What advice would you give if you had to start again at the beginning?

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What advice would you give if you had to start again at the beginning?

19 posts from 15 voices

Started 7 months ago by DESTROPRIME
Latest reply from kybridecpa2011

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DESTROPRIME

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I'm currently taking CPA classes so that I'm able to sit for the exam. They will be completed by the end of summer 2012.

Any advice or recommendations you can give to someone that's just beginning?
Classes to really focus on and make sure I know it rather than get a good grade?
Start studying now?
Websites to review daily?

I really want to get an early start on the CPA exam because I don't want to have to study for 3 hrs everyday after work and 7 hrs on the wknds and have no life for 1 yr straight.
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Posted 7 months ago #
nolifecpa

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know how you learn best (reading, notes, audio, etc).

took me over 2 yrs of trial and error and still not sure if i figured it out yet

REG-65,71,74,73,70,74,79
BEC-60's,60's,69,71,76
FAR-67 (TBD)
AUD-54,60's,65,83

Posted 7 months ago #
ScruffMcGruff

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Well, I don't know what types of courses your school offers, but I would highly recommend taking any 'Advanced Financial Accounting' courses that are listed. I know at my school, we were required to take 'Intermediate Financial Accounting I & II', but the advanced one was optional. I'm pretty sure that if I didn't take that class I would have probably not passed FAR.

Another thing associated with FAR... I was kind of worried that I would be a little behind because I did not take NFP or Governmental accounting at my college. In my opinion, however, the Becker review materials for both of these (Chapters F8 and F9) did an EXCELLENT job of teaching me what I needed to know for the FAR exam. Anyhow, if you have scheduling conflicts with classes in your last semester or two, I would just say go ahead and drop any NFP or Governmental classes you might be thinking of taking.

Other than that, I would just say try to plan or find out how long it will take you to study for each section, and then plan your studying and testing schedule around that. Looking back on it now, this would have been my dream studying schedule:

(Graduate in early May)
May: At the end of the month, take one of the easier exams, likely AUD or BEC
June: (Testing Window Closed) Begin studying for one of the harder exams, likely FAR or REG
July: Take FAR/REG in the middle of the month. After exam, begin preparing for the other easy test (AUD/BEC)
August: At the end of the month, take the other easy test that's remaining (AUD/BEC)
September: (Testing Window Closed) Begin studying for your other hard test (FAR/REG)
October or November: Take last test (FAR/REG) sometime before the end of the year

I'm pretty slow at reviewing the Becker textbooks, but I think this would give you plenty of time to get your CPA totally taken care of if you do not have any major commitments before you start your job. Only thing that would be tough is trying to study for BEC or AUD in May (or earlier) before finals. Hopefully this will help you out a little!

AUD - 85
FAR - 78 (lol@ FAR Sims)
REG - Oct
BEC - Nov

Posted 7 months ago #
eartzi

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Take Not for Profit/Govt't accounting, Advanced accounting, auditing, and at least two tax classes (individual and corporate) in school. Also, there is no cramming with the CPA exam, so if you can practice studying a couple of hours a night, try it if you're used to cramming.

FAR 84 ; BEC 76 ; REG 82 ; AUD 76 DONE!!! ETHICS- Passed

Posted 7 months ago #
kandisjoy

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1. Stay focused once you begin your CPA journey - it will save you SO MUCH time in the long run.
2. Always write out a study schedule and stick to it.
3. Recognize that you will have to sacrifice in order to pass this exam. Pick your sacrifices carefully. For example, I recommend NOT sacrificing your health by eating crappy food and cutting out all working out in order to study more. Cut time with friends/sports/clubs/whatever instead. You'll study better if you're healthy (I learned this the hard way!).
4. If you're not ready to purchase study material yet, go to cpareviewforfree.com and just do a few questions per day. You could learn a lot - for free!
5. Try out some available samples of review courses so that you can get a feel for which course will be best for you. I'm not sure which courses have trial accounts, except for CPAexcel. I think Roger CPA and Becker and all those have videos you can watch to see if you like their teaching styles. Most of these courses expire so you won't want to buy them until shortly before you are ready to take exams. The only course that I know of that doesn't expire is CPAexcel.

