Kenley is a new NINJA CPA Blogger.

My fellow NINJAs,

Roughly three years ago, I vividly remember sitting at T.G.I. Fridays on a Friday night with a close friend of mine. Then there came that moment after dinner when she asked me to check her AUD score.

CPA scores had just been released that day and guess what…? I had the tough assignment of telling her that she had failed AUD by 1 point! I can still see the look on her face – dejected, crushed and full of disappointment.

As she cried on my shoulders, I sat there not knowing what to say or what to do. Strangely enough, what I also didn’t know then, was that I would be sitting in her shoes three years later.

Greetings from the Caribbean, the lovely island Nevis!

My CPA journey began in Feb 2013 when I began studying for BEC. To this point, I’ve attempted BEC and AUD twice. I passed BEC on my 2nd attempt but failed AUD twice (65, 63) with my last sitting (AUD retake) being Aug 30.

I feel that the most difficult part of failing is having to tell co-workers, family and friends – reason being, you’ve study so much, made sacrifices and so they think that it automatically means passing. Most of them just don't quite understand the challenges involved.

I remember having to tell my mom that I failed AUD and her immediate reaction was, “AGAIN?” I'm able to smile now but it was embarrassing at that moment.

I plan to take FAR on November 27, which gives me about 7 weeks to study. My goal was to study for FAR in September and take it the 3rd week of October. However, my studying did not go as planned and thus I had to reschedule.

After sitting four exams, I was feeling mentally tired. I am now regaining motivation and getting into the studying frame of mind again.

I've found that taking the CPA exam has caused me to plan more and decide EXACTLY what I'm going to do with my time. One of the things I ran away from was making a detailed schedule of when I was going to study and what I was going to study. Sadly, it took me failing two exams to realize the importance of doing this.

Let me dare say that it is not all the time that I get to stick to my plan (life happens) but when I do deviate from it, I know that I need to catch up or else I would be under much pressure as the exam draws closer.

With each minute that goes by, there's this voice in my head telling me that the time I waste will not be regained. It can possibly be made up, but at what cost?

I've found Another71 to be very helpful. After failing the 1st two sittings, I spent quite bit of time trying to figure out the best way I could understand and digest the material given the amount of time I had. While reading various posts here, I was able to get many tips and learn from the experiences of NINJAs.

I will say more about my preparation and exam experiences in my posts to come.

Until next time…Keep Trucking

Kenley