Please welcome Veronica to the Gleim Blog! Veronica is working full-time at a CPA firm and is sitting for the CPA Exam.
I am one week away from trying out this CPA exam thing. The amount of anxiety and self doubt that has gone through my mind is incredible. Even more confusing and frustrating is the positivity and excitement of the “what if” that blends together with it. It’s like I don’t know whether I am coming or going. Envisioning the letters CPA after my name create such a cool “what if” moment, and I get so excited that I feel like I can do this and take over the Accounting world. Then I remember how these past few months of study time have not been without drama and my mind begins to entertain the negativity. I recall how my uncle died recently, resulting in an impromptu weekend trip to Mexico to be with my family. I also recently got sick from the stomach flu and was in the hospital for a couple days. And of course, how could I forget the CPA exam deadline and it’s built-in stress, overtime, and burnout. I did not study much through all of that. Rescheduling my exam date a month later was helpful, but how much damage was done?
My REG exam deadline really shook me and was, more than anything, a reality check. I was cocky. I did often think to myself, “I got this”. For almost ten years, I had gone through tax seasons and thought I had it down. I figured that there was no way that it would affect any study plans that I had. I was dead wrong about that, and the Accounting Gods showed me. I needed more flexibility with this study plan I had. I thought I would be able to just write down the ideal schedule and not make adjustments to it, but you have to make room for life and its uncertainties. It was a tough lesson to learn. If I had to give advice to someone coming into this, it would be to have a solid plan. Also, the number one thing you need to have is flexibility. Getting stuck in one way of doing things results in too much pressure. You lose the opportunity to learn different ways of doing things and learning more as you go. I am taking one part this time around, so I have quite a journey ahead of me. I’m learning skills along the way that will help me be successful, not only in for this exam, but for all areas of my life.
