How to Study for the CPA Exam

While studying for the CPA exam I realized how important it was to have a set study method plan. It's crucial to being able to retain all the information tested. Finally figuring out what study method worked for me is what helped me pass. In the beginning of my 5 year long CPA exam journey the way I was studying was all over the place. My Study Plan and Over and Over and Over Again! blog posts lay out what finally worked for me. But everyone is different, right? Everyone has different study methods.

One of #twudygroup friends, Posty, said he learned a lot from my study method but he adapted it for how he studies. He was able to pass FAR and AUD on his first try by using the "Posty Method" and motivation from all his #twudygroup friends. He agreed to be a guest blogger on several #twudygroup CPA exam blogs. You may have read this on another blog. But I believe it's important to review different study methods, find what works best for you, or combine different aspects to form what works best for you.

Here's the "Posty Method." Thanks for Sharing, Posty! Good luck with the rest of your journey. I can't wait to hear you are "Posty, CPA!"

A few #twudygroup friends have asked me what my study method is. So without further ado, I present to you the Posty method:

Disclaimer:  Everyone is learns differently. I am simply sharing what has helped me pass FAR on AUD.

1.       Watch Roger CPA Review lectures straight through.  (1-2 weeks)

Watch the full review course from start to finish.

Do NOT stop to do homework problems. Focus on learning the material. Only work the questions that Roger does during the lecture.

Take intense notes as you watch the lectures. If your hand isn’t hurting, you’re probably not taking enough notes. Don’t worry about pressing pause to get everything written down. Roger is a fast talker!

2.        Do every MCQ in the Wiley book twice.  (2-4 weeks)

A good goal is try to do 100 MCQs a day. Some days you won’t make it. Some days you’ll do over 100 MCQs. Don’t get discouraged.

Be sure to read the Wiley solution in the back of the chapter. Even if you got the problem right, read the solution anyway. It will help enforce the concept. If you got the question wrong, understand why you got it wrong. Albert Einstein said you don’t really understand a concept unless you can explain it to your grandmother. Don’t move on to new problem until you can do this.

Grade yourself while you do these questions.

3.       LIVE in the Wiley Test Bank.  (2-4 weeks leading up to the exam)

Start by doing 20 MCQ tests over 1 topic only. Go through each topic, starting with your weakest area and moving on until you have completed all topics. Don’t move on to a new topic until you score at least a 70%.

Then, start doing random 20 MCQ tests over all topics until you curse the day you decided to become a CPA… and then do some more. Again, a good goal is to get 100 MCQ done per day. Try to do at least 3 TBS a day in the Wiley Test Bank.

Always hit “Not Seen Yet” before each test to ensure that you’re getting questions that you’ve never seen before.  Do these MCQs and TBSs in Study Mode, so that you can get automatic feedback as you work through them.

4.       The week before the exam, do a Practice Exam.

Using the Wiley Test Bank, do a mock exam in Exam Mode. Say you’re about to sit for FAR. Give yourself 4 hours to do 90 MCQ and 7 TBS. This should help you with the time management aspect of the exam.

Good luck!

-Posty

REG Score Release Week & Results

The score release timeline was put into place this quarter. No more waiting until the third week of the third moth of the quarter to find out if you passed an exam that you took the first week of the first month of the quarter. I sat for REG November 12, 2011 which meant I was in the second wave of score release per the timeline. The second wave was set to be released November 21, 2011. That meant in as little as 9 days I would get my scores back!

On one hand it felt as though I didn't have enough time to unwind after I sat before I was wound back up waiting for score release. I was actually sick to my stomach thinking about score release before I even sat for the exam. It really messed with me mentally. But it definitely gave me the motivation to study when I would rather be doing just about anything else.

On the other hand, I really liked the fact that results were released sooner. If you passed you could move on to the next section to study without having to worry about all the "what ifs." But if you didn't pass, you knew much sooner so you could get back to your studies and take it earlier the next window without having to feel like you didn't get enough time to restudy the material again.

The Saturday before score release I hurt my arm AGAIN! I was actually hoping to get a doctor appointment Monday, score release day, but I was unable to get one until Tuesday. I didn't go to work that Monday since I could barely move my arm. That meant I was able to stalk NASBA on Twitter all day long.  No updates about score release all day! Very frustrating. My stomach was all over the place. I just wanted my REG score. If I passed I was a CPA. If not then I lost AUD and dropped back to a 50% CPA. Where the hell were these scores!?

