[Anonymous]

My first day at work started at 6:45am with the alarm ringing; I had only slept 3-4 hours because as a college student I was never accustomed to waking up this early. I hit the snooze button hoping I would gain some energy boost with the next 15 minutes.

However, it is my first day so the fear of accidentally sleeping through the alarm frightened me enough to get out of bed soon before my snooze alarm went off. I get into work by 9am and after a relatively easy day (involving basic orientation routines), I hope back on the train and am home a little before 7pm.

Finally, around 8pm, after wasting time on the computer and chit chatting with some friends at Starbucks, I start up my Becker program in hopes of finish up the rest of F4. The entire 3 hours I was there, my body was awake because of the 2 cups of coffee I had consumed throughout the day, yet my brain was dead. I couldn’t process anything and even had trouble reading the questions.

This is only my first day at work -_-. It’s now 11:30pm and I have to be up by 6:30am to do it all over again.

I don’t know how you guys do it — the people with 3 kids, a fulltime job, and yet seem to still find the time AND mental capacity to study after a long day. Do these long days get easier in time? I sure hope so, otherwise I think my chances at passing the CPA are little to none.

*Embarrassing moment of the day: during lunch at the Chinese restaurant, I return to our table and a lady at another table stops me and asks, “excuse me, can we get some more soy sauce please?” I said, “uh..sorry I don’t work here”. She laughed and I sat back down. She didn’t even apologize )=. Lesson learned: don’t wear a white collared shirt with dark slacks if you’re going to be dining at a Chinese restaurant.

[jomarie]

It does get earlier. I'm just used to it now. When I'm to tired to concentrate I go to bed and get up earlier to get in at least one hour of either MCQs or lectures. My day starts at 7am with my kids and then doesn't end till 8pm when my kids go to bed. I'm in bed by 11 or 12 and up by 5:30 or 6 in the morning.

Started sitting in May 2002, on and off. But since 2008 I've been nonstop and my scores are....
AUD - 39, 48, 56, 65, 68, 73, 76!!! (Finally passed in Oct 2011!!!) Becker, NINJA, & Wiley
REG - 75 (Lost Credit) 72, 68, 73, 75 (Passed again in Aug 2011) Becker, NINJA, & Wiley
FAR - 65, 68, 75 (Lost Credit) 68, 73, 73, 80 (Passed again in May 2012) Roger, NINJA, & Wiley
BEC - 65, 68, 71, 72, 72, 71, 76 (Lost Credit)- 70, 76!!!! I AM DONE!!! - Roger, NINJA, & Wiley
After 10 long years of studying, I AM DONE!!!! Finally a Licensed CPA in the State of New York!!

[ROACH]

Here's a tip.. end your days early and wake up earrrllllly.

My cut off time (or at least I try) is around 8PM. I wake up at 2AM to study. By 6:30AM I gotta eat and get ready for work at 8AM.

BEC: 66 | 69 | 7/23/2013
AUD: 8/28/2013
REG:
FAR:

[HazeEastwood]

I really think it depends on the type of person you are. I can see a person with kids and a full time job studying effectively if they are evening or night time type people. I have a friend who only studies at night. That's when he's really into it. I could never do that since I am a morning person and by the time I get off work and get home my brain has completely shut down. Now If you are the type who works late and is a morning person. I can see where studying in the morning would work after the kiddies goto school. I can work with my brain partially shut down but I cannot study new information when I am tired. I just wont retain it.

FAR-81
BEC-84
AUD-91
REG-89

[markiux88]

My advice is…..tell your friends you'll call them in 12 months…and delete your fb account…haha

[Hut-Hut]

Take a deep breath and relax. It does get easier. It's your first day of work so give yourself time to adjust to the new lifestyle And over the course of the next few weeks (maybe months), you'll find a study plan that works for you and you'll adapt in no time.

And yes, markiux is absolutely correct. Otherwise, those 12 months will be 18/24 months.

BEC - 67, 79 - (expires 5/24)
REG - 74, 72, 77 - Key to Passing: RTFQ
FAR - 77 - Chance favors the prepared mind.
AUD - 64, (5/14) - FREEDOM!! (i hope)

[Anonymous]

It'll get easier! Once you are into the routine of it all, you'll find yourself just doing everything automatically..wake up, work, study, sleep…and repeat.

