Accountant's Musings: CPA Exam & Life Beyond

Praise be to God in highest! What can I say? This is one of the many blessings I have received in my life, and especially in the past couple of weeks. I hope I will share them all some day. For the time being, let me share one: I have passed the remaining section of the CPA exams, Regulation (REG), with a score of 89. It feels good to be done with the endless studying. Now I can spend a day to study Ethics and get that out of the way. To all who encouraged me, supported me, and prayed for me, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. To those who are still studying, or are still waiting or did not pass, I wish you good luck! [To those who are wondering what State I took the exams in, so that you can check your results as well, it is Illinois - you may see that in the clipped screenshot below.]

REG results for cpastories

Thanks for reading, and I hope you found that helpful.

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I finished my Regulation exam about 30 minutes ago. I started at around 1pm and got done a little after 4pm. How do I feel about it? Great! [;-)] It was tough but very passable. I got stuck on the very first question, so I had to regroup quickly. I made my educated “choice”, and moved on. I was about 5 minutes ahead of schedule after testlet one, 2 minutes behind schedule after testlet two, 15 minutes behind schedule after testlet three, 25 minutes behind schedule after testlet 4, so I had 20 minutes to do my last simulation [I had planned 35 minutes per testlet with 5 to spare]. All I can say is, I was able to do the communication, research, one of the three other tabs… and sort of scrape through two other tabs. I don’t think I have had a simulation that was that “long”. So, I am done for another 3 weeks, and hopefully, forever.

What was I up to the past three weeks?

Well, other than working, I was studying. It was hard to be motivated at times, but I finally got my act together and worked my tail off. This time around, I can say, even though I was not doing as well as I wanted to, I was much more calmer and confident when studying than I was before. I was joking with my GF the other day, that I don’t understand how I could be so calm and confident when I was not doing great in my practice exams. Would I rather suck and be calm, or be freaked out and acing stuff left and right? I would rather be calm and ace stuff left and right!

While studying and trying to be motivated, I tracked my efforts in many different places. Here are some of them:

Nothing Gets Things Done Like Doing Them (at timesnowball.com)

The Power of Less Challenge (you can create an account and then track your new habit(s) and report on a daily basis)

Habit Tracker  (A spreadsheet that I used to track things I needed to do daily, from cleaning dishes to studying for the CPA exam. On the other tab, REG – TOC, was tracking when I started a study unit and when I finished it. I didn’t track much during this past week. I wonder why!]

My old Critical Success Activities Tracker saw some updating. Updating everything took about 3-5 minutes. It was, “login”, “punch in numbers or type quickly”, “logout”, especially when I was very tired or I was running out of time to study/sleep.

I wrote “99″ on every page I studied, even though I felt it was a far-fetched dream. The “99″ was coming from the post I wrote a couple of weeks ago: “write down the score you want”

I wrote down a bunch of “insights” as I was studying on how to think about the CPA exam, what to watch for, etc. most of it was just for me, as is the case with the things on this blog, but I will share it when I get the time (- mental, emotional, and actual time -) to flip through my notes again.

What’s next?

I think I will take a break from this studying and next week, sometime, I will order the Ethics course and study for that and get it out of the way. I have to believe that I have passed this Regulation exam and act like I have passed it! I will be praying for success. A few times during the exam, I said a quick prayer or two.

To those who will be taking the exam tomorrow, 11/30/2009, good luck! To those who are waiting for the results, good luck and I hope you passed! To those who are studying and will take or retake the exam, do your best, and good luck!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you found that helpful.

