Hi everyone!,
I suppose I'm still awaiting the results... However... You know when you write a test, and you know you did poorly on one part? Well, my guess is the following:
Day 1 was passed.
Day 2 and 3 was not passed, because I didn't achieve breadth in taxation and strategy and governance.
That being said, I'm going to find time to work on it!
I'm currently looking for a new job, and most of the jobs I've been looking for are mostly similar to a staff accountant position, because I want to talk to clients and give them strategic business advice, and also master personal taxation. Tax season is definitely coming up, and OH SNAP! THAT REMINDS ME! You're supposed to file a document with the government if you want to file taxes for people as a business. Something I definitely want to do! haha :)
But yeah, in conclusion, I haven't given up. I still remember my goal of being a CFE gold medalist and acing that thing, because I don't want it to hold me back!
That being said, I'm definitely keeping my goal FRESH in my mind, so that whenever I have free time I can work on it and grow my skills!
Friday, 7 October 2016
Sunday, 25 September 2016
September 25, 2016
Spoke with many other students at this point.
They all said the same thing:
Day 1 was a shock because of the future event was very different than what was given for preparation.
Day 3 was very difficult in terms of time management, because you have to do 3-4 cases in 4 hours.
They all said the same thing:
Day 1 was a shock because of the future event was very different than what was given for preparation.
Day 3 was very difficult in terms of time management, because you have to do 3-4 cases in 4 hours.
Saturday, 24 September 2016
September 24, 2016
Looking back, I had the following weaknesses:
- not enough training for real exam time constraints. (Really felt this weakness during day 3 of the CFE.)
- not enough technical training for tax, and strategy and governance. and possibly management accounting...
- For assurance. I wasn't incredibly good at assertions (i have never been good at giving assertions because it's always very subjective i find. like which one is it? Is it an assertion related to a balance sheet account!? or income statement account!?)
- For financial reporting, i found that i was able to save time by not having to look in the handbook, and instead regurgitate some accounting standards off the top of my head. But since I didn't do this for all the sections we had to give criteria for, I would say that it was a weakness of mine. I just copied and pasted from the handbook provided for the most part.
Alrighty. Maybe I'll keep updating this blog. Maybe I won't! I dunno :) Goodbye/Ttyl blogger. I might just continue for the sake of persistence.
- not enough training for real exam time constraints. (Really felt this weakness during day 3 of the CFE.)
- not enough technical training for tax, and strategy and governance. and possibly management accounting...
- For assurance. I wasn't incredibly good at assertions (i have never been good at giving assertions because it's always very subjective i find. like which one is it? Is it an assertion related to a balance sheet account!? or income statement account!?)
- For financial reporting, i found that i was able to save time by not having to look in the handbook, and instead regurgitate some accounting standards off the top of my head. But since I didn't do this for all the sections we had to give criteria for, I would say that it was a weakness of mine. I just copied and pasted from the handbook provided for the most part.
Alrighty. Maybe I'll keep updating this blog. Maybe I won't! I dunno :) Goodbye/Ttyl blogger. I might just continue for the sake of persistence.
September 23, 2016 - Day 3 of the CFE
I thought I had posted it already but here's how my day went:
I didn't have much time to prepare for day 3 other than:
- the work I had done throughout the capstone 2 program which was doing day 3 cases every week. 3 of them at a time only during week 4.
- the studying I did from the end of the day 2 exam to the beginning of the day 3 exam, which was a few study sessions during odd hours of the night. Because after day 1, my brain was feeling burnt out after the exam. And then after day 2, I wasn't feeling so burnt out because I didn't find it too difficult. However, I did end up having to pass out after a few hours of being home. Then I'd wake up and study eat, brush my teeth, study, eat, brush my teeth, sleep, and so on and so forth until I had to grab the car keys and leave for the exam location
- I looked over some notes as I was driving. Got to the exam. Stayed in the car for a bit
OH. They make you put your jacket, and bag in a weird room, and then they want you to compete with the other 1000 something students to get your jacket and bag first lol. After I experienced this in Day 1, I was like eff that! So I would just left my jacket and my bag in the car.