For me, I would like to get 1-3 hrs in on a week day, but if all i can get is 1 solid hour on a weekday then thats ok too because I know Im gonna study 18-20 hrs on the weekends. For me, I really need to be able to block out everything else and just shut myself off in a room to study. That's hard to do during the week when I've got other things going on, so thats why I reserve so much of my weekends for studying.

[Minimorty]

1. Instead of going to the Asian restaurant at lunch, brown bag it and study in your cube or car.

2. That hour you spent on the train ride home (and I'm assuming to work as well)? Should have been studying.

3. That hour you spent with your friends at Starbucks? Wasted.

You need to change your mindset to get through this thing. You need to be fully committed.

[Veronica75]

You passed three parts so quickly Minimorty! Do you work fulltime as well?

FAR - 79 (2x)
AUD - 81 (expired), 77!
REG - 74! omg (3x) 87!!!!!!! I'm done! OMG!
BEC - 81 (4x)

[Minimorty]

@Veronica – Yeah, I work full time and I'm married with a 2.5 yr old and a 6 month old.

I was able to do my best studying for an hour at lunch and then for about an hour and a half in the evenings once they went down to bed.

The Becker materials were superb and I supplemented those with Wiley and Ninja notes.

[Anonymous]

@Veronica75- The CPA exam is a piece of cake for Minimorty. He didn't have to study. He just glanced over his book from time to time and when exam day came, he nailed it!!

Just kidding!! 😀

But seriously, Mini, I agree with Veronica. Your performance on these exams is very good. It not so much the scores that are impressive, but it was the fact that you were able to pass all the parts so quickly and on your first attempt. It kind of makes me question what I'm doing wrong and why I need to take the exam multiple times to pass. :/

Oh and studying on a NYC train to and from work can be quite a challenge. I'm lucky if i can even get in the train, lol. So, my hours get wasted there.

[Veronica75]

I think you are superb! I have been struggling to get in a routine – as you can see, it's been a long road for me. I try to eliminate distractions, but it's difficult. I deactivated my facebook account. I didn't pass any section for a number of months so it is difficult to press onward with no success. I made time to hit the gym a couple times a week to relieve stress, and that's when I finally passed BEC. Friends, husband, dog… they are all getting the short end of the stick these days.

FAR - 79 (2x)
AUD - 81 (expired), 77!
REG - 74! omg (3x) 87!!!!!!! I'm done! OMG!
BEC - 81 (4x)

[Veronica75]

@CPAMan – I'd be satisfied with four 75's any day. 🙂 I've been envisioning my life after passing and the awesome vacation I plan to take… digging deep for the motivation to keep going, knowing how happy I will be once I put this behind me.

Good luck guys.

FAR - 79 (2x)
AUD - 81 (expired), 77!
REG - 74! omg (3x) 87!!!!!!! I'm done! OMG!
BEC - 81 (4x)

[jelly]

Wake up early and study. You'll be refreshed, and it's quiet. (I had my last sections to study for when the TV writer's strike was going on, so there was honestly nothing to watch on the tube anytime I was home). Type out some notes and bring them on the train with you to study, b/c it's those random, short blitzes of time where you review and remember a lot. And you won't feel guilty when you come home and want to FB and watch some TV, though you'll have to cut it short and get a little bit of studying done before bed.

This may or may not work for you, as I'm a night owl myself, but I got used to it pretty quickly, as I couldn't always control what time I got home from work, but at least I knew what time I had to leave for work in the mornings.

Couldn't pass again!

[jelly]

Oh, and get this test passed and out of your hair while you're still single, have no kids, mortgage, etc. Anyone on this board can tell you how chaotic it is when it's not just you going thru this.

Couldn't pass again!

[Anonymous]

@Veronica75- I would love to get a 75 too, but it's just so hard. I either do really bad or really good. It's very hard to study just enough to get a 75 mainly because you don't know what they'll test and you don't know much you need to get right to pass.

[Author]

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