With a pass rate of 51%, the CPA exam is considered one of the most difficult exams. Therefore, even failing the CPA exam could be painful, but it is understood how challenging it is to pass the exam in the first go.
Feeling upset and frustrated about failing a section is normal, so it is better to get over it and start your preparations and CPA tutoring again. Just make sure you don’t repeat the mistakes as last time. For this, it is important to determine reasons, why you could not make it through the first time. This will help you to be careful the next time you take the CPA test.
Maybe you know what happened last time, but if not being sure, here are a few possible reasons you may consider.
- You thought to recreate college days
Perhaps you did not study long enough or you began preparing too late. This is not the time to recreate your college days when a few focused nights of all-night studying was enough to get you through your exams. The CPA test is difficult and for good reason. Only a well-planned strategy of consistent study over a longer period of time can put you up for success.
You are most likely balancing full-time work or school while studying for the exam, and you are likely short on time, making it even more crucial to create time to study. You should also start the process in advance of your exam date in order to complete all the practice material on time.
- You were not consistent with the study
You may or may not have had a strategy, but you did log a suitable amount of hours. In such a situation, you either did not study well enough, haphazardly studied the topics you assumed would come in the test or did not study efficiently. Even if you spent a lot of time studying, you may not have studied the correct topics or sorts of questions.
If you want to pass the CPA exam, you must first develop a detailed strategy to study and then follow that plan. Remember, you don’t get points for effort and good intentions; you must put in the effort and be strategic about how and what you study.
3. You didn’t sign up for CPA tutoring
It is true that CPA tutoring costs some money. You may have convinced yourself that you’d just buy a few study books and downloads free online resources to figure it out on your own, but it’s difficult to adhere to a routine when there’s no one to hold you responsible.
One of the most significant advantages of a well-designed CPA review course is that it keeps you on track by requiring you to adhere to a timetable. This is especially true for live and online courses, but even self-paced courses sometimes contain a timetable, study plan, progress reports, and a countdown to the exam. Preparation classes also assist you in studying the proper material by focusing on your shortcomings and allowing you to spend more time practicing those issues.
- You chose an inappropriate CPA review course
Not all review courses are the same, and you must carefully choose the best one for yourself. You should ensure that your review course corresponds to your learning style and consider switching to a different preparation course if the one you used did not work for you. Perhaps you are a visual learner who needs to watch lectures multiple times at your own speed, or you need to log in to attend regular online sessions given in real time by a knowledgeable tutor. You may have attempted a review course that did not work well for you and then succeeded after attempting a different CPA tutoring.
You Can Do It!
Just because you missed it the first time doesn’t mean you won’t get through the exam the next time. You just need to be careful and take all the necessary steps to prepare yourself well to take the exam. Most importantly, reliable CPA tutoring will always work as a gentle nudge to get you back in the race with positive energy and enthusiasm.