Disappointing REG Score, but Moving on with FAR

Serena is a NINJA CPA Blogger.

Hello NINJAs,

I had to wait a couple days to go through the grieving process. As most of you know, there was just a score release.

I took REG in January and REG scores were the last to be released, so I had a very unproductive Monday hitting the refresh on Another71’s Score Release Forum and clicking the ‘SCORE’ button on the NASBA site.

When I got home, I kept reading the forum to see who had gotten their scores. I may have even woken up in the middle of the night to look…unless I was having a nightmare. Which is entirely possible.

Tuesday morning came and my husband rolled over in bed and said, “Check to see if your score is up.” I hesitated because I knew if my score was up—whether it was good or bad—I would be tempted to call in to work in order to celebrate or stay in bed feeling sorry for myself.

I guess it was lucky that my score was not up yet (at 6:30ish AM PST). So I got ready for work, took my daughter to school, and headed to the office. Yes, at every red light I checked the NASBA site on my phone. And the site was crashed.

So I knew they were either uploading scores or everyone was getting theirs so the site crashed. Either way….I was getting antsy.

Just when I parked my car at work, I checked again on my phone. The page loaded. There was no red bold type across the top that read: No scores to display for this section. Mind you, I am looking at this on my iPhone, so I have to look really closely.

Can…this…be….? No. Not. Possible. Please tell me my eyes are playing tricks on me. A 74?! How on earth did I study so much and only add 3 points to my score?

Needless to say, I wasn’t the happiest camper the rest of the day. And I had some serious thoughts of throwing in the towel. Possibly changing careers. I was really doubting myself.

I have never felt so defeated and struggled so much with something in my life. I never did very poorly on tests in school, and concepts were relatively easy for me to grasp. And average people finish the CPA exams…what’s wrong with me?

Even though I wanted to quit, I still studied that night for my next section: FAR. After all these thoughts twirled around in my head for a day, I have come to the realization that it would be brash and somewhat ridiculous for me to give up now.

I may be temporarily stuck half way, but I am pretty darn stubborn, too. And I WILL FINISH.