[Anonymous]

First, I want to thank the community here at another71. I had so many questions about the whole exam process, and it was tremendously helpful and encouraging to hear that other people share such similar experiences. I know this post will not relate to everyone, but I wanted to share my thoughts and experiences to help CPA candidates who will be able to relate. So here goes…

BACKGROUND

I received both my Bachelors and MAcc degrees from a private university with an excellent accounting program. I maintained a 4.00 and worked very hard at everything I did. During my five years of college, I also had the opportunity to get some valuable public accounting experience in tax, working for 2 years at a small accounting firm in addition to a Big 4 summer internship. All this goes to say, I had a strong background in accounting before sitting for the exams.

STUDYING

I graduated in December of 2014 and immediately began to prepare for the exams. I planned out my entire study/testing schedule all the way through May, which was when I planned to have all four sections finished. Based on my specific timeframe, I decided on the test order of REG, FAR, AUD, BEC. Three days after graduation, I got to studying.

I used the Becker self-study program – lectures, multiple choice questions, and simulations. The only other thing I used to study was a flashcard application on my phone for which I used to memorize the extremely helpful Becker pneumonics. My plan was to get through 2 chapters per week, and to spend 7-10 days of review before each test date. For each chapter, I would spend one day of lecture, one day of MCQ, and one day of MCQ/sims. Sundays, I did a short progress test to try to refresh on previous material (I found that I could only really recall the three most recent chapters).

During this time, I was also working 35 hours at a local tax firm. I would basically study from 8 am-1 pm, then work from 1 pm-8 pm. I had heard from friends and coworkers that it would be tough. Let me tell you, it was incredibly hard. It was even excruciating at times – both mentally and physically. Of course, the first 6-8 weeks weren’t as bad since I was more motivated. But after passing the second exam, studying became daily torture. However, I was determined. No matter how brutal, I knew I was going to get those exams done. I stuck to my plan, and when necessary I would put in the extra hours to get through the amount of material I had scheduled to get through each week. I made sure to go through 100% of every lecture, every MCQ, and every simulation.

I knew reviewing was going to be important. For each exam, my review process was as follows:

-Reread two chapters per day. I would review hand-written notes in the chapters and any material I deemed important. I would then take a 50 question progress test over that chapter. I would usually score 80% – 100% on these.

-After I had gone through all the chapters, I took my first practice test. By my manual calculation based on MCQ/sim weighting, I usually scored around a 65 – 80. I felt comfortable in this range because I researched and found that you can add 10 points to this score to find what you would probably score on the real thing. I found the whole 10 point thing to be absolutely true, and for REG I actually scored 15 higher on the real thing.

-I would then identify my weak areas and spend extended amounts of time improving those areas.

-The day before the actual test. I did my second exam. Scores on this one were around 70-80. Again, I would add the 10 points to get in the real range of 80-90.

FIRST TEST EXPERIENCE

I knew the test “adapted” to you based on how you perform on each testlet. Since I was taking REG first and having real-life work experience, I felt pretty confident about this exam – at least before I started taking it. I found the first testlet to be fairly straightforward and actually kind of easy. Second testlet, the complete opposite. I knew immediately that I had been bumped up in difficulty. I flagged 8 questions and any confidence I had was completely nullified. The third testlet was the same as the second. I flagged 7 questions and felt like I was going to have a panic attack. Then I got to the sims. I did the research sim first, and felt decent about it. I then worked on the next two that I felt most comfortable on. The last three felt like I was lost in the dark. But I made educated guesses and finished it with 2 minutes left on the clock.

I had to wait two weeks for my score. During this time, I felt completely awful about the test. I thought for sure I had failed. Yet by some miracle, I scored an 89. After this, I had a good sense for how the test feels, so I felt much better about the other three. For each of the other exams, I just tried to keep my head on my shoulders and reassured myself by remembering how I felt about REG and how I still made an 89.

THE END OF IT ALL

I took BEC the second week of May and got my score three weeks later. I had finally passed the last section and the feeling of relief was like nothing else I have ever felt. It has taken literally four weeks to decompress from it all and for stress levels to finally go down. For those of you who are still in the process, believe me, this feeling is worth it all. You can get through it, and it will be glorious.

***MY ADVICE***

1) Mentally prepare yourself. Tell yourself that you are going to struggle through the whole process. It will be extremely difficult, but know that it will all be worth it. I believe that mental preparation and keeping a positive outlook is the best way to approach this whole process.

2) Make a plan and stick to it no matter what. Many people count the number of hours they spend studying. Throw that idea out the window. I studied 150-200 hours per section, but I didn’t even count until I had finished all four. Instead of getting through hours, set goals to get through specific sections of material.

3) Study when you are most mentally fresh if you can. For me, mornings are when I can focus the longest on this kind of information. However, there were some days that I also had to study in the late evenings because I still had material to get through (*see tip #1).

4) Make sure you know why you got questions wrong. Even more importantly though, make sure you know why you got questions correct. Read those explanations!

5) Don’t get bogged down by complex material. Remember that easy stuff counts just as much. There were several easy questions on the real thing that I know I missed simply because I overlooked them during review.

6) Speaking of review, THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF STUDYING. You can get through 100% of the material, but it is impossible for a normal human being to retain that much information. It is important to do 100%, but the review stage is what keeps it refreshed.

7) Time management is everything. In all aspects of this whole process, managing time is crucial. From managing weekly schedules down to daily schedules, you must do this. Furthermore, managing time per question/simulation is critical. I believe that poor time management is one of the main reasons why so many people fail the CPA exam.

If you stuck through this whole post, thanks for reading. I would be happy to go into more detail if anyone has questions.

REG – 89

FAR – 92

AUD – 93

BEC – 85