Optimistic CPA Exam Candidate

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  • #189161
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I am graduating on December 13th with 2 Bachelors Degrees ( one in Business Administration and one in Justice Studies) and over 175 credits- if someone told me 4 years ago after I graduated high school that I would even consider taking the CPA Exam I would have said they were crazy.. I was, am, and will always be— awful at math. However it is my opinion that accounting is more logic, common sense, and just overall nonsense than anything. That being said I have for the past 2 years been studying the CPA Exam process, tricks, and different review courses– one thing is for certain, if you do not know accounting well, you sure will after the CPA Exam is over.

    The university I go to is not by any means the most immaculate thing you have ever seen, it is affordable and within reasonable commuting distance. Out of all of my accounting professors, only 1 of the 3 has been helpful at all. 1 just talks about how amazing the book HE picked out IS plus he just writes on the board and mumbles– and the other just talks about how the president is going to ruin our nation and HOW AMAZING CHINA IS. I can tell you so many wonderful things about how wonderful the economy is of China (Of course, as someone who makes a hobby out of studying current events he always calls on me to answer his tedious news questions).

    However, this will not help me on the CPA Exam. Auditing with “the China Professor” was a joke– I made an A, but I cannot tell you anything about the material because it was an awful experience. Corporate Taxation, forget it.. the professor told us that certain sections would not be on the exam… and then put them on there anyway. By some miracle I studied the sections by accident and passed his awful exam. Others, were not so lucky and had to wait a year to take the course over again. I am not the most amazing student on the planet, during my first semester I worked 5 days a week and made mostly C’s and have been paying the price ever since then (that and taking Arabic was a bad mistake). The advice my sister gave me was right, the semester that matters the most is your first one.

    That being said, I have noticed that I am not the only one that had a bad college professor and/or experience by reading this and other CPA Bulletin Board websites.

    I have some questions, because of my bad experience in Auditing, should I take that section first? or put it off until last? I mean, the clock does not start ticking for the 18 months until you pass the first section. The next question is what Review Course should I invest in? I have been leaning towards Wiley CPA Excel because they did not make you pay extra for course updates and their MCQ Bank.

    Thanks in advance for your help everyone! I really appreciate any advice you can give to me!

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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  • #612641
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    “I was, am, and will always be— awful at math” >>> Doesn't matter; it's just adding, subtracting and an occasional division.

    “one thing is for certain, if you do not know accounting well, you sure will after the CPA Exam is over” >>> I've met plenty of folks who pass the CPA exam and don't understand debits/credits. I would bet somebody without an accounting degree could pass the CPA exam if they studied well enough.

    Do you have an accounting degree? I couldn't tell if your dual degrees will cover your state educational requirements (Business Administration and Justice Studies).

    Anyways, if you use Becker and nail the multiple choice questions (95% on each section) you should pass Audit; I saw Becker questions on the actual exam….verbatim. Practice MCQs and understand why the other answers are wrong and why the one answer is correct. Use a notepad and list it out for each question.

    I used Becker…passed all sections on first attempt. Proof is in the pudding, albeit expensive pudding.

    Good luck and godspeed.

    #612642
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    My concentration within Business Administration is Accounting, I did the pre-evaulation from my state and they said all I needed after this, my final semester, was to get my degree. I commented about math to express my disgust at how much I dislike math. But you are right, it is basic math–which I am good at. I can't believe that people that pass the CPA exam can not understand debits and credits– of course I work in the quick restaurant industry currently and have met some real winners while working the overnight shift some of them were CPA's! Thanks for your advice!

    #612643
    nicole2035
    Member

    Not every CPA deals with journal entries, accounting is very broad and wide. So i don't think it's fair to judge someone on these exams and obtaining the CPA by what you think they “should” be able to do.

    But anyway, my best advice is to not get too caught up in other people's experiences on the internet. I'd look at Jeff's experiences on here maybe from their blog and leave it to that. This exam is about doing, and simply taking action, doing the work, doing the MC, doing the simulations and not BSing it.Once you have a plan of action, do it, don't compare yourself to others and trust your review material.

    I'm going to go against the grain, many say the best order is FAR,AUD, REG, BEC-> but i'd go with whatever excites you more or whatever you think you could pass the easiest. Yea, i'm sure none of it sounds ‘exciting' but i know FAR topics just the sound of them stress me. But i looked over BEC material recently that's tested and i'm actually excited to read over some of it. I've seen people take BEC first b/c most say it's the easiest, then that gives them the confidence to continue and get a feel for the exams. It's really up to you, just try one. A lot of people fail AUD but i passed with an 80, though the first 3 weeks i had info in the first 5 chapters completely backwards lol

    #612644
    mla1169
    Participant

    I suggest taking whatever section you think will give you the most trouble first. My opinion is that while it's nice to start with one in your comfort zone, the 18 month rolling window goes by fast and one very challenging section can cause you to lose credit for the first one you passed. If there's a chance you might have to take a section more than once it's nice that the clock isn't ticking down those 18 months. Also as you get 2 or 3 sections behind you, you will become fatigued and burnt out. It becomes increasingly difficult (not impossible by any means but you'll certainly notice a difference 6 or 12 months in) so who wants to deal with something more difficult when they're already burnt out?

