Have a CPA Exam Success Story to Share?

24. May, 2008 12 Comments

If you have successfully passed a section of the CPA Exam or have passed all 4 sections and want to share how you did it, please post it in the comments section of this post. This blog is about persevering through the stress and failures that come with the CPA Exam.

Remember – only 15% of the people who take the CPA Exam pass the first time and in a given section, less than half of the people who take that section will pass.

If you have an encouraging story to share, the rest of us would appreciate reading it!

You can remain as anonymous as you want to be.

Guidelines:
1. This is only for posts relating to passing the exam or sections of the exam. Please don’t follow up people’s entries with questions. It creates clutter and I will have to delete them.

2. When sharing your success story, if you used a particular review package that worked, feel free to share that. If you used one that was terrible and you hated it, please refrain from sharing that. I don’t want to be contacted by anyone’s general council because I’m letting people disparage their client’s product on my site.

People need to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, so please tell your success story.

Theresa W. 23. Jun, 2009 at 6:21 pm

I wanted to share my story because I think there are a lot of others out there like me who feel like this is a mountain too large to climb. I have been out of school for 12 years, started a new job as Controller of a start-up a year ago, and have two kids ages 3 and 6 and a husband at home. My mantra in college was “C's get degrees”. I did well in my accounting courses (usually better than a C if I applied myself), but just passed my other courses. I was so burned out when I got out of college that I just couldn't imagine sitting for the exam. I went to one Becker class and never returned. There was no way I could make it.

I was fairly successful with my first employer. I spent almost 4 years in Corporate Accounting, preparing financials, including consoliations, preparing M-1 schedules for the tax returns and working with the auditors. I later went on to manage a spin-off of the same company, and spent some time in Operations, managing systems related to insurance premium accounting. I enjoyed it. I always wanted to obtain my license, and when CA changed the requirements to not require public accounting, I decided that “some day”, I'd try. Some day came last year when I applied for the exam after starting with a new employer.

I sat for AUD first and, while I was studying for REG, found out I earned a 93. I was certain I failed REG and cried for weeks as I was studing for BEC. I ended up with an 84 in REG and an 87 in BEC. I then began to tackle FAR. I had learned a lot in my new job, and worked under a very skilled (though unfamiliar with GAAP) Chartered Accountant from the UK. I killed myself on this section. I was not surprised by anything on the exam and was fortunate to end up with a pretty easy second simulation, and my first simulation was on a subject I knew well. A couple hours after I walked out of the exam, I remembered to pay attention to the dates . . . I didn't!! I hoped my mistake was not going to cost me a passing score. After waiting nearly two months for my score (I should have been a wave 1 but was bumped to wave 2), I received it . . . 96.

I can't say it was the best day of my life. My wedding day was better, and the birth of each of my two kids outweighed my wedding day, but this was definitely #4. I was so happy to have passed all the sections on my first try.

My secret? There is no secret (like Kung Fu Panda). It took hard work, sacrifice not only by me, but by those around me, and strong desire to get it done. Some weeks, I studied for only 10 hours, others more than 40. I studied until I got it. I set a schedule and stuck to it. When I fell behind, I took time to catch up, and when I got ahead of schdule, I tried to stay there. I didn't skip any subjects, I studied them all. I understood them all.

I used Becker 2008 for AUD, REG and BEC and Becker 2009 for FAR. I thought Becker covered all but REG VERY well. There were absolutely NO surprises on AUD (as I recall) or FAR. I don't think there were many on BEC. REG, however, was full of material I'd never seen before. My strategy to understand everything in the material well seems to have paid off.

I have spent about 5 years outside of college working in Financial Accounting, and the other 7 in claims and receivables accounting. I did not know most of this material when I began studying. This is possible, guys. I did it while simultaneously doing all the things I talked about above and while being a Girl Scout Leader and sitting on the Board of the PTA. It really, really, really can be done.

The secret? Time and studying. Study until you know it, whether that's an hour a day or 6 hours a day, it's what you have to do to pass. Many would say I overstudied. I'd rather have that problem than not studying enough. You will ultimately have to put in the time to be able to pass this thing. Put it in now and move on with your life . . . don't think you can wing it on even one chapter. It will haunt you.
Anonymous 19. Nov, 2009 at 11:36 pm

For me the struggle came before I even started taking the exam. I registered for the exam in Virginia, as my ?home state? of Delaware had some class requirements that I didn?t want to try for. My company had an office based out of Virginia, so it seemed logical. The problem was, I was nowhere near 150 credit hours.
First things first- I loathe school. College was the best time of my life, but it had nothing to do with classes. I was a notorious class skipper and I could come up with a reason for rationalizing my laziness at the drop of a hat. Rain was a really good reason to stay home from school. Basically- once I got my 120 I ran to graduation. I?ve always been a good test taker, so CLEP tests were my best bet. These are basically standardized tests that prove that you know intro level classes enough to get college credit for them. Problem was a lot of state boards didn?t accept them as real classes.
After two years of trying to get my transcript approved by the board, I was in. I had gotten so used to fighting to be able to sit for the exam that once I was approved- I had no clue what to do. What books do I use? Which program? Why is this so expensive? What is a simulation? I was lost. A friend from work convinced me to go with the Becker classes and books. A cool $2500 later I started.
True to form, after two BEC classes I stopped going. Classes were clearly not for me. I quickly realized that I needed to do things on my own schedule. I studied the books, practiced the tests, made charts, notecards, dedicated my weeknights, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and finally took BEC in November of 2008. Six months (and a full busy season, mind you!) later, I?m done. My scores weren?t stellar- 2 75s, a 77, and an 88, but it?s done. It wasn?t easy at all. Two weeks before each exam I was up until 3 AM every single night. Life sucks for a while, but it can be a short while if you do it right.

My advice:

1) Be honest with yourself. It?s easy to go through the practice/homework questions, memorize the exact answers without even reading the questions, see a big fat 95% and feel great. Be honest- if you get it wrong, admit it, figure out why, and get it right when it counts.
2) Let yourself have fun. Have fun in moderation, but don?t take advantage. You?ll go nuts if you deprive yourself from everything good. Treat yourself and enjoy little victories.
3) I realize that we?re accountants- not psychologists, but positive association works. Whatever it is- get your favorite color highlighter, use a nice pen, wear your favorite sweats and get a case of your favorite (non-alcoholic) beverages. The silly little things that make you happy go a long way. Dreading studying only makes it worse.
4) Turn the TV off!! I can?t stress enough. So many people convince themselves that they can study while the TV is on- but believe me, it does not work. You?ll realize that you?re 2 hours into your study time and you?ve highlighted nothing but the title of the chapter and your bedsheets. TiVo Real Housewives. They will be there when you?re done, I promise.
5) Get it done. The 18 month rule is nice- but it will come up faster than you?re ready. You?ll never be more prepared for studying than you are right after you pass an exam. Use the excitement of passing one to push your towards the next.
6) For simulations, reread your communications portion. Many have said that the communications part of the sims is the most important. Go back to sixth grade and read your essay like you?re reading it to a class. You?ll realize that you?re missing more important transition words and grammatical changes than you think. It?s easy to ramble and repeat when you?re nervous. Reread it after you complete another section of the sim if necessary. A fresh pair of eyes goes a long way.
7) Finally- be confident. It?s so easy to get into that exam center and second-guess yourself. If you study correctly, you know way more than you think.