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Attention, Attention! This Dude Passed the CPA Exam on the First Try

Posted on by Adrienne Gonzalez

Forgive us for the fluff but it’s Friday. With busy season in full swing, it’s dead and you guys aren’t reaching out for sage or even somewhat useful advice so we’re sad to say this is the best we got.

Since when does passing the CPA exam warrant a whole article? We’re not against the idea, just wondering when that became the thing to do.

Don’t you wish your firm did something like this for you? Or that maybe your wife would have thought to take out a half page ad in the local paper when you finally got an 81 on BEC after four tries?

No, people, you’re setting the bar way too low. You need to be this guy.


Via the Central Michigan Morning Sun (by all accounts this is a totally legitimate newspaper):

M.C. Kostrzewa & Co. P.C. CPAs of Mt. Pleasant has announced that Gregory Erickson has passed all four parts of the CPA exam in his first sitting for the exams.

Nationwide only 4 percent of applicants pass the exams in their first attempt.

Erickson, a graduate of Grand Valley State University, resides in Mt. Pleasant with his wife, Bethany.

Since most of you probably didn’t get your own article when you passed (sorry, intentionally underachieving generally doesn’t warrant its own fanfare), you might think this is a freakish concept but actually we found another, this one for Oconomowoc CPA Jennifer Konieczka. Is this a midwestern thing? Is it akin to your parents publishing an engagement announcement if you actually land yourself a winner?

We’re baffled.

In a related note, however, because we would never want underachievers to be left out of feeling special, we have taken it upon ourselves to offer up space here on our site for special CPA exam announcements or congratulations along these same lines. Write us if you have an appropriate nomination and bonus points for endorsements such as “most Irish Car Bombs the weekend before REG without getting a 67” or “this person guessed 50% of their multiple choice problems and still got a 75.” Please leave your bragging about passing all four parts in 2 months to more reputable publications like the Morning Sun.

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CPA Exam Stumper: When Does the 18 Month Window Actually Start?

I want to be clear with you guys that though it may feel like I pull most of my CPA exam advice out of my ass, there are usually reasons behind whatever I suggest, and the methods are proven. Despite me never having personally proven them myself (no need).

Sometimes, there are questions I don’t have the answer to. Maybe I could Google this but as anyone who has ever tried to Google CPA exam information ever can tell you, it isn’t always easy to aggregate the answers in a singular place in a way that makes sense to an average human being. Forget about decoding the psychometric scoring system, it’s enough to try and understand why your ths hard as your first two.

So for once, I need you guys to answer this for me. You have NTSs, you have 18-month windows closing in on your asses and you are all around the country so the results should be fairly varied across the jurisdictions.

Here’s the question (via the CPAnet forums):

Can someone please help me?

There is so much conflicting information about the starting date of the 18 month testing window.

I passed AUDIT on May 3rd.2010. Conclusion after reading many blogs is I can take my last section by the End OF November 2011.

IS THIS CORRECT?

18 MONTHS WILL BE November 3rd but it rounds to the end of the month.

Please confirm as soon as possible… Thank you so much for your help.

Now, here comes the obligatory procrastination rant. Why the fuck are you waiting until October 27, 2011 (as per the timestamp on the CPAnet post) to ask this question when you had a full 16 months or so to figure this out? Even if you got your Audit score at the last date possible, you still had at least a year and a handful of months to gather this intel. Also, even if you have until the end of the month instead of the 3rd, you’d really be doing yourself a disservice by waiting until the very last day possible. Why? Things happen. Prometric closes on you and leaves a note. You get the stomach flu. Your girlfriend starts hassling you about your relationship the night before and you oversleep your appointment the next morning.

Now, all of this is moot, it being December 6th. Whether this guy had until the 3rd or the 30th, it’s passed. But maybe there are a few of you out there scrambling for this information a week before your 18 month window closes who this will be useful for a month or 6 or 12 from now.

As far as I’m aware, the 18 months means you have 18 months from the date you sit for and pass your first part. That means exactly 18 months from the day you sat for the first exam part that you passed, regardless of the date you received your score (hopefully this is better with the AICPA’s scoring improvements – those of you rolling over into your second 18 month window know how excruciating it used to be). I have heard that in some states it is the last testing day of the month in which your 18 month window ends, regardless of day of the month but as we know, “hearing” something is not reliable enough to use to actually pass the exam.

According to these folks on the Another71 forum, it can vary wildly from state to state. One candidate claims an expiration date from the approximate date scores were received while another says they received exactly 18 months from the date they sat for the first passed exam.

Which is it? I have no idea and I’m fine admitting that. Help me?

Making CPA Exam Resolutions for 2011

I can’t believe the year is over and have already gotten my 2010 CPA exam rant out of the way so the following is specifically for those of you excited to get started on the brand-spanking new (not so new) CBT-e CPA exam that launches anew on January 1 or, more specifically, January 3rd, 2011. Or maybe January 4th. Anyway…


Last year, you probably swore up and down you’d be done with all four parts AND the ethics exam (for those of you who actually have to take one) by now but life happens and your plans fell through so instead of making unrealistic resolutions only to be disappointed, let’s tackle this the conservative way.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew One part per window is reasonable unless you are going to end up fired or divorced if you don’t get your CPA in the next two months. If you want to be ambitious and take two in a window that’s fine but the easiest way to get through it is by taking it slowly and carefully. Give each section the time it needs to get embedded in your brain just long enough for you to spit it all out, pass, and move on to the next section. There are always exceptions to the rule (and I’m sure they are going to take this opportunity to remind us how exceptional they are in the comments) but odds are you aren’t the exception so don’t try to overachieve, you don’t get bonus points for most failed attempts or most parts attempted in one testing window.

Plan! I can’t say it enough: if you don’t have a plan, you’re going to bomb miserably unless you’re one of those fantastic freaks who somehow pulls it off despite all your best procrastinating. If you’ve ever made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight, think of your CPA exam plan in the same way you might approach weight loss. If you don’t plan out a specific diet and exercise plan, you’ll be shoveling cookies down your pie hole within a week.

Schedule. As in right now. If you wait until the last minute to schedule your exams (you know who you are, I talk to you all the time and you’re always sort of generally scheduled to take the exam “at the end of the window”), you’re missing an important motivator that can actually encourage you to study. If you schedule early, you’ve got actual dollars invested in an exam part and a big fat carrot to dangle in front of your face when you’re in the mood to blow off studying. Not just that but you have an actual day to circle on the calendar, which will help you when you’re planning how much time to spend studying in the days before.

Hope that helps and Happy New Year to all of you, see you next year!

P.S. – Please get in touch with us after the 4th with any and all (legal) feedback on the new CPA exam format, we’re excited to hear your thoughts on the AICPA’s exam makeover!