    I was always told FAR was hardest and AUD was easiest. Not the case for me personally but FAR was my first exam and it got all the energy and excitement of a first sitting which I think made a huge difference.

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

    Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

    #612645
    stoleway
    Participant

    @Smith

    “I've met plenty of folks who have passed the cpa exam and dont understand debits and credits”

    I can assure you that you havent met anybody like that, im pretty sure.

    This kind of statements are always constructed to make others feel bad, but you have to know that majority of the stuff we study in books is really different from the way corporate world recognize certain transactions, so we are talking about experience here and having the working knowledge.

    If people dont understand debits and credits, how do they end up passing FAR ? The mere fact of being a cpa doesn't mean you can just give out answers on the spot, brains becomes rusty sometimes but a little research brings back what you already know.

    REG -63│ 84!!
    BEC- 59│70│ 71 │78!
    AUD- 75!
    FAR- 87!

    Mass-CPA

    #612646
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @stoleway I've been licensed since the very beginning of the year, but if you tell me to debit an account I have to stop and think whether that will increase it or decrease it still (for example, “Debit accrued revenues”, I have to stop and think through it to know whether that's an increase or a decrease in the balance). Or if you tell me to write the journal entry for a transaction, I'd know the accounts and amounts in a flash, but have to think about which accounts get the debits and which get the credits. However, I passed all the exams on the first try, no more than 100 hours of study time for any exam, and most of them I just used around 1/2 of the exam time. So, while I do “understand” debits and credits, I don't feel like I really “know” them. I understand the concepts and can think my way through them, but they're still rather foreign to me. Someone like me might be the type of person that Smith has encountered. I would say that my understanding is more of the concepts instead of the details, so I don't have memorized the normal balances (credit or debit) of these accounts, but I understand that a single transaction affects multiple accounts in an overall equal amount, etc. etc. However, the knowledge that I have is very useful to reality. I've kept my books around to consult in case I needed the details that I didn't remember, but I haven't had to consult them yet (except one unique individual tax situation that I can't find info on anywhere, but that's different entirely).

    @OP – Any mainline curriculum can do what you need. You need to figure out which one you feel like you can learn best from. Can you learn just from reading? If so, Wiley is your charm – I used it and loved it, but it's 4 thick books with all print and rarely any pictures/diagrams/etc., just pure info. Reading is the most efficient study method time-wise, but only if you will learn well from it. (It's also the cheapest – books were $120 and the test bank $400 through A71, but the test bank wouldn't be necessary.) However, if you struggle to learn from reading, then Wiley isn't a good choice. If you want a lecture-based curriculum, try out samples of all the various teachers and see who you learn best from. Each has their own style, speed, accent, etc. which will impact your learning. Becker, Yaeger, CPAExcel, Roger, Gleim, CPAExcel, etc. are all very valid, and Jeff's nearly got the NINJA curriculum finished as well. Some will tell you that one is superior and some another but really that one is superior for them because it worked for them, but what works for you is the one that will be superior for you. And the ones that works for you is the one that you dedicate your time and attention to.

    As for Audit, I would say that Wiley is stronger for Audit than Becker. I've seen more people fail with Becker and switch to Wiley to pass than fail with Wiley and switch to Becker to pass. However, there are also many people who pass with Becker as their first and sole curriculum, and many people who pass with Wiley, Roger, Yaeger, etc. as their first and only curriculum.

    P. S. My college education was pretty much worthless for these exams, too, but that's what the review courses are for. You should be fine as long as you study hard once you get your review materials.

    #612647
    stoleway
    Participant

    @lilla

    Reading through your comments above, I won't say you don't understand debit and credits, you do understand the concept but you have to think through it before you perform the task. At the workplace, people tend to test your knowledge and try to get the answer on the spot, so if you're not able to provide the answer you're branded as one of those cpas that dont have a clue on how debit and credits work.

    Not understanding debit and credits is like not having a clue. As a cpa candidate, you need to have some basic understanding on debits and credits to be able to pass FAR. So the issue is not about understanding it, people should stop making the workplace a “spelling b” contest.

    REG -63│ 84!!
    BEC- 59│70│ 71 │78!
    AUD- 75!
    FAR- 87!

    Mass-CPA

    #612648
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @stoleway That's kind of what I meant – someone talking to me with a on-the-spot thing might say I don't understand them, because they're not second nature…but I don't do journal entires all day, so they're not going to be second nature. If I did them all day, I'm sure they would be.

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