My husband came home from work and we went to have dinner together.  I turned the computer off to enjoy family time. My phone buzzed with a twitter message from one of my #twudygroup family saying "Scores are out! Good Luck!" Seriously? During dinner? It was 5:30 pm. NASBA is located in TN which meant it was 4:30 pm there. Why do they wait until the end of their business day? Well there went my appetite! I know PA's scores are not normally updated until the following day. Apparently my stomach didn't know that! I told my husband scores were released but I probably wouldn't be able to get mine until the next day. He didn't seem to care, he made us check together before we went to bed Monday night. Nope not up yet.

When we woke up the following morning I had an early doctor appointment. Thank goodness because my arm was in such pain. My husband asked if I wanted to check before my appointment. I had two reasons not to check first thing in the morning. First, it was still before the business day. Second, I didn't want to be crying going to the doctor. Either way I knew I would be crying. My doctor appointment went well. I didn't rebreak anything, which is what I was most worried about. I tore some tissue and need time for it to heal.

You can bet when we came home my husband asked me if I wanted to check for my score. It was around 8:40am. He could tell I was shaking inside. I told him "No, we can do it when you come home from work." That didn't work. He told me to get to the computer and he would check it. He typed in the numbers and hit submit....

It was up! I had PASSED!!!!! He looked up at me. I was hysterical crying. He said, "That's passing, right?" I couldn't even speak I was crying and shaking so hard. He jumped up screamed "You Did It!" He held me for what felt like an eternity while I cried hysterical on his shoulder. I did it. I passed. After all these years of hard work and dedication I finally passed! I finally could say I am a CPA! I'm a CPA! It's so surreal to me. I have been through so many ups and downs in this process. I still can't believe it.

Hey.. did you notice the title of the entire blog changed?

Motivation: Best Friends I have Never Met

Most of the time I am self motivated. I can talk myself into doing just about anything that I really desire. I wake up at 5 am every morning to work out and/or study. I tell people I can't do the fun things that they are doing so I can do what needs to be done. I was able to multi-task during postseason baseball (well just the Division Series since my Phillies were eliminated then) by having my laptop in front of me, completing multiple choice questions, but the games were on the big TV behind my computer. I studied during commercials or when things weren't going well for my team. I am able to watch what I eat to make sure I don't break my calorie bank for the day and ruin the good of my morning workout. But sometimes, I need help. I need people to help motivate me.

Years back I met a wonderful group of friends on the community boards of a weight loss website. It started out with about 15 or so of us emailing back and forth all day every day. Currently there are about 7 of us who are still able to "talk" all day. There are several others who I keep in touch with via Facebook, text messages, cards, etc. When one of us is doing good with our weight loss journey most likely the others are as well. And the same is true if one of us is having a bad week. It just seems to rub off via email.  We help motivate each other. Tell one another to "put the fork down!" Or "Great job working out this morning!" We have what we call our "daily challenges." We let each other know how we did the day before with our eating and exercising. We give each other advice on how to get back on track. Don't get me wrong we are not a bunch of girls who sit around and talk about our weight. We are so close. We are a bunch of best friends who talk about everything and anything under the sun. We let our true voice be heard. We are there to celebrate in the good times and cry with each other in the bad times. They have really helped motivate me to keep me on track with my goals. These are some of the best friends that I have never met.

Earlier this year, I was lacking motivation to continue studying for the CPA exam. I had just received a failing score and credit had expired. I needed something to get me back on track to reach this goal of mine. I just didn't think I had it in me to do on my own. I was getting frustrated and very down on myself for the "failure" and lost credit. (Just for the record, I don't ever refer to a non-passing score as a failure. I study my hardest and sit for the exam. That is not a failure. It's a speed bump!) There is no one I know around me day in and day out that is currently studying for the CPA exam, so having a talk with them about how they are dealing with the situation, well that wasn't an option. I did talk to several of my work friends who are already CPA's and they do help motivate me but not the way I needed to be to stay on track. I googled "CPA candidate blogs." I wasn't a big blog reader.  I came across an amazing CPA candidate blog, SleepOnCPA. She was so inspirational and I felt like I finally found a "friend" who was going through the same things as I was studying. I didn't feel so alone anymore. I kept following it for a few months. I had noticed that she had a post on the side of her blog to follow her and #twudygroup on Twitter. Well I didn't have a Twitter account so I made one. I started following her and figured out what the heck #twudygroup was. (Recently Roger, CPA posted a blog about #twudygroup) After I followed SleepOnCPA, I started to follow other CPA candidates. Suddenly, I wasn't alone in the slightest. I had friends all across the country who were in the same situation as I am. Other candidates waking up early to get to their study time in, staying home all weekend curled up with their CPA review materials, cursing that they don't understand something, etc.