I personally feel I didn't have enough to eat during day 3, but I thought if i did eat before the exam, I might start sneezing or coughing. You literally have to train yourself to be a robot for these exams, which is hard because we're humans.
Annnnyways: I sat down at my exam table, and they gave me a faulty USB key... so i had less time to write the CFE Day 3 than everyone else which sucked. There are three cases and you have to write them in minimum time which means a little time is useful.
As promised, CPA gave us the following:
- financial reporting issues
- management accounting issues
- assurance issues
- Personal AND Corporate tax issues
- strategy and governance
- finance issues
I did fine on everything except for the personal tax and strategy and governance. In my opinon. In fact, I would say I bombed the personal tax and strategy and governance parts. That being said, I bet I failed day 3 just because of the rigorous passing requirements of CPA.
I'm going to do 2 things to respond to my experience with the CFE:
1 - create a plan to master all the above areas
2 - be glad I learned SO much from this journey
3 - Rigorously review all the material that I was given + do more technical work and ensure that I pass next year.
I didn't have much time to prepare for day 3 other than:
- the work I had done throughout the capstone 2 program which was doing day 3 cases every week. 3 of them at a time only during week 4.
- the studying I did from the end of the day 2 exam to the beginning of the day 3 exam, which was a few study sessions during odd hours of the night. Because after day 1, my brain was feeling burnt out after the exam. And then after day 2, I wasn't feeling so burnt out because I didn't find it too difficult. However, I did end up having to pass out after a few hours of being home. Then I'd wake up and study eat, brush my teeth, study, eat, brush my teeth, sleep, and so on and so forth until I had to grab the car keys and leave for the exam location
- I looked over some notes as I was driving. Got to the exam. Stayed in the car for a bit
OH. They make you put your jacket, and bag in a weird room, and then they want you to compete with the other 1000 something students to get your jacket and bag first lol. After I experienced this in Day 1, I was like eff that! So I would just left my jacket and my bag in the car.
I personally feel I didn't have enough to eat during day 3, but I thought if i did eat before the exam, I might start sneezing or coughing. You literally have to train yourself to be a robot for these exams, which is hard because we're humans.
Annnnyways: I sat down at my exam table, and they gave me a faulty USB key... so i had less time to write the CFE Day 3 than everyone else which sucked. There are three cases and you have to write them in minimum time which means a little time is useful.
As promised, CPA gave us the following:
- financial reporting issues
- management accounting issues
- assurance issues
- Personal AND Corporate tax issues
- strategy and governance
- finance issues
I did fine on everything except for the personal tax and strategy and governance. In my opinon. In fact, I would say I bombed the personal tax and strategy and governance parts. That being said, I bet I failed day 3 just because of the rigorous passing requirements of CPA.
I'm going to do 2 things to respond to my experience with the CFE:
1 - create a plan to master all the above areas
2 - be glad I learned SO much from this journey
3 - Rigorously review all the material that I was given + do more technical work and ensure that I pass next year.
Thursday, 22 September 2016
September 22, 2016 - Day 2 of the CFE
Just finished Day 2 of the exam!
Simplify, simplify, simplify. That's what I did!
I just took everything I needed to know. And made it as simple as possible.
ANYWAYS,
I have day 3 tomorrow, so after fooling around when I came home because I always need to fool around / my brain needs to relax... and learn implicit motivational lessons. Just how I work:
I learned this from Eyeshield 21: When people think you can't do something, use that negative energy to FUEL your burning FIRE to prove them wrong.
I learned this from Agar.io: You gotta follow best practices. Failure is inevitable sometimes. In fact, it might even be necessary when you're learning best practices. Although you can always learn from other peoples mistakes <-- wise people do this. Instead of making your own costly mistakes. You know what I mean?
I learned this from Slither.io: NEVER GIVE UP. I thought these are just pretty words. A lot of people like to quote cliche things that aren't necessarily true. For example: real eyes realize real lies. <-- like sure this sounds super cool, but is it really necessary? Does it provide any benefit? lol not really.
