NJSCPA Exam Cram Blog

Last window for 2009...Motivations and exam taking strategies

Hello Everyone,

First, I would like to thank the NJSCPA for this great opportunity to blog for the state society. I started this year which has been a CPA exam year for me (my first and hopefully the last). Its like I am on top of the mountain, and I need to jump in to the promised land, but the CPA exam is the hurdle.

This is my advice to all new grads reading this blog...please learn from our experience, and use it to your advantage. Try and take at least one or two parts before you start working. Don't goof off with your time, and say " I've got plenty of time".

Ask a lot of questions, most of you would have started your new jobs..taking some parts of the CPA (pass/fail) shows that you are COMMITED. You have made an attempt, and you have the experience.

I have taken every part of this exam except BEC, I can clearly say that I got better with each part that I took, and in each subsequent exam i got a better grade.

FARE- This exam is 4hrs long,but don't get excited, time management is key on this exam because you have 2 simulations to takle...just study and practice a lot of questions

AUDIT- This exam is 4.5 hrs long, it might seem like too much time, but trust me all that answers would look like the right ones, and you need to think very well to answer them.

REG- This exam is 3hrs long,---Time management totally finished me on this exam, I knew the material very well, I practiced a lot of questions, and ulike AUDIT AND FARE which I took back to back and failed. When I took AUDIT, I did not get my score for FARE yet. By the time I took REG, I knew my scores on both exams.

BEC- I have not taken it yet, but from all I hear do not underate it. If you did well in cost and managerial accounting, and college finance plus economics (micro and macro) then you chances of scoring 75 is very good, the rest of the material are straight forward.

Finally I just discovered Wiley E-prep online (google it) and if you have any questions let me know. It has a lot of questions, and like I have found out from experience, the more questions you take the better chances of understanding the material.

To all my fellow bloggers (Ryan, Kunal, Samantha) good luck with this window, and lets make it our best.

To Wendy...(you must be very excited to be CPA EXAM FREEEEEEE)

To Janice & the NJSCPA TEAM ...(We love you all, and thanks again for this great opportunity to pay forward our experiences)

Cheers....

Ed. Adiele

Coming down the home stretch!

Hi everyone,

I finished my never ending review...finally!  Now I am on to the last two lectures which is governmental accounting and not-for-profit.  I feel comfortable with the governmental part--I actually took a governmental accounting and auditing masters course.  I guess it also helps that I work at the GASB, haha.  My plan is to basically skim the governmental sections, but making sure I understand it thoroughly when I go through the multiple choice.  I am hoping to make it through the last two lectures by next Friday (including the questions and simulations) so that I'll have exactly one week for a final review and mental preparation.

Ed, I can't imagine what it is like for you trying to study with little ones running around, but keep up the good work.  You can do it!

Kunal, I hope you passed AUD, good luck with your studies, and maybe I'll see you around one of the RU football games.

I wish everyone all the best.  Keep working hard and never give up!

Ryan McDonough

Launch Date Set for New CPA Exam

The American Institute of CPAs has scheduled Jan. 1, 2011 as the official launch date of CBT-e, a more technologically modern version of the Uniform CPA Examination.

Check out the story: 

http://www.webcpa.com/news/AICPA-Sets-Date-Revamped-CPA-Exam-51858-1.html

Reality check.....1..2..3.

Hello Everyone,

I am backkkkk; sorry for the break in posting. My trip to Africa, gave me a lot of opportunity to think about my career, and going forward.

Lets take a deep breath and see!!!, I graduated college with honors, never got below a B in my college years, and a (B-) = 80, yet I have not passed my CPA exams where the passing score is 75 (C+). I write all this to say that I am getting frustrated...each time I come real close to passing, but no pass.

I spoke with my Dad, who is a retired Engineer, and he told me to keep shooting, and one day I'll hit the target, never give up,....and guess what, you would forget all the pain it took to get there at the end.

I have 2 little children ages 2 and 1, and I love them so dearly, but they just don't understand that daddy needs to pass to keep afloat....

I don't start working till November 2nd, and once you start, its more difficult to stay focused. I envy all you single guys and ladies, just make the best of your opportunity, it gets difficult as you grab on to more responsibilities.

So this is my plans for the final window of 2009.....

BEC- Oct. 1

REG- Oct. 12

Audit- Oct 26

FARE- November ending....

I am commiting everything to this beast this last cycle... I have taken all the exams except for BEC before, so it more of a review for me...

My dream is to Hit 2010 as Ed. Adiele CPA,

It is very possible to achieve, others have done it so we can do it too....

I wake up everyday now, get the kids ready for daycare, drop them off, and come home to hit the books...enough is enough, this beast cannot keep kicking my butt..

cheers everyone,

Just like Peter Olinto would say on the Becker review "your on your way to a CPA baby!!!

Ed. Adiele

 

More Scores Released!

Yesteday, 8668 FAR scores were released by the AICPA to NASBA from the Jul/Aug 2009 testing window. On Monday, 1501 REG scores were released and last Friday, 6640 REG scores were released.

Let us know how you did! 

Study Plan...

Hi All,

While I anxiously await the results from the Audit exam that I took in August (which is becoming harder to do as my friends have received their passing grades), I need to set up a plan.