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A few days ago, I wrote about how to handle failure on a CPA exam section. The gist of the article was that one should not beat oneself up, and I provided some tips on how to look at the situation in a positive light. The post became timely and handy when I learnt that I failed the REG section by one point, (yesterday). I didn’t actually read it, because … I had written it and I knew what its contents were. I also needed some time to just let it sink in. I think one of the things that I left out in that post, is that “grieving” for the lost time, dashed hopes, delayed plans, etc – is okay up to a point. So, I did that yesterday. I had bought some wine months ago to celebrate my finishing, I went ahead and drank a bit of it! I let the people who matter to me that I was a little bit down, and they were supportive, and then I did something that I have been wanting to do, and having been doing in bits and pieces, teaching myself HTML and CSS. I visited a few accounting blogs to encourage people to keep studying, and I congratulated a bunch of people who have passed a section or all four sections. For the most part, I did a lot better than I expected. I think it will be a little hard to tell people at work tomorrow that I am not done taking the exams. Everybody thought it was a done deal. Not yet!

Okay, now a day has passed (or a week, depending on how long you find necessary to feel sorry for yourself and the situation), and you have been down, and you have picked yourself up… you have fought the worry demons by proving to yourself that you are not alone, you have looked on the positive side of life, you have focused on things that cheer you up, you have forgotten yourself and focused on other things or other people. Point number 5 in the post is moving on. How do you move on? Why should you move on?

Why move on after failing a CPA exam section?
Two basic reasons. First, the goal of passing the section and progress towards becoming a CPA has not been met yet. Thus, one has to move on, towards that goal. Second, it is hard to move on when you let your past hold you back. So, the idea/goal/reason is to let go of the past [you cannot change it], embrace the present [it is what it is, and you have some control over it], and look to the future with hope [you can control what happens in the future by the steps you take now.]

How to move on after failing a CPA exam section
Now that you have your reasons for moving on. How do you move on? What is the point of moving on if you will do what you did before and you will experience the same result and be in the same situation? So, the logic behind moving on with hope is that we can do something now, that will result in a different situation or result in the future. For that to happen, somebody has to change, and/or something has to change.

Somebody has to change. I have to search within myself and see if there are things that I did that I should not have done, or things that I did not do that I should have done. How was my preparation in totality and in specific places. For example, was studying for about 2-3 weeks (that is, cramming) good enough? Apparently it was not. Was studying intensely while not exercising (that is, working out) good for my body/brain?  Was doing simulations only the night/morning of the exam a good idea? Was going into the exam with just a familiarity, (not knowledge), of the core concepts in tax a good idea? Was I overconfident after passing the first three sections? How were my notes? Did I take a shortcut by not using the Gleim Testprep CD because it had too many multiple choice questions compared to Wiley? Why did I watch just one DVD of the Yaeger lectures? What did I do on the sections that I passed that I did not do in the section I have failed? What was my target score? Did I do enough to attain that score? From these questions and answers to them, I can learn about myself, and what I need to change so that I can be successful next time around. Similarly, I think others who have failed, may gain some insight from asking questions that are applicable to them. Some people may have done everything right, but other things outside themselves affected their performance. Thus, the next section may be relevant.

Something has to change. How did you like the material you were using? [I believe that all the main CPA Review vendors have quality material, you just have to put in the effort. However, if you were using old material, then you may have done something right, but still failed.] How was your “support group”? What time did you study, eat, relax, etc? Were those things, or times, optimal? You will notice that when addressing this question, the person is in control of most of these items. For example, one may not be able to change how long one works, but s/he can change how long s/he relaxes after getting home, or how long s/he goes without relaxing. Again, situations are different for individuals, so everyone will come up with unique or different sets of questions applicable to his or her situation. Honest answers to those questions and the correcting action taken may be the difference between passing the section next time around, and failing again.

Plans going forward. I like to have things in writing. It is like signing a contract with myself. [My current self with my future self]. So, here are my goals, and my dreams going forward.

- Apply to retake the CPA exam section (REG) as soon as possible. I already did this yesterday about an hour after I found out that I had not passed. I am just waiting to hear back from the Board, and then pay the NASBA to get the NTS, and thereafter schedule with Prometric.

