Nervous to Study?

Maybe I’m a strange person, but I equate studying for a part of the CPA Exam you haven’t taken in years to dating after you haven’t dated for a long time. I last took Audit in 2001, back when it was a pen and paper exam. I passed it along with Law (now known as BEC and the Law content was moved to REG) back when you had to pass your first 2 parts at once in order for them to count in New York.

Since then, I have worked as an auditor and internal auditor. I have also led the implementation of Sarbanes Oxley Act 404 at one company and was part of a team at another company more recently. Will I be able to pass based on what I remember through work, as I had done back then?

Yeah, right. Audit has changed so much since I was an auditor. The only thing that would be familiar to me would be SOX. The CPA Exam being what it is, I know that I can’t rely on my knowledge and study lightly (as I did back in 2001).

I learned my lesson with FAR. I wrote financial statements from scratch at one company and was the FASB “go-to person” but I still couldn't pass FAR. So I studied the hardest I had ever studied in my life to finally pass it.

So I plan to approach this as if studying for something I haven’t taken in years, rather than a subject I know very well. I haven’t even seen what AUD looks like since it became a computerized CPA Exam, so I am nervous. I don’t know what to expect. I will have to check out the AICPA’s website for a tutorial and sample questions.

Definitely like starting fresh. Similar to a blind date perhaps?

Have you had to re-take a part of the CPA Exam that you had previously passed a while ago but lost credits for? I’d love to hear your input!