Upset about the 18-month rule? - Page 4

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  • #1621132
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I read that they're adding Excel onto it…which will maybe be good for Microsoft shareholders, but absolutely useless to us because who the hell uses the Spreadsheet tool on the exams?? I'd delight in some Excel questions though – I'd get those correct! As if they couldn't make the exam any worse than it already is though. I hate how the testlets are split up now, especially on BEC. Not fun at all. What I'd really like is the option of taking a paper-pencil test. I feel like the computer has played a part in my failures and am having to work around it. 24 month rule for sure, especially with the way the exam is now. And, I don't think adding 6 more months will dilute the prestige of the exam. It'll never happen though. I'd almost bet my life that their attitude is “We SHOULD be giving you guys 12 months, but we'll be nice and make it 18.” Life is almost never fair, just gotta suck it up.

    #1621184
    Radez
    Participant

    Their spreadsheet tool is awful. My feedback every exam has been to get a better one and to allow it for MCQ also. If they replaced it with an actual MS Excel environment, that would be awesome. Can you imagine how easy it would be to create interest amortization schedules in a real spreadsheet? Not to mention all the DRS problems that run something like “here's a trial balance, and 7 documents, produce the cash flow statement.” Being able to put that stuff into a real spreadsheet to do a flux analysis would be sooo much better.

    When I was going through the exams, for the more computationally intensive ones, I found it more efficient to use the calculator and write tables of data on the scratch paper, which is profoundly misaligned with contemporary practice.

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    #1621262
    TommyTheCat
    Participant

    you people whining about needing an extension of the 18 months and trying to make some argument that women are discriminated against are just flat out pathetic. Quit wasting your time here complaining about how unfair it is and get back to studying. Clearly the women on this thread have opined that that is hogwash.

    I for one am happy that this exam is as difficult as it is. When I finally am certified it will be a big time accomplishment. You knuckleheads trying to get it altered to fit your preferences or perceived “needs” would just be diluting the value of it.

    Missy congrats on kicking the exams ass with so much going on. I bet the folks on here complaining about needing more time had half as much or less going on in their lives than you.

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    #1621274
    ayyemmtea
    Participant

    This began as a pretty bad day… Now, I came across this thread and it's giving me life.

    The CPA is hard. Passing all exams within 18 months is hard. Only taking each exam once a quarter is hard. In the nicest, most understanding way possible, deal with it. It's a barrier to entry. It's a prestigious certification that is completely voluntary.

    I can only imagine how difficult it was for the people waiting for the scores for 4 months, but any other time, 18 months is more than enough.

    Also, I am a woman. It is INSANE to give women more time to take exams than men.

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    #1621280
    Missy
    Participant

    “I'm worried I can't do this in 18 months time even though its more likely than not that I can. I don't want to sound whiney so the plan is to say this is for the ladies and the poor……..yeah, that's the ticket!”

    So everyone gets 24 months, and maybe the overall pass rates increase by something marginal like 2%. Males taking the exam get a 54% pass rate and women taking the exam go up to 49%. For some unbeknownst reason male candidates benefitted from the from the change in the rule every bit as much as women did LOL (hint: wasn't DISCRIMINATORY if the males benefit from the change as much as females do, kids). Go figure, whatever has caused the difference in results wasn't solved by an additional six months, because THAT wasn't ever the issue. But hey that's behind us know and I don't NEED to care about the disparity between male candidates and female candidates anymore because I passed all four in 24 months thanks to my genius idea of exploiting someone else's challenges.

    Anybody CAN pass the exam in 18 months, but not everyone does for a variety of perfectly good reasons. It doesn't reflect negatively on a person who DOESN'T pass in 18 months, we all have our challenges and some moreso than others. I will guarantee if the time became 24 months it would be a hot second before SOMEONE decided that wasn't enough either.

    Interesting though that every female on this post feels the 18 mos is fair. Lets go make sandwiches now.

    Old timer,  A71'er since 2010.

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    Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
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    #1621652
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    My boss at my last job told me that in the old days, you had to pass 2 parts before going on to the 3rd and 4th parts. Now THAT would suck. Talk about weed-out mechanisms….
    I think Roger said the same thing in one of his videos. Thankfully that is no longer a policy. Okay. If I had 18 months and I was not doing anything else except the CPA exam program, I would pass. I will not have that luxury again in this lifetime, though. I will be working until I am probably 75 years old, or until I die, whichever comes first. So, it is what it is. If I never pass, then I guess I just wasn't good enough to pass. And I accept that.