The best part about #twudygroup is that I am fully emerged with other candidates who are in the same situation. We have all become #twudygroup friends. When we don't understand a concept, someone is right there to help you understand it. We share resources, knowledge, and study tips. So when I am exhausted, burnt out and want to give up there are about 15 or more people telling me not to quit. They remind me daily that I can do it. I can reach my goals of becoming a CPA. They give me the desire to study. I am excited for the day I can let my #twudygroup friends know that I am a CPA! #twudygroup friends are some of the best motivating friends that I have never met!

Crisp Autumn Day Cuddled up with REG

It's a beautiful autumn day in October. My favorite season. This is what I look forward to all year. A crisp wind is blowing. Leaves are changing. Children outside playing. The perfect day to enjoy outside taking in all the beauty of nature.

Not for this CPA candidate. I am sitting inside. In front of my computer. Window open. Children screaming laughing. All disturbing my quiet study time. I get up to close the window. But before I do that I take one last deep breath of crisp fresh air. What perfect weather to be anywhere but in front of the computer!

This is NOT where I want to be today. I want to be outside. I turn and look at the calendar. Just under one month until my final exam (hopefully). My ultimate goal is to be a CPA. This is the final obstacle standing in my way. Since I already passed it once I know I can do it again. I will be a CPA by the end of this testing window.

Tomorrow I return to work after 6 weeks home on disability with my broken arm. I will need to make my weekends and my nights count twice as much. I will not be able to spend time with my husband as I was able to this past month. I will need to be spending quality time with CPAexcel and Regulation.

What a wonderful and exciting life I lead. Well, it will be wonderful and exciting once I can say I tackled the hardest thing in my life, passing the CPA exam.

Some people dream of success... while others wake up and work hard at it. ~Author Unknown

Slaying REG one handed and getting results faster!

I mentioned in my previous post that this month has not been good and my FAR score was the highlight of my month. While passing any section of the CPA exam would be the highlight of my month, September was not a happy month for me (besides celebrating my 3rd anniversary with my husband. Speaking of my husband, I would not have been able to make it through September - or any part of the CPA exam - without him.)

At the beginning of the month I fell and broke my arm.  I mean really broke it. I had surgery to fix my bones.  I have been out of work since then.  I have not been able to work out. I can't drive. The pain killers messed with my head and made me completely depressed.  I lost about 2 weeks of studying due to my fall.  I don't remember very much while taking it.  I argued with my mom that she didn't come to see me after my surgery for about 10 minutes until she told me word for word our conversation. Oh right, I do remember now. I have emails and text messages that I don't remember sending out. But apparently I did. All I did was sleep and cry. I do remember hooking up my computer and trying to study. Do I remember what I studied? Nope!

I eventually decided that I could handle a little pain to be back into the right state of mind. The doctor said that I could take Tylenol if needed. I decided to stick to the Tylenol.  It took a few days for the prescription medication to get out of my system and for me to feel "normal" again.  When this finally happened I started to study all day long. I didn't even think about it. I knew it was what I had to do if I ever want to be a CPA. I continued on my study plan. Doing questions over and over and over again. Writing index cards. (I broke my left arm. I am right handed.) Writing out all the simulations on my notepad so I could understand the reasoning behind the answers. My arm still hurts but is getting better daily. But the pain of my arm is nothing compared to the pain of not achieving my goals.

At this point in time I still didn't know when I was going to take the exam. I still didn't get my FAR results back yet. So I had to push and learn as much as I could about REG in the time I had. What would happen if I needed to retake FAR?  I would take REG at the beginning of October and FAR again at the end of November. When I got that FAR score it relieved a little bit of stress. I didn't have to retake FAR. I had passed.  So considering I lost two weeks of studying to my broken arm I was able to push REG back without having to stress over the time needed to study. I scheduled REG for November.  But that has not hampered my studies. I still wake up every morning, turn the computer on and start studying for the day.  I am not wasting this time while I have to be home on disability. I am still "working" on my accounting skills. I hope I can go back to work soon. I am not getting paid but the bills keep coming!

I knew the results process of the CPA exam were going to change this quarter.  In prior quarters you had to wait until the third week of the third month of the quarter before receiving your score.  Today the AICPA released a memo concerning the score release for this quarter. This means I should have my REG score by the beginning of December! How nice will it be to enjoy the holiday baking, decorating, shopping and wrapping!

So with one good arm I will use my time wisely to study REG. I will get my score back before the end of December! I'll be slaying REG one handed and getting results FASTER!

Slayed "The Beast" Twice

Financial Accounting & Reporting (FAR) is known as the beast in the CPA Exam world.  It is 4 years of college accounting classes (plus information never learned in college) crammed into a four hour exam. It has the most amount of material covered in any of the four parts of the exam. 

