Questions to Consider as You Begin Your Journey To Success

APPROXIMATELY 2,000 FREE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

September 1, 2008

CPA Review for FREE
www.CPAreviewforFREE.com

Lesson 7
Questions to Consider as You Begin Your Journey To Success

From: Joe

Best of luck to everyone who gets these email lessons down in the Louisiana
area. I have several former students who live down in New Orleans and I know
how scary and dangerous the hurricanes can be. I hope it is over soon and you
are back to being safe.

(a)—If this is your first email lesson from us, I want to welcome you. I send
these lessons out about 2-4 times each month to help current and future
candidates get ready to pass the CPA Exam. Thousands of accountants pass the
exam every quarter and so can you. Our goal at CPAreviewforFREE is to help
every person who wants to pass the CPA Exam to achieve that goal.

If you ever decide that you need to unsubscribe, the process is easy. Scroll
to the end of the lesson and click on the unsubscribe link. We love having you
with us but please feel free to unsubscribe whenever you need.

(b)—Please check out our advertisers on our website. They help us to provide
all of this free material to you through CPAreviewforFREE. Without them, we
would not exist. Plus, they provide a lot of great services that can really be
helpful.

(c)—Don’t forget to check out our free video tips under “Take a Study
Break” at www.CPAreviewforFREE.com. I hope to have a fourth one up in the
next couple of days. Each one is roughly 4-5 minutes long.

(d)—Also notice, as indicated in our last lesson, you can now find the
complete steps for an audit engagement at www.CPAreviewforFREE.com under CPA
Exam Resources on the homepage. Good information; it is helpful in coming to
understand the auditing process.


(1)—SEPTEMBER QUESTIONS. September is a month when the CPA Exam “goes
dark.” In other words, no one can take the CPA Exam in September. Thus,
everyone is getting ready. It is a great time, here on September 1, to plan out
your strategy for the October-November testing window. Things go so much better
if you have a plan. The CPA Exam is too important to leave your preparation to
random chance. Here are some questions that you should consider, starting
today.

--Have you qualified to take the CPA Exam? Have you received your NTS
(notice to schedule)? If you have not applied for the CPA Exam, read
“Applying for the CPA Exam” under CPA Exam Resources at
www.CPAreviewforFREE.com.
--Have you read the NTS carefully? There is a lot of very helpful
information included.
--If you have not previously taken the CPA Exam, have you read “The
Structure of the CPA Exam” at CPA Exam Resources at www.CPAreviewforFREE.com.
The more you know about the exam, the easier it is to pass. You don’t want
any surprises.
--Have you considered how many parts you want to take in October and
November? Do you want to take 1, 2, 3, or 4? As I have said before in these
email lessons, it all depends on how much time you have to study. This is a
very important question. For some advice, go to www.CPAreviewforFREE.com and
click on “resources” at the top of the page and then look at the “FAQ”
section.
--Have you actually scheduled the exams that you are going to take in
October and November? If you want specific dates, it is better to make the
reservation early. If you are taking more than one part in October-November,
try to leave as much time in between as possible.
--Have you scheduled out how many hours you are going to try to study each
week in September (I am not sure that scheduling more than one month in advance
is very helpful)? Have you scheduled out how many hours you are going to study
each day for the next two weeks? (You don’t need to study every day but you
probably need to study most days.) Have you scheduled out when you are going to
be studying each day during the coming week? Have you scheduled out exactly
what you are going to be accomplishing each of the next two or three days?
--Preparation requires two processes: (1) going over new material and (2)
reviewing previously covered material. Do you have a schedule for how much time
you are going to spend on each? I am a big believer that you divide your
remaining time into three parts. For the first 1/3 of the time, you only study
new material and work new problems. During the second 1/3, you study new
material 2/3 of the time and review previous material for the remainder. For
the final 1/3 of the study time, you only cover new material 1/3 of the time
with review making up the other 2/3. I think this pattern helps you get through
everything and keep it all fresh in your brain.
--Have you decided how you are going to keep notes? You need those for
review purposes; you cannot keep everything in your head. Here is my rule. If
you work a question and get it right, you probably do not need to take any notes
on it. If you work a question and get it wrong, you want to isolate what you
missed and take a note on just that. Focus on the part that you missed. There
is where you have the opportunity to learn. That was the part you did not know.
I like keeping my notes on 3 by 5 cards with a question on one side and the
answer on the other. That way you have something you can carry with you to
study and it is very easy to use.
--Have you looked at the hundreds and hundreds of questions on
www.CPAreviewforFREE.com to see how you can start working them and begin to add
points right now. Read a question and get it right, then move on. Read a
question and miss it, then stop and isolate the mistake and set up your note
card. Set a goal: how many questions and problems do you want to do
today? Tomorrow?