- Set a score-goal for the CPA exam section. I set this at 100 (I hope the highest you can get is not 99! Whatever it is, I will go for the highest possible score.). I think it can be done. The times that I have studied well, paced myself, took time to understand things, I have done well in school. I don’t think the CPA exam is any different. In addition, aiming for a perfect score means that if you fall short, you will probably not be a point short of the passing grade!

- Set a time table to study and stick to it.

- Pray daily for courage, faith, and determination to pursue excellence in all that I do, especially the CPA exam.

- Blog about (or keep track of) my preparation and study progress.

- Exercise daily, even if it is for 5 minutes.

- Read my positive thinking note daily.

- Use a reward system for accomplishing my daily and weekly goals. (I will decide what this should be. For now, I think it will be blogging and getting on the Internet. If I don’t study enough, I will not blog or get on the Internet.)

Thank you for reading, and I hope you found that helpful.

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I just found out I have failed Regulation. I got 74. How does it feel to miss passing by 1 point on your very last exam? Well, now I know.

My goal is to get 100% when I retake it. I will register to retake, and then head out to the library.

Regulation - Fail 74 - Only 1 point short from being a CPA!

Update: I retook REG on 11/29/09 and passed with a score of 89. I took the Ethics exam on 12/20/09 and passed with a score of 95. So, I am done with the CPA exams

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I took the Regulation (REG) section of the CPA exams today. I think I had a rougher time than I had with AUD. I don’t know if my “complaints” that the exam was tough are “dependable” any more, since I have had something to say about the earlier 3 exams and luckily, I passed them. But I had said AUD was rough, and I barely passed it with a 77. I would be surprised if I hit 70. Well, I may score 65, or 90. I overstudied this past week (and yes, up to today) and I confused myself along the way. At times during the exam, I had to dig deep. I closed my eyes with my hands to focus and try to remember some things a few times … and I came out blank one too many times! I am attempted to look up the things I was not sure of, but I think I will not. As I came out of the exam and I was talking to one of the ladies at prometric, I mentioned to her that I would start studying for REG again tonight so that I can be ready to retake it. She said, “no, just wait, it will be okay.” Well, I thought, she could be right. I worried about AUD, and it came out okay. May be this will come out okay. Like Auditing and Attestation, there were times when I was mad at myself for not being sure about what to do. I knew I had read the stuff, I had worked on a multiple choice question similar to that question, but I could not remember the concept/idea. When I study, I almost always go for the idea. I don’t care about the figures, rates, etc. I can “back into” the rates or figures if I know what needs to be done and I have only forgotten what percentage or rate of something. Anyway, this time around, I think I stuffed my brain with too many concepts in a short time than it had to process them and come in handy. I did my best during the exam. I cannot say I did my best in the preparation, except for the last 10 days or so.

I did not like the fact that I waited almost 30 minutes before I could start the exam, but that’s okay. It was a busy day for the people at the site, and they were nice as usual. Anyway, after the fingerprinting, picture, emptying pockets, … came exam time. I logged in, and clicked through the first couple of screens, and then I stopped just before the last screen (before the exam starts) to write up how much time I would spend on each testlet and the start times. According to the Gleim Audios, the recommended start times were 3hs 0 min, 2hr 25 min, 1hr 50 min, 1hr 15min, and 0hr 40 minutes. I was two minutes behind on the first testlet, and that carried through to the second testlet. I think by the time I finished the third multiple choice testlet, I was 5 minutes behind schedule, which was okay. It was okay because I had 5 extra minutes (overall). I spent quite a bit of time on the research tab of the first simulation, may 20 minutes, which was not smart at all. I had planned to spend 7 minutes on each tab, and then move on to the next tab. So, I spent 8 minutes on the written part. That’s writing and reviewing. I spent may 2minutes, 4 minutes and 5 minutes on the other tabs… and then a huge amount of time on researching something, that I am sure I got wrong. I actually went back to it after completing the other tabs and researched some more! Urrghh! I was smart enough to just choose something and move on. I had may be 25 minutes for the other simulation. So, I guess I spent more than 20 minutes on the research, which is more time than I have spent on any exam question through all these exams. I think I was frustrated that I had spent sometime on the Wiley 14.0 simulations last night (or this morning between 1am and 4am) and I was able to find all the required IRC sections being asked. Anyway, I was lucky to find my research response within a minute on the second simulation, so I made up for some of the minutes lost earlier (6). The other tabs were as okay as the multiple choice testlets – which means, not great. I did what I could. The essays were the easiest part of the whole exam for.

