| What pointer can you offer to those preparing to pass the exam?
The pointer I can offer is not to let the exam intimidate you. It is passable even on the first time. The more multiple choice questions and practice questions you do the better prepared you'll be and, therefore, less intimidated.
Angela Bridges-Moultrie, CPA
Gross Mendelsohn & Assoc., PA
How does a 46-year-old pass the exam 24 years after graduation?
- Take a review course (highly recommend Dr. Borra).
- Double up - Borra's Monday lecture in Baltimore is repeated on Tuesday in Silver Spring, attend both lectures.
- Go early; stay late.
- Buy a microcassette tape recorder, record law notes and play constantly while driving to turn short-term memory into long term.
- Help others - you learn while teaching.
- Have a written plan and monitor yourself. For example, study 4 hours a day on weekdays (Friday's off) and 6 hours on weekends.
- Inform your family, friends, work associates [and] church. Drop all non-essential activities.
Afterward it felt like a mountaintop experience.
Larry Haynes, CPA
Financial Edge
The best advice that I can give someone taking the exam is to look at what kind of student you are. Can you study on your own and learn all the material or do you need the discipline or structure of a preparatory class?
In my case it was the latter. I tried several times to pass on my own and always found time not to study. Once I realized that I needed the structure and discipline to pass this test, I enrolled in a prep class and easily passed all four parts in one sitting. Keep in mind that, in my opinion, the test is not all that difficult. The difficulty comes in to play by how much you are required to know. Looking at what kind of student you are will go a long way towards passing the exam the first time. Also, once you determine you want to be a CPA, sacrifice the four months of your life it will take to pass the exam the first time. You will thank yourself once the scores come in the mail.
William Allen, CPA
Bell Atlantic Communication and Construction Services
This is what I did to mentally prepare:
- Kept my regular exercise routine.
- I went to every class, including the intensive [session]; did the problems the instructors recommended; I [also] ordered some q-cards to have on hand so that I could look at them whenever I needed to.
- I did all of the problems on the diskettes. The ones I got wrong I retook until I got them right and understood completely.
- I studied 5 days a week. I got up at 5:30 and studied for 1 1/2 hours, 1/2 hour during my lunch break, and 2 hours in the evening. I took off Saturday and Sunday to give my brain a rest, except during the intensive weekend.
- Every other Saturday night, I made sure I did something social.
- I watched videotapes of classes (Totaltape).
I think the most important thing when studying for the exam is to pick the method of studying that works best for you. For example I do not focus well in a classroom type setting. I get very sleepy and cannot concentrate, so I decided to study using a computer program. As I sat for the exam several times I found that the most effective way to study for me was on the computer. When I used the Micromash CPA program I passed all 4 parts of the exam at once. If candidates don't like the method of studying they are using they will not get the most out of their material.
Deborah L. Edmond
CPA, Controller's Office
Johns Hopkins University
You will have only one chance in your lifetime to sit and pass the CPA exam on the first time you take it. Although you will still be considered a CPA if it takes you more than one time to pass it, I urge you to put forth your entire effort to pass it all the first time. After you become a CPA, people will ask how many times it took you to pass the exam. It's wonderful to be able to say "once."
Patricia Reese, CPA
Federal Aviation Administration
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