Wow – it’s actually over

I was surprised the NASBA website didn’t crash last night around 9pm, when, I’m guessing, around half of the 8,000 CPA AUD exam takers were eagerly waiting to check their scores. My roommate and I were among those people. Luckily I got in within the first minute, but my roommate had to wait at least 20 minutes for each page to load. This was her first result back, and the wait was excruciating.

Ultimately we both PASSED! It still hasn’t hit me that I am actually done with this exam. While I am still not a licensed CPA, the two years of experience seems easy compared to this test. With this, I just wanted to extend my thanks to everyone throughout this process. This will be my last blog entry about the CPA exam, and another student will start to write about his or her experiences, which I am sure will be different than mine and hopefully much smoother.

Thank you Karen, Kristen, and Jacob from The Ohio Society of CPAs for your support with this blog. Thank you Jeff from www.another71.com for constant information about scores coming out as well as reaching out to connect the two blogs together. Thank you Becker for providing some great materials to study from and making the process a little bit easier, and of course Peter Olinto for always letting me know that “I was on my way to a CPA.” Thanks to my family and friends for your support and understanding.

Thank you to all of our readers out there for following the process along with me and good luck to all of you still studying.

CPA and work – still awaiting the results

I would like to thank the blog readers for their recent comments. This summer I only worked twenty hours a week while studying for the exam, so I can understand how hard it must be to manage full-time work, a family, and studying for the CPA exam. I’m proud of anyone who passes despite all those time constraints. Making your family and friends aware of your priorities is smart to do during this time not only so that you have their support but also so that they know your schedule and why you have been keeping to yourself for some time.

Good luck to all of you who continue to study. Keep to your schedule. For those of you who, like me, are waiting on the results of your last test score, I have to ask: Could this take any longer? Jeez. it’s been too long since August 18th. I always thought the results on the last part of the testing period would take less time to grade, but, again, my assumption has been shown to be wrong.

Hope the next post is all good news!!

Tackling studying

From talking to several of my friends who are also studying for the CPA exam, it seems to me as though everyone has been following almost the exact same studying pattern, with only minor variations. The Becker program outlines how one should study for each part of the exam, including tackling three sections at a time of FAR since it is the portion with the most material.

I found the online studing pretty useful. I find making lists useful as well, so before starting to study, I wrote down my entire study plan, including when I was going to read the flashcards, do the homework and the supplementary materials, and even read the appendix. Breaking it down helped a lot, and helped me feel a little sense of accomplishment at the end of the day.

This was my typical breakdown, which with each lecture lasted one or two days: watch a section of the lecture, then do the homework until it was finished; read the flashcards for that section; and finally, finish all sections (except for FAR). Then I would go back and review the solutions to the homework sets as well as the chapters in the book. After following this pattern for each section, I would answer the supplementary questions and review the flashcards again.

After following this schedule, I would usually have a week and a half to go. I also purchased the Final Review product from Becker and would spend this extra time listening to its mini lectures and reviewing the summaries of the longer lectures, as well as doing the practice questions and studying the simulations Becker provided. Three or four days before the exam, I took and graded the progress test and completed the two practice exams included in the program.

Whatever study program you do choose, be sure to plan out when and what you will be studying. You don’t need a lot of hours each week as well as you are certain to plan how most effectively to use your time. Good luck!

And the results are out

I received a text message late Friday night from a friend of mine, who, after a full month of waiting for her BEC scores, finally saw them posted on the NASBA website. A full month… for BEC, a test that is all multiple choice, and they say that these tests aren’t really weighted against everyone else taking it. It seems to me that there is a pretty clear reason why they are waiting so long to post these, and it isn’t because the computer couldn’t calculate your multiple choice answers.

Slowly the results for the other tests started to come out as well… and of course, in typical fashion, it seems, the FAR scores came out the next Friday night. I received another text message around 10 PM from one of my friends with his good news and I couldn’t keep myself from checking as well. GREAT NEWS: I PASSED. Surprisingly (in a good way), I did better than my other two friends, despite wanting immediately to start studying again for FAR when I got out of the test. The month-long wait wasn’t too exciting, however. Even though I passed, I wish that I would have received some feedback on my scores so that I can see where are my strengths and weaknesses.

Well, now that I’m done with those parts, I took AUD last week and felt okay about it. Time to start the waiting game for those scores.

Taking the CPA is like joining a new organization

Studying for the CPA exam immediately makes you part of a different group that not many people outside of the accounting world can understand. You start speaking your own language depending on what part of the exam you’re studying for, your mood changes inexplicably, and you experience a desperate need to go out just to avoid studying, but then feel guilty for not having studied.

A friend of mine recently sent me some links to some YouTube videos of some of the Becker reviews in music video form, and while I won’t post any links here, I urge all of you to search for these videos. I never thought that I would see Peter and Tim rapping about accounting and throwing money into the air. I don’t think that anyone outside of the accounting world would find them funny, but it is these precious shared moments that continue to push me to study.

Dealing with < 75% and other tips

As I play the waiting game with my FAR scores, I keep imagining myself staring at the NASBA website and seeing a number below 75. I imagine that my heart immediately skips a beat as I come to the realization that I will have to study for that darn part again. I don’t want to think about it anymore because it doesn’t make sense to worry about it right now. It’s amazing how long it takes for the scores to come out, but then again, time flies by so quickly. I ordered Becker in January but couldn’t actually schedule anything until April and now, before I know it, it will be January again.

