Hi everybody! Before I begin, I would like to give you all a brief background of myself. My name is Megan, but to many of you, I am known as MPoni123. I am from MA and graduated Summa Cum Laude from UMD with a B.S. in accounting in May 2007 and with an MBA in December 2008.

I have been working for a public accounting firm for the past 2 years focusing on compilations, reviews, audits and corporate tax returns.

After finishing the MBA program, I decided to apply for the CPA exam. I think at that time I was delusional in thinking that I could study for my first section, FAR, which I planned to take at the end of April 2009, while working about 50 – 55 a week during tax season and after just finishing the MBA program.

Needless to say, I had bitten off more than I could chew. I barely studied for FAR (got through 1 and a ½ chapters in Becker CPA Review) and of course, I failed. It didn’t get much better from there. My terrible attitude and poor study habits carried over into the other 3 sections. In a time span from May 2009 – August 2009, I had failed the other 3 sections.

Looking back on it, first time around I did NOT give the CPA exam the respect it deserved. This exam really made me learn a lot about self-discipline. I was also studying in my room a lot of the times with TOO many distractions – internet, TV, you name it; it distracted me!

So, come September 2009, I got serious and motivated. This was my toughest challenge I have ever been faced with, and I was not going to let it defeat me. I restudied for AUD first at my university library (change of attitude AND scenery). I sat for it in October 2009 and passed with an 84. Next up, was REG.

I remember studying during Thanksgiving (not fun), but I ended up passing with a 90.

The 2009 holidays came and went and I started studying for BEC. Revisiting the material again and still not understanding it, my passing streak came to an abrupt halt. I failed BEC two more times.

I decided to switch from Becker to the Yaeger CPA Review Homestudy and retook BEC for the fourth time in July 2010.

Yaeger did the trick. I finally passed BEC with a 79.

I had 3 exams down and 1 to go – FAR. I ordered Yaeger for this section as well. At this point, I was completely burnt out, but had to keep going. I studied for FAR in about 4 weeks and sat for it the end of August.

I ended up passing with a 75! I was DONE. (I definitely attribute that to Yaeger’s great teaching style).

For me, extensive note taking while watching the Yaeger lectures helped with BEC and FAR.

If you need to switch up your study materials, do it. Do as many MCQs as possible!

Finally, learn to say no when people invite you places. I would like to end this with a thank you.

Thank you to everybody at another71.com that supported me throughout this process and thank you to Jeff for creating this amazing website.

I also want to thank my family, friends and boyfriend. I am currently adjusting to life after the CPA exam.

I wish everybody still going through this journey the best of luck and I look forward to reading your success stories in the future!

Now, I can finally “celebrate and live my life, saying aye oh, gotta let go!” ?

-Megan