[Fpuagolf]

I’m only a freshman (by age) but a sophomore class-wise at my university in Florida. I have quite a few family members in either accounting/finance careers (one if which is a CPA-others were lucky) in NY, and they have passed on a multitude of advice. However, I figured I’d turn to this forum for any advice on what, if anything, I should be doing in prep for CPA exam (I might even be out of line asking this..). I know it’s a doozie, but I just want at least another perspective on what others have done and or learned from. Many thanks!

[Noct]

About all you can do at this point is make sure that your classes meet the licensure requirements for your state. It's no fun graduating only to find you need 2-3 more classes.

Aside from that, pay attention in class and try to develop a strong understanding of the core concepts of accounting. The exam is built on those fundamentals so having a good base will minimize your required study time.

FAR - 79 - 07/2012
AUD - 65, 78 - 11/2012
BEC - 76 - 11/2012
REG - 78 - 01/2013
ETH - 98 - 01/2013

Material: Wiley books

[mypetmeatball]

Try not to cram for exams so you actually retain some of the information from your classes in your long term memory bank. That's pretty much impossible though; I just didn't want to say “nothing”

Cliffs: Nothing

[mla1169]

Keep some of your study materials (especially things that have mnemonics that help you to remember key concepts/ratios/etc.) If any of your professors hand out summary sheets of ratios and you find them useful during school, you just may find them useful when you start studying for the CPA.

But dont save every little thing, you don't want a library of saved information in addition to a prepackaged CPA review cours.

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

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Fpuagolf]

Awesome insight! Thank you!

[FtheCPA]

Advice? Take a fork and JAB it into your left eye. Now, take that same fork and JAB it into your other eye. After that, head straight to your career advisor and ask about switching majors to engineering. You will be spared much future pain. I work in the industry and everyday I wish I had gone into engineering. The engineers here get paid way more and have better oppotunities and are more respected than us simple finance/accounting folk.

[Whatdidyou]

A) It is WAAY too early to be thinking about preparing for this exam. You should be concentrating on two things: a) getting good grades, b) making friends and c) having lots of sex.

“But dont save every little thing, you don't want a library of saved information in addition to a prepackaged CPA review cours.”

I saved all of my books/notes from the majority of my classes and this is exactly what happened. I would suggest saving nothing. A review course IS comprehensive and has more than enough information to get through – most people struggle to get through that much less that plus a bunch of notes/handouts from college courses. Sell all of your books back, you'll thank me.

REG - Passed!!
BEC - Passed
FAR - Passed
AUD - Passed

Study Materials: Becker basic course

[samdiegoCPA]

Ha – I totally agree with @Whatdidyou… seriously, you are young.

My advice is: go to class and listen and pass. Don't save notes/testbooks. Don't try to learn everything right now, you will get review materials later on that will show you what you need to pass.

AUD: 84
REG: 84
BEC: 79
FAR: 83

[Anonymous]

Work on retaining the information for every class. Do not simply cram for exams. It was crazy how many concepts I would study for (on the CPA) a midway through say to myself “wow I think i learned this already but I dont remember it.”

Other than that, keep yourself on track for the requirements needed to get your exam. Its so much easier to take courses when you aren't working full time.

I also agree with @whatdidyou — grades, friends, and sex. I would also add going out on random tuesday nights, just because you can.

[Anonymous]

Find out who the good teachers are and take their classes. Accounting can be kind of … dry, so delivery really makes a big impact. Join Beta Alpha Psi– some of the more senior members should have good recommendations.

Also learn how to drink.

[HustlinHustlin]

I know that you will because of the interest that you show but really make an effort in your classes. As mentioned before, DON'T cram.

I never expected I would take this exam or really have a career in it until I was in my last year or two of college. Therefore, I crammed for every exam and found the easy way out. I sure do regret it now.

Join Beta Alpha Psi or Accounting Society – I made some really useful connections through these groups and learned a lot about being in the profession.

The professors who are good, visit them often. Most of mine were CPA's with great job connections or had their own firm.

Start the exam the second you graduate. I know, at that point a break is nice but it will make you so much more marketable and it is true that the younger you take it, the easier it is on you (no kids, no huge obligation, and no major work responsibilities yet)

Become a professional shmoozer (NOT a kiss ass), there is a difference between being genuinely interested in someone and making way too much of an effort.

Last, yes, learn to drink. Party and enjoy your college years – you don't get them back. One thing I have learned about working in public accounting is that there is a lot of drinking involved. You don't wanna be that guy that throws up at happy hour.

B 71 - 79 EXPIRED
A 69 - 75 EXPIRED
R 65 - 48 - 45
F 56 - 61 - 65 - 64

Becker, Wiley Test Bank, Wiley Text and Ninja Notes

"The fish who keeps on swimming is the first to chill upstream" -311

Experience - Done, like WAAAY done.
Still need 30 more credits, in basket weaving (gotta love new CA requirements)

[Fpuagolf]

As I've been hanging around Wall Street Oasis this past week and becoming familiar with Investment banking etc and their overall ‘industry', most of it seems pretty negative. It seems that if you're from a target school and have had Goldman internships (or likewise) you have a good shot getting into IB'ing and working 100 hours a week, no family life, spending 17 hours a day doing monotonous work, and any other negative connotation you can think of. Meanwhile Big 4 will recruit the non-target schools so ‘those' kids do ‘that'. However, after a few years, bankers will ‘exit' into private equity where the grass is greener etc…but that's not my point. The Big 4 and accounting are also semi-bashed on WSO. In their eyes accounting is easier, $60K vs. $100K, 50 hour weeks vs 100, boring vs. stimulating …and the general notion that accounting has no hope whereas IB'ing does…is this true? Are the exit opportunities from the Big 4 really that dreadful? I'm just trying to make some sense of all of this. Yes I know this is a CPA forum, but I'm sure there is some valuable insight

[Author]

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