[Karrie]

I was just wondering if anyone else has had these same feelings. I wish I hadn’t told so many people that I was taking the CPA exam. It’s not that they are unsupportive, they are just almost… too supportive? I enjoyed the support in the beginning, but it’s been a long process for me and now I’m getting so tired of answering alllll the questions from so many friends/family/coworkers.

I can’t really be mad because they aren’t doing anything wrong, but it’s just hard to express to them that I don’t want to talk about it or be asked about it (but I’ve tried). It’s getting to the point where I try to avoid the topic altogether because even if I just mention that I studied over the weekend, it goes into the list of questions:

“oh yeah, how’s studying going?”
“when is your next test?”
“how many parts are there again…?”
“what section are you studying for now?”
“when do you get your scores back?”
“you have to wait THAT LONG for your scores?!! That’s crazy!”
“when I took the [whatever stupid easy exam], I got my score the next week!”
“oh, you got a 74? Can’t they just round it to a 75?!” (ugh)

And the list goes on… Is it just me? Maybe I’d feel differently if I’d passed them on the first try, but no such luck haha

[tvpaul]

I feel the exact same way!! I get the most annoyed when I answer the same question to the same person multiple times… like I've told my parents the date of my exam at least 10 times. It's like they feel obligated to ask about it but don't even really listen to my answer haha but I always feel that some support is better than no support

[shawn in VA]

Karrie-

I have had the same issues as you. I told my parents, siblings, and friends and I got the same questions you listed. After failing a couple times, and just the pure embarassment of telling them I failed I had to make changes. I stopped telling everyone the dates of exams, etc… EXCEPT my wife. It was a hard choice but I just plan to tell then when I pass all 4.

Oddly, no one has asked me about the exam since I stopped bringing it up (except my wife).

[Anonymous]

I've debated just telling people that I stopped taking the tests altogether. Look at it this way – until you pass all 4, you have a zero on the whole exam. So, what's the point in even talking about individual parts? Luckily I don't have any nosey coworkers but plenty of people do, especially in Big 4. It's almost better to just lie and say that you're not doing the CPA at all, and then after you pass them all, you can brag. “Whoa, I didn't think you were doing the CPA exams…you never mentioned it!” to which you can reply “Well, that's what you get for thinking!”

[CPAIN2K17]

I get that this can be annoying… but imagine no one caring about you taking these tests and having no one to tell when you find out you passed a part. Just be thankful someone cares!

[tskits75]

Haha, I feel the same way. I also love the “I don't know how you are doing this” thanks just highlight how tough it is. Or they go the other way and are shocked that i am taking 6-weeks to prep for a test, and wonder why i don't go out on the weekend.

AUD - 92
BEC - 79
REG - August
FAR - TBD

[Anonymous]

My relationship with friends and family has gone out the window. In addition to working 60+ hours in public accounting the past several years, now I am buried in studying for the exam and essentially have a non-existent social life. With that said, I probably have a few years on many people on this board and have had the opportunity to experience living in a downtown area, enjoying the scene, and living in a nice high-rise resort style condo, etc. In addition, I've done plenty of traveling in the past, so I probably don't feel as eager or anxious as most others due to a hindered social life.

It does suck that the family doesn't really understand the struggle though. The best I could do at explaining the difficulty of the exam was to give them perspective was that there are over 3,000,000 RNs in the US and only around 600,000 CPAs.

Since they all mostly work in healthcare, this helps put it in perspective a bit that studying for the CPA exam and pursuing a career in this profession just isn't the same.

[Anonymous]

If you run across someone who is overly pestering about it, there are any number of things you can do to fend them off. You just have to be creative about it.
Often times, answering their probing question with another question is the best defense. Once you do that a few times, they'll get the idea that you don't want to discuss it.
Then, once you pass, you can put them back into their place appropriately.

[Karrie]

Thank you everyone, I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one! I definitely agree that some support is better than no support at all, and I’m of course grateful that they ARE supportive and not trying to bring me down. It’s just that if I could go back and start the process over, I don’t think I’d tell nearly as many people. I didn’t expect this aspect of the process to add another layer of stress and anxiety. This was more of a way to vent my frustrations to people who understood, so that I hopefully won’t snap at my friends. Lol

@Shawn in VA – I ended up doing the same thing pretty much! I tried to stop talking about it, but when that didn’t work, I told co-workers and friends that I didn’t really want to talk about it anymore because it causes too much stress. Most of them understood, some seemed annoyed (oh well), and others just didn’t take me seriously or forgot because they still ask quite a bit. I just try to be vague and change the subject so they take the hint that I don’t want to discuss. I don’t have a husband/boyfriend right now, but if I did, that would be the only person I would tell everything.

@Tskits75 – I understand that for sure – people think you’re taking “so long” to study that you can just skip a day and catch up later. “Can’t you just come out tonight and study tomorrow?”

