Dear Oldies,

How did your CONQUER US CPA?

Please share your success stories.

Kindly cover - In what age you started, Challenges faced and your achievements after passing CPA.
Thank you.

I need to vent and say Becker makes AJE so ambiguous and full of semantics. I’m on retake #2 and I can not for the life of me find joy in this topic…I will but gotta say I really dislike how this topic is conveyed.

For reference, I have a ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 which I purchased through my university and have since kept.

I have been using Becker since April of this year and all of the sudden about a month ago I keep getting this error upon signing in. My network connection is stable though. MCQs work just fine. Most of the TBS wont load as well as the concept videos. I keep getting a "403 forbidden" when trying to open exhibits in the TBSs. I have met with Becker and Lenovo (my laptop company) support teams and both have no clue what is going, which is the most frustrating part of it all.

I have signed in on my girlfriends Macbook and Becker works completely normal, also on my phone too except i can't do TBSs on there. I have tried different internet connections, resetting different network settings, etc., but nothing is fixing it.

I have FAR booked about 45 days away and this issue is significantly disrupting my preparation for it. Has anyone else experienced this issue and know how to fix it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hey everyone,

I’ve got an MBA in Finance and about 10 years of experience in financial services, and I’m seriously considering going for my CPA. Before I dive in, I had a few practical questions for anyone who’s been down this path:

Can you submit your transcript for multiple state evaluations (like NY and NJ), or do you have to pick one jurisdiction upfront? Also, should I consider ny or nj or can I change after getting the certification

None of my direct managers have ever been CPAs. For those who were in a similar boat in corporate finance/fin services, how did you handle the experience sign-off?

I’m preparing for the Financial Accounting section of a local accounting license. The exam is somewhat comparable to CPA FAR in terms of the topics and difficulty, except my exam is based on IFRS rather than US GAAP.
I’ve taken the exam twice before, but honestly, I didn’t study seriously either time. I scored 31/100, and the passing score is 60.
This time I’ve been studying seriously for the past five months. I studied each topic thoroughly, did question banks for each topic, took practice tests, reviewed my mistakes, etc. My scores are generally good now.
The problem is that I’m starting to notice that I’ve forgotten parts of some topics and some details I studied months ago. I honestly didn’t expect the forgetting to be this noticeable.
My exam is on September 27, and I have full-time study leave from September 11 until the exam. My plan was to spend that final period doing comprehensive/mixed question banks and full reviews rather than studying individual topics again.
For those who passed a difficult Financial Accounting exam (especially CPA FAR or something similar):
What would you recommend doing during the final month? How do you deal with forgetting older topics, and what would you focus on during the last 2 weeks?
Any advice for actually getting over that 60% passing line would be greatly appreciated!

( this post is translated to English by AI )

Well I actually take the exam tomorrow, but manifesting that shit. Good luck to everyone taking exams soon!

I recently graduated in May, I have already taken and received credit for FAR, and am currently studying for AUD. I currently have a status of Hold on my profile, I think it may be because I have yet to upload an official transcript. When I initially applied I applied with an unofficial transcript because I was still a student, but now that has been completed. Was wondering if anyone knows more about this, and if it will effect getting my NTS for AUD.

So REG is my last section and i took the exam this morning feeling pretty confident going in with the best sim scores i’ve had for any section (70, 72, and 72). Coming out of the test i felt completely destroyed. I marked about 20-25 mcq total (that I was iffy on) and completely blanked in my head by the time i got to the TBS. I am almost sure I got a 0% on one of the TBS and did not feel very confident on the other but think managed at least 50% on each. I am feeling very beaten down and start work at PwC October 2nd and wanted to be finished before that. Has anyone felt this way coming out of REG and still ended up receiving a passing score?

How much attention you give to the overall review and practice over all modules after it’s all completed? I give a lot and I keep updating my notes still, not sure if I am wasting my time or comprehension is important.

I recently cleared all 4 CPA exams and wanted to order the Successful Candidate Letter. The total cost is currently coming to around USD 235 including shipping.

Before I place the order, I wanted to clarify whether the Successful Candidate Letter includes all three items/documents mentioned in the image below:

• Certificates
• NASBA Candidate Identification Cards
• CPA Merchandise

When I proceed to checkout, the order only specifically mentions “Successful Candidate Letter for the CPA examination,” so I'm a little confused about whether the certificate, candidate ID card, and CPA merchandise are included with this order or if they are separate.

