[CPApracticer]

I finished my internship in March and have been studying full time since. I admit, they have not been focused study hours. I just don’t have a strong enough desire to focus 100% and get the CPA. I have not listened to Pete’s advice and be miserable so that I can pass, I’ve been balancing CPA studying while hanging out with friends and chasing girls. This journey has not been stressful, which is bad. Yesterday, when I received my REG score, I was thinking, “wow, i scored a 60, even though I had zero idea what I was doing on all the sims and completely guessed it, and am sure I got the research question wrong” Where if it was someone else who got a 60, I know they would be angry and disappointed, but I was just like meh, I will pass eventually. My attitude has been to take it easy, don’t stress and not give up. My goal in life is to be happy, work 9-5 9-6 job, and make six figures. While my other friends who passed their CPA in their first shot are willing to put in the long hours so that they can someday break into investment banking and make millions. I am going to start Big Four in September, and with this attitude, I will probably be the worst employee there. I know this sounds very juvenile but I just want to be happy and get that six figure job by the time I am 30. Its so hard for me to stay focused studying for CPA.

F: 54 (4/13) 60 (4/14) 67 (9/14) 66 (10/14) 63 (11/15) 79 (2/16) PASSED
A: 60 (5/13) 80 (4/16) PASSED
R: 60 (7/13) 61 (2/15) 70 (4/15) 77 (7/15) PASSED
B: (6/16)

[mla1169]

Six figures working 40 hours a week? CPA exam while having fun?

Do yourself a HUGE favor and take the money you would have spent on 20+ exam retakes and buy lottery tickets. You're much more likely to succeed in the lottery.

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

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Jason2345]

This has got to be a joke or someone looking to get people all riled up.

[Freyer002]

@CPApracticer, I'll give you some advice instead of getting upset about what you want in life. There's nothing wrong with wanting a 9-5 job getting 6 figures. The thing is, you need to work longer hours and study like crazy to get to that spot in about 5 years or so. If you're going into Big 4, the jobs in industry are very open to you after you do 3+ years. One of my friends did this and he is under 30 making 6 figures in industry. He did his time in Big 4 and has his CPA. To be honest, you should have spent this summer going hard on your studying and not had much fun. I have yet to check my score in FAR because I take AUD on the 12th and if I failed I don't want to mess with my mind set, my choice. But even if I fail FAR and AUD I know I went crazy hard on studying and didn't have fun this summer and i'll get it next go around. Worked 15hrs a week and studied 50 hrs a week. My advice is to go and re-do FAR in OCT like u have above and study like a mad man. Go to work and then hit the books until you pass. If you truly want that 6 figures job before you are 30 then this is what you need to do. If you don't then idk how you are going to get that dream of yours. Best of Luck!

FAR 66 (07/01/13), 75! (10/01/13)
AUD 64 (08/12/13), 80! (11/23/13)
BEC 84! (05/22/14)
REG 77! (08/28/14)
DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again"

[MintsRGood]

One of my all time favorite motivational statements is that some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard for it. @CPApracticer this one was tailor made for you today!!!! We all want an easy job, making six figures, low stress, etc. but that is not reality. You need to accept the fact that play time is over. Suck it up and get to work!!!!!!!

REG: 75 DONE 🙂
AUD: 61, 71, 68, 92 DONE 🙂
BEC: 76 DONE 🙂
FAR: 72, 74, 79 DONE 🙂
Licensed Michigan CPA 🙂
-Some people dream of success...others wake up and work hard for it!!!
-The cowards never start and the weak die along the way!
-You better work, b***h!
-Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.-JFK

[evesocal]

Lol, CPApracticer, you are just not ready. It's okay. You are young, obviously, and have some other means of support so enjoy it while you can. Nothing wrong with that. You don't belong in public accounting, at least not now, not if you want a 40 hour per week job. When you get the right motivation maybe you'll pursue the CPA exam or maybe some other career.

My son, in his 20s, dropped out of college after 2.5 years and started working in banks. He was good at it and his income and positions increased rapidly. I encouraged him, once in a while, to finish his degree. He was not interested, as he was having a good time with the 40 hr/week job, going to Vegas, hanging out with friends and with his gf, and he made enough money to do what he liked.