Go about the exam the right way and you can do it!!!


(2)—FACT: roughly half of the people who take each of the four parts of the
CPA Exam pass while roughly half fail. Half pass and half fail. Consequently,
your primary goal is to be in the upper half. If you can get into a position
where your knowledge is in the upper half, you’ve got a great chance to pass
the exam. You do not need to be in the topo 1 percent. Not the upper 10
percent or even the upper 25 percent, just the upper half. That is a goal that
YOU can achieve. You might not be able to be number one in class but, if you
work at it, you CAN get in the upper half.

You know the next question: how do you get into the upper half? Today, in
the United States, it is Labor Day, a national holiday. Most people spent the
day enjoying the vacation. Everyone needs a rest occasionally and, if you needed
a break from preparing for the CPA Exam, I hope you took it. I always believe
that occasional relaxation and occasional exercise will help you function more
effectively the rest of the time.

However, when I took the CPA Exam, I always worried that I wasn’t smart
enough (I think this must be a universal human problem—self-doubt). I
wondered how I could ever catch up with those smart people so I could get in the
upper half. I didn’t want to be first; I just wanted to pass. One of my
favorite techniques was to study when I did not think other people were
studying. That really made me feel good. Whether it was Friday night or
Saturday morning or on holidays or on Sunday afternoon when most people are
watching football, I loved the idea that I was adding points to my score when
other people were loafing.

If you are taking the exam in October-November, you want to start working on
building a sense of confidence RIGHT NOW. One way to do that is to study in a
way that makes you feel like you are getting ahead of the competition. So, each
week, come up with a time where most people are not studying. Then, you put in
30 minutes or so—enough time so that you know you have added some points.

When I was preparing for the CPA Exam, I would decide what I wanted to do in
the first 30 minutes of the next day. When I went to bed at night, I placed my
books right beside my bed. In fact, I would open them to the spot I planned to
study.

Then, in the morning, before I even got out of bed, I grabbed my books and put
in 30 minutes. I felt strong the rest of the day. I loved realizing that I had
studied before other people had even gotten out of bed. No matter what I did
during the rest of the day, I had made progress.

You don’t need to be number one. You don’t even need to be number 40. You
just need to be in the top half. If you will start adding points when other
people are resting or playing, you are moving yourself up in the rankings and
getting ever closer to your goal.


(3)—WORDS FROM A GOOD BOOK. A friend of mine (actually the father of one of
my former students) sent me a book last week titled The Last Lecture by Randy
Pausch. Randy Pausch, for those of you who do not know, was a college professor
who died at a young age. However, before he died, he went back to his college
(Carnegie Mellon) and gave a wonderful lecture. You can see it at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo and it is well worth your time. Stop
reading this and go watch—it will help you.

The book that I received is a series of about 60 short thoughts that Pausch
wrote on a variety of topics dealing with living. Trust me, it is a tough book
to read without wanting to jump up and make more of your time on this planet.
On page 36, Pausch says “Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. As a
college professor, I’ve seen this as one lesson so many kids ignore, always to
their detriment: You’ve got to get the fundamentals down, because otherwise
the fancy stuff is not going to work.”

I agree completely with Pausch on the fundamentals. It is true about a lot of
things in life, even including the CPA Exam. Whether it is hand grenades or
horseshoes, you are not going to succeed unless you know the fundamentals. Most
people start preparing for the CPA Exam with a sense of being overwhelmed. They
want to skip the fundamentals and go right to the overly complex stuff.
“I’ve got to learn it all. I’ve got to learn all of the most difficult
topics in accounting, auditing, tax, and the like. It is just too much for
me.”

Don’t let yourself get distracted. You have to learn the fundamentals. You
have to know the basics. You just need to get in the upper half; you don’t
need to be perfect. To do that, the fundamentals are enough. How do you compute
bad debt expense? How do you handle the exchange of assets? How do you compute
present value? When is interest revenue not taxable?

In fact, one of my suggestions, as you study, is to start making a list of the
fundamentals. As you cover a topic, what parts do you see over and over? Just
make a simple list that you can go back and read now and then.
---Double-declining balance depreciation is 2 over the life times the book
value. That is a fundamental.
---Basic earnings per share is net income less preferred stock dividends
declared divided by the weighted average number of common shares. That is a
fundamental.

It is easy to fail the CPA Exam by actually trying to learn too much. If you
can just learn the fundamentals, you should be ready to pass.