Accountant's Musings: CPA Exam & Life Beyond

[A little background: My undergrad degree is in Mathematics and Education. When you study education, you learn about Psychology, Sociology, Philosophy, and of course, Theories of Education and Learning. As you may expect, most of the Psychology, Sociology and Philosophy lean towards education. One of the few things I still remember liking from my time in college is the Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning.]

According to Bloom, all of learning is divided into three main domains or categories, namely, Cognitive, Affective, and Psycho-Motor. If I were to explain it to a kid, I would say, “all your learning is either mental, heart/emotion, or bodily” – which seems obvious, until you start getting into the details on how to formulate questions which can be used to assess an academic paper or a dissertation, or the technical competence of a CPA candidate! This article’s focus is the Cognitive Domain of learning and how its understanding can be a handy tool in preparing for the CPA exam.

The Cognitive Domain (or mental) aspect looks at levels of “thinking” from Knowledge (which is simple or (rote recall) to Evaluation and/or Creativity (which is complex and involves creation of something new). Like most skills in life, you build your way up, so there is a hierarchy of learning. The Taxonomy has since been revised; below are the two hierarchies (new and old) side by side.

Bloom's Taxonomy Cognitive Domain Hierarchy

Armed with knowledge of the details of Bloom Taxonomy’s Cognitive Domain, you can easily see through what a CPA examination question is asking. From my experience, most of the CPA exam questions focus on the high-level cognitive skills, (analysis, evaluation, and creativity) which partly explains why the exam is so difficult or demanding. You are expected to exercise those thinking skills from question to question, and the “keywords” for the particular thinking level are implied or hidden within the question. You may have noticed as you were going over practice questions that questions rarely directly ask you to evaluate or critique something. Usually, a scenario will be presented, and from the requirement/question, you will see that you need to evaluate a statement or position.

I think the most useful way to use the Bloom’s Taxonomy is to be aware of it as you are studying or learning or taking notes. For example, are your notes a regurgitation of what you found in the book (lower level), or did you create something that is “new” (higher level)? From your notes or newly acquired knowledge, can you answer questions that directly use the high level “keywords“? Can you debate an issue? Can you explain a concept to a person who is an accountant and have the person satisfactorily explain to another? (That is, can you teach what you know?) If you clicked the “keywords“ link, you may have observed that as you go up the hierarchy, “relationships” appear to be emphasized. This can be relationships between bodies of knowledge, parts of a body of knowledge, a body of knowledge and a particular scenario, etc.

You may get more information on Bloom’s Taxonomy and Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) from the following sources:

http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Bloom%27s_Taxonomy (Bloom’s Taxonomy – Mary Forehand, University of Georgia)

http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/researchskills/dalton.htm (Excerpt of sample question stems, useful verbs, etc – from “Extending Children’s Special Abilities”)

http://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/slatta/hi216/learning/bloom.htm (Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Levels)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom’s_Taxonomy (A Wikipedia article on Bloom’s Taxonomy)

http://www.mindedutainment.com/content.php?id=53 (Mind Edutainment – My Thinking Program)

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

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This post is to offer a shoulder to lean on to those who have failed the CPA exam. [The exams have started coming out. I saw a twit from Jeff[another71] that the AICPA had released BEC. [Shout out to Jeff: Good work, man! Keep up the good work!]]

First of all, to those who have passed any section, I would like to say Congratulations! It is a big achievement to pass any section of the CPA exam. I wish you lots of success and happiness!

To those who have failed. Sorry for not passing.  Here is how I would go about handling or thinking about the situation. Actually, I have already thought about how I am going to handle it if I fail REG which will come out in the next day or so. It was in yesterday’s post: CPA exam results: How to Handle the Waiting. Okay, here we go:

1 – You are not alone. What do you understand from that sentence? I would suggest that you read it over, and even say it out loud a couple of times. “I am not alone.” “I am not alone.” “I am not alone.” “I am not alone.” “I am not alone.” “I am not alone.” Now that you have said it at least 5 times, I ask you again, What do you understand from that sentence? It is important to answer that question. My personal answer is long, but I can give a brief version here. First, from a spiritual point of view, I believe I am not alone. The Bible tells me so. This poem tells me so:

Footprints in the Sand (image credit)

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.

Footprints in the sand - You are not alone!

This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord,

“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”

The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”

Mary Stevenson, 1936

Another way to look at it (it = that you are not alone), is that about half of the people who take the exam do not pass it. Please see below.

About 50% of CPA candidates pass (or fail) the CPA exam

Source: http://www.illinois-cpa-exam.com/files/scorerelease.pdf

So, spiritually, and “CPA-ally” , you are not alone! Knowing that I am not alone when I suffer gives me comfort. I will not explain how or why. May be in another post I will. I hope this knowledge gives comfort to those who have failed.

2 – Look on the positive side of life. Count your blessings. Even during the times that one thinks he or she has hit rock bottom, there is a silver lining. Let us count some of the ways. You are still alive. If you think your life is not worth it, those who love you or who depend on you for their happiness think your life is worth living. They could give anything to make sure you are still alive. Be thankful for life. You are healthy. You can read. You have access to this information. You may have a wonderful son, daughter, father, mother, wife, husband, friend, teacher, etc. You have food. You have transportation. You have money. You have a brain that is functioning properly. You are safe. You are in the top 30% of the most educated people in the USA (I am assuming that may be the level has gone up 4 points since 2003; I am assuming that you already have your Bachelors – i.e. condition for being allowed to take the exam – if not conditional-):

If this was 2003!! You would be in the top 26% of the most educated people in the USA

source: http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Products/Ranking/2003/R02T040.htm

3 - Focus on things that cheer you up. A baby’s smile, a funny movie, loved ones, times when you achieved something, the compliments you have received in your life time. I would suggest that if you are alone and you do not have people who can cheer up, you write down all the compliments you have received in your life. If you don’t have pen and paper, you may type it up in the computer you are using! If you cannot do that, please find pen and paper! If not, think about it for 5-10 minutes. I think about the times I won Chess tournaments. I think about the many times I have been told I am cute I think about my girlfriend and her laughter! I think about the times I said something that was really funny and everybody cracked up – even though I cannot remember the specifics. Now I can think about all the good people out there, that I have not met, but are either linking to this blog, reading this blog, commenting on this blog, or just laughing at me for what I am writing! There are a lot of things I can do to feel better, only if I give myself a chance.

4 – Forget myself and focus on other people or other things. Self-absorption is one of the major causes of anxiety, unhappiness, low self-esteem,… (disclaimer: I am not a qualified psychologist, [I am serious!] think, I am also taking the CPA exams Anyway, on a serious note, I have found that when I am so busy or so involved in something, I have no time to think about myself. The other side of it is, when I think about myself so much, I have no time to think about other people or other things, and life passes me by.

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