[lilyjin0906]

Hello all,

I am pretty paranoid right now, and did not know how much information I was getting into before I spend all of the money on review and application fees.

The situation is this- I plan on studying for 8 weeks straight, about 12 hours a day. This gives us about 650 hours (taking out the days where I actually go take the exam, and I do not plan on studying after taking the exam on the same day….)

I just want to know from those of you who have passed- is it doable to pass all FOUR parts in these time given? I already schedule my exams, and my education background was in accounting with pretty good grades.

(also, the time includes watching videos and lectures.)

Just want to have a realistic expectation.

Thanks!

[MaLoTu]

I don't think anyone is trying to hate on your idea or necessarily discourage you. I know from experience, I am working on my second Masters, my first MBA with accounting concentration and second a MS in accounting. I have a high GPA (3.89), but I truly struggle with this test. I have failed FAR and AUD; passed REG. Everyone here is basing their answer off their own experience and that is why you are getting negative feedback! lol.

Like someone above pointed out, if accounting is like second nature to you then you have a better chance. I find the concepts challenging and there is a lot to remember. Once I began FAR, the first week of homework, I had a WTF moment. I had no idea it would be so much work.

I have studied about 8 weeks for each exam. I study full-time, which IMO is about 5 hours a day. After that I go on a downward slope. You can probably chart it on a bell curve. You don't get extra credit for clocking hours.

Good luck in whatever you decide.

Almost always from my phone... please excuse my typos!

All 4 passed - 2016

CA CPA

[Ntw6817]

I say go for it. You may not pass all the exams but even if you only pass 1, that's one more than you started out with.

Why do you want to do it in such a condensed period of time anyways?

[acamp]

Tough, but possible. I believe academics, so long as they're recent, serve some purpose at benchmarking the CPA. College classes are definitely not all inclusive of what will be on the exam, but I'd bet the straight A accounting student can away with less studying time than the Cs earns degrees student.

Your upside is the possibility of finish all in a short time, while the possible downside is passing none as you didn't give yourself enough time for any one exam.

Self proclaimed: Highest ratio of Replies to Others v. Posts Created on A71

California CPA - Big4 Aud Manager Alum - Private Accounting at Startups

FAR, REG and BEC with Ninja Notes + WTB Only

Ninja + Wiley Test Bank: [FAR - 81] [REG - 76] [BEC - 88] [AUD - 73](doh!)

Becker Videos: [AUD - 82]

California CPA

[Missy]

This person claimed to have passed all 4 in one WEEK! https://www.another71.com/cpa-exam-forum/topic/4-exams-in-one-week

Here was all in ten weeks https://www.another71.com/cpa-exam-forum/topic/all-4-in-10-weeks

Unless you have a very compelling reason to try to squeeze them all in (and getting it done before starting a new job really isn't compelling, more like you're travelling from Asia and don't want to make four trips) I'd give myself at least 2 windows or until your NTS expires.

Old timer,  A71'er since 2010.

Finance manager/HR manager

 

 

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Anonymous]

No.

[PleaseDontDeleteThanks]

For the avg. person, 8 weeks is impossible for all 4 exams. I graduated with a 3.8 overall, 3.9 in Accounting, and still can't pass one exam in 3 months!

FAR 72, 89
BEC 80
REG 90
AUD 79

[Anonymous]

Yea the biggest thing here is the 12 hours a day. Unless your cracked out on aderall or something I doubt you will spend 12 quality hours studying. And if you are going to try this, do not waste your time with lectures. Just bang out as many mcq's as u can and make sure you know why u were right or wrong on each one.

And just fyi, your NTS is good for 6 months. You can reschedule exams that are more then month away free of charge

[golfball7773]

NTS's in South Dakota are good for 12 months 🙂

AUD - NINJA in Training
BEC - 86
FAR - NINJA in Training
REG - NINJA in Training

AUD - 71, 73

BEC - 74, 86

REG - 77*

FAR - 57

*expired

(I have been trying to become a CPA since 2013). only one test down.......

FAR: 63, 55, 62
REG: 65, 77*
AUD: Fail, 64, 71
BEC: 72, 74, 81

*expired

[Anonymous]

is there any reason in particular why you cant reschedule at least some of the tests? Anything is possible but honestly, after passing 3 out of 4 (working on my 4th now) its taken me 6 months so far. I do work (I own my own business) and have a family though so again, like I said, anything is possible. Not very probable though.

[fuzyfro89]

Go for it! I'm excited to see if you can pull it off. You'll have to schedule it all in advance to make sure you get all the test centers and times scheduled.

Theoretically, you could do it in less time than that, but my biggest issue is with your assumption of ~650 study hours. It's highly difficult, if not impossible, for most people to study effectively for 12 hrs/day, but I'll leave that up to you. If you are recently out of school, it's not unreasonable at all to study for the exams in around 100 hrs each (maybe a bit less for BEC/AUD and a bit more for FAR/REG… so maybe 80/120 split for a total of ~400).

If you stretch it out slightly, and put in a quality 8hrs/day, 6 days a week (1 day of no thinking), that gets you to ~96 hrs of studying in 2 weeks. You can add a bit to squeeze into 2 weeks, or add a few days if you want to keep a slightly slower pace.

Where you are at with your accounting/tax/law/econ knowledge and how much stamina you have… I can't really answer, but yes, you could get very close to doing it in 8 weeks if you can work efficiently and not burn out.

If you're anything like me, you probably enjoy the “work hard play hard” type schedule. I studied hard for each of my exams for 2-3 weeks, took and exam, and then unplugged for a week until starting again. From the moment I cracked open the first book until I sat for the last section was ~4 months during my last semester in college. If I was out of school, I may have been able to more fully commit. Again, depending on you and your abilities, it can be done.

Good luck!

[Meeekks]

It's definitely possible but I feel like FAR might need a little more time, perhaps a week more.

You have a good academic background and seem confident. Go for it! Good luck!

[Martin]

Sleep Optional mentioned=

My belief is that anyone capable of passing the CPA in 2 months should not be a CPA. That's a waste of true potential.

I agree with the above post. If I could do the CPA exam in 2 months, I think I would have studied something a lot more challenging.

DunkinDonutsJunkie, you are correct, he will need time to rest that pretty brain, so unless he already brings a lot of just acquired (recent graduate) knowledge into the table, he won't make it.

Through God all things can happen!

“You never fail until you stop trying.”
― Albert Einstein
When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people;as I grow older, I admire kind people.
“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”

FAR= 72-84
Audit= 73-82
BEC= 74-75
Reg=77

[mw798]

There was someone in my office that passed all 4 parts in one test window when he had no job. He said he studied roughly 1 week for AUD (8 hours per day), 1.5 weeks for BEC, 2 weeks for FAR, and 2 weeks for REG. Got them all out the way in one test window so it's definitely possible if you have no other responsibilities.

Personally, I took 2 exams per test window and on average I spent about 65 hours of studying per exam.

What makes the CPA exam challenging for many is the need to juggle a job, family and studying at night and on the weekends. If you don't have a job and the CPA exam is your full time job then passing in 8 weeks is not far fetched at all. If it's a goal you commit to then I feel you have a great shot at doing so.

[Thrawn]

All things are possible if you really want it bad enough.

BEC 87 Feb 14
REG 84 Apr 14
FAR 82 Nov 14
AUD 86 Feb 15

[Yaz88]

Doable , but crazy

[Author]

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