Well, now he's 32 and the gf became his wife and mother of his two babies. He's a vice president in his bank. And a year ago he started back to school, online, and will finish his degree by the end of the year. It took the right motivation. Wife and kids did it lol.

And a bonus for mom: I'm not paying for this part of his education. 🙂

B: 75
R: 80
A: 77
F: 81
Ethics: 84, 92 and done!
Licensed in California

[LSNYC]

So while I never had the same work mentality you have I did have the sane study mentality. I refused to let this exam ruin or run my life. I wasn't giving up my fun, family and friends it wasn't ‘that' important. Do you know how many exams I passed under this method? ZERO! Was a total waste of the time and money I invested. After I got in to private I realized it was that important, said forget this and finally sacrificed the fun and passed 3/5 I've taken waiting on my next grade. You'll pass if you sacrifice if you don't you will keep seeing low scores and keep throwing away that money!

Good luck

A - 61, 91!!
B - 78!
F - 76!!!
R - 71, 73, 74, 69, 77!!!!

Finally done!

This is my 2nd attempt at the exam, I had two parts passed (failed many) and I stupidly quit, big mistake. Now I'm back and with a vengeance!

[Anonymous]

“I just don't have a strong enough desire to focus 100% and get the CPA.”

If your not ready, don't waste your time…could you pass without putting in the time? Possibly, but its highly unlikely you will pass all four exams without putting in the effort…the 60's are impressive considering you didn't put in the time…that should tell you that you CAN pass these exams if you really try. Do you think your work ethic will improve just because you make 6 figures?…I doubt it…6 figures is nice but if your not a hard worker im sure that job won't last long…Some of the hardest workers I know make very low salaries. Most people that are successful are successful for a reason..nobody can make you work hard..it's time for you to decide not just what you want out of life but HOW your going to get it…

[LoveEventing]

The difference between a 60 and a 75 is huge. If you're going to have this attitude, then why bother spending the money? Just skate through your first 2 years in public accounting and get a job in industry that will cap you out at 80k. Getting a 9-5 job without a CPA and making 6 figures …. haha good luck! Those jobs are a one in a million and you don't get them without having put in time and effort. The higher up you get in your career, the more demanding the responsibilities, no matter what your job is. Taking a laissez faire approach to life will catch up to you eventually. It's about finding balance, not about being lazy. Sometimes balance can mean working hard now to take it easier later.

For the record, I've spent nearly $10k on this exam at this point because I didn't have the desire to get it done, either. Work always came first and coming out of busy season in public accounting did not motivate me to kill myself over the summer. I got a 55 on my first attempt at REG, without putting in much time and effort. I'm learning now that one year of my life is nothing in the long run. If I want that 75, I have a LOT of work to do…. and so do you.

BEC - 68, 76
AUD - 90, 91
FAR - 63, 83
REG - 55, 79

FINALLY DONE!

[Anonymous]

No words for this … Except maybe this one…

SERIOUSLY??!!

[jelly]

You're free to do as you like, just understand there are consequences.

A coworker of mine, feeling the peer pressure of being the only one in the office to not take or pass any parts, started testing late last year. She graduated over 4 years ago, so the exam format has changed and contents have expanded since. I wouldn't be too thrilled needing to be an academic expert in accounting subjects that weren't in my school's curriculum, i.e. IFRS, derivatives, COSO principles.

I checked up on an old office that I worked at 6 years ago. There were 2 senior auditors there, who are still there, and still senior auditors. I guess in another season or two, they'll be decades-old senior auditors. No promotion to manager b/c neither passed. Their other coworkers, who passed and got promoted, are now their direct supervisors.

Couldn't pass again!

[NC CPA]

@ Cpa practiced

You are lucky with a job in your pocket. The only thing you need is to pass the exam. I am over here fresh graduate out of job killing myself to pass this exam to make myself more marketable. Seriously with that kind of attitude, God bless you !!!!