Oh and pay attention in your economics classes... It will help you out in BEC. :o)

FAR: 71, 77
BEC: 70, 82
AUD: 62, 78
REG: 71, 68, 85

CA Licensed 11/2011

Posted 7 months ago #
HazeEastwood

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In my personal opinion. School courses are not the key to passing the exam. Review courses are. Make sure you understand the info but I passed all four parts of the CPA exam and prior to the exam had never taken Advanced Accounting, Individual Tax, Auditing or Cost Accounting.

FAR-81
BEC-84
AUD-91
REG-89

Posted 7 months ago #
kandisjoy

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@Haze - I don't think that school classes are a prerequisite to passing the CPA exam, but the knowledge that you pick up in those classes sure couldn't hurt if you've got to take them anyways. A lot of my accounting classes in college did overlap with my CPA studies... Especially economics, advanced accounting, and auditing. My solid understanding of economics made a lot of my BEC studying more like a refresher.

FAR: 71, 77
BEC: 70, 82
AUD: 62, 78
REG: 71, 68, 85

CA Licensed 11/2011

Posted 7 months ago #
hilaryh_88

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This is a good thread idea.

1. I think it is possible to pass the exam without having taken any accounting classes in college. However, I would agree with kandisjoy that of course it would be an added benefit to be familiar with the material before jumping into the review courses.

2. Take FAR first! It covers the most material and you don't want your 18 month clock ticking unless FAR is out of the way.
3. When you study, don't just go through each and every chapter in order. You need to do a few and then go back and review them or else you will forget the earlier material by the time you reach the last chapter/lecture of the review course.
4. Identify your best learning technique. Is it memorization, power point presentations, the standard watch/learn/chalkboard type, etc? Go to the companies' websites and watch sample demonstrations.

5. Write down notes! As you go, if you come across something that is fresh and new to you, write it down. Keep a running tablet of notes that you can review like flashcards. You may also find it helpful to write down MC questions that you struggled with.

Don't give up!

AUD - 82 Becker
BEC - 75 Becker
REG - 71, 82 Becker
FAR - 66,61,71,74,70 and #6 80!!!! FINALLY DONE!!! 9/20/11
Yaeger and Yaeger CRAM for the final battle!

Posted 7 months ago #
ScruffMcGruff

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I agree with Kandis. For purposes of studying for the CPA, grades and the specific classes you take are secondary when compared to how much you should be focusing on studying with a specific review course like Becker, Yaeger, Wiley, ect. before the exam.

On the other hand, it's sure a hell of a lot easier (and less time consuming) to go into your FAR review knowing how to put together something like a business consolidation worksheet, rather than seeing one of them for the first time a month or so before you take the exam.

AUD - 85
FAR - 78 (lol@ FAR Sims)
REG - Oct
BEC - Nov

Posted 7 months ago #
HazeEastwood

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Kandis,

Maybe what I said was misunderstood. I agree, the courses don't hurt they actually help. But I woulnd't try to focus on a course. Just get your good grade and be done. The key to the exam in my opinion is more about review courses. But ofcourse you need to have basic knowledge of accounting and the college courses definitely gives you that and more.

FAR-81
BEC-84
AUD-91
REG-89

Posted 7 months ago #
Minimorty

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Since I majored in Econ and took no accounting classes in school, I had to take 24 units of accounting classes just to be eligible to sit for the exam in California. My strategy was to take the easiest classes possible and just knock them out as quickly as possible. I still have not taken any auditing courses, cost courses, intermediate courses, advanced courses, etc. The review course materials for the Exam will focus your attention to the areas you need to know. I did take an intro to financial accounting course that helped a bunch. I also took individual and corporate tax which helped a bit. All my other classes were random online classes like Quickbooks, SOX, etc.

Posted 7 months ago #
dhuffman

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Not sure but I am convinced it's an individual thing. I never failed a test until BEC and FAR. Wasn't an accounting major but had an MBA and had to take the 24 hours required in Acct. Had the absolute worst teacher ever so I'll be starting over again after the new year as I lost REG and AUD. I think for some people it some easy when learned in school, me I actually have to physically perform the task to learn it well. That's why I passed REG and AUD first time no problem - they are what I do at my job. The parts of BEC that I struggle with are Cost and Fin Mgmt things I'd wish I had had a good instructor for. FAR it's hit or miss what I feel comfortable with and what I don't but it has to do with courses where I had the crappy teacher. Of course it wasn't until attempting to pass the CPA exam that I realized what I should have done so now I am going back and retaking those classes with a better instructor. It's been a long hard journey but after taking and passing the CFE with excellent scores (90's) I feel more confident I can get this behind me.