No, but seriously: Never give up. This is definitely a best practice in every area of life. I couldn't believe how much the odds were against me today while I played slither. I was getting cornered like crazy and there was one point where I should have died, but I was like NO. I"M GOING TO KEEP LIVING. and I did! I ranked high too 2/400 something people. Then I died. I wasn't far from first either :)
So yeah best practices, will trump everything. I ended up dying most of the time because I didn't follow a best practice of where rushing in a busy scenario would cause me to crash into other players. And well that's how the game is played. You die if u crash into other people haha ^^
OKAY.
So my strategy for Day 3 is going to be the same as mine was for Day 2. However I have the upper hand today because I didn't socialize after the exam was over!
OHHHH MAN! I made the coolest drink yesterday:
Fresh Sage leaves + Blueberries + water! SOOO GOOD!
For me, brushing my teeth is a part of best practices. Sleep and meditation is a part of best practices.
and acquiring as many techniques as possible from cases you've done or cases you haven't done is also very important!! I literally learned some key material less than 24 hours away from my Day 2 exam. It was crazy. Anyways. I gotta go, gonna buy some blueberries + sage. Then I'll come home, maybe shower ? brush my teeth? pass out for an hour ? Dunno. Ttyl blogger
day 1 was a mystery for me, day 2 felt relatively comfortable, and day 3 has yet to happen. I want to continue this fight. The great fight. :P BYE.
Oh and even if I were to fail day 2, my back up plan is to take it in the future and hopefully i will have passed. If I were to fail have failed day 1, then I will come back and do day 1 in the future.
SUCCESS GOES TO THOSE WHO TRY AND TRY AGAIN. YOU CAN'T STOP ME. kay well... unless it's my 3rd attempt or something, in which case I believe you get kicked out lol.... WELL I'LL CONTINUE TO PLAY OFF MY MISTAKES. "Momma didn't raise no foo! Ya dig?" lol
can't forget:
SUCCESS BREEDS SUCCESS
and
FOCUS IS NECESSARY FOR SUCCESS
Simplify, simplify, simplify. That's what I did!
I just took everything I needed to know. And made it as simple as possible.
ANYWAYS,
I have day 3 tomorrow, so after fooling around when I came home because I always need to fool around / my brain needs to relax... and learn implicit motivational lessons. Just how I work:
I learned this from Eyeshield 21: When people think you can't do something, use that negative energy to FUEL your burning FIRE to prove them wrong.
I learned this from Agar.io: You gotta follow best practices. Failure is inevitable sometimes. In fact, it might even be necessary when you're learning best practices. Although you can always learn from other peoples mistakes <-- wise people do this. Instead of making your own costly mistakes. You know what I mean?
I learned this from Slither.io: NEVER GIVE UP. I thought these are just pretty words. A lot of people like to quote cliche things that aren't necessarily true. For example: real eyes realize real lies. <-- like sure this sounds super cool, but is it really necessary? Does it provide any benefit? lol not really.
No, but seriously: Never give up. This is definitely a best practice in every area of life. I couldn't believe how much the odds were against me today while I played slither. I was getting cornered like crazy and there was one point where I should have died, but I was like NO. I"M GOING TO KEEP LIVING. and I did! I ranked high too 2/400 something people. Then I died. I wasn't far from first either :)
So yeah best practices, will trump everything. I ended up dying most of the time because I didn't follow a best practice of where rushing in a busy scenario would cause me to crash into other players. And well that's how the game is played. You die if u crash into other people haha ^^
OKAY.
So my strategy for Day 3 is going to be the same as mine was for Day 2. However I have the upper hand today because I didn't socialize after the exam was over!
OHHHH MAN! I made the coolest drink yesterday:
Fresh Sage leaves + Blueberries + water! SOOO GOOD!
For me, brushing my teeth is a part of best practices. Sleep and meditation is a part of best practices.
and acquiring as many techniques as possible from cases you've done or cases you haven't done is also very important!! I literally learned some key material less than 24 hours away from my Day 2 exam. It was crazy. Anyways. I gotta go, gonna buy some blueberries + sage. Then I'll come home, maybe shower ? brush my teeth? pass out for an hour ? Dunno. Ttyl blogger
day 1 was a mystery for me, day 2 felt relatively comfortable, and day 3 has yet to happen. I want to continue this fight. The great fight. :P BYE.
Oh and even if I were to fail day 2, my back up plan is to take it in the future and hopefully i will have passed. If I were to fail have failed day 1, then I will come back and do day 1 in the future.
