Melantha is a NINJA CPA Blogger.

Hello there fellow NINJAs. It has been a while since I last blogged but I wanted to update everyone on my CPA exam progress since my last submission.

I’ll start with the good news that I PASSED the Auditing section of the CPA exam with a whopping 82! But you should know that my success didn’t come without a few false starts, or shall I say non-start moments, over my study period.

During the first two weeks I struggled through my studies. There was so much going on in my life and there was never any real time to study. I found myself falling into the same bad habits that caused me to fail the exam many times before.

I had every excuse in the book … work was too stressful, the dog was sick, I was tired, the guy I liked was being a jerk, etc. As a result my study hours kept getting lower and lower.

I realized that I was on my way to yet another failing score when I actually had the NERVE to schedule an out of town party weekend smack dab in the middle of my study period and shortly before my exam. Thank goodness I snapped out of my temporary moment of insanity and cancelled the trip ASAP.

I told myself that if I really wanted to be a CPA then I was going to have to go all the way in. No more short cuts. This was a change in mentality because in the past I would’ve rationalized why I deserved to party like it was 1999.

So I buckled down and for 4.5 weeks I studied like my life depended on it.

While preparing, I did every practice multiple choice question and did almost every simulation. When I was finished with all of the questions I diligently reviewed each of the ones that I kept consistently getting wrong and began to understand the theory associated with those particular areas.

I took a practice exam a week before my exam and scored an 86! In my eyes I was on my way to passing with flying colors.

The week of my exam I was exhausted to the point where I was literally dreaming of the finer points of auditing theory. I took a day off work the day before my exam just to brush up on certain areas, work through a few “problem” multiple choice questions, and review flash cards. I think I studied for at least 8 hours straight.

The next day I woke up and it was exam day … my day of reckoning. I decided to take one last practice exam just to see how I would do and I got a 62!!!! A 62!!! Are you kidding me? After all of this studying I actually got a 62!

So I reviewed the questions that I got wrong and realized that most of the ones that I missed were because I didn’t read the question fully which has been a problem for me in the past. I said to myself… “Read the question carefully Mel… you’ve got to slow down.”

There was no time to waste and at that point it was just like the old saying that goes… “Whatever you don’t know, you won’t know.”

I walked into the exam prepared to do battle but afraid that I was going to fail again. I gave it my all and did my best and am happy to say that my hard work paid off.

The moral of the story is that through the ups and downs and everything in between you can do this! I’m excited about studying for Regulation and I’m planning to crush the exam with flying colors. Remember that you’re human and you will take a few steps back. But you’ve got to keep persevering.

Sincerely,
Melantha (Soon to Be CPA)

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