Joshua is a NINJA CPA blogger.

Speed bump, learning opportunity, whatever you want to call it, a failing score is still just that: a fail.

The Audit results are in and I’m no closer to my CPA than I was 4 weeks ago- before the test. This sucks.

With another fail of Audit, I am making the decision to shelve the subject until I finish REG and BEC.

I think giving myself a break from the material, as well as making it the final hurdle to certification will be better for me long term than banging my head against the same book for 6 months.

It sucks failing the same thing more than once. It sucks even harder trying to explain to people why certain subjects are harder to master than others on this exam (See “Stupid Things Said by Friends and Family” on A71 to prep yourself accordingly).

I know that I can get this exam done and become a CPA. I will not accept defeat, but I will admit that I need to improve my habits and my strategy.

I have ordered flashcards to go with my materials to try and spend more free time hammering concepts home in between study sessions. I am planning to change up how I take notes and watch the videos to retain more info before I hit the NINJA MCQ phase.

Basically, I’m throwing out the playbook and starting from scratch. After 2 fails and one pass, it seems that the pass was the exception and not the rule.

It’s all about keeping a positive attitude with this exam. The second I let doubt about passing this exam enter my mind is when the exam beats me. I refuse to let that happen, and I’m going to work my tail off to pass BEC and REG in Q1 before finishing off Audit.

Here’s to hoping the new plan works out!

Hi-ya!