    #1621657
    Missy
    Participant

    Leon you're FINE. Use the search on this forum for my friend Kricket. Took her something like 5 years and 27 attempts, lost several passes.

    Has her own firm now. Go. Search for her posts.

    Old timer,  A71'er since 2010.

    Finance manager/HR manager

     

     

    Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
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    #1621676
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    27 attempts is an average of just under 7 attempts per part. Somebody sure didn't have a lot of luck on the exams, did they?!! But – the roughly $10,000 that I'm guessing she dropped is probably made back in like a day or two if she owns her own firm. Pretty spectacular!! I'd give a hearty handshake to someone who pulled off that feat! It's all about endurance!

    #1621690
    TommyTheCat
    Participant

    leon – not sure what you mean by luck on the exams, are you hoping to luck into an easy testlet or 4? good luck with that.

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    #1621699
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Addendum: I managed to find some of her posts – from the end of her journey, including about the Thanksgiving day (with no turkey) right before she passed, and some of her blog posts.
    She's long gone from here now, looks like, but her tenacity was apparently unflagging! She wanted the thing and got it. The nice thing is that nobody has to know how many attempts any of us made.
    It's not public record. Four attempts, or twenty-four, the license number is the license number! I think the most sittings I've ever heard of for one section (FAR) was 9. She did it in even less, I'm guessing!

    #1622176
    Nekeny
    Participant

    it is definitely another way that AICPA came up with for more revenue

    CPA:

    Done!!!

    CMA:

    Done!!!

    #1622281
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @tommythecat

    > leon – not sure what you mean by luck on the exams, are you hoping to luck into an easy testlet or 4? good luck with that.

    No, I mean that the person discussed above (Kricket) had to sit 27 times – which means that she didn't luck out and get some easy forms of the test…she probably got a boatload of very difficult questions for most of those 27 times. Some people pass the CPA exams without really knowing a whole lot. She probably knew a lot but got a lot of hard questions. Some people get easier questions than the person sitting next to them or the person who took it that morning, or the person who took it yesterday. Am I hoping to luck into an easy testlet or 4? Not really…I never thought about it. But thanks for wishing me good luck. I've sat for 3 sections now and have gotten nothing but wicked SIMs. The MCQs were not bad but I got tripped up on lots of easy stuff that I should've gotten correct but didn't study enough on, or whatever. I don't know. I'm still trying to get my bearings with this thing. I don't know where I'm going yet. It's pretty much the only thing I've ever done in my life that has taken this long to figure out. I'm not a dumbass. If I can't figure out something today, I'll have it tomorrow usually.

    #1622324
    TommyTheCat
    Participant

    “Some people pass the CPA exams without really knowing a whole lot.”

    False.

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    #1622384
    Missy
    Participant

    This is the dangerous part of drawing conclusions about luck, and getting hard questions vs manageable ones.

    I'm guessing Kricket wouldn't mind me saying because she did spell it all out here is the only “luck” that played into it was the fact she had the bad luck to be walking around with thyroid cancer. Thyroid cancer affects memory and concentration in a big way and that's the one and only reason she struggled with the exam and is my hero for finishing it while she was undergoing treatment.

    She is much smarter than I could ever hope to be, and in many windows we took the same exam but I was able to pass while she just missed it. The AICPA didn't have it in for her although in the throws of exhaustion she probably believed that for a short time but never once felt sorry for herself, never requested or received an extension or extra time, and just got angry at the exam and determined to win.

    Be a ragin cajun and you'll do this. Lose yourself in conspiracy theories and wallow in the fails, not only will it take twice as long it will be completely miserable.

    Old timer,  A71'er since 2010.

    Finance manager/HR manager

     

     

    Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
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    #1622414
    tygolfer
    Participant

    @crazyleon “Some people pass the CPA exams without really knowing a whole lot.”

    I have read a lot of your posts, and most of the time I find them funny and entertaining, but this was a ridiculous statement. Anyone who passed these exams knew the material, plain and simple. There are other factors that play as well, being that some people are just generally better test takers than others and are able to work through problems they might not have known the answer to. I have known plenty of really intelligent people who knew the material, but suffered from test anxiety and thus struggled on exam day.

    In the end, everyone's circumstances are different, but in order to pass these exams you have to know your stuff. Don't blame any failures on not being “lucky” enough. I agree with Missy, don't get caught up in the conspiracy theories. Keep working hard and you will get through it! Good luck!

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