The CPA Board Exams Ordeal

When I passed the CPA Board Exams more than *bleep* years ago, the world stopped, my father cried, and the weight of an entire family rested squarely on my shoulders.

Dealing with the aftermath of the exams was easy.  You just smile as graciously as you can as people congratulate you and try not to read too much into the leery smiles that some relatives give you (hmm, I wonder why that is?).

Standing on point B (the point where you’ve actually passed) is exciting; there’s limitless potential, the path to success has been opened up to you and you only need to pick which one suits you best.  Whether you choose to work like a dog (hello SGV!) or sell sugared water (erm Coke?) is entirely up to you.

The real challenge however is the distance from point A(after you get your BS Accountancy degree) to point B.  I’ve known a lot of brilliant students who cowered upon such a task.  Rather than risking failure, they decided to immediately sell soap instead.  And why not?  If fortune smiles on you, you get to enjoy more compensation than those whose only pride are those three letters after their name.  Plus you don’t get to experience the harrowing madness of a CPA review and the heart pounding hours leading to the CPA Board Exam Results.

The CPA Review while enjoyable at times, rewards you with the realization that you were only trying to get by during your student days.  You put on a wry smile when you discover that your knowledge of the sleaziest bars and cabarets (oops, age clue right there) is completely worthless when you take the exam.  The only consolation you have is that you can say you enjoyed your college life to the fullest, but when you think about the predicament you are in, you still wonder whether all those hours spent ogling topless chicks was all worth it.

For most reviewers(me included), the CPA review is not actually a review.  More like a first view that you begin to ask yourself ‘how many times did I cut class?’.  Add to that the fact that for the entire six months of your review, your parents have been sending you tons of money just so you can review in comfort.  I would even think that the moneys sent to you were being considered investments, and it’s up to you whether you’re gonna be declaring dividends after the board exam or file for bankruptcy.

I do understand the immense pressure that each CPA reviewer feels.  I’ve been there.  Luckily for me, I managed to scrape enough points to see my name in the list of successful CPA board exam passers.

Had I been found wanting, I’m not so sure if I’ll ever subject myself to such an ordeal again.