Hi, my name is Oprah M. and I’ve been in the accounting industry for the last 12 years.
As a full-time employee, a part-time grad student, and a wife and mother of three kids, my schedule gets busy.
Getting my CPA certification has been one of my goals since graduating college and earning my degree. After graduating, I realized how difficult it was to find a job with just a Finance degree – something more was needed. So I felt like a Master’s degree and a CPA certification could give me more options in the job market.
Since 2010, I’ve been working on my Master’s degree at the University of Maryland University College. It’s an online program, which makes it convenient for me to take classes that fit into my schedule.
Before Maryland’s new law to sit for a part of the CPA exam, candidates were required to have 150 credits. Between family and job responsibilities, it took me a while to get 150 credits, but finally I finished in July 2011. When I first started studying for the exam, I tried to use everything I could get access to. I ordered another company’s CPA exam review, videos, and books, but I also ordered the Gleim test-bank software because the online reviews were superb.
While I enjoyed the Gleim test bank, not having the full system made it difficult to review answers for questions. In November 2011, I sat for the Audit portion of the CPA test and was shocked how unprepared I felt, but I still hoped that maybe I could still get a 75.
Once I received my scores I learned that I failed. Because I was not as prepared as I should have been, I committed to order the complete Gleim Review System. I’ve decided that now is the time to make the commitment. I’ve taken off from school to focus my time (and “fun”) on the CPA exams.
So here I am a couple of months later, ready and motivated to put in the hard work. Please follow me on this journey as I share my experiences in preparing to take the CPA exam.
