Dale is a new NINJA CPA Blogger.

Starting All Over…

With tax season almost completely over, it's time to recharge the batteries for another run at these exams.

I am in the same boat as many others, I'm sure, that overestimated my intelligence and underestimated the difficulty of the tests.

I have always had some measure of academic success completing a Bachelors and MBA without a great deal of hard work. I thought I could just do the same here and that these were just a series of other tests. Boy, was I ever wrong…

I put in my same level of study that I had used for my college work and sat for BEC and REG two days apart and felt pretty good about things. I even finished BEC with time to spare.

Then the wait began for the scores to be released. Suffice it to say, I had been blown completely out of the water. So much so, I'm embarrassed to give the scores.

So, back to the drawing board, as they say. My second run at BEC, I concentrated only on BEC. I put in more work, answered more MCQs and just knew I had done what was needed to pass this time.

I sat for the exam, feeling even more confident. I finished the exam with only minutes to spare and was encouraged and optimistic. I failed it again…

Yes, the path to CPA thus far has been a humbling one for me. So much so, I have taken some time to regroup mentally. I have spent some time not even thinking about CPA, but rather to make a better plan.

I realized that I had approached these tests with way too much arrogance and didn't present respect the test deserved. I will not be making that mistake a second time. I'm slated to sit for BEC again in 5-6 weeks.