Local AH'er does good but has a long ways to go

[Curval]

Most of these people had briefcases and bags FULL of their study materials.  They had been studying for weeks, and in some cases months.  Flash cards, binders full of notes, mostly highlighted notes too, computers with stuff on them etc etc etc.  My manager and I showed up with a pencil each.

Anyhoo...as the day goes on we were both freaked out to say the least.  By the end of it we were both facing an all night panic study session on the stuff we hadn't had time to look at...and I actually had to go to a wedding that night!  I got home at about midnight.

For the week leading up to the exam, on lunch hours and at night, I did the practise questions, just like when I studied the CPA.  If I got an answer wrong THEN I'd look at the material and figure out what I had done wrong.  All the same tricks were employed...never choose an answer with the words "never" or "always" etc. 

It took a month to get our results back.  You needed 75% to pass.  I got an 85, my manager 82.

We were then convinced that the exam must have been bell curved significantly and that most, if not all, the writers would have passed.  ABout a week later my manager bumped into one of the police officers at a pub and asked him how he did.  The guy had passed with a 78.  So he saiid that he thought everyone must have passed and at the suggestion the cop burst out laughing.  15 cops in his group failed.  I understand that one of the heads of compliance of a major bank had written the exam for the 4th time when we did but he didn't know if she passed or failed.

Just goes to show, technique is everything on studying and writing these exams.

[Getback]

This is going to help you once you've finished the exams too man.  Once you are a CPA you are going to need CPE or CPD (Continuing Professional Education, or Decelopment...whichever they call it in your state).  One of the easist ways to do this is to actually continue to get additional qualifications.  My senior manager poked his head into my office last year and asked if the firm would pay for a course and exam on anti-money laundering. Being as I act as MLRO for a number of funds I figured I bettr do the thing too.  We had two weeks before the exam was going to be written when we put in our applications.  Just to sit the exam you had to fill out a form that scored your qualifications and experience in the industry.  If your score was high enough you qualified...which meant university degree, professional designation and experience was required.

Almost a week later I suddenly "woke up" to the fact that I was writing an exam in a week and that I hadn't even rec'd the materials.  I wrote the people who put on the exam and was told that I should have been sent a link, but I hadn't received it.   She resent and when I downloaded the first file (of two) and printed it, the material was 450 pages long!  The second link was appendicees to the 450 pages.  I discussed it with my manager and we agreed that we should just stay very quiet and not tell any of our clients that we were doing the exam because we figured there was a good chance we might not pass.

The day before the exam was a whole day of classes to help the writers prepare for the exam.  There were police officers from the financial crime division, Financial Investigations Unit (a branch of our monetary authority), bank compliance officers and other professionals from financial service companies.  Only two other accountants were there. 

That is really good to know.

I plan on sitting for the CMA after I pass the CPA. I didn't realize those counted towards as CPE so that's a nice bonus.

[ROX]

HUGE congratulations!!!!!              



ROX