Tori is a new, weekly NINJA CPA Blogger.

Hello everyone,

My name is Tori. I am excited to become a part of the Another71 community. Allow me to share a little information about myself, and my journey thus far.

I graduated from college in 2008 where I majored in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting, and minors in Finance and Management. Throughout my college career, I worked full time in retail management at a major company.

Last spring, I was contacted by a regional accounting firm for an interview at a local CPA firm. Once hired, I continued my road to becoming a CPA by redeeming the scholarship for a review course, which I earned in college by being a campus representative.

I began studying for FAR in my off time from work. However since I was hired at the start of busy season, it was not long before I was working 12 hour days, with little time to sleep let alone study. Nonetheless, I still put in two hours of studying a night.

My original goal was to sit for FAR in August of 2011, and continue from there. When the time came I did not feel as prepared as I should have been, so I cancelled the exam appointment with the intention to reschedule in the next window.

The firm and I parted ways in late November. I knew this was not the time firms would be hiring, so I decided that my new full time job would be to prepare for the CPA exam, while looking for tips and leads for available positions at public accounting firms.

I sat for FAR on February 28, of this year. My score was a 62. I was highly disappointed, of course. After all, I did spend approximately 12 weeks reviewing the materials, completing countless practice questions and simulations.

I feel like a lot of the principles I learned in college needed to be dusted off, it has been almost 4 years since I finished school. With this in mind, I jumped feet first into regulation. I studied hard, completed homework questions, bought NINJA Flashcards (and reviewed them), completed simulations, and had regular study sessions with a friend of mine (another CPA candidate).

I sat for the exam on Friday, April 20( just last week). Now I am anxiously awaiting my score.

I have begun to prepare for Auditing, which I am taking at the end of this window. My NTS for this section expires in June. I will continue the same strategy as I did for REG, and hopefully will conquer both by using sheer determination and hard work.

Good luck to all those who are studying hard this week, and to those of you who aren't, today is a great day to begin.