Ali is a new NINJA CPA Blogger.
I remember sitting in a CPA review company's presentation in college. “Don't sign up for an exam and think you're just going to go and ‘see what it's like.' I'll tell you what it's like – it's three hours of sitting there having no idea what the heck you're doing. And it's miserable.”
Those words stuck with me, and so I never took an exam just to see what it's like. Not intentionally, at least.
Last June, I registered and paid the fees for all four parts of the exam, knowing that since I paid for everything, I'd definitely study. Except, I didn't.
I bought the full set of NINJA Notes along with a couple audio sections, and made sure I was ready to start my review course. I dabbled with both the NINJA stuff and the course, but having no study plan meant I did a few MCQs and read a couple chapters before studying tapered off entirely.
Then came exam day I figured, “it's BEC, how bad can it be?” Well, it wasn't that bad. It wasn't that great either. A few weeks later, I got worst news any CPA exam candidate can get my lack of effort translated into a soul-crushing 74.
AUD was next. Work was out of control, so when I did get a few extra hours on the weekends, watching football seemed like a better idea than studying. The day before my exam, I drove around town until I had listened to the NINJA Audio twice over. I went home and did MCQs on my iPad like a boss. I don't know how it happened, but I passed!
And then there was FAR. This was a race against the clock more than anything else. Last appointment of the last day of the last testing window of the year. I guess I couldn't think of anything better to do with a few hours. 70. Needless to say, I never even attempted REG before my NTS expired.
So here I am, with three exam sections left (BEC, FAR, and REG) to pass before my AUD score expires next February. Since I started this journey, I left my audit job with the Big 4, joined a great company in industry, and found a renewed sense of motivation.
BEC is my next target. You buy the ticket, you take the ride I cant wait for all of you to join me on the road to becoming a CPA!