Has anyone recently ordered this and can confirm what is actually included?

Thinking about it gives me anxiety...

it was my second attempt on ISC I really hope I passed

I took FAR today for the first time after having around 300 hours of studying, 62 SE #1, 84 SE #2 and 78 SE #3. Felt like absolute shit leaving the exam center. None of the TBS questions made sense. Nothing could have prepared me for that. I would need an absolute miracle to pass that exam. Go in expecting the unexpected. There were a few sims that I had no idea on which I know were wrong because I had to plug in a random number. Good luck to those studying!

Hello everyone,

I am getting back into studying for my CPA and I really am just struggling to start again. I think I’m just overwhelmed and need direction. Anyways, what does your study routine look like and please be detailed.

For example, if you are studying for 3 hours one day can you tell me exactly what that looks like for you? For instance, are you doing 1 hour of video lectures, 2 hours of MCQ’s?

I am just looking for advice on how to better utilize my study time by hearing what worked for others. I really would like to be done with all 4 exams in 8-10 months. I received a 73 on AUD and just got a little off track. Thanks in advance!

Should I do a mock test today? I get anxious and feel scared to do a mock test before the real exam day. Any advice? I started studying full time since July and I feel ready for whatever it’s ahead. I have been very disciplined.

Hi everyone,

I have passed 2 of 4 sections (FAR and REG) under the Guam jurisdiction. I’m looking to transfer my exam jurisdiction from Guam to the California Board of Accountancy, and I have a couple of questions for anyone who has gone through this process:

Score Transfer Process: What is the exact workflow for transferring active credits from Guam to California?

CBA experience requirement: I have 22 years of accounting experience (2 years U.S., 20 years international), but my former supervisor's CPA license was inactive while I worked under him. Is there any chance this past experience can be accepted, or will I be required to complete a new 12-month period under an actively licensed CPA?

Any insights or advice from those who transferred to CA mid-exam would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Looking for a study partner in this September

Have just begun studying for FAR a couple weeks ago and plan to take it this winter. Would like to take another section in the spring right after I graduate (B.S. Finance & Accounting, no masters) and then spend the summer taking my last two sections / ethics exam (will end up being licensed in VA). I accepted a return offer with EY to start in their FSO Audit practice.

My question is, how much does the discipline you pick matter in the long run for your career? I know they only retired BEC a couple years ago so this is pretty new for most people, and many current CPA’s will never worry about it, so I’m curious if whatever section you pick really matters or not. Being a Finance & Accounting major, ideally, I’d like to end up incorporating both of my majors into a service line, which it seems advisory is pretty good for that, specially M&A/Deal advisory. Does the discipline I pick help me at all in terms of a career? For example, if I wanted to go into strategy/transactions/advisory, which will focus more on BAR, ISC for audit, and TCP for tax. Do these disciplines really matter if I want to end up in something outside of audit/tax or should I just pick either ISC or TCP bc they take a lot less time to study for then BAR.

I’m just annoyed, because I use a review course and trust what it teaches me, I have sent so many mails to them for them to correct their questions. This is so not okay.

For anyone who had retested on far, I got a 67 and I am retaking it on 9/14. I am also studying audit concurrently to take on 9/16.

Does anyone have any study methods, tips, “cheat sheet” docs for gaining 8 points on far to get over the hump?

Anything appreciated, thank you !!

This is my first exam and I am beyond nervous. I use UWorld. I took my first SE last Tuesday and got a 53% then I took the mock exam on Friday and got a 66%. I just took another SE and got a 63%. I know there’s a UWorld bump but I am not going to rely solely on that. I know that FAR is the most challenging and it’s okay to fail it but I’d prefer not to spend an additional $360 to make it up. Am I cooked or is there a chance?🫩

3 days until my AUD exam, finishing up A6 today and taking ME3. Tomorrow I am planning to take SE1 and then taking SE2 the following day. Considering time constraints, how should I structure my review for AUD? I am planning on just hammering MCQs as most people recommend as well as brushing up on concepts in the book and rewatching some videos. Are there any topics that I should spend extra time reviewing or are there any other strategies for review that worked for you?

What do you recommend doing the night before exam? Does anyone do a long night of studying or do you try to relax and put the materials away and try to sleep? Just curious what works for people.

Just took the Se. Is it a good score. I wanted to score above 80😒