The Exam

*Post 2 in the look back at my long ago journal – and an entry I made on February 7, 1997*

In college I majored in accounting. I didn’t start with the plan of majoring in accounting. In fact, I was given a warning by a counselor at my college about majoring in business at all because “when you get a business degree you have to take accounting and you will have three hours of homework each night for every accounting class you take.” I went into business anyway and after the first couple years was just scraping by. My grades weren’t very good and I needed to do something to turn it around. That’s when I found accounting. The structure and the rules called to me. I decided that I may not be able to get out of college with great grades, but I could get a degree in something respectable and something everybody thought was hard. Something that I could be proud of. And it wasn’t going to stop there – I was going to pass the CPA exam and become a CPA. That would be the ultimate goal and would make me someone. At least in my mind. I wasn’t going to be a doctor and I didn’t want to be a lawyer. But I could become a CPA. Well, majoring in accounting was hard. There was a lot of homework – and a lot of – Whew, you’re majoring in accounting? Are you crazy? But I liked it – and I dreamed of one day passing the CPA exam. So I struggled through my classes – took a couple summer sessions – worked a part time job the whole time – and eventually got to my last semester. My last semester and my hardest classes. There were only three of them, but I was also going to a CPA exam review class at night for three hours twice a week. It was really hard and really busy and I didn’t do very well with any of it. I barely passed a couple of my classes and didn’t come close to passing the CPA exam, but I graduated and had my degree in accounting. Step number one completed. Now I just needed to concentrate on passing the exam – and getting a job. So I studied – kind of. And I looked for a job….

Back then the CPA exam was only offered twice a year – in May and June, and you didn’t find out how you did for three months. You took it over 2 and a half days and it consisted of four sections consisting of auditing, business law, governmental accounting and everything in the book concerning cost and financial accounting. It was very hard to prepare for because some years a subject would be represented by a lot of questions and then for the next few years only one or two questions. Because of this you had to know everything – and there was a lot to know. Back when I was taking it you had to pass at least 2 sections and get at least a 50 on the other sections in order for the sections you passed to count. So you couldn’t just study one section and then pass it – you had to study the whole thing. Your chances back then were around 10% that you would pass the whole exam on your first try. Today, everything is different. The test is computerized, offered more often, and you can take and pass each section independently. A tax professor I had in college was a CPA and a lawyer and he told us one day that between the CPA exam and the bar exam the CPA exam was by a far the hardest. The point was to make the exam so hard so as to not flood the market with new CPA’s every year…

The job search wasn’t really going all that well and I didn’t feel like studying . I was tired of  school and books and libraries – so, of course, my second attempt at the exam didn’t go much better than my first. Shortly after, though, I landed my first job out of college – at a local mid-size CPA firm. I was to look forward to two years of doing taxes and going on audits. Some really good experience, but for low pay and a long drive from home every day. While paying my dues, I tried again on the exam – and came closer this time – but still a fail. Now I was getting discouraged and feeling like a failure. The exam haunted me and the promise I made to myself in college haunted me, so for now I gave up on the exam. I found a job closer to home and a few years later was facing getting married. I needed to do something about my career – I needed to get this monkey off my back and finally pass this exam. So I signed up for another CPA exam review course. Classes again – homework again – the library again. But this time it all clicked. I figured out what the secret was – at least for me. I needed to grow up some and I needed to get out there and acquire real life experience. Once I had been working for a while, the big picture all started to make sense and the preparation for the exam was less memorization and more putting the puzzle pieces together. It wasn’t easy – but it was easier. I took the exam in May of 1996 – just a few weeks before my wedding – and passed 2 sections. I took the other two again in November and found out on February 7, 1997 that I passed! Finally…

It was such a relief and one of the best feelings I had ever felt. My name was listed in the paper, my bosses gushed, my family was proud, and my career went in some interesting and unpredictable directions.  My horoscope that day said “Your career accelerates nicely now. Nothing will hold you back if you focus on specific goals. Lasting prosperity depends on your willingness to engage in self-promotion.” I’m not joking. The funny thing is that while I’ve done ok in my my career – the one thing that has probably held me back is my “unwillingness to engage in self-promotion”. Just not my style. The irony! Who knows – maybe it didn’t matter. Still, I’m a CPA – and I’ve always been proud of sticking with my vision and not giving up on what I promised myself in college – even after repeatedly failing. Hey, look! Self-promotion…

Entries to my journal in February 1997: