Never Give Up: JoMarie Beats the CPA Exam

15 Aug 2012

NINJA CPA Review, NINJA Hall of Fame

By jomarie

JoMarie is a weekly NINJA CPA Blogger.

After 10 years and about 40 exams, I can finally say I’ve passed all 4 exams within the 18 month requirement.

For those who are just started following Another71.com and started this journey I will tell you about my journey. Those of you who know about my journey, I’m sorry that I’m repeating myself.

I started this crazy roller coaster of a journey back in 2002. I sat for my first exam back in the paper and pencil days. I studied and sat, studied and sat, but I kept failing. Then in late 2003 I stopped since I was getting married in January of 2004 and was due with our first daughter in June of 2004.

I started to sit for the exams again in 2005 but was getting discouraged since I kept failing, again.

After tax season in 2008, I said to myself, “That’s it, I’m going for it once and for all.” I scheduled all 4 of the exams. BEC, FAR, Audit, & REG, in that order. I failed BEC, FAR, and Audit in 2008.

Again, I was ready to give up. Then in January of 2009, I sat for REG and passed it on my first try with the section! Passing REG gave me the motivation and determination to pass the rest.

I rescheduled the remaining sections and passed FAR in August of 2009 followed by BEC in February of 2010. Then since I was pregnant with my second daughter, I took the April/May 2010 window off. I didn’t want to sit the exam with a chance of going into labor.

While I was on maternity leave I studied for Audit. If I didn’t pass Audit by the end of September 2010, I was going to lose my REG credit. Well, thanks to dear old Audit, I lost REG, FAR, and BEC!!!

When I was on the verge of losing BEC, I sat for Audit, REG, and FAR all in one testing quarter, the summer of 2011. Nothing like losing a whole summer to the CPA exam.

That summer, I passed REG again and got my credit back. Then I finally passed Audit in October of 2011. FAR then followed this past May, and lastly BEC in July.

I sat for REG last summer on August 9, 2011, and I saw my final passing score on NASBA’s website on August 9, 2012. It is very possible to pass all the exams within 18 months. I did it in less than a year!!

I do have to say I couldn’t have done it without Another71.com or without the help of Jeff with his NINJAs. With the help of the NINJA Audio my scores increased tremendously. My FAR score went from a 73 to an 80 and my BEC score went from a 70 to a 76!!!

Lastly, I need to give all my friends I’ve made on this site a very special thank you. Especially, the ones of you on Facebook, when we made our “study dates”. I probably wouldn’t have passed these last two sections without you.

Last and certainly not least, I need to thank all my friends and family that stayed with me throughout this whole process. Especially my husband. I know this has been a very long journey for the both of us. I couldn’t have done this without you by my side every step of the way.

This CPA Exam candidate is signing out looking forward to a very bright future.

Thank you everyone, love you all!!

Leave a Reply

9 comments

Trisha 12 years ago

Congratulations again Jomarie!!! Such a beautiful example of perseverance!!! Best wishes to you and all of your future endeavors!

12 years ago

What an awesome story! Congrats to you and your determination, truly amazing. Good luck with all your future endeavors!

steve 12 years ago

Yo go girl!!..I have FAR on Sat and I am rewriting my ninja notes agaitoday..if all goes well I will be halfway home!! The CPA beast can be slayed!!!!!!!

CPA628 12 years ago

Congrats again, JoMarie. Your dedication and perseverance is very admirable. Thanks for sharing your story with us. Good Luck with everything in the future!! Do stop by and continue to motivate us:)

CPA2012 12 years ago

Awesome Marie...Your story motivated me..I failed once in BEC and i got depressed that why it happened to me after working so hard..But now i think i should not give up...Best Wishes to you!!!!

nadia 12 years ago

Yahoo!! JoMarie!!! A great post! Great to read this story of perseverance and strength! nadia (yankee)

12 years ago

Congrats, JoMarie! Your dedication and persistance is inspirational!

Malvika 12 years ago

Many many congratulations to u!! U are showing the world what "never give up" truly stands for :) I'm sure there are way too many out there who wud've lost the zeal to go ahead after loosing once, but u stuck to it, despite all odds. Hats off to u! Best wishes to u & ur loving family :) I'm sure u'll be a class apart mom to ur daughters after having fought a long struggle! Have a great life ahead!

FNJ 12 years ago

Congratulations JoMarie! It's truly inspirational!