I've always felt comfortable after being able to go through the material twice (reviewing notes and understanding the multiple choice the second go round).  With that in mind, and my test date of October 24th quickly approaching, I expect the following weeks to play out as follows:

Week ending September 26th - After a slow start, Kunal receives a passing score for the audit exam from August (fingers crossed), which provides the added adrenaline rush to get past the first three lectures from Becker (reading and taking notes, while answering multiple choice questions to get a feel for basic understanding).

Week ending October 3rd -  The momentum from the previous week helps me finish taking notes on the final 4 chapters (many of them business law which I focused much of my time on the last time I tested), and leads to answering questions with my note sheets as backup.

Week ending October 10th - Rutgers hosts a game vs. Texas Southern, and if the plan is followed up to this point, this would be an ideal break.  The other more important part of this weekend will be the upcoming October 15th filing deadline.  The plan for this week is just reviewing multiple choice questions from my Wiley book on the train rides to and from work with no real expectation to accomplish much else.

Week ending October 17th - This is the big week.  After the October 15th filing, and the October 16th home game for Rutgers against Big East Rival Pittsburgh, full review begins.  The hope is that October 16th is the last day I review multiple choice questions while using my notes as crutches.

Week ending October 24th - I have scheduled PTO this week, and beginning on Saturday the 17th, the goal is to complete a lecture a day, completing all multiple choice questions until the test date under test conditions.  I don't think it will take a full day to answer questions, so I should have time left for a couple of practice tests on Thursday and Friday.

Good luck to those studying for the next parts.  Also, good luck to those of you that are still waiting on scores from the previous window. (Hopefully we all find out that we passed soon)

Regards,

Kunal

The never ending review

Hi everyone,

After completing F7, I began reviewing all the prior lectures.  So, I have been studying endless multiple choice questions.  I am hoping to be finished by Sunday so that I can move on to the governmental sections (F8 and F9), but I don't know how many more questions I can look at before my eyes roll to the back of my head, haha.

I think Kunal brings up a good point.  When doing the multiple choice questions, I don't actually care too much about the answer; rather, my focus is on the method to getting the answer correct (actually, I learn more when I get the question wrong and hate guessing correctly).  Remember, it is important to be able to apply the concepts to different situations; as such, I have spent a great deal of time studying the explanations to the multiple choice answers.

Keep working hard.  I imagine there are quite a few people preparing to take a part at the beginning of the window.  If so, maintain your focus; you're almost there!!

Best wishes,

Ryan

I just want my license already!

Soooo its been a while since I posted. I hope you all are doing well and studying hard and having some success!!!

STILL working on getting that little piece of paper.  I recently emailed to check on the status of my license application, learned that when I had my school send over my final transcript (I had sat for the exam with only 120, got the extra 30 credits while taking the exam) I neglected to fill out a form with it. Glad they told me only after I contacted them about the status of it! i had emailed someone back in July to verify they received the transcript and the woman said yes, neglecting to mention that I was missing this form.  Naturally, despite being super busy with work I was able to quickly fill out the form and fax it over to them. So the process continues. My advice to you- find a way to follow up about this application or you may never get your license. It appears they don't contact you they wait for you to contact them about its status.

It's kind of sad though, I've learned that the license is only a little paper card, after all that work I was hoping for something bigger, but I guess I'll settle for the little card. 

Good luck studying everyone! Hopefully next time I post it'll be because I'm officially LICENSED!!

Re: Question for Bloggers

Hi All,

I hope studying is going well and I hope everyone is gaining confidence heading into this new window.

Per the question posed by Janice, I took all 4 of my Becker courses as part of the fast pass program.  After graduation, I had CPA classes every morning for 4 hours for 4 days each week during June and July.  There really wasn't time to study one section, test and start the next section as classes began immediately.  Also, I underestimated the time it took for an NTS, so I received my NTS well after the classes were over.

For the studying, I personally found that during the courses, I needed one full day to go over the material, take notes (and make my note sheets), and answer enough questions to feel comfortable with the material.  I always felt that if i understood why I was getting questions wrong and it was a single systematic mistake on all the questions, I would be ready for the exam.  I only needed about a full day per section to really feel comfortable for the exam after the initial studying along with a 1/2 day to review mnemonics and other lists.

So long story short, I personally felt well prepared after going over questions and material for about a week after the Becker course.  I always felt it was better to go into the exam while the material was still fresh, and I understood the questions (rather than memorizing the answers from working the questions too much.)

I hope that helps.

Back to score watching.

Regards,

Kunal

Busy Season Deadline 1 of 2

Hi All,

I hope everything is going well.

Today is the first of the two filing deadlines of this busy season.  I cannot tell you how relieved that I am that this day is finally here.  Things have been busier this year as several states moved their filing dates up one month.

As such, I've focused on work for much of the time after my audit exam. (Looks like the good study habits didn't hold up as busy season really got underway.)  I also have to admit that I have also taken my time off to enjoy the opening weeks of football (GO RU and E-A-G-L-E-S)

As things will begin to slow down, I have to go back to working as I was for the end of August.  I felt like I had returned to the form that helped me pass the first two sections.  I have to start thinking about the expiration of FAR to get me motivated again.

Still no scores, but I am hoping the good news comes within the next week.

Good luck and study hard for the next window.

Regards,

Kunal