What was your biggest struggle in passing the CPA exam?

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Getting above a 75

likefunnyhelpful

Beat us all to it

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Finding time to study. If at all possible, get the exams out of the way between graduating and starting work.

likeupliftingsmart

One thing that worked for me is to carve out parts of my day and dedicate them to studying. 1 hr before work. 30min during lunch, 3 hrs at the end of the day. 6 hrs broken up throughout the day on weekends. As always, easier said than done.

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Motivation tbh. The grind for one section can be tough, let alone 4.

likesmart

I never was able to get the motivation really. I just powered through the absolute agony and boredom of studying to get a passing grade, even if I was miserable the whole time.

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Retention of information, particularly FAR.

I found out I was better at retaining information if I studied for 2 or 3 1-2 hour long sessions a day (an hour before work, hour during lunch, 2 hours after work) than studying all at once

likesmart

My biggest problem was getting people to understand why I needed to spend so much time studying when they were used to me hanging out and always being available. Literally, I ended a relationship because of this. He kept complaining I didn't have time for him. My final straw was when he asked me to go to a ladies night on a Wednesday knowing I was studying because he couldn't do anything on a Sunday. Perhaps it was the wrong time for us, but it didn't feel like he was playing on my team.

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I finished my MBA before I took the CPA. My study schedule was almost the same (except no in person classes) but people were much more understanding when I would not go out because I was "studying for grad school" than "studying for the CPA exam"

Studying

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I study one chapter a day at the moment and review my notes every night so far. It’s been helping.

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Battling bad anxiety as is. And then that just looms over your head on top of everything else

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Realizing that passing doesn’t actually increase your income significantly

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I think it helps with the job search. I noticed on the top 3 list of keywords recruiters used to find me "CPA" was one of them. When I was interviewing people to hire somebody, credentials always stood out to me. It showed me the interviewee was investing in themselves and took their career seriously.

Being lazy

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Finding the time but then instead of going home I started going to 24 hrs coffee shops and it worked out perfectly

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REG

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Also.. most test prep providers don’t teach the material like a lecture, a format I learn best in. They just read you the book, which you can do yourself, so you’re essentially on your own, less 4.5 grand

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Consistency w/ studying

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Motivation & accountability

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Working lol 😂 and then making myself studying. Also I’m a dumbass and have adhd lectures suck

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being full time manager with kids doing an exam that is no in my native language

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Having to tell all my friends to screw off so I could study and subsequently being made fun of

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