The night before the CPA scores came out this past Wednesday, I went onto the NASBA site because I thought the scores might already be on there and they were. I didn’t pass. Of the required score of 75, I got a 61. The website says I failed, I say I got a D-.

I was definitely anxious, worried, and nervous about the score. I gave myself a most likely of 65-75 the day after the exam. And, it made sense, I performed worse than expected. So I was certainly disappointed because of the amount of time and effort I am putting into this. Knowing how poorly I perform on standardized tests led me to never think I could pass this thing in the past. Now, I am hopeful but know I need to study harder, better, and get time on my side. I also need to better view the results as I take the Mini and Simulated Exams of the Becker course. The 3 mini exams on the first time averaged to a 61% which was my official score. The SE’s averaged 52% and the 2nd was a 66% which is also in-line with the 61% received.

As you can see from the Q1 scores above, FAR is the hardest section. Only 41.92% of folks pass. And these aren’t just normal people. These are smart people. College educated with advanced degrees; the requirement just in order to be permitted to sit for the exam. And, this score is for people who will have taken the exam for who knows how many times, and those that pass it.

The rest of 2024

Since coming back from Mexico, I’ve been studying for the next exam Audit which I sit October 12th. I’m mostly on track and am enjoying the content as I never took Audit in college but can relate much of it to my roles as a Finance Manager of Program Cost and Schedule Controls at Raytheon. I haven’t maintained any of FAR but will now get back to studying for the second attempt right after I take the Audit exam. I will then sign up for FAR for my 2nd attempt 8 weeks later before we head to New Zealand and Australia for 3 weeks. I’ll get both my scores back at the same time at the end of January and will probably go back to FAR studying once we get back to the USA.

Mindset

I’ve continued to leverage my IRONMAN life experiences to be positive about the CPA exam. After all, it’s from my 4 year pursuit of qualifying for the IRONMAN World Championship that I was finally successful in my 8th attempt in Cains, Australia 2016 in a time of 9hrs46min where I received a roll down spot. And it was my 13th attempt before I finally found myself on the podium at IRONMAN Arizona in 2018 when I truly earned my spot with a 2nd place in 9hr34min. Those qualifications but me at the top of the sport in my age group and around the top 1%-3% of IRONMAN athletes in the World to get to Kona. Now, I’m trying to do the same thing but with my mind.

Training

I’ve averaged 13 hours per week over swim, bike, run, lift the last 2 months. I’ll be on 15.5hrs this week having biked up Mt. Lemmon in Tucson, Arizona yesterday. I’m swimming 3x/week, cycling 3x/week, and running 6x/week (40miles). There are 11 weeks left till the T100 in Lake Las Vegas, Nevada. I’ve lifted my FTP to 311 from 292 and am down around 5 pounds. I study each night from 7pm-9pm, and then on the weekends in and around my training.

Stay tuned.