Lessons learnt

Know the fundamentals

I was going over the notes that I wrote in my trusty moleskin notebook after FAR, BEC, and AUD exams – and a constant theme is KNOW THE FUNDAMENTALS. I think my problem is that I get the gist of the matter, but I also want to know the details so that I end up “being lost” in the details. So, if I am going to retake this section, I will focus on the fundamentals. What are fundamentals? Well, my definition of it is, it is something on which everything else seems to rest. The foundation, the common them. If you are reading a study unit, you can see that almost 80% of the questions are addressing a particular theme in one way or the other. Once you get that, everything thing that comes your way, has to be looked at from that point of view. Similar to a frame of reference. Ethics for example, the theme may be Google’s motto – “Do no evil” – of course, you can add a phrase or two, for example, “Do no evil, in reality or in appearance”. If you are talking about Property, you have to understand Basis, Adjusted Basis, and how everything else flows from there (gains and losses). All the exceptions and limitations are just details. If you are talking about Gross Income, knowing some of the definition may help… “from whatever source derived” etc. Well, that’s what I think. That’s what I think will work for me if I have to retake the exam. I think it worked enough today. We just have to wait another month to find out.

Last minute preparation helps, but it also sucks!

I got a few points from the work I did last night and this morning and up to an hour before the exam. I think that even if I had prepared well all along, I would still have put in some more hours of work yesterday, last night, and this morning. There was nothing more important to me to do in the last couple of days, up to the time of the exam, than study and prepare for the exam. So, if I have time, why not use that to study something or take another 20 multiple choice study session?

The part that sucks is that if you see something that you have not seen all along and it looks important, on the one hand, you are glad you have seen it. On the other hand, you are wondering what else is out there that you don’t know about, and may show up on your exam! It can demoralize you. I want to say it can also mess up your memory, for example, if what you are seeing contradicts what you studied and believed you understood. Should you change a month’s or a week’s work because of a moment’s glance?

Pace yourself

What can I say? I need to spread things out. The problem is not that I do things last minute. It is that when I start doing something, I go all the way, intensely, and then when I burn out or decide to give myself a break, I take a big break as if I am done with the thing. Of course, sometimes I am actually done with it! Whatever the case, the intensity is not sustainable for long periods of time. So, going forward, on my next big goal, I will spread my effort around.

Do it all

The exam tests a lot of material at the same time. You cannot study it all at the same time, even if you have a 10 day plan like I did. You have to “do it all” just like the exam does. What I mean by that is that every day or every other day, you have to do, say, a total 30 questions from all the chapters. That is about a question or two from each chapter. This keeps part of you on the whole picture and you don’t forget the things you studied a couple of days ago.

Master Taxation

In the exam, I noticed that I had an easier time with the third testlet which had more business law questions that tax questions. I only had 3 items that I really needed to review, and I think I totally guessed on just one of those. I think part of the reason is that I had done most of the business law when I started studying for REG, and then I stopped for a couple of weeks, and then went back to it and the rest of the stuff. So, I went over business law (obviously, excluding tax) a couple of times. This was not smart, considering that tax is (over) 60% of the exam! What can I say? [Hopefully, the third testlet was not "easier" because I blew the first two! Well, you know what I think about those "myths".]

Summary (What next?)