It was the first section I finally passed. I will never forget the day I received my passing score the mail. It was a great day.  But 18 months later, I still had not passed all four sections of the exam, so I lost FAR. I cried and cried and cried. I think I was more upset that I lost FAR then the fact that I didn't pass the last part I was trying for.  All I could think about was the amount of material I had to reteach myself. Not only was it all the information from before, but if you know anything about accounting, you know that accounting rules change and more aspects are added to the accounting world and the exam all the time.  So I had to teach myself all about international accounting.  What the F^&K? I don't work on any international accounts. I work at a mid-sized accounting firm. Yes, I know that doesn't mean I will never need IFRS but 99.9% sure I won't need it while working here. While I like where I work, I am still young and it doesn't mean that I will never change jobs where I could possibly need this information. Beyond maybe needing IFRS in my job, I KNOW I will need those three distinct letters after my name to advance my career no matter where I am working. So I plugged along and learned as much as I needed to know for the exam.

Since day 1 I have been praying and studying HARD at every free second that I came across to pass this exam. I will explain in a later post, but this month (blackout/score release month) has not been a happy one for me. So I prayed more and more for good news during score release week. Some of my twitter friends posted they had received their FAR score before the official announcement from NASBA. I scrambled to find my NTS to check my score. Typing those numbers in and hitting "score" button, I held my breath and closed my eyes. Only to open my eyes and see no score was up yet. Ok breathe. A few hours later the site wasn't working right. I guess it was all the people checking for their scores. But I still closed my eyes and held my breath only to open my eyes with no score or an error processing my request.

I finally stopped for the night and kept plugging away at REG for the night. I was already involved in it. My thought process was even if I need to retake FAR, I am already into REG. Let me keep going.  I woke up the following morning, sick to my stomach thinking about checking my score again because this time I knew it would be available. Here I go again. Type in numbers, hit "score," close eyes, hold breath, open eyes....

Breath let out as a smile came across my face. I am very happy! I slayed the beast twice! All my hard work paid off. But I didn't let my happiness stay too long. I went right back to studying for REG for the day. I know how to pass. So there is no reason I won't pass REG this window!

California Vacation: Wine, Cheese & REG ??

I recently went on an awesome vacation to San Francisco / Sonoma Valley. It was the most relaxing, most gorgeous vacation of my life thus far. (I plan on having many more!) We flew into San Fran on Saturday. We spent Saturday and Sunday being our own tour guides by giving ourselves a walking tour! What a great city! But sooooo many hills! We definitely got our workouts in. (Not to mention we did take advantage of the hotel gym a few times!)   Monday morning we woke up and headed up to Sonoma Valley.  It is about an hour and half drive. We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge. What a treat for this East Coast Girl! As soon as we crossed the bridge we could immediately tell we were out of the city.  Words can't even explain how gorgeous the scenery is out there! I had my head out the window snapping pictures every time we had to drive somewhere.  I just couldn't get enough! (My pictures are now my screen saver on my home computer!)

We could tell as soon as we reached Sonoma Valley. Grapes! As far as the eye could see! For the next three days we enjoyed the scenery and attended wine tastings.  Our tasting included Hanna Winery, Alder Brook Winery and Korbel Champagne Cellars. Hanna was just a wine tasting. It was relaxing to sit on the deck and look out over the vineyards while tasting some fabulous wine. We toured the grounds of Alder Brook and then were treated to a magnificent lunch! While we ate we enjoyed the beautiful views of the vineyards. I had an amazing time at both; however, I personally had the best time at Korbel! Again, we were treated to lunch. (Seriously, the lunches consisted of some of the best food I have ever tasted!) We were able to eat our lunch while enjoying the scenery. Then we were taken on a private VIP tour. The first part was the history of the Korbel Champagne Brand. Who knew the Korbel Brothers didn't set out to make Champagne. But we are sure glad they did! This part is available to the public. If you are ever in Sonoma County I highly suggest this tour and tasting! The second part, which is not open to the public, we were able to take a look at how the champagne is made from start to the finish product in boxes ready to be shipped to the retailer. I really enjoyed seeing how my champagne goes from grapes into that delicious bubbly! These three vineyards were beyond amazing and hospitable! We had a few other wineries that we were scheduled to visit but time did not allow anymore visits or tastings. I suggest any of the wine / champagne they produce!

We headed back to San Francisco. We hopped a train and went down to AT&T Park. Too bad the Giants were away that week. We walked around the outside of the ballpark. If we ever head back to San Francisco we will make sure we either get a tour of the ballpark or go when the Giants are home! After we were done seeing the sites the outside of the ballpark had to offer we went for a walk along the bay. We enjoyed exploring the different piers had to offer. On our last day we walked the Golden Gate Park. Neither of us wanted to come home. We had a wonderful vacation exploring as much as we could fit into our time on the West Coast!

