NJSCPA Exam Cram Blog

The end is in sight

First off- I hear that scores have been coming out from February exams. How are people doing? I hope a lot of you are having success!

A few of my coworkers are now completely done taking their exams.  As excited for them as I am, hard to see people pass their exams so quickly when it's taken me more than double the time.  But in the end, what does it really matter, we all come out of it with the same piece of paper saying we're licensed.  Same thing with the scores. I've had people ask me what I got on a certain exam and honestly? I don't particularly care what score I get as long as its a 75, because again, in the end we all get the same license. No one really cares whether you got a 75 or a 95, all they care about is the license.

Last two weeks til exam day! I can't wait, the end is in sight, I should be really really focused for it but I'm not. All I want to do is be done and to relax although I have this nagging little thought in the back of my head that there's a chance I'll fail. Goodness knows I hope I don't fail, I don't know if I could go through this AGAIN.   I'm still just reading through the chapters and getting through the homeworks. Later this week I'm going to start attacking the simulations and this weekend I will begin the massive amounts of practice problems I want to do. 

And on that note, off I go to study more and then begin my workday.  Have a great week everyone!

Spring is coming

The days are slowly becoming warmer and sunnier, making it more and more difficult to sit inside on a nice weekend and study.  I only have a couple more weeks and realize there is a LOT to still study for financial.  Looks like I'll have to ignore the nice weather until the exam is over.   I've taken out 3 additional books from the library, thinking and hoping that if I sleep with them under my pillow something will sink in.  Well not really, but the more books you have the more likely you are to absorb something right? 

A friend of mine who's taking the exam recommended the site http://cpareviewforfree.com to me for additional problems. I haven't had a chance to really play with it yet since I'm still reviewing the book and concepts, but plan to try it when I do start really digging into problems. If anyone has used the site before and loves it/hates it let me know, I'm sure other readers would like to know about good resources other than problems given to us through Becker/Wiley/Kaplan/Gleim/whatever other CPA review material is out there.

That's all for me for the moment, back to studying I go!! Good luck everyone!

One month to go!

So the grand plan I wrote a blog about last month, where I was going to read the chapters before my review class and spend the day after doing the homework failed miserably. Busy season got in the way, and now I have a month to make up for the homework I haven't done yet and essentially reread all of financial. It seems a little, actually lets make that, VERY overwhelming.

Even though I wasn't able to stick to my master plan I hope that I was able to inspire someone to try that method. I legitimately think that it would work and that had I been able to follow through with it I would feel much more confident about next month's exam. 

So here I am, just under a month until exam day, anxiously awaiting for the day where I can actually enjoy a social life again.  That thought is all that is keeping me going at the moment, the light at the end of the tunnel, where I can feel super accomplished and be able to enjoy my evenings and weekends again. Whohoooo. 

Has anyone recently found out they've passed another section?  Or even better, found out they passed their LAST section?

Have you missed me?

Hey there! Long time no type - get it? OK, my geeky sense of humor hasn't changed. Wanted to give you a little update on life after the CPA exam. (Yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel - but don't jump for joy yet.)

I passed the last section of the CPA exam and thought - phew, I can finally get some free time back. Well, I was totally wrong. Actually applying for the CPA licensing is turning out to be much more time-consuming than I'd ever imagined. Now I think it's because I'm working in private industry internal audit rather than public accounting. But still - the application is another test in and of itself!

It took a good two months or more to get anything in the mail with instructions on what I actually needed to do next. But now - it appears they've posted the full application on the NJ state board accountancy website - which should be helpful for all of you going forward. Download the PDF file and get working on it even before you've passed the exams - it's going to require quite a bit of time.

Three co-workers of mine recently passed the exams and were applying for licensure in NY - two of their applications were rejected the first round. Not until an extremely senior-level manager within the firm wrote a letter to the responsible department in NY, did one of them get approved. The other one is still redoing her application, and the third it still trying to get all the paperwork together for his first round submission. It's a LOT for those of us in private industry.

What I've been told is that those lucky ducks in public accounting firms have support staff that specifically help with CPA licensing applications! What a dream. I'd consider trading that for busy season! OK, I take that comment back.

On the work front I have been extremely busy too - our 2009 audit plan is packed and we've gotten off to a really fast-paced (and diversified) start. Between January and February I got to visit branch offices in Paris, Monte Carlo and Milan and a trip to Jacksonville may be in the works shortly. Good stuff - I guess those are the kind of perks that keep me hanging around, even after all my whining. ;-) Catch ya later.

Priscilla J.

Finally Free!!! -ish

Well the good news is that busy season is FINALLY over for me! Whohoooo. Hope some of you are winding down to give yourselves study time on this black-out testing month.   Class ended on Saturday so now it's all on me to catch up on what I fell behind with as a result of busy season. I have a lot of work to do in order to be fully prepared for my April exam. Almost doesn't feel like a month isn't enough time to get ready. 

Since I've been MIA from friends and family the last 6 weeks due to busy season and my CPA class everyone thinks that now they can see me, but that is not the case. I'm having a hard time again saying no to friends and other FUN activities instead of studying. However, the end is in sight. Hopefully by mid-April I will be able to have a life again and just relax on weekends, do what I want. 

Good luck with the rest of your busy season's. For those of you in tax who are looking at the March and April 15th deadlines- GOOD LUCK!!!!

Busy Season Update

Greetings All,

It's been a while since my last update.  Since the last time I've posted, I've found myself really busy with work. I've also been able to attend to family and personal matters.  It seems as though I picked a really good time to take a break from testing.  The hours have made it difficult to study.  My whole approach has changed.  Where in the past, I could watch an entire lecture in a night, and answer questions the next day, I now find myself going section by section, and spending more time taking notes.  Right now, prior to the end of busy season, I can continue to take it slow and focus on each section.

I'm going to start again by cracking open my Becker book for Regulation, and go through one section before sleeping tonight.

Good luck