Turning Back the Clock…

13 Oct 2010

Club 75 Candidate Bloggers

By Tyler

Tyler is a weekly blogger as he documents his journey through the CPA Exam. He is currently a graduate student at the Fisher College of Business at the Ohio State University.

Hello once again. For this post, I’d like to go back in time to the beginning of this most recent summer… when I first started my studying for the CPA exam (not my fondest memory). I had just finished a course in my undergrad on the topic of Auditing, so I felt it only suitable to try a stab at AUD first. I was (and still am) sitting for the exam in the state of Colorado, which luckily for most students there, only requires 120 credit hours – as opposed to the more common 150 hour requirement.

Additionally, I was able to apply for the test a few months before even graduating – it just took that extra form called the “certificate of enrollment.” A quick note on that topic to any student reading this: make sure you apply as soon as you can once you know when you’ll be ready to start sitting for the exam.

When they say that it can take 6-8 weeks to get your notice to schedule (NTS), they are not kidding. If I remember correctly, mine actually took a couple weeks more than that because they never received my certificate of enrollment the first time around. After a couple of frustrated emails and phone calls, everything was resolved, but looking back, I know I could have benefited by having my NTS sooner so I could have scheduled AUD sooner.

This in turn would have given me more time to study for FAR after finishing AUD, so the point is: do not procrastinate with your first-time applications, but also keep in mind that once you get your NTS, it is only good for 6 months.

As I’ve mentioned, I studied using the Bisk CPA Review study materials – specifically I had elected to do self-study, and I did this for a couple of reasons. For one thing, I knew I was going to be working full time during the summer and it would have been impossible to attend live courses.

For another thing, even when I am not working or in class, I tend to want to do a million things at once, which meant that I tried to fit in my studying between everything else. The self-study, “on-my-own-time” option definitely worked well for this situation.

As soon as I cracked open the AUD review book, I realized what I had gotten myself into… numerous lengthy chapters of text …countless video lectures. To top it all off, as soon as I began studying I started my new full-time job for the summer. Needless to say, it was a grueling first few weeks. As a typical accountant-type personality, I decided to map out my study goals.

After looking at my calendar for the next couple of months and looking at the availability of tests at the testing centers in Colorado, I set my date for AUD as the date that would give me the most time for studying while still giving me enough time in the same window to take FAR next. Once my test was officially scheduled, I told myself, “This is it.

Time to say goodbye to anything remotely fun for the next few months. It will all be worth it in the end.” And when that wasn’t enough motivation, I had to tell myself, “This is terrible and I am never going to study AUD again, so I better get it right the first time.” That thought of having to re-study all of the same information kept me just scared enough to really stay determined and to keep on the right track…

Speaking of the right track, I think this will have to do for this week so I can move on to my next “to-do” item on the list (which for a CPA in training never ends, right?), but next week I’ll share some of the details of my day-to-day experiences while studying for AUD, so be sure to check back! (Although when I read that out loud, I am honestly not expecting many people to say to themselves, “I can’t wait to hear about the details of how his studying for AUD went!!!”)

Haha, ok I may also be a little tired, which is another good reason to call it quits for now.

Until next time,
Tyler

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