It’s already the end of May, and summer is upon us! That means it’s the end of the school year for some and graduation for others. As an accounting student, or recent accounting graduate, the summer is the perfect time to study for the CPA Exam, whether you have one more year of school left or you start your first job this fall. If you want to get a head start on the CPA Exam, check out these tips below to help you use this time off to your advantage.
As in, right now! Knowing what’s required by your particular state as soon as possible will help you determine the steps you need to take for the CPA Exam. Check with your particular state board to see what the requirements for CPA candidates are.
Many states require a certain number of hours before you sit for the exam, and these hours typically have to be in specific areas. If you have one more year of college, now is the perfect time to research what your state requires so you can adjust your classes for next year accordingly if need be. Recent graduates will have to weigh their degrees and determine if additional schooling is needed or if they’ve met the necessary requirements to take the exam.
Keep in mind that the requirements to get licensed as a CPA may not be the same as the requirements to take the exam. You may be able to take the CPA Exam with 120 hours but you need 150 to get licensed; these are requirements you need to know early on in order to set yourself up to take the exam and get your license as soon as possible.
Whether you’re a recent graduate planning on taking the CPA Exam this summer, or you have one more year of school but want to get a jump start on studying, consider getting away for a bit. This doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but getting out of your college town and going home, or finding a more secluded place to spend the summer can help you avoid distractions and have quality study time.
This doesn’t mean you need to cut out all fun (as we’ll talk about soon), but if you’re serious about taking the CPA Exam, you want to give yourself the best chance possible of passing. Once you start your job or you start school again in the fall, it’s going to be much harder to set aside study time for the exam. Summer is a great time to get a jump start on studying for and passing the exam.
A great place to create time blocks is via your email program, which generally has calendar software. Alternatively, you can take a pen to paper or purchase a whiteboard and physically write in specific time blocks. Your time blocks should be consistent from week to week; what you do on Monday should typically stay the same for the entire summer.
More importantly, your time blocks should be realistic. Don’t create 9-hour time blocks every day dedicated to studying when you know you’re going to burn out in a few days. Consider how you’ve studied in the past and what works for you. Are you a morning person or do you like the evenings? Do you like to marathon study four days a week and have a long weekend or would you rather take lots of breaks throughout the day? This will help you create realistic time blocks and help you avoid burnout. Creating a specific schedule that works with your study habits will help you avoid spending time studying ineffectively.
You may notice we didn’t touch much on specific study schedules. A good CPA Review course will create a study plan for you, adapting as you go through the materials and helping you learn at a rate that works for you.
While studying all day seems like the perfect way to pass the CPA Exam, the reality is, it’s summer. The weather is going to be beautiful, and if you’re a recent graduate, it may be the last summer you have before you start working full-time. So, have some fun! This is why we created our time blocks above. Spending time with family and friends and doing activities you love will help you come to each study session refreshed and ready.
The Q2 testing window closes on June 10th, and the rest of June is a dark month. You may not be able to take your first exam before July 1st, and that’s okay. Either way, you want to consider your testing windows if you want to take a few sections this summer. Scheduling your first section as close to July 1st as possible will set you up to take at least two exams this summer, possibly three, before the Q3 testing window closes on September 10th.
No matter where your CPA Exam path leads, keep in mind when you can actually take exams (between now and June 10th and between July 1st and September 10th), so you don’t accidentally set yourself up to take an exam section during a dark period.
Having said that, make sure you don’t rush through your study materials to make testing dates. If you want to keep an eye on your potential score, consider Surgent’s ReadySCORE™, which allows you to see what your score would be for each exam section as you study, helping you determine when you’re ready to take and pass the CPA Exam.
Whether you just graduated or you have one more year of college, the summer is the perfect time to get started studying for the CPA Exam. If you’re ready to jump in and pass a few exams before fall rolls around, check out this course comparison to see how Surgent stacks up against the competition.
Megan Bierwirth graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and passed the CPA Exam within six months of graduation. She worked in both public accounting and industry while becoming a CPA and now runs a virtual bookkeeping company focused on preventive, integrative and complementary medicine professionals.
Every CPA review course tends to advertise the same selling points – smart/adaptive learning technology,…
If you choose wisely, a CPA Exam tutor can help you pass the exam quickly…
Surgent simplifies studying for the CPA Exam so you don’t have to put your life…
Everyone tells you to take the CPA Exam after graduation, but you aren’t sure where…
You have probably heard that the CPA Exam is “evolving” via the CPA Evolution effective…
Big changes are coming to the CPA Exam in 2024 because of the CPA Evolution.…