FAR: 90 MAY 6 2013
AUD: 99 MAY 29 2013
REG: 84 July 1 2013
BEC: 85 July 31 2013

[NYIACCT89]

Your post actually remind me of a friend of mine, who admittedly so is a smarter individual than myself but could not commit himself to the effort he needed to put in to pass the exams. The only difference is after failing his second part while half-assing it he stopped because he knew taking the exams was a waste of time and money if he could not commit himself 100% to passing the exams.

I'd suggest a change in attitude towards passing the exam (and life for that matter), because complacency won't get you anywhere.

FAR - 7/1/13 - 98
AUD - 8/31/13 - 94
BEC - 11/23/13 - 89
REG - 1/13/14 - 86

Study Materials:
Becker - Online Course and Flash Cards

[CPApracticer]

I do not mean to cause an uproar in this thread, I know there are many professionals who work long hours studying for their exams to provide a better living for their families, and I respect that. Also, to the skeptical, it is definitely possible to make 100k with 9-5 job in industry or higher education. I am sure the deans in my school make well above 100k and they only worked 9-6. But of course, like all of you eloquently articulated that you must put in your time and hard work in order to get to that point. I recently just graduated from college, I am 22 and have not worked long hours yet. I am sure I will adapt to and get use to it and my work ethics will improve. As for the CPA, I just do not have that sense of urgency to pass. Unfortunately, I did put in the hours and got the scores of what I got. Except for FAR, cause I did not know how to study, I redid all the MCQs in audit and reg made wrote 50 pages of notes for each of those two sections, made 500 flashcards for each. My problem is that I did not have the time to really review them so they went to waste for my first time taking the exam. There were some days that I worked hard, but it is hard for meFor my retake I plan on reading the chapter atleast once before I attempt the MCQs, get the ninja audio and listen to it. I am skeptical about ninja notes because I am reading someone elses notes that I did not have the first hand experience of reading from book, and processing it into writing.

I did not give it my all in these exams because I went to a good school with my friends and they passed their CPAs with flying colors while going on mini weekend trips and clubbing once a while and completed each section in 6-8 weeks. I thought I could pull what they did, and after my failing scores, I know that I learned differently than them.

I did not mean to cause everyone to shake their heads and be like “this kidd”. And thank you for those who took my post seriously and gave advice. I know what I need to do now if I am going to get those three letters.

F: 54 (4/13) 60 (4/14) 67 (9/14) 66 (10/14) 63 (11/15) 79 (2/16) PASSED
A: 60 (5/13) 80 (4/16) PASSED
R: 60 (7/13) 61 (2/15) 70 (4/15) 77 (7/15) PASSED
B: (6/16)

[mla1169]

Don't know any 30 year old deans but I've worked in industry for over 25 years and can assure you the people making over six figures (Controllers and CFO's) are not clocking out at 5. Controllers generally get in at 8:30-9, stay until 6 or 6:30 (except closing week when they're in until at least 7, or year end when they can be there until midnight). Many publicly traded companies expect accounting to work the first Saturday of the month to get the SEC reporting deadlines met. There is no “comp time” for these Saturdays. They also check and send emails from home including when they're on vacation. I've worked in professional service industry (non financial auditing) as well as manufacturers. I've worked for 10m companies and 300m companies. Anybody who claims to work 40 hours a week pulling in six figures is yanking your chain .

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

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Anonymous]

My advise: Figure out what is the most important to you.Then dedicate yourself to achieving that goal. there may be some jobs that will fit your desires. Be prepared to work hard, long hours and reach your goals. I think we would all love a 9-5, 100 K job, but I don't know anyone who has close to that kind of job. My guess is that most people on this forum don't know many people either in that kind of a job.

My suggestion, if you want to go into education, go ask the deans how much time they really work. You only see the deans working 9-6. You do not see all the hours they put in outside the office. And not all deans make those figures. I know, as my dad is the dean of his department, and has been for years. He put in lots more hours in after working all day. There are also extra things to keep up with the schools certifications, like writing articles for journals, and textbooks, along with speaking at events and becoming an expert in a field. You can't become an expert without putting in the time and being dedicated. My dad loves his job, but his summer's “off” is spent writing textbooks and speaking at conferences. Education is not “easy money”. Ask any teacher. But if you love educating students, it can be very rewarding. Find a job that will give you the intangible rewards.

[Author]

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