Posted 7 months ago #
jelly

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I think it was a Becker instructor who described it this way: "Imagine building a big house. In school, you learn about each part of the house, such as a structure, floor or room from each course you take. The exam is about putting everything in the house together to see how it works, i.e. the electric and gas lines, boiler and heater in the basement, laundry room, kitchen, etc."

It is very very difficult to study from the exam using your school books alone - there's just too much extraneous information. A book or a review course will quickly teach you the important points to remember, and how to recall and apply it to each exam question or simulation. The exam is one of those things where you never really quite feel totally prepared b/c the information is so vast, so people are usually studying up until exam time. Keep in mind that if you start studying now, even though maybe 12 months, the information you need to know may start to change by the time you sit down at your Prometric site, i.e. I had no simulations in BEC, IFRS was still speculative and not mentioned in any of my accounting classes, or the IRS may start changing its retirement contribution limits, etc.

Depending on where you end up working, you can always wake up early and study, which worked out well for me (and quite a few other posters here too). And yes, I self-incarcerated myself on the weekends, but this all passes more quickly than you think. I imagine that this exam is even more life-encroaching if you are married and/or have kids and/or travel every week for work.

Couldn't pass again!

Posted 7 months ago #
Herbieherb

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For me college was over 10 years ago so whatever I learned then didn't help during my cpa studies. I don't retain information that long. I took FAR less than 8 months ago and I don't remember anything LOL...that being said, Yaeger/Becker etc really is all you need to know to pass.

AUD 8/1/10 - 78 , REG 11/7/10 - 88
BEC 11/30/10 - 81, FAR 2/28/11 - 79
CPA 06/01/11 NEW YORK- DONE

Posted 7 months ago #
shutterbug

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If you're using Becker (or any other review course), make sure you have the most current textbook material and updated Passmaster question. I started with FAR this summer, and they came out with all these new updates. It was quite frustrating, since I was tackling the hardest section first and kept having to re-learn the materials.

FAR 73 78
BEC 73 82
AUD APR 2012

Posted 7 months ago #
dianepage

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I was an econ major like minimorty and mostly avoided accountng classes, plus I'm OLD and so were my few accounting credits! I got my accounting credits online from community college so I actually got an accounting certificate, which I display proudly in my home office. I agree with other commenters -- the college courses helped but the prep course was key for me in passing. I found Yaeger excellent for FAR if you like the teaching/white board format.

Most important of all, you have to extremely want this to make it happen.

@minimorty Go Yankees!

Posted 7 months ago #
DESTROPRIME

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Great advice guys!!

Really appreciate all the posts. It helps more than you know!!

Posted 7 months ago #
hhiccd

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If you are still looking for thoughts on the topic I have a couple. Unless you have a lot of time to study, focus on one test per testing window and make it your goal to pass each one on the first try (also saves lots of money). Don't miss a testing window or otherwise lose your momentum. Recognize that there are going to be events that you miss and many evenings and weekends spent studying. If you are not ready for this sacrifice, don't waste your time or your money. Do lots of multiple choice questions. You will never regret doing too many but you may regret not doing enough. Mix up your study material. Different programs offer different benefits and if you have access to the different programs use them and increase your odds. And finally, buy Jeff's Ninja Notes. They are really good and can help you tremendously with the final review. I used them almost exclusively for my second (and final) Regulation exam and only studied for two weeks and was able to pass. Good luck!

BEC 11/2009 87
AUD 10/2010 75
REG 11/2010 73, 2/2011 80
FAR 02/2011 85
Licensed FL CPA as of 10/5/2011 Yay!!!

Posted 7 months ago #
kybridecpa2011

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Invest in a review course. There's no way I would've passed without Becker. My work was also very supportive of me becoming a CPA. They paid for Becker, gave me days off to study, time at work to study, and days off to take the exams (without using vacation).

At home, I had a dedicated study area and my husband knew that if I was in there studying, he shouldn't come in and ask me to watch the Simpsons or whatever.

Posted 7 months ago #

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What advice would you give if you had to start again at the beginning?

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