I thought I would outline the top five characteristics that I’ve noticed about who passes the CPA exam. We have encountered thousands of CPA students over the years. Some pass and some fail. Lots of intelligent people take the exam. What is it that separates the people who struggle with the CPA exam and those who thrive?
- Your wake up time. I have nothing against night owls. Everyone is different. However, I have noticed a high correlation between people who wake up early and the pass rate. All of us deal with a multitude of distractions. Some have families and some have jobs. However, that early morning window can be the most effective study time of all. You are fresh and you have no distractions.
- Successful CPA students do not cram. The CPA exam is designed to weed out students who try to cram like a college exam. You need to study a little bit each day for a period of 45 days or more. Since the CPA exam changes with less MCQ’s, the exam is even harder to cram for.
- Successful CPA students have other areas of their life under control. I can’t tell you how many students we’ve seen fail because they were going through some relationship issues. Broken hearted? Good luck passing the CPA exam. On the other hand, if you have a good support system of friends and family who understand your strain, this helps a lot.
- Successful students have mapped out their time. They have created a study schedule. They are disciplined about sticking to the system. You can find study schedules in our CPA study packages.
- We’ve also noticed a correlation between students who exercise and pass rates. I think that this has more to do with the fact that students who exercise tend be more disciplined.
Those are our top five observations about who passes the CPA exam.
