Accountant's Musings: CPA Exam & Life Beyond

It appears the world is in agreement that wave 2 of the exams will start coming out this week. I have a page/tab up to your top left – with some info on when to expect the exam to come out. Other blogs, for example, another71.com, have predictions on when the exams will come out with specific dates for specific sections. If you look around on twitter and CPAnet.com and other discussion platforms/media, you will see that people are talking about the exams A LOT!

As much as we know or are almost sure that the CPA exam results will come out this week, we are not certain about the specifics. We may go as far as to say, we are not certain of the order in which the exams will be released. We don’t even know if all the results will be released at the same time! (I know wave 2 has always meant everybody’s results will come out, but …).

What are the things that make the waiting unbearable?

There could be as many reasons as there are people? In some cases, it is because the people are just impatient by nature. In other cases, it is because people at work or school, or a significant other, keep asking whether the exams are out – and whether you have passed! It could be that you have plans to do other things, but you cannot go ahead until you know whether you have passed or not. It could be that coming out of the exam, you were not sure how you did, or you were sure, but you just need confirmation. It could be that you have taken the exam one time too many, and you hope this is the last time you have taken it. Should I continue with the reasons or try to give some suggestions on the waiting?! [Sorry!]

How am I handling the waiting? [I am waiting for REG, and I didn't study well, and I didn't feel like I did well on the exam. Talk about positive thinking!] Well, for REG, I have told myself that if I pass, great. I felt like I failed the other three exams, but I ended up passing even though AUD was very close, so I would not be surprised if I have passed REG. If I have failed, I know the possible reasons. My studying was a mess. I know I will pass it the next time around. No knocking on wood! You just have to believe in your potential and abilities to change what you can and alter your results. So, I am at peace with whatever comes. I will be upset if I fail, but I am not anxious to know. Even if I am upset, I will not let it linger for too long. I will just move on. Apply to retake. Start studying again. Take the exam. Prove myself right. One other thing that is to my benefit, that other people may not have, is that I have passed three exams already, so I have a foundation to base my confidence on. Enough about me. But for people in similar circumstances to mine, there is a way to handle the waiting.

It is so hard to wait, and to see all the people talking about failing and passing, and seeing other people who have passed your section saying the section you are waiting for was their easiest etc. There were times when I would tell myself to stay away from the computer… and I would stay away by walking to the kitchen, grab something, and then come back to check! So much about staying away! But I think the best thing to do is to stay away. Give yourself some bearable time, 1 hour, or 3 hours or 6 hours. I recommend that it be in hours. Stick to your schedule for checking. Thing is, when the exams are released by the AICPA, the Boards have to do their part for you to get your score. Knowing that the AICPA has released the exam, and your board is not releasing the exam soon enough, just shifts “blame” from the AICPA to the State Board! [Candidates seem to want to blame somebody for delaying their getting the results back!]

Okay, let’s say the exam is out right now and it is available right now – [don't leave yet, it is not out, I am just assuming! I might as well throw in the humor while we are waiting for the exam ] – what do you do? You check, you find out the results, then what? I mean, think about it. Whatever you are going to do after that, is it worth the pain or hussle of checking every second? Refresh page F5, refresh page F5, refresh page F5! I don’t think so.

Okay – here are the possible suggestions to handle the wait without worrying or checking every second:

1 - Like me, reach a point whereby whatever comes, you will accept it with grace. You accept failure either because you didn’t prepare to the best of your ability, or you just didn’t do as well as the AICPA wanted you to do even though you prepared very hard. Once you reach that resolution, your mind should be at peace, and you will not be in a hurry to find out how you did. It is not because you don’t care, but it is because you know it is out of your control, and you will accept whatever comes and move on from there.

2 - Stay away from the computer. I don’t know how you will do it, but being so close to information makes it harder for you to resist the temptation to check the exam results. Get engaged in something totally unrelated to exams. I have been writing for a couple of minutes and I didn’t check the exam page – albeit I am talking about it. If, say, you go to sleep, or you play games with your friends or child(ren), or you go for a walk with your GF, BF, SO, W, H, or BFF or dog, then you won’t be checking or thinking about the exams all the time.

3 - Hang out with people who are [not] waiting for the exam. There are two points here. One is to hang out with people who are also waiting for the exam, that way you go through the the (e)motions together. This may or may not be a good support group depending on what the people are saying versus what you want or wish them to say. The second point is to hang out with people who have nothing to do with the the exam. Chances are that these people will talk about something else, and they will suggest activities that have nothing to do with the CPA exam. Thus your mind/thoughts/feelings will be away from the exam results.

4 - If you are preparing to take another section of the CPA exam this coming window, may be you should focus on that section. One way to look at it is this. Let’s assume that if you don’t study today and/or tomorrow or all week because you are waiting for the results from last exam window, you are going to fail the next section! No reasons. Let’s just take that as a fact. Would you study today and tomorrow and the rest of the week, or would you continue waiting for the exam that has not come out yet? Iwould study. Now, don’t you think that missing a day or two days or a week of study could have a significant impact on your CPA results? I think it could. Well, you may be wasting an hour, a day, several days or a week right now!

5 - What control do you have over the exam results or when they are released or when you get notified? Whatever your answer is, that is the amount of focus, attention, or worry you should dedicate to waiting for the CPA exam results!

6 - If you did your best in preparing for the exam and taking it, that is all anybody could ask of you. Take courage in the work you did. Take whatever results come, no regrets.

7 - Pray or Meditate for peace of mind. I prefer prayer because… let’s just say it is how I was brought up and how I have chosen to live my life. Prayer means that you accept that you are not in control of everything. That you need help dealing with something. That God or whoever you pray to, has the power to affect how you look at things, how you handle things, how the results come to you, and what the results were/are. In some ways, you also say that whatever comes, is what is best for you. It may suck. You may not like it. But in the grand scheme of things, in ways that you may not understand, you believe whatever has happened is for the best. This is different from the “logical and practical” things presented above, but for me and others, prayer is just as logical and practical as the other things. May be even more. One effective way to pray, is forget about yourself, and pray for other people. For example, you could pray for all other CPA candidates that you know they are going through the same feelings and fears and anxiety that you are going through. That they need peace of mind. That other need success more than you do. That others have taken the exam more times than you have. That they may have worked harder than you did. That they may have guessed less than you did. That others do not have access to the information that you have. May they have peace of mind. May they get success. May they have faith that they can do it. May they believe that they are not alone. There other people going through the same emotions. There is One who is more powerful than anything out there, and that One cares so much about them. Pass or fail, your value in the eyes of God does not change. God is the only one who matters. If He cares that much about you, then that should give you comfort as you wait for the exam.

I had to save the best for last.

Good luck, and I hope you found that helpful.

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