The only thing that could have made our West Coast vacation more enjoyable would be if I didn't have that black cloud of studying for the CPA Exam hanging over my head.  I did bring my REG textbook with me. I had all intentions of studying on the flight. It is 6 hours from East to West! I decided to sleep as much as possible on the way there as I was gaining 3 hours to my day and if you know me at you know I LOVE my sleep.  At night when we were sitting around the hotel rooms watching TV I pulled out my book and started reviewing multiple choice questions. I think I studied about one hour probably every other night out there. I did study on our flight home, as I knew I needed to stay awake so I could get back to east coast time more easily.  Although, studying for REG could have easily put me to sleep! I completed unites 1-4 of my REG studies while on vacation. It might not be much, but I am proud of myself for studying when I much rather be spending time with my husband on vacation. He is so understanding. He left me alone while I was studying for those few hours at night at the hotel. I know he would have rather had been spending time with me then watching TV. But that's the life of a CPA Candidate and their family!

My vacation studying may not have been hardcore but I can promise you and myself that my studies have kicked up since arriving home. I will not let REG or any part of the CPA exam get the best of me. I will give it my all and never give up!

My Study Plan

Today I sat for FAR. I don't know how it went. I never know how it goes until I get the official score. 

One of my twudygroup friends (I will explain twudygroup in a later post) asked me how many times I "over'd and over'd and over'd." I wish I could give her a simple answer like I "over'd and over'd and over'd" each question 5 times. But it really isn't that easy. Some questions I might have actually only done once. Others I probably couldn't even count that high without my 10-key (lame accountant joke!).  She asked via Direct Message on Twitter.  There is no way I could answer her question in 140 characters.  So I am going to do it right here and everyone can get the benefit of my answer. 

First, I want to remind you while I have passed individual sections of the CPA exam, I have not passed all in the time frame allowed. Thus, I am not a CPA, YET! I am not an expert in studying and I am not claiming to be one.  So please realize my study habits may not be the ones that work best for you.

Second, I do believe everyone needs to over and over and over no matter what your study habits are. The information needs to stick in your brain. No better way then repetition.

I currently use CPAExcel as my study course.  It is broken down into topics, then subtopics then bite sized subtopics.  As you complete each bite sized subtopic the topic turns a color. Red - You don't know shit! Better do it again! Orange - You know more than shit but you should review it. Yellow - You are almost there! One more time! Green - You go it. Move on! (The explanations are courtesy of me!) Each topic has video lectures (these are extra - I did purchase them), the chapter out of the textbook, Proficiency Questions, Exam Questions, Flashcards, and if applicable, task based simulations. I also have used Wiley Online Test Bank for variety. My over and over and over works with both and just about every test you will ever have to take in your life.

So without further ado here is my study plan for every section of the exam without me even looking at how much there is and how much time I have. This is what I do.

I go straight to the Exam Questions. In CPAExcel there can be anywhere from 1 question to 30 questions in this part depending on the material. I complete all these questions on exam mode. Exam mode is just as it sounds. You are timed and don't see the correct answers until you complete that section. This is the mode that the color indicators happen. I get my percentage correct for that topic. Then I go back and redo all the questions in study mode. Study mode tells you right away if your answer if the correct or incorrect. It gives you an explanation of why it is the correct / incorrect answer. It doesn't matter if I got it correct or incorrect I read ALL the wrong answers and then the correct one. Then reread the question with the correct answer. If there is a section I really don't understand I will watch the lecture. If I still don't understand I will read that section of the textbook. I make study cards for not only the topics I don't know at all but also for the topics that I semi know. The only study cards I don't make are the ones that I ABSOLUTELY know. I sometimes create my own and sometimes just copy what the ones that are included in the software. I do this from top to bottom for ALL the lessons.

After the first review is done I go over the topics that are red and redo those questions. I want them to be at least orange!

Depending on my time I will keep doing this. I would ideally love everything to be yellow. But that isn't practicable most of the time.

When it comes down to two or three weeks remaining I start the main point in my over and over and over process. I do practice tests, all questions review over and over and over. With CPAExcel you can chose to have questions randomly from all the material, from the questions you haven't seen yet, or the questions you haven't answered correct yet. With Wiley you can chose to do ones that you have gotten correct or you can chose to do all the questions. You can also add in TBS, which I do at this point (more on TBS below). Wiley also has a feature that you can chose what topics you want the questions from. So if you are weak in a few topics, you can review them in testlet. Some days I do just the ones I haven't answered correct yet (this includes the ones I haven't seen yet). Some days I do all the questions so I can review what I already know. I keep going until multiple choice questions are coming out of my ears!

