[oneFREAKINGpoint]

So I’m about halfway through studying for FAR and I hit a topic that I’ve always had issues with. Back as an undergrad I remember visiting an old accounting professor in office hours to try to figure it out and all I remember him saying is that I was a hopeless case and “I wouldn’t even try to sit for the CPA if I were you.” And then my confidence gets shot. I don’t even remember what he said about the topic I asked him about.

FAR is my last exam. I KNOW I have a shot at passing if I can get through all the material and don’t fall behind on my study schedule. I’m so afraid, though, that I’ll go in to the exam super confident, get a question on NOLs, remember what my professor said, and suddenly lose all the confidence I’ve been building over all this time.

How do you deal with unsupportive people in this process? Or demotivating memories? 🙁

[Anonymous]

I have also had a professor tell me not to sit for the exam and I've had people ask me when I was going to give up because “obviously this ain't going to happen”. I usually smile and say “The only way to fail is to quit” but the part of me that is fluent in smartassery and sarcasm is thinking “Bite me you a-hole! I will do this if for no other reason than to prove you wrong. So go back to your minimum wage job and get me the freaking fries I ordered with my meal.” I've only actually said what I thought once and then sort of regretted it. But if you need one exam to pass then your professor is apparently an idiot. You made it farther than he said you would. So if you think of him/her during the exam, don't let what they say get you down instead get mad and channel the rage and anger towards focusing on the questions in front of you and getting them right. Look forward to the day when you have a license in your hand and can go back to that professor and say “You were, are and always will be WRONG”.

[Minimorty]

You stop giving a $h!t about what other people have to say. You are your own person.

[Texas27]

If you have passed the other three I bet you can pass FAR. If I were you, I would personally address my old professor in writing and tell him to suck it because you passed the CPA exam after he said you could not. If anything, those words should be motivation to you so that you can slap a passing score in his face.

BEC - Feb 2012: 80
AUD - Feb 2012: 84
FAR - Apr 2012: 78
REG - May 2012: 90

Thanks Becker!

[Elaine]

What kind of professor says that?! After you pass FAR, which I am sure you will, send him your results and tell him to deal with it. Goooood luck 🙂

[Minimorty]

You guys are too funny. How can you let some random professor effect you so much that you would consider responding months/years later. Move forward and don't dwell on the past.

[Anonymous]

@mini – I can hold a grudge longer than anyone I know! I also have to be right all of the time, according to my husband, so yes, when I get my license I'm going to take it to my old professor, and to quote Texas27, tell him to suck it!

[Texas27]

I'm in my last semester in college and I would have no problem telling a professor I passed the CPA exam if he told me I couldn't. It isn't that I would really care about what he said, it would be solely to prove him wrong so he wouldn't go tell some other student that they couldn't pass the CPA exam. Professors are there to help you and not bring you down, especially if you go out of your way to get help and you are putting in a decent effort to succeed.

BEC - Feb 2012: 80
AUD - Feb 2012: 84
FAR - Apr 2012: 78
REG - May 2012: 90

Thanks Becker!

[ledgermaven]

I understand how the professor sunk your confidence in yourself when you were still tentative on it yourself. He couldn't see the determination in you to succeed because he was expecting some kind of quantitativly brilliant mind that few of us as cpas actually possess. It helps me to remember that others don't really know me the way I know myself. I remember when telling a friend I was studying accounting they gave me a long look and said, “Really.”

The professor had preconceived ideas about what is success and he didn't know you. Find it in yourself to forgive him for not being a better mentor, he might already regret how he handled that episode. And internalize the message you have already given yourself, you are determined to work hard, you have succeeded, you will continue to succeed. Even if you don't pass the test next time, it will happen after that.

I think of those big fears or moments of unconfidence before or during testing as big waves that try to overcome my usual bouyancy and say, “This is a wave, it will pass, just ride the wave till it is over.”

Good luck in your studying…

[Anonymous]

Hammered….watching bball. I love you guys. Go towards the dark side hate is a strong emotion tell him to SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK ON YOOOOOOOOO NUUUUUUUUTZ

[kmwgrace]

I would actually send a different letter than what y'all are suggesting. Mine would go something like this:

Dear Professor so&so,

You once told me that I would never pass the CPA exam. I am pleased to inform you that your prediction was incorrect, as I did pass. I want to thank you because your discouragement gave me the motivation to push through, if only to prove you wrong. However, I would like to recommend that in the future you show support and encouragement to your students, even those that don't impress you. It is your job to teach us, not to make career or life choices for us and certainly not to voice your opinion about whether or not your students can reach their goals.

Kindest Regards,

oneFREAKINGpoint, CPA

~ Kate... MTX!
CPA exam on hold while I homeschool my 6 year old!

[Tina82]

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, ‘press on' has solved, and always will solve, the problems of the human race.”

Calvin Coolidge

Remember reading this somewhere and googled it. Good luck on FAR!

R - 74;88
A - 84
B - 74;89
F - no study = 67; May 15 = 87 & done

[oneFREAKINGpoint]

Haha, wow. What reactions! Thanks, you guys. That actually does help a little. 🙂

Also, I just had a motivating thought as I finished up this section: I ended up teaching myself NOLs better than he ever could. BAM! I just have to keep telling myself that he was wrong and I CAN do this. It's time to screw him and his negativity and move on.

Thanks!!

[mla1169]

I guess I am unusual in that when someone tells me not to do something or they think I CAN'T do it, I get so posessed and focused that I excel at it. I was told that I couldn't handle going back to school as a single parent. CHECK. I was told that I couldn't do the CPA with everything else I had going on in my life CHECK. I was told I couldn't lose 100 lbs and I lost 110.

However I gained half of that 110 back. 🙁 I suck.

So if anyone here wants to tell me there is no way I can lose that 55 lbs I'd owe you my life.

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

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Minimorty]

@mIa – You are over the hill and have no chance at losing that weight again. Can't be done, especially by a CPA mom. (I heart you!)

[mla1169]

The over the hill crack crossed the line 😉 LOL. Someday YOU'LL be 42 you know!

But seriously let the people who try to keep you down be whose voices you hear when you're sitting in prometric. I swear nobody gets anywhere with a bunch of “yes men”.

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

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Author]

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