NJSCPA Exam Cram Blog

Happy New Year!!!

Hello Everyone,

I wish you all a happy new year; may all your dreams come true as you wish this year. I wrote Regulation this morning, and getting ready to re-do Audit on the 24th of this month. I also have busy season ahead of me.

I am jam packed this month, but I promise to keep posting, and keeping you all up to date with my progress.

For all those writing the CPA this window, I wish all the best. I also want to congratulate my fellow blogger Ryan for a great job of crushing Regulation, Congrats and good luck with Audit.

Cheers!!

Ed. Adiele

A BIG sigh of relief, but more challenges await

Happy holidays to all!!!!

I hope that you are all enjoying the holiday season while finding some quality time to study as well.  I received some awesome news last week.....I passed REG!!!!!!  Wooo-hooo!  That was the best Christmas present I could have asked for.

Don't get too excited, though.  Although I have been trying to study as much as possible the past several weeks, I have been falling way behind in preparing for AUD.  Between work, holiday parties, last minute Christmas shopping, and spending time with family and friends, I have managed to dig myself into a deep hole.  I am way off my studying goals for this section (AUD), but I will keep working hard. 

I have been reading through the lectures and practicing the multiple choice.  I decided to not work through the simulations since I felt that they provided me with little benefit for my previous two exams.  These next 12 days will be hectic, but I have no choice.  My goal is to wrap things up by next Thursday and then do an intensive mini-review.  My exam is scheduled for January 11th.  Wish me luck!!!

I hope everyone is working hard, receiving good news, and feeling comfortable about upcoming exams.  Don't lose your motivation!

Best wishes for happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!

Ryan

"Patiently" waiting

Hi everyone,

I hope you have been doing well and studying hard.  I am still waiting for my score on REG; I took it on November 30.  Has anyone else received wave 2 scores from the last test window????

I am still going through AUD and trying to get through as much as I can before the fast-approaching Christmas weekend.

As soon as I get my score back, I will let you know!

Have a nice weekend!

Ryan

Studying for AUD; Preparing for the holidays

Hi everyone,

I hope you are doing well.  Let's keep our fingers crossed for the upcoming wave of scores (hopefully all passing!!) being released.  I am now finished with my masters -- wooo-hooo!  Now I can focus on just studying for the CPA Exam after work. 

I started going through the audit material on Monday.  It seems fairly dense so far, but nothing I haven't already learned; that's good news!  However, I am getting a little worried about the upcoming holidays and, of course, the festivities that come with.  In sticking with my study schedule, I will be a no-show at quite a few parties.  I also will use every spare minute to study. 

Shopping for the holidays can be a pain, too.  As such, I have been making the most of shopping on-line!!!!  I have managed to not only avoid the crowds, but I haven't lost too much time studying either.

The multiple choice for AUD is a killer; endless questions!  I feel, though, that the questions are most important, so I have been going through them carefully.

Keep working hard and please do share your success tips and passing scores!!  I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers!

Ryan

Post-REG....On to AUD

Hi everyone,

I hope you had a nice holiday.  I spent my Thanksgiving weekend studying and then I took my exam on Monday, November 30th.

REG was tough; especially the simulations, in my opinion.  Memorization was key and reviewing the multiple choice over and over again proved to be more than worthwhile.  I felt that the exam was definitely possible and maybe a little bit easier than FAR, but still, I did not leave with a good feeling.  There is nothing I can do to boost my score at this point, though, so now it's on to AUD.

I did not start AUD yet because I was at a Governmental Accounting Conference at Rutgers yesterday.  The rest of this week I will devote to wrapping things up for my last masters course (Forensic Accounting); I will take my final exam on Friday or Saturday. 

Once my masters course is completed, I will attack AUD with vigor. Progress updates to come...

Keep working  hard.  This is an "off" month, which means we should all be studying our tails off.  Forget about the holidays, they'll be back next year.  Let's do it.

Cheers!

Ryan

Quick Update....(BEC- rescheduled, Deloitte start date)

Hello Everyone,

I rescheduled BEC at the last minute, I did not feel too comfortable from the practice questions I took. I really want to maximize this window, and do my best. I could have done it with the attitude of "well I can always retake the exam" but I looked at "cost and time" it would cost me $59+ to reschedule and more to re-take the exam. I would loose out on this window, and have to wait for next year, and all who are in public accounting know that the beginning of the year is hectic.

For those who have used Becker to take BEC, I need your advice my weak areas are chapters 3 and 5, I average 60-65% when I take them, it has a lot of cramming involved so I need your advice???

