NJSCPA Exam Cram Blog

A Bittersweet Holiday

So scores came out last week and FINALLY I got the scores I had been anxiously awaiting. Thursday morning, at approximately 7:04 am, I checked my scores and SHOCK Regulation was UP!!! AND I PASSED!!!! This was the exam I took in early October and I actually cried after because I felt SO horrible about it, yet there it was, the pretty little score staring at me in the face telling me that I now had two sections complete.  WHOHOOOO!!  I was on cloud 9 the rest of the day.

Then Friday came, along with the heavy snow came the audit score.  I was just about to leave the office to go home early due to the weather when I learned a good friend of mine had just gotten his score and luckily for him, not only did he pass, the pass meant he was DONE with his exams. I however was not so lucky. I found out I got a 74! So frustrating to fail by ONE point. Needless to say, by Friday night I had already paid to get my new NTS to retake it as soon as possible. Now its just cramming a little again since I just took that one before Thanksgiving hopefully I didn't lose TOO much of the information.

At the moment I'm glad I failed by only a little, even though I'm super frustrated about having to retake it AGAIN.  I know I was so close and a little more studying I should pass it the next time (one only hopes.)

How did the rest of you do?! I'm hoping for some early holiday presents of a lot of passes for everyone!

And tonight I head back to the library once again to devote my life to studying audit.

Have a GREAT holiday to everyone! Enjoy and be safe :)

Seasons Greetings!

Seasons Greetings!  I wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season, and send everyone my best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year filled with many passing CPA scores.

I hope all are well.  Since the last time I've had a chance to post, I caught a cold and have had a busy schedule at work.  Once again, finding the time to study has been my biggest challenge.  My weekends have become even more important, as they give me the time to play catch up (but even that's harder now because the Eagles have decided to make things interesting).  But it's only going to get harder during the holiday season as my family gets together.

I had all but given up hope with finding the time and motivation to study, until I received my score report yesterday.  I passed the Financial section of the exam, but realized that there was little time to celebrate.  With my Regulations section only two weeks away, I really have to buckle down and get to studying.

I received a comment from Claire, who is starting to study for the exam.  In light of this and preparation for my next section, here are a few things that I did to help me on the first two parts of the exam:

1) TAKE YOUR TIME WITH EACH TOPIC - Do not try to rush through all the material just because you feel pressured to cover every topic before the test.  The test covers a lot of material, and there will be things on the exam you don't know.  It's important that you really understand the material you do get to.  That brings me to my second tip...

2) UNDERSTAND THE BASICS - I know this may sound stupid, but it works.  With Financial, the closer I got to the exam date, the more I worried about not knowing accounting.  It seemed like there were so many rules and different methods to do everything, that I felt I would never really learn everything.  When I started looking at the topics in terms of the basic Accounting principles and assumptions, I understood the reasoning behind the different methods and what they tried to accomplish.  When I went into the exam, even though I wasn't a 100% confident with every method available, I was able to work through the questions thinking in terms of the Revenue Recognition Principle, the Matching Principle, and the Principle of Conservatism.

3) WORK PRACTICE QUESTIONS AND UNDERSTAND WHY YOU GET THEM WRONG - I did not get the chance to go over every question that I wanted to.  After both sections that I took, my only regret was not doing more questions.  In hindsight, though, I would not change my approach.  I know I took a lot of time looking at questions I got right and wrong, but it helped me understand how the questions were being worded and what I was supposed to find.  I don't know if everyone else has this problem, but the questions I got wrong were not wrong because I didn't know the material, but rather because I was solving for something completely different.  Working through the practice questions taught me to slow down and read the questions completely to know what you need to solve for.    The lesson here is, its okay if you don't solve all the problems.  It is much better to understand and spend time with the questions you do get to.

4) RELAX - This is the important one.  You have to be relaxed going into the exam.  There is a lot of material that is going to be tested, but chances are, with you're education and study schedule, you covered everything.  By going into the exam nervous and worried, you hurt yourself because you will not be able to clearly think through each question.  I've learned that the questions really force you to apply your understanding of the accounting rules, and the only way you can do that is to be able to think and work through every question.

I hope this helps.  I've got a crazy two weeks ahead of me.  I found that it takes a full day (8 hours) to get through I Becker lecture (3-4 hours of the lecture, 3 hours of questions, and 1 hour for the simulations)  If I can follow this schedule (and it will be hard with the Eagles making a playoff push and family gathering for the holidays), I think I will be in good enough position to give the REG section my best effort.

Happy Holidays! Once again, I wish everyone nothing but the best for the holidays, and I hope everyone can find some spare time in between the studying to relax and enjoy with family and friends.

Take care,

- Kunal

After these brief messages....

Ok, so not really, not after these brief messages. What I really mean to say is that after this break that I'm currently taking, I'll start studying again. Since I haven't gotten my scores still for Audit or Reg (looks like I'll have to apparently wait until after the holidays now) I've lost my motivation to study.

I was HOPING to spend December studying to retake Reg if need be but since I don't have my scores I just can't bring myself to study for a section that I might have passed.  If anyone has had to do this in the past and has some good tips, PLEASE pass them along. I hate wasting a month but I'm at a loss as to what to do. Start studying for financial when I might have to ultimately put that down to retake reg again, or try and trick my brain to thinking I failed reg or audit and keep reviewing those. What to do?!

So instead, I'm opting for c, none of the above, and not studying, rather enjoying my December and getting ready for the holidays. I know I'll likely regret this later, but for the moment that's all I can do. I am thoroughly enjoying the ability to actually read for FUN again which I missed during all my nights of studying. 

Hopefully some people have gotten their scores in the last week, and if you did let me know! I hope you pass! It'll be a great day once we all pass these exams and can move on with our lives and careers! 

-Wendy

Finding motivation.

Hi everyone,

I hope all are well, and are getting lots of studying done.  Another week has gone by, and another week where I haven't been able to study as much as I wanted to.  It was always the toughest when starting a new section of the exam, and you're getting more questions wrong than you thought.  With my previous sections, the questions became easier after the first couple of weeks.  It seems like I always need to get back into that studying mind frame.  I made the mistake of slowing down on my studying after testing in early November.

The goal right now is Christmas.  I want to be able to get into a rhythm before Christmas, so that that last week before the New Year is answering and understanding the questions.  As for now, I should focus on questions, abbreviations, and getting familiar with Tax forms.

Thanks Wendy, and I feel your pain.  I took Financial the first weekend in October, and still haven't heard back.

Take care, and study hard.

- Kunal

Where in the world is my score?!

Well, I'm glad SOME people are getting their scores for exams.  I have been anxiously awaiting my REG score from the exam I took first week of October.  Getting increasingly frustrated that I have yet to get my score as I want to know if I should be cramming to study and retake the exam first week of January.  Thankfully a few people I work with who took exams in October (not just Reg, all different exams) also haven't received their  scores. Not quite sure what the hold up with our scores is.  I've called into NASBA and was told sometime this week my scores would be put out, other people called and were told anytime between now and end of January. Talk about frustrating!! Anyone else having this issue?!!?

Thanksgiving was good although the entire holiday I was wondering if I passed Reg.  Much more relaxed now that Audit is done (another score to wait for).  Ah I just can't wait for these to be done!!!

Congrats Kumal on finding out that you passed BEC!

I'll be sure to update when I actually find out my scores. Hopefully sooner rather than later (and ideally they'll be PASSING scores!)