What advice can you offer about how to succeed in college level courses?

The advice that I can offer about how to succeed in college level courses is to get involved as soon as possible with public accounting firms through summer internships and the like. Whether the firm is local, regional or international, a public accounting firm offers the great advantage to expose students to different aspects of the profession. This allows the student to realize and understand that being a CPA can be more than just doing tax returns or book keeping all day. The students have the opportunity to discover the different aspects of a business that could require the involvement of a CPA. Whether the project is about information technology, business process re-engineering, financial projections, or taking a company public, CPAs' inputs are often critical to a successful outcome. I think that getting to know the profession is essential because it makes sitting in an accounting class less boring and more meaningful. When I was in college taking these accounting classes, having a clear idea of why I was there and where I was going is what really helped me to succeed.

I think I did better when I didn't allow myself to become overwhelmed with the course objectives during the first few days of class. I tried to keep in mind the old Chinese proverb that says, "a journal of a thousand miles begins with the first step."

What advice can you offer about how to succeed in college level courses? Get to know your professors, sit up front in the classroom, and participate as much as possible. Even participating with all wrong answers benefits everyone in the room. Most students are too afraid to offer any input. Many people may have the same incorrect thoughts, but are too afraid to voice them and have them corrected.

Don't be concerned that the real world of accounting is as boring as the textbook. IT ISN'T!!! Nothing compares to real world situations, but you have to get through the dry stuff in order to get to the good stuff.

Investigate your professors before you sign up for their classes. Try to pick ones that have "real world" experience. Academia is great, but true hands-on experience is invaluable-learn from it.

My advice to students studying accounting is to go to class faithfully and do all the problems. To me it is like a foreign language, it requires help from the teachers deciphering the fundamentals and then it takes lots of practice by doing the problems to be able to do well on the exams. I studied a lot, but it paid off in spades.

I suggest that college students taking accounting courses first identify the method of study in which they learn the most and use it! If it means that you learn better by working alone, then do that; on the flip side, if it means that you work best in teams, then do that. You will need to employ these same methods when studying for the CPA exam.

1) Develop interest in the courses. Without interest, you will find accounting courses difficult and boring. To make your life easier, try to find out the interesting aspects of studying accounting.

(2) Get thorough understanding of course materials. Don't just memorize things. Memory won't last long if you don't understand the fundamental concepts.

(3) Find out the relationship among different courses. Apply knowledge you learned from one course to other courses as much as possible. This can help you understand better about the related accounting concepts and provide you motivation to learn more.

(4) Find some chances to study together with your classmates. You can learn a lot from each other, and it also helps to maintain your [enthusiasm to] study.

(5) Set your mind to pass the CPA exam right after graduation in one sitting. This will make you study hard and learn as much as possible.

(6) Remember that a solid foundation knowledge is necessary if you want to have a successful career.

My advice is keep up with the class work and then review for exams or finals. There is no need to cram for exams or finals.

In regard to handling college level courses, I truly believe that accounting needs to come fairly easily to those who are meant to be in the profession for a long-term career. If you struggle too much at the beginning, I do not think it is the major for you. After that, you must keep up the studies daily as each lesson builds on the one before.

Three things: First, study for the CPA exam, not for the class test. By focusing ones studying with a long term goal in mind, I found it improves the quality and quantity of knowledge I acquire. In addition, it provides the framework to review for the CPA exam. Second, get as much outside experience from work, internships and/or by volunteering in any business sector. I found that the more real world experiences I could draw on helped me in college. And third, recognize when you don't understand something and ask your professor for guidance.

My advice for doing well in school is rather simple. I would advise people to study subjects that interest them and to take classes that are best suited for them to learn. I found for myself that I did best in classes that were based on practical application of the material (i.e. case studies). I did not find the straight lecture classes to be interesting, so it was much harder to focus and retain the material. Also, it is helpful to ask around and find out about the professor before signing up for the class. I found there was a wide range of quality among the professors at school. It can really make the difference between doing well and not doing well.

Very accessible and valuable resources are the CPA review manuals. They are written so that the topics are presented on a very basic, easy to understand level.

A second but potentially less accessible recommendation would be to seek out a mentor, someone who deals with accounting on a day-to-day basis. I know that most people who decide to get into accounting decided to do so because they knew someone in the industry.

Finally, if you really want to learn accounting, don't intern with one of the Big 5 but instead with a small mom and pop shop that really needs the help. Hand on experience is better than any classroom or textbook and unfortunately you probably won't get much of it during a Big 5 internship. Hands on experience will not only help you be successful when you take a permanent position but it will also help you immensely with the CPA exam. It was not until after I worked through my first busy season that I actually understood auditing.

An accounting degree is basically a business degree with a few additional accounting courses. You might as well take those courses and have the option to take the CPA exam, rather than getting a business only degree, and then deciding later to be a CPA and then have to take additional courses. In addition, my employer offered me more money if I got my CPA.

Maintain a balance between school work, socials, and learning to network and discipline, discipline!

To succeed in college level courses, my best advice is not to enter them until you are ready to concentrate. If you are not ready to study and put the coursework first, you won't do as well. Once you have the priorities straight, it falls into place.

The other advice is to do all the practice problems available. Don't try to memorize theory. Accounting is definitely a profession that requires practice. Book knowledge isn't enough; you have to know how to apply it.