Yea....Work officially starts on Monday, I would be an official employee of Deloitte....some would say "what's wrong with this guy, he does not know what he is getting into???" well, for one I am excited to have a job in this tough times, and two, I am going in there with a great attitude that I would succeed. Nothing in life comes easy, you just have to work hard and sacrifice. The CPA exams is one great example. My philosophy is simple, "some people have worked in public accounting and are successful" how did they do it?????? and all I get is sacrifice and endurance and hard work which is fair game....

I took two exams this month (REG & AUDIT) and have scheduled BEC for November 17th at 7pm. FARE is my last part, and I would do it in early January before things start getting hot at work.

Okayyyyy, I wish everyone the best, and please practice questions as much as you can it pays off.

cheers!!!

Ed. Adiele (CPA-Unearned yet)

Audit & BEC.....its possible!!

Hello Everyone,

I hope we are all giving this window our best, lets try to end 2009 with some serious passing scores. I believe we can do it!!!! Yeah...

I have Audit on Monday, and I have BEC on Thursday; at the end of next week I would have taken 3 exams this month (ain't I crazy....noooo, Deloitte start date for me is on Monday the 2nd of November.) I have 2 weeks of training, so I am trying to make my life a little easier by crashing this month with exams.

I am on a marathon of questions for Audit from CPA-REVIEW-FOR FREE to Becker to Wiley E-prep on-line, I even got the becker Final review product, just to give me all the opportunity to hit a C+ (75) on the exams.

I have also studies 3 chapter for FARE, I am thinking of holding off till January to take the exams so I can maximize my chances by doing a lot of questions..

Honestly, really there are some days where I really don't feel like studying, I look at the book for 10-15 mins, and just hate the whole process, but someone told me "if you want the CPA title so bad, you would work the extra mile to get it."

I would let you all know how I feel by next weekend!!!

Ed. Adiele CPA (Un-earned title, just wanna see how cool it looks by my name)

Cheers!!!

Audit Exam Aftermath

Hi Everyone,

It's Monday morning and things are slow here at work for now.

I cannot express the relief that I feel having finished taking Audit before busy season work really starts to escalate.  I can focus on work, and not overly stress the next section (which is Reg).

As for the exam itself, I walked away from the Audit exam feeling like I could have done better.  I started out with confidence, knowing the material and understanding the questions.  As the exam progressed, it seemed like I was taking a step backwards.  I felt the same way after the exam after the first two sections I took, and the previous time I had taken audit.  The first two scores were passes and the first audit just barely missed a passing score.

It's a little more than a month and a half before I have to take Regulation, and I'm getting close to the expiration for FAR.  It looks like these breaks are going to have to wait.

Good luck, and hopefully the next wave of scores has a lot of passing grades.

Regards,

Kunal

Scheduled my exams….

Hi everyone,

 

How is everything going?!?  This testing period is coming to a close quickly, so I imagine there are quite a few people preparing to take one part of the exam soon, if you haven’t already done so.  I wish you all the best of luck if you are! J

 

Ed, thanks for the warm welcome.  Good luck with Audit and keep your head up; REG should be a breeze the next time through.

 

A couple days ago, I scheduled all four parts of my exam.  My NTS’s expire on February 15^th, which is holiday; therefore, I’m taking my last part of the exam on the expiration date of my NTS’s. 

 

Here’s my schedule:

 

Friday, October 9th—FAR

Monday, November 30th—REG

Monday, January 11th—AUD

Saturday, February 13th—BEC

 

Let’s hope I can stay on track the next 6 months! 

I hope everyone enjoys the weekend (we’re expecting a bad storm up here in CT L) and keeps studying hard!

Cheers!

Ryan

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail

Hi everyone,

I hope you had a nice weekend...Saturday sure was beautiful.  My schedule has been fairly hectic as of late--I just started work, had to go to a wedding on Saturday, and then to NYC on Sunday.  On top of that, my new co-workers are always planning things.  So, I sat down today and came up with a study and test-taking schedule.  I think it's important to keep yourself on track, to monitor your progress, and make sure you don't run into any problems down the road.  For instance, I had to make sure I didn't plan anything during the GASB's meetings which take place every 6 weeks.  I'm going to try to stick to the following schedule:

FAR -- October 3rd
REG -- November 24th
AUD -- January 15th
BEC -- February 26th

I'll study a little bit after work everyday, except Friday, and then for a substantial amount of time on the weekends.  I'm confident I can handle that.  This fall will be a challenge, though; I'll have work full-time, one on-line Master's course, and then Becker CPA Review self-study. Yikes! 

I hope everyone's studying is progressing very well! 

Best wishes,

Ryan

Motivation. Determination. Perseverance. Success!