Now for the Task Based Simulations.  I take a few days and I review and WRITE out every single TBS on my yellow legal pad. (Accountants LOVE yellow legal pads!)  You know they aren't as hard as they sound if you write them out and realize what the question is asking. I review the ones I really don't understand. A few days before the test I try to take a day or more to just focus on TBS.  For me, they cover a lot of material in one problem. I feel like I get more bang for my time by doing them. I review more concepts at once and how they fit together than if I did MCQ for that time. But don't forget to go back and over and over and over your MCQ!

On weekends I do a practice test a day. It is normally on the weekends only because I have more time and you will need a lot of time to complete and review a test. Again, during the review I read the answer explanation.

During my over and over and over process I will complete mini testlets of 20 MCQ at a time. I don't have a long attention span so this is good for me. I just keep doing these over and over and over until I have to leave for the test!

I am sorry friend, I don't have an answer of how many times I over and over and over. How do you feel? Should you do one topic more times than another topic? Are you stuck on some questions? Use your gut. I know you are smart or you never would have made it this far! I know that's a longer answer then you were expecting but that's my answer! Good Luck Studying! I will be right there with you!

Over and Over and Over Again!

When I think about how I already passed FAR and REG but I lost them while trying my hardest to pass BEC it makes me beyond frustrated.  It's not that I gave up trying. I was sitting for BEC every window! But I know I can pass FAR and REG! I did it once. I will do it again. Not my choice. But my motivation will carry me on.

I did sit for FAR last window and did not pass.  I know I didn't give myself enough time to study and relearn the concepts. I didn't want to lose REG in the process. However, I did. Again, not my choice! How did I pass FAR before but not during the retake. My strategy is simple: over and over and over again!

Before I received any of my passing scores, I had a conversation with one of the managers from one of our other offices.  (Apparently I am the "shared" staff member so I office hop A LOT!)  It was the first day I went to meet her to help out with a job.  She took me to lunch.  We didn't talk about the job I was going to be completing for her. Instead we talked about my career goals. She knew at that time I was studying for the exam.  She told me to do the questions over and over again until they become second nature to me. At this point I was watching the lectures, reading the textbook, taking notes, and studying notes.  But as we know with FAR there was so much material and my time was running out. I needed a way to cover the material and fast as my scheduled appointment was quickly approaching. (I am not a believer of rescheduling. I am a procrastinator. The longer I have to study, the longer I will take to study. It won't be more studying for me.) So I took her advice. I did the questions over and over and over and over. I read the reasoning why I answered it right or why I answered it wrong. This was my strategy until exam day.

I will never forget the feeling I felt when I opened the envelope from NASBA that Friday afternoon in December. 76! I PASSED! What I learned was how to read the questions, figure out what they are asking, and how to narrow the choices down. I might not have known the right answer but by process of elimination I was able to guess and my guesses paid off. I "over'd and over'd" this process two more times. Once for REG the following window. Then once for AUD two windows later. (I took the next window off for tax season.) It didn't work for me with BEC. But I don't have to worry about BEC.  Right now I have to worry about FAR and REG. And over and over and over and over works!

Healthy Balance

It seems to be inevitable for me: Studying for the CPA exam does not equal weight loss no matter how hard I try. Sometimes I maintain. Sometimes I gain.  I religiously track every calorie that goes into my mouth. I use a heart rate monitor to track every calorie I burn during my workouts. I do the math. I burn more calories than I take in. So what gives?

I am an accountant. I sit at work for eight hours a day in front of a computer. I come home from work and I sit in front of the computer for hours on end every night studying.  My exercise time is 5 am every morning. After I am done getting ready for work but before I actually leave for work, I sit in front of the computer for those precious couple of extra minutes of study time. My life is in front of a computer!

This week was not the best week. I had to make a hard decision that caused me to be upset, but was the right decision. While I did not go over my calorie range the food I was eating this week was not healthy at all. No nutrients and no vitamins. My food choices have been getting progressively worse. I feel like I need to munch while studying. Am I hungry? No but I want to munch and crunch. This week the scale went up. Normally I am not one to focus on the number on the scale. I am more focused on how many push ups I can do, how high I can jump, how hard I can push myself. But I have not been focused on what I have been fueling my body with lately and the number on the scale this week shows it.

This has got to change! No more excuses. Yes I am still going to be sitting in front of a computer for hours on end a day. That can't change. I will always be an accountant, until I am a CPA. But to be a CPA I need to study. And studying means sitting at the computer all day. I am still getting up every morning and working out everyday. I will continue to do my 1/2 hour to 1 hour workouts a day. They help me stay on track. Get my blood flowing and give me the energy to keep studying. 

