic (regurgitating) and the Sims are chefs (creating something with the given ingredients). You need to know the difference between active and passive learning, concepts vs facts, recognition vs recall.

I'm not that much happier now that I passed the exam. My life had been on hold for years. I was unable to jump firms to make more money. When I passed the final part, I was relieved. After a day of thinking about how I scored relative to how i guessed on the left field sims I was very angry. When you study something so much, you have a great sense of what u know and don't know during the exam. I thought that I had failed if I were to grade my own performance. The Sims were so in depth and barely covered in my becker curriculum. I felt destroyed after i left the exam center.

I passed with a decent margin. It only meant that everyone else also had the same struggle or wrong answers such that my correct answers and guesses curved my grade higher. I felt sick to my stomach after realizing cpa exam is not really a test of real competency, just acceptable competence. I felt that the cpa exam was sold to me as a lie. Just like there are competent doctors vs great doctors, the same is with CPAs. Don't let low scores deter you. Yet don't think you are special after scoring a 92 in audit. Cpa exam is a hoop to jump through. It means almost nothing to me. It is just a rubber stamp for hiring managers to gauge a minimum level of competence. Don't place too much value on the exam. Your performance at work, enthusiasm to sell, etc matter more.

[Anonymous]

@lysol12345 How do you know the exam is based on a curve against other people taking the exam? I had no idea! This would be great news to me!

[Anonymous]

@lysol12345 How do you know the exam is based on a curve against other people taking the exam? I had no idea! This would be great news to me!

[Anonymous]

@debitme

https://www.aicpa.org/becomeacpa/cpaexam/psychometricsandscoring/scoringinformation/downloadabledocuments/how_the_cpa_exam_is_scored.pdf

@OP we wanna hear from you. you back on the beam studying? fiance stopped playing games?

[lysol12345]

Audit (from becker) has some ridiculous acronyms that aren't even acronyms. Audit was so depressing to study for.

[Author]

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