The consequences of not passing can be greater than anticipated. I can’t imagine how people keep sitting through these parts time and again and the more that I immerse myself in learning about the exam, the more information I discover that could be very helpful. Recently, after discovering another71.com, I read the book that this website offers, “50 Things you must know about the CPA exam.” Thanks to a reach out from the author, I got the chance to review the book and found the tips on there pretty helpful.

He has taken many FAQs and has addressed them in his book, including information on some of the better strategies in taking each part or dealing with the most feared parts: FAR for me and seemingly most others as well. I think the book and the website address some good questions that the websites from NASBA or the AICPA fail to make user-friendly. Ultimately I felt less fearful about the exam knowing that so many other people have gone through and are going through the same things as me.

Random Becker Encounter

Last weekend I traveled to New York City to look for apartments and get ready for the big move, hopefully with all 4 parts of the exam under my belt. I met up with a friend at SummerStage where he was working, and while I was there I decided to make friends with a group of three people who weren’t shy about asking if they could have some of my fries. Food always seems to help with making friends.

One of the three people actually works for Becker (what a small world) and helps with their marketing strategy, so immediately I started telling him about my experience with Becker as he took down some notes. While I enjoy all of the teachers who do their online lectures, I have picked up on some of the little things from each teacher that I either appreciate or am annoyed with (as, I’m sure, does everyone). To Peter Olinto and Tim Geharty:  You’re both fantastic, but I am happy that you trade off in your lectures.

Just one main point that I want to mention here (as there are more) is that the PCAOB name is pronounced by saying the name of each letter: “P C A O B”, and not by saying “PEEKABO” phonetically as I keep hearing it said repeatedly in Financial. I have always heard it said in the former way, so hearing “peekabo” just confuses me every time. FAR is hard enough on its own.

Testing individual knowledge or racing against others

I have been reading another website (www.another71.com) where they provide more data on the CPA exam. Here, I am trying to write about my own experiences, but that website offers statistics on passing rates, when you can expect to receive your score, and other useful information.

One interesting fact that I read is that passing rates for REG and FAR were up 5-6% in Q2, giving a pretty good reason why the FAR test that I took was so far off (in my opinion) from the review materials that I had studied for a month. It seems as though the tests for Q3 were made harder to keep the passing rate at around the same level.

Now, this raises a question that I think is fair: Am I being tested on my own personal knowledge or my knowledge compared against others? Shouldn’t the test be based on a certain percentage of knowledge that the candidate has received, and not based on his or her competition? If there aren’t enough people passing as is needed to sustain the profession, then we should either improve the educational process or not ask questions designed specifically to trick people. In other words, we should teach the right knowledge effectively and test people fairly.

Requiring a certain passing percentage could keep people out who otherwise have the knowledge and are qualified, or it could bring people into the profession who aren’t qualified but got in just because no one else was that great either. The CPA exam and its passing rates need to be reviewed in my opinion.

Hope the worst has just passed

For a week, leading up to this Financial exam, I have been feeling more and more moody and antisocial, trying to spend my every waking moment studying after I realized that there was still so much more to do and for which to practice. Everything was right in line for me for the other two parts of my preparation, but for some reason I needed to do more for this exam.

One reason is that there were so many more updates to correct errors in the exam than ever before. It seemed as though every other page or flashcard had said something wrong, a mistake that would completely turn the meaning around. Not only that, but it wasn’t very clear to me where the website updates from Becker had to go. Yes, the headings tell you, but they label it by question number (for example, CPA – 00192), and since those questions are never in order, that information is not really useful.

So, instead I adopted a new method that I had hoped would work: I read all the updates and tried to remember the new points they were trying to make, and then kept those updates in mind when reviewing questions and the explanations of the answers. Unfortunately, this method didn’t seem that it did work when I was taking this exam, and I found moments where I just stared at the screen trying to remember what exactly was the right method of answering.

I guess now I just have to wait and focus my time during the next month on taking the Audit part. There is one thing I don’t understand: Why can’t you retake the same part within the same testing period? Are they afraid of people pushing the graders to send results back faster, or for the paperwork to sign up for a part to go through faster, increasing efficiency, or is it because they don’t want people to cram? (Well, I am sure most students cram anyways. After all, the Final Review package offered by Becker is supposed to be one week of the most important information.) I’ll continue to wait for the hopefully good results on this part of the exam.

FAR – 12 days and counting

I can’t believe it’s getting closer and closer to the day when I take the Financial part. I have been facing this date for too long but still don’t feel confident to sit in that room. Maybe it’s because I have been so nervous about this part since the beginning that is contributing to the negative feelings I associate with this test. I keep finding many reasons to distract myself but one of my friends has inspired me by reminding me of a lesson we were taught by one of our professors called PMA – positive mental attitude.

It can be very hard to spend a summer studying inside as everyone else enjoys the sun. Luckily, Cleveland doesn’t provide too many of these beautiful summer days, but I still have found it quite demotivating to be inside and study. There are so many free events that I want to check out and I spend so much time searching for them that its even more upsetting when I realize I should stay in and study. Some of my friends still forget that I am taking this test. Maybe they think that it shouldn’t last this long and I agree with them. I wonder how much of this knowledge I will retain in the end.

I have found that it’s good to surround myself instead with those friends who are also going through the same thing. It’s a little victory when I get out of the house - even if its just to go to the coffee shop to study. There are four of us specifically, all studying for completely different tests: medical boards, LSAT, nutritional test, and my CPA, of course. Another motivation that keeps me going is New York and how I will hate it that much more if I am stuck inside while in the city. Work will take up enough time, and I want to enjoy my friends there and get ready to make a lot more. This is my summer project and I need to consider it as work and something that needs to get done. There would be a lot of time and money wasted if I don’t pass, so that is the biggest motivator.