So what am I changing? My food choices and this mindless munching that I seem to be doing. My plan is to get back on the path I was before. Breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner.  I will make healthier choices. Breakfast is normally cereal. Morning snack will be fruit. Lunch will be packed full of protein. Afternoon snack will be veggies. Dinner will be a balance.

I will not let achieving one goal completely throw me off track from the other goal. The second goal may need to be slowed down so the first can be accomplished. I will work in unison to be able to achieve all my goals.

Stress! Stress! and MORE STRESS!

My life is pretty stress free except when it comes to my career goals aka studying and passing the CPA exam. Just the  thought of preparing for an exam that could have questions on everything you studied or have nothing you studied, then having to wait for your score until the third week of the third month of the quarter, no matter when in the prior two months you actually took the exam makes me stressed. Not to mention having to put the rest of your life on hold. You have to tell your family and friends "No. I can't do that but thanks for the invite" A LOT! Some people get it, some don't. And having to listen to the ones who don't get it only adds to the stress.

I have to do something to relieve this stress. It's not healthy to feel like that all the time. I am physically and mentally exhausted. I always try to make a little time for myself. I take deep breaths and get a good night sleep every night. But my favorite way to relieve stress is by working out and getting a great sweat on. I feel that I sweat away all my stress!

I love working out. It gives me a natural high. I might even say I am slightly addicted to it. I have a million workout DVDs. Ok, maybe not a million but I am pretty close to it!

One of the reasons I was really upset when I found out I didn't pass my last section is because I knew that I had to revamp my daily workouts as I always do during testing time. I can't "waste" an hour or more of precious study time. On work days I normally wake up at 5 am. When it's not testing time I will do an hour workout before work. However, when it is testing time I only workout for half hour. I use the other half hour to review some of the information I studied the night before. It may not be much but every second counts in the study world.

Don't get me wrong, whether I work out for half hour, an hour or more I work out HARD. I can feel myself getting stronger. I can do more push ups. I can jump higher. I can lift heavier weights. I feel better about myself. The blood gets flowing. The brain works better. A working brain helps me study and retain more information. So I take the time each day not only to study but also to get my mind and body ready to sit in front of the computer for hours on end.

Take care of yourself in every aspect of your life. I take steps every day to better my mind and body every day. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Life is Happening All Around Me

Passing the CPA exam is high on my priority list.  It may even be the highest.  The CPA exam is hard and takes sacrifices and motivation.  Some days it is easy to sit down and study. Some days it is the last thing I want to do. I know I have to put my life on hold to reach my goal.

This weekend in particular is hard to sit indoors and study. It is the Fourth of July weekend. Long weekend. Days off of work. Picnics. Parties. Outdoor activities. Fireworks. All needs to be put on hold until next year. Most people understand that studying is my first priority and they silently cheer me on. (They can't be loud about it or it will interrupt my studies!) Then there are some people who say "You're studying agaaaaaiiiinnnn????" Yes, I am studying again. No, I can't to go away for the weekend. No, I can't go to your picnic. No, I can't watch the fireworks.  Do I want to do these things? Of course! Who wants to be stuck inside studying when they could be having fun with friends and family? Not me! But I know where my priorities are.

When I finally pass the CPA exam, I would have made my own "fireworks" that will be brighter than any fireworks I would see this weekend. I know this because I would have finally completed the hardest thing that I have ever had to do in my entire life. It will be something that I will be carry with me forever. I will be proud of myself. And I know in the end the people who kept asking "again" will be proud of me for not giving up on my dreams.

This will be the time that I spend my summer holidays inside studying. I know it will be worth it in the end. Next summer when I am at these picnics, parties and gatherings, I will be a CPA.

Good News, Bad News

Good News: I passed all 4 parts of the CPA Exam! WooHoo!
Bad News: Two parts expired by the time I finally passed the fourth section and I need to take them again.

Good News: I already passed those parts. I know I can do it again.
Bad News: I have to keep studying and putting my life on hold.

Good News: Audit doesn't expire until November, 2011.

Bad News: Audit expires November, 2011!

I can't even begin to tell you the feeling of the weight of the world being slightly lifted off my shoulders when I saw I finally passed BEC. If I passed it the same time last year I would have already been a CPA for a year. I studied for BEC for almost exactly one year! One year on the same topic and I only just passed by the skin of my teeth. I passed with a 75! BEC is a killer and I am so glad to have that behind me. I know that finally passing BEC, I will not let it expire.  I don't know if I would be able to put myself through the torture of  BEC again. So I won't have this negative attitude. I won't need to retake it. That's just negative thinking and negative thinking is not me!  

