Time to “Improvise, Adapt and Overcome” the CPA Exam

Kricket is a weekly Club 75 Blogger as she documents her journey through the CPA Exam. She has been a member of Another71.com's Club 75 since May 2009.

We have all had weeks where nothing goes right. I seem to be having my fair share of them and then some. Last week I told everyone how I could study at the physical therapist’s office. Last Tuesday put an end to that.

I have been struggling with a lot of pain in my right shoulder for quite some time and last Tuesday morning, while getting ready to go to Physical Therapy, I tore my rotator cuff.

I spent the week sleeping in a recliner and getting a few things done for work but no studying. After an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon I learned that surgery is the next option, but I want to put it off until next year.

This decision has its upside and its downside. The major downside is dealing with the pain and learning what I can and cannot do to prevent further injury. The major upside is that I will still be able to take REG and FAR in this window.

I had already changed my study habits to include typing the notes instead of trying to write them, and that seems to be working well. I tried to find others who could inspire me to find a better way of working through this and found out that the unofficial motto of the United States Marine Corps is “Improvise, Adapt and Overcome.”

Who better to inspire than the US Marine Corp? Those words fit me to a tee. All I need to do is improvise, adapt and overcome.

I have already “Improvised” my study habits by typing notes instead of hand writing while I watch Roger CPA Review lectures. I started out this run at REG by typing the notes because my shoulder hurts so badly sometimes that I cannot hold a pencil. I have found that my notes make more sense to me, although, no one else could decipher them. I can read them without trying to figure out what I wrote.

I have begun to “Adapt” by reading the notes over from beginning to end before I start to watch lectures. This is reinforcing what I already know and helping me pick out the little details that I missed before. Hopefully, this constant review will help me remember those little tid-bits of information that the examiners like to test on and I won’t have any surprises on test day.

I guess it would be premature to say that I have “Overcome” anything without having a passing score in hand. But I will say that I feel more confident about REG right now than I have ever felt about it. I am not a tax person so this test was always a huge fear of mine, but now I know it is something that I can do.

My goal of taking REG on October 21st has been changed to taking REG early in November and taking FAR at the end of the month. Angie and I have been calling each other and keeping in touch so that we know where we are and where the goal line needs to be.

I cannot imagine having to go through all of this without her. She keeps me motivated and reminds me that I can do anything I want, I just have to want it badly enough. If you don’t have a study partner, I would highly recommend that everyone find one!