Shaila is a new NINJA CPA Blogger.
Hey fellow future CPAs! My name is Shaila and I am on the rockstar path to CPA stardom like many of you.
Since graduating a few years ago with degrees in econ and international relations, Ive completed all my coursework for the exam while working in internal accounting and my NTS started ticking in October of 2012.
Some other things popped up that prevented me from studying for my first exam until late January, when I finally started getting down and dirty with AUD material. Which gave me a little over a month to study for my February end test date – good one!
HAHAHAHA.. I laugh now that Ive taken the test and truly know just how ambitious that plan was.
To prepare for AUD, I began with CPAexcel as my base prep material and according to the study plan they generated for my test date, I had to put in 3-5 hours of work basically every night. So I gave up my life for that month and thought to myself each night when I felt like I couldnt handle another section, Just plug and chug, plug and chug.
Towards the last week of study, I picked up the NINJA Notes & Wiley test bank. I didnt leave enough time for review (obviously), so I rewrote the NINJA Notes in a day and spent my last two days doing all the practice tests, MCQs and task based simulations I could from Wiley and CPAExcel (still not enough).
The big day arrived last week and I actually felt pretty confident as I did a little morning review. I had been able to do all of the practice tests in 2-2.5 hours, so I thought I would have no trouble with timing. I thought Id finish early even! The MCQs were okay, but I spent way too much time going back to questions I was unsure of over and over.
I didnt leave enough time for the Sims and that was a big mistake. They were much more in-depth than the ones Id practiced. I was so overwhelmed by them that I completely forgot to use the research tabs for any help on non-research questions. As the timer count down, I was still frantically typing in an answer. Too late!
Well thats that. Im done with my first exam attempt and there is only a very remote possibility that I passed. Scores look like they will be released on March 11th, and Ill be in Las Vegas for a business trip then. Boo I would rather be home when I find out.
Im giving myself a small break before I start studying for my next test, most likely BEC, slated for the end of April. Ill have about two months to study this time so hopefully Ill have more of a work-study-life balance and I can get more review time in Woohoo!
I have a definitive list of things to do on this break, including filing my taxes and getting back in shape. Ill update you all when scores come out. Til then, happy studying everyone!