I initially was thinking of taking FAR the second to last week in July and taking REG the last week of August fully knowing that if something went wrong I had the fourth quarter testing window to retake either of those sections before Audit expires.  However, thinking about it, I feel like I was setting myself up to fail those sections. I would have only given myself about a month to study for each. While I did just study for FAR last quarter there is SO much material. I can't even begin to grasp it in a month let alone know it all in a month! And I haven't looked at REG in 18 months! Besides the crazy amount of material that is needed to know, I already have two vacations planned. One in July and one in August.  That means on my vacations I would have to study the entire time and not be able to relax at all.

Time for a new plan.  Sitting down thinking about it..... wait strike that While working out and thinking about my goals and what I need to do achieve them (because yes working out is still a priority in my life. Not number one but it's up there), I decided that I would be better off only sitting for FAR this quarter. I will take it mid August.  I will take my books with me to the beach. I will bring my laptop and study every chance I get at the house. I will even have to sacrifice a few days on the beach to sit in the house and study. Yes, it stinks. I would much rather be laying out in the sun and having fun with my family. But if I don't do this now, then I will never be able to enjoy my family time because the big black cloud known as the CPA exam will always be lingering over my head.

I plan on taking REG in the final testing window. I will have about two months to study and refresh on all the tax laws and business laws. I need to know this as Audit will expire this testing window. There are no two ways about it. I will be a CPA before 2012 hits.

The Basics to the Journey

For years now my New Years Resolutions have only been two things: First, to pass the CPA exam. Second, to get and stay in better shape. I have yet to achieve either resolution. I know the second resolution is directly related to the stress of the first resolution. Even though neither resolution has been resolved I will not say that I didn't live up to my potential to achieve them.

Starting Summer 2009 I passed my first part of the CPA exam, Financial Accounting and Reporting, or "the Beast" as it is known.  I was so excited. I was jumping around my house shouting with excitement.  That was a great feeling.  It gave me the motivation to study for Regulation with my all.  I passed that the following quarter. The next quarter was during tax season. I decided to take that quarter off as I had to work crazy long hours and would not be able to put the time in to study for the Auditing section. After tax season, I hit the books hard. I passed Auditing. 3 down 1 to go! I was on a roll!

I put my life on hold for the next quarter and studied Business Environment and Concepts like it was no body's business. I knew it. My practice test scores were in the high 90's. There was no way I wasn't going to pass this test. When I got my grade back I almost had a heart attack. I failed... by A LOT. It was the lowest score I received since I started taking the exams back in 2006.  How could that happen? I knew it. It was the hardest I ever studied. I went into a deep depression for a few days. I told myself to snap out of it, schedule it again, and get back to studying. So that's what I did. I had it scheduled for the next quarter. Again I gave it my life. Again I FAILED. What was going on! Now I only had one more quarter to pass until I started losing the previous parts I passed due to time constraints.  I was baking Christmas cookies and studying. My Christmas vacation was all about studying. No way was I going to lose parts that I put so much time and energy in. But the accounting gods have come to HATE me. I FAILED again. Third time in a row. My scores were getting better. I was only 3 points away from passing. I thought I was depressed the first time. This time was the most awful feeling that I would never want my worst enemy to feel. I lost FAR. Now I had BEC and FAR to take before I lost REG. I cried for about an hour, then got up and rescheduled both tests. I scheduled them both for after tax season.

I received my FAR score back but not my BEC. I failed FAR. I failed the part I had already passed.  I felt a dagger go through my heart. When will this ever end.  Not only did I now have to retake FAR again, I needed to retake REG. Who knows about BEC.  Apparently most of the BEC scores were released but a very few were not yet. Of course mine is one of the ones not released. I am waiting but not very patiently! There is a $75 application fee that needs to be paid at the time of reapplying. I am not paying that twice if the accounting gods really hate me like they seem to.

Now my life is all about FAR again.  I took it end of May so it is still fresh in my head. I plan to take it mid-August before my vacation.  I want to take REG beginning October.

As for my workouts, I can't say the last two years have been a waste. Just about the same time in 2006 that I started studying for this massive test, I started a weight loss plan. I was able to take off about 30 lbs and keep it off. Like any girl, I would like to lose about 10 more lbs. I work out (almost) daily and follow an eating plan. I have my days when I get off track. Putting my heart into studying and not getting back what I put in definitely contributes to that. However, it normally only lasts anywhere from a few hours to a day or two. Does eating awful and being lazy ever make anyone feel better about themselves? It certainly does not help me. It makes me feel worse. 

I will be the Fit CPA. No more almost Fit. No more CPA Candidate. The year is only half over. I still have 6 months to accomplish the HARDEST, most stressful thing I have ever wanted from life.  .