Kenley is a NINJA CPA Blogger.

Hola NINJAs,

Talk about a rollercoaster of a ride.

With just a few days left before my FAR exam, I began my journey from Nevis to Dallas. I must travel to the United States for each exam so I got into Dallas on Monday night, as I usually do, a of couple days before test day and began to wind down my final reviews before Friday Dec 6th.

Then the roller coaster began.

On Tuesday evening my throat started to feel soar. The soreness continued and worsen into Wed. Temperatures had fallen from 80 to 25 over the span of less than 2 days. By Thursday morning, I was feeling terribly sick.

I am talking REAL sick. Eye ache, teeth ache, headache, dizziness, joint pains, runny nose, chest rattling coughs, the whole works. Tissue everywhere!

And while the flu was busy getting the best of me, an ice storm was heading towards the Dallas area. At first I wasn’t paying the weather any mind but then as Thursday afternoon rolled around, I began to hear that testing centers were closing due to storm warnings.

What else can go wrong?! I thought to myself. Now looking back, it probably was a blessing in disguise as I was in no condition to sit for the exam.

After checking Another71 and seeing that my testing center would be closed on Friday, I then proceeded to call Prometric. I was told that I will not be able to test on Friday. In fact, they said that I will not be able to test until JANUARY because there are no more seats available for the rest of December!

You’ve got to be kidding me. After hanging up the phone, I then said to myself, there is nothing I can do. I also told myself, Look… you are hanging by a thread, sick as a dog, you need to get better.

Hmm… I was not going to be able to test until Jan, so I took my mind out of exam mode. The next day I decide to call Prometric to schedule a date for January. Lo and behold, I was now being told that I have until December 11th to sit for my FAR exam. If I didn’t, I would now be subject to the normal rescheduling rules and fees.

All kind of emotions ran through me. Yes! Money for the ticket will not be wasted. But wait, I am so sick. How will I manage taking this exhausting exam? My return flight needs to be changed and I will have to speak with my manager to let her know that I would have to be away from work for 3 more days.

I told the lady on the phone “thank you”, I will sit Tuesday at 8am. Of course I wasn’t going to pay fees to reschedule so I began researching all the home remedies to get rid of the cold. Well it all worked out and I was able to take the exam. Just a hint – Garlic tea works!

Now the exam… I really don’t think I did well. I was taking too long to answer questions and thus time was not my friend at all. I began to think that I didn’t get enough practice. Whatever the result, I am glad I took the exam now and not in January.

I just feel like each exam has its own character. BEC and AUD are more theory even though my sims for AUD on my 2nd try were brutal!! I honestly felt like I was taking the FAR exam! This is why I decided that I was going to tackle FAR before going back to AUD.

I must now focus on REG because my NTS expires in February. I am taking a few days off to catch my breath, then it’s back to the grind.

Embrace the challenge.