@BrickellCPA – I am definitely going to borrow that RN/CPA statistic for later! It’s hard trying to explain it to people who don’t understand just how difficult it is. One of my friends said “oh, I know, I’m studying for the GMAT right now, so I know what you mean!” *rolls eyes*

It’s frustrating because I want it to be known that I have a legit reason to decline fun things with friends, but once I give them my reason, I don’t want to be asked a bunch of questions about it. So I often end up telling them I’m doing something else (rather than studying) so they don’t go into the list of questions above. It just seems easier that way.

[RockLobster]

The best thing is when you finish the test and people ask you, “how did it go?” You tell them there were good parts and bad parts, tell them you were confident on parts, etc… Then they say “I'm sure you passed.” Really? The exam shows no indication of how well you did, people constantly end up surprised after thinking they fail, then finding out they pass, and vice versa, and practice exams are often misleading in terms of results when compared to the real thing… But you're SURE I passed? Thank you for bestowing me with your wisdom.

[Anonymous]

I can definitely relate to this, except it's weird because my family is overly supportive (despite not knowing how tough and mentally draining this process can be). My coworkers, however, have no idea what I'm going through. I work in corporate finance, so most coworkers are going for the CMA or nothing at all. The few who are CPAs took the exams years ago and forget this struggle. So on the one hand, I'm happy my family cares so much, but they don't understand when I say I just don't understand some of the material. Meanwhile I feel like people at work look down on me for taking so long with this. I'm at the point where I won't tell people my exam dates, just that I am studying for a certain part.

[Karrie]

@RockLobster I couldn’t agree more with that!! It’s one of my biggest pet peeves of all!! A couple of my failed attempts were because I straight up procrastinated and didn’t give myself enough time to study everything, so I was pretty confident that I failed. But of course when I said that, I got the whole “oh but you’re so smart, I’m sure you passed!” What? Everyone who even qualifies to sit for the exam is smart, and still only ~40% pass. It’s not like we’re looking for pity or a pat on the back, just being realistic. It’s like they’re trying to be reassuring, but it’s so awkward.

@curlygirl1213 I totally know what you mean! The coworkers I work the closest with don’t know anything about it and ask all the annoying questions. Then a few other coworkers that have taken the exam recently are the types that have finished in 6 months or less, so I feel like they look down on me. Then the older coworkers who took it years ago need to constantly remind me that they had to take all 4 parts at once and walk to the testing center in the snow, barefoot, uphill both ways (you get the idea lol). I have even snapped back about the fact that our tests are much harder and cover so much more material and detail to shut them up. I don’t tell people my exam dates anymore either. When they ask, I just tell them I haven’t scheduled it yet.

[Anonymous]

I don't relate as much to people asking me a ton of questions, but I totally get the feeling when people tell me “I'm sure you passed!”. Literally EVERY person I talk to after EVERY section I've taken says that. And I completely get that they don't know what else to say and think they are being encouraging…but if I didn't brush it off and just say thank you, it could almost feel like an insult. This exam isn't about being “smart”, it's about hard work, dedication, sacrifice, etc. And even if you have all those things, you still may fail and few times, and that's okay! Assuming that I'm simply going to just pass them all right off the bat minimizes the amount of hours I didn't sleep, relax, spend time with my husband, and all the other things I've missed doing the past year. It also minimizes how incredibly difficult it is to pass. There's no assuming anything with test!

Anyway, rant over. Back to AUD 🙂

[sulaiman]

“you have to wait THAT LONG for your scores?!! That’s crazy!”
“when I took the [whatever stupid easy exam], I got my score the next week!”
“oh, you got a 74? Can’t they just round it to a 75?!” (ugh)

Lol, tell me about it!

[LonelyRonPaul]

Comes with the territory lol. I passed my last exam in Feb and I'm just about finished with my last class to get my license. But I still get the same repeated questions from the same people quite often. I would just be appreciative that they are supportive of you and that the line of questioning on testing and such will probably start going away once you can actually tell then “I'm a CPA now”.

FAR - 78, 5/7/16
AUD - 87, 7/16/16
BEC - 8/27/16
REG - 12/3/16

[Karrie]

@Allie I’m so glad to see that others feel the same way about that comment! You said it perfectly – that it feels like an insult! And obviously, we know they mean well, so I’m not mad… but it is still frustrating. I think other people think that we are being pessimistic or putting ourselves down, when really we are being realistic about the very possible and likely outcome that we don’t pass. I see you’re waiting on your 3rd exam score like I am. People will tell me “oh, so now you’re on your last part?!!” and then I want to tell them I don’t know if it’s my last part until I get my score back, but then that makes the cycle repeat LOL. Are you going through that too? 🙂

[Author]

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