Overall, it has been a nice experience taking the CPA exams. I hope I will not have to retake REG. If I do, I am confident that I will do much better. I will try to do it the way I am proposing here and I think it will work.

I have a few other posts that I intend to post up regarding the CPA exam, and those will come when I am done with it all.

I think next week I will study for the Ethics exams so that if I have passed REG, then I can just go ahead and apply for the license.

Sweetheart, Chess, family, friends, books, blogs, dreams, success, happiness, righteousness, … all ye, here I cometh! 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+6 =?

It is a wonderful life!

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Here is my rough guide to living the next 2 days with regard to preparing for the CPA exam’s Regulation (REG) section:

It is a wonderful life!

Popularity: 4% [?]

Last night after I got home, I decided to work on one more module.

12:30am – 1:08am Regulation of Employment and Environment 37MCQs.

12:30pm – 1:29pm Partnership Taxation MCQs 1-20

7:00pm – 8:54pm Partnership Taxation MCQs 21 – 46. Took about 5 minutes break. A little tired. I think decided that starting tomorrow, I will try to sleep at least 7 hours, and on the night before the exam, I will shoot for at least 8. I hope that I will stick to that plan!

This is 9:19pm. I have spent the last 25 minutes or so, reading a couple of pages I photocopied from my Wiley Book that I use to track the Modules completed, and do a quick “review” of the topics that are covered in the MCQs. I had photocopied some pages that talk about Researching Tax Issues, Examination Content, Taxes on the Regulation Exam. I just didn’t want to carry the whole book around, so I have about 13 pages that I carry around with me. Of course, I [always] spend a couple of hours reading the first couple of Chapters in the CPA review book, (the introduction to the CPA exam stuff.) I believe that those non-technical matter chapters have excellent information that is essential in understanding the exam. That is, the CPA exam as a concept and how to approach it. So, I will give those chapters another, probably on Sunday or Monday.

 Today, I challenged myself with the 3 challenges from yesterday. I have not done great when it comes to “sitting up straight” or “no touching face”, but I have done great with the “no Internet until 10pm” challenge. Another 33 minutes, and I will get to surf the net and see if AUD came out. I think I will stop here, and start working on Gift & Estate Tax. I am not sure if I will take a break before I finish that module to go on the Internet, or I will try to finish it first! Yesterday, I mentioned that I would talk about the benefits of not going on the Internet (for me) later on. Well, I can say that I feel like when I don’t get on the net, I get more accomplished, or I feel like I have accomplished something great. Part of it is because I am getting the studying done, the other part is that I am proving to myself that I can “live without the Internet”, albeit for a few hours. I am not sure whether I would be able to live without the Internet. I live without watching TV, but I was never a great TV watcher in the first place (except for watching soccer). Internet on the other hand, I am almost addicted. I have experienced some withdrawal symptoms these past couple of days! Time to go!

 9:35pm – 10:43pm Gift and Estate Tax. 36MCQs. I thought the treatment of this chapter Module, at least in the Questions Database, was weak. Most of the questions focused on Tax Return Preparers (which I knew a lot from having done Professional Conduct related chapters with Gleim TestPrep CD.

 I am not sure if I have mentioned that what I like about the Wiley study module MCQ “test bank” is that it has “text links” which you can use to read “excerpts” from the book dealing with the question. Some of the text links are several pages long, which can take long to read, but at the same time, makes up for (my) not reading the book. Gleim on the other hand, does not have text links, but the explanations to the questions are pretty detailed (or detailed enough). The fact that Gleim has a ton of MCQs, at least double what Wiley has, is a winner for me, especially if you have time to go over them (which I did for FAR and BEC). My plan is to compare the number of questions in Gleim to those in Wiley for Individual Taxation, and I will go with the higher number. I intend to do Individual Taxation and Corporate Taxation tomorrow. It will be a long day!

 Here is how my “progress spreadsheet” looks.

 It is a wonderful Life!

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