Bobby is a NINJA CPA Blogger.

WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM??

Or maybe you're little more like me and I should ask what are your problems? Pensions don't count. Those are everyone's problem.

Mornin', crunchers.

I do have specific trouble areas. For instance, since I'm studying FAR right now, Foreign Currency and Hedging & Derivatives get me a bit flummoxed.

My true battle is a bit more broad. It's the simulations. I'm almost convinced that I would have my license by now if it weren't for those pesky sims!

So what is it about the simulation portion of the exam that is ruining my life? I can't say exactly. One theory is that I spend so long studying the standard problems, which have very little in the way of journal entries, that I'm not as familiar with them nearly as well as I am creating an amortization schedule.

So, maybe the key is learning my entries better, inside and out. Though, I'm not certain that's all of it, either. I just get nervous, and overthink everything, assuming each question and answer is some sort of trick designed to make me fail because there's a conspiracy involving the Illuminati and space aliens trying to hold me back.

Please let me pass this exam, my little green friends. I promise not to take over the world when I become a CPA. If this sounds familiar to you, and you have some helpful tips for me, please send them along! I'm user Bobbyb on the CPA Exam Forum.

In other news, my test is going to be pushed back from when I was originally going to take it, for a rather strange reason. I was originally going to sit in the middle of April, and I was determined to get through each step of the NINJA Method. This includes watching all of the videos.

Now, I've watched them before, seeing as how this about my third ride on the FAR Coaster, but I decided to follow the instructions as they were handed down. What I noticed is that it has been taking me most of a day to get through a two hour lecture.

Now, my attention span is bad enough on its own, which could also explain why I've not yet succeeded with this exam, but this has been something different. I was even watching a television show the other night, and I had to rewind the DVR about four times because I kept forgetting what was said in a conversation.

My brain has never been quite this mushy before. I've had some other physical anomalies in the past couple of months and went to the doctor. I'm getting all sorts of blood work and scans done now, and while the results are not a serious thing, one of the side effects of my diagnoses is an intense lack of focus.

I'm certainly not going to quit or intentionally slow my pace, but I figured if it's taking me longer to do the same thing, at least until they get me on the proper treatment, that will be ok. Especially since I don't have the dreaded 18-month clock ticking on me…pounding in my ear like the old man's heart beat from The Tell-Tale Heart (y'all know what I'm talking about.)

Good luck to you all, and please keep writing. I love all of your stories and they really do help keep me going.

-Bobby