NJSCPA Exam Cram Blog

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

The next flight after "74"

Hello Everyone,

I am back, and pumped for my next exam "Regulation" I have read the books, final review, past questions, AICPA released questions all for " 1 " point.

The Regulation airline departs for me on the 2nd of January at 8am, at the Fair lawn airport (test  center). I am hoping to land on the island of (above 75) by mid february (when the scores are released).

Enough to get you all laughing, we all need a laugh sometimes, and all the time. Sometimes we also need to de-stress, and live a little bit, but I wish everyone a safe New Year, I had a lot of questions for Santa this year, I actually told him to keep his gifts and give me all goods scores in 2010, he told me I was greedy, and asked for too much, I told him to come through with it or else...........CPA, CPA, CPA..One day it would be over.

Now to answer Jen's question (my fellow blogger)  if you apply for another NTS you should get it in 2-3 business days by email.

Cheers everyone,

Ed. Adiele

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

Week 1 - Fresh Start

Hi all,

So results came back for the Regulation exam.  And, as implied by the title, I'm back to studying.  I applied for a retest, and am currently awaiting my NTS.  While I hope to be able to schedule by the end of this week, I am starting by going through my notes tonight and going through Wiley multiple choice.  I have decided to go back to Becker, and plan to start watching the lectures from the beginning.  I've tried to study my way, but realize that I need more structure.  By watching all the lectures and going through everything as I had the first time during my fast pass course, I hope to get back into the study habits that helped me in the past.

As for the upcoming month, I expect to be busy at work, and with the holidays upcoming, I expect to be busy with family and errands.  With the end of the window quickly approaching, I'm going to have to make some time to get through this section.  My plan is to check in with each small step I take, as it will help keep me focused on the task (No more doing the bulk of my studying on weeks off).

Good luck.

Kunal

Some sad news...

Well I have some sad news to report.  Its seems that I did not pass auditing.  Also, I just took REG last weekend and do not feel confident that I did well.  It's very discouraging seeing that I feel like I have spent nearly all of my free time studying.  I guess that it is just a matter of finding a routine that works for me.  I am now trying to tackle FAR.  I am crazy nervous about getting through the material.  I already started going through it during the summer and planned on taking it first, but found it difficult to retain all of the information.  So, if anyone has some study tips, I would greatly appreciate it!

Bye All!

Jen :)

Hello!

Hi all!

My name is Jen, and I'm new to the blog (and also new to "blogging").  To give you a little background, I'm a recent graduate of Rowan University and I just started with PwC in September.  As far as the exam, I took Audit, my first part, in October and I'm still waiting on the grade.  And, I will be taking REG this upcoming Saturday.  For the rest of the week I will be focusing on working through as many MC questions as I can.  It's definitely been a challenging month trying to balance an unpredictable work schedule and studying.  But I'm somehow getting trough it, slowly but surely, and hopefully passing these exams along the way.  I will be sure to check back in after the exam.  Bye!

Half way there...

Hi everyone,

I hope all is well and that your studies are moving along nicely.  Work has been hectic as of late with important projects facing tight deadlines.  As such, it has been increasingly challenging to get my studying in, but I have been fighting to stay focused to do so. I now am working through the third of seven lectures for Regulation.  Although I thought REG would be challenging for me since I am not particularly interested or experienced in tax, I am finding the Becker material to be sufficient.  I actually am moving through the material fairly well....that is, when I have time to study.

I also have been trying to squeeze in time to complete my Masters coursework.  I have found that the only way I can do this is to dedicate time, in advance, for studying and school work.  During this time I close all programs on my computer except Becker and I ignore my phone (which is not easy!). 

With Regulation I have found the multiple choice questions to be the most useful in learning the material.  My plan is to move more quickly through the remaining lectures and then spend a great deal of time going through the multiple choice until my eyes fall out of my head, haha.

I'll keep you updated on my progress.  Good luck to all of you with exams approaching (I have until November 30th).  And keep working hard, but don't forget to have some fun too!  Admittedly, I am guilty of losing focus when it comes to friends.

Ed, I hope your first week at Deloitte exceeds your expectations!

Until next time....

Best,

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)

Still no license? How many months has it been...

SOOOOO I was HOPING I could avoid the extra $50 charge NJ makes you pay to have them review your transcript if you get your extra credits AFTER you submit your initial application to sit for the CPA. As a result of what I was hoping I still haven't gotten my license. Good thing I kept following up with them otherwise I'd be sitting and waiting for it and would have no idea that they hadn't even looked at my form since it didn't have the money.  In my defense, the woman from the state had told me to just send the form since I had already sent my final transcript. I took that to mean that I didn't have to pay the money. (I was hopeful, what can I say) After spending SO much on the exam and review courses I hated paying ANOTHER 50 bucks. But I gave in. Sent that in last week. Hoping that they'll finally start processing it and in the next month or so I'll have my license.

In a previous post Priscilla had mentioned how hard the application process for your license is (which it really is) and that the Big 4 has HR people there to help you. I didn't really have that experience. I pretty much had to do it all myself still, we have one site where we can get the application, but personally I felt like I was still on my own. So those of you at smaller firms- don't think we all have it so easy.

I hope you all (especially my fellow bloggers) are doing well with your exams and having some success!!! Keep on trucking and you'll get through it! \

-Wendy

Test Date Update

Hi All,

 

It’s been a while since my last update.  I apologize.

 

My original plan was to take last week off to study and update my status to help keep me on track.  Unfortunately, (as I should have expected), nothing goes as planned.  The Friday before my week off, I made the mistake of celebrating the end of busy season and the chance to spend a full week studying (like the good ol’ days in college) by returning to my college for the Rutgers Pittsburgh game.  The poor game coupled with the cold and rainy conditions ultimately led to my bed rest last week.

 

So instead of spending long hours studying and making every effort to pass Regulation, I ended up spending long hours resting to rid myself of the cold.

 

I ended up taking my test yesterday, and I felt better about it than the last time I took regulation.  We’ll wait and see, but as I have learned, I will not throw away my notes so quickly this time.

 

Moving forward, I’ve started reviewing my Audit.  The exam is after Thanksgiving, and I’m going to try to avoid what happened this time.  The last time, I did poorly on the multiple choice, so it’s the same area that I’ve been planning to attack in my studying. 

 

The only obstacle right now is the hometown Phillies defending their World Series.

 

Take Care and good luck.

 

Regards,

 

Kunal