SUCCESS GOES TO THOSE WHO TRY AND TRY AGAIN. YOU CAN'T STOP ME. kay well... unless it's my 3rd attempt or something, in which case I believe you get kicked out lol.... WELL I'LL CONTINUE TO PLAY OFF MY MISTAKES. "Momma didn't raise no foo! Ya dig?" lol
can't forget:
SUCCESS BREEDS SUCCESS
and
FOCUS IS NECESSARY FOR SUCCESS
Wednesday, 21 September 2016
September 21, 2016 - Day 1 of the CFE
Just finished the Day 1 exam!
I was late to arrive to the exam, due to traffic! ARRRGH and I left an hour before! And google told me it'd take me 30 minutes to get there. Then, google at the last moment says: "1 hour and 10 minutes" Waaaat... I was fine though. I started when everyone else did. Of course, there were a ton of moments where everyone did absolutely nothing and this facilitator just walked us through some procedures they expected from us.
It was significantly different from the Day 1 exams that CPA gave us to prepare with.... Ummm... Okayyyy... Kind of silly. It's like. Lemme test you on something! Okay! Okay! Alright, now I'll test you on very different with only a few pieces that are similar! LOL.
There were a few pieces which I can't really get into. But basically they tried to shock us.
I was waaaaaaaaaaaaiting for some common elements to pop up. But it was truly different. And it took a while to recognize all the issues.
At the very end of the exam, I saw one of my friends, and we just talked about the case we had just done. It was interesting to hear the thoughts of other students. I ended up seeing a hottie, so I talked to her offered her a ride home, and then spoke with her on the way there. Maybe I'll see her after the exams are over. Nevertheless, she was nice. GOTTA STAY FOCUSED THOUGH. If I ever had to do this again, I'd probably go straight home lol for the sake of staying focused.
Interestingly enough, I saw A TON of motivation on the ride back home. The world is an amazing place, and there are numerous permutations of what can be done, created, constructed. All of which have costs. Which is a big reason why people seek higher education, because they know it leads to higher income. In short, I'm motivated. Oh and competition is a great motivator for me. One guy cut me off and I was like damnit! I left space which made me vulnerable! Damn that guy lol but I learned my lesson, after that the road was my racetrack. <-- kidddddding (but not really). Also made me realize, if you wanna be the best you gotta put in hard work....
Oh and a very interesting thing happened!!!!! So, basically, I almost never had the patience to sit in one spot for 4 hours straight to write any of these cases. But as expected, I sat down during the exam and had no problem sitting through 4 hours. I ended up having an 1 egg + 1 diced tomatoe + whole grain low GI bread + sage. I packed snacks (these dark chocolate bars). I didn't end up using it. I should drink water. I didn't bring any water. I overheard some people saying they wished they went to the bathroom before hand lol It's hard to predict. but as I've said before, you can induce yourself to go to the bathroom in a prior post (massage has something to do with it, as well as your diet, water, and exercise).
Now that that is over though, I need to focus on Day 2 and then Day 3.
Day 2.... I'm going to try and master whatever exam that I felt extremely comfortable with first. Then I'll move on. I would really love to master the mock exam.
I have only 8 hours remaining from today. Then I have the 8 hours remaining from 12 AM to 8 AM.
Already 4:36 PM time is flying. I'll need to work as hard as I possibly can after I take a good meditative break for as long my mind sees fit. I plan on listening to my body. And going through a cycle of study, eat, clean, sleep as long as I can and absorbing as much as I can related to day 2.
I was late to arrive to the exam, due to traffic! ARRRGH and I left an hour before! And google told me it'd take me 30 minutes to get there. Then, google at the last moment says: "1 hour and 10 minutes" Waaaat... I was fine though. I started when everyone else did. Of course, there were a ton of moments where everyone did absolutely nothing and this facilitator just walked us through some procedures they expected from us.
It was significantly different from the Day 1 exams that CPA gave us to prepare with.... Ummm... Okayyyy... Kind of silly. It's like. Lemme test you on something! Okay! Okay! Alright, now I'll test you on very different with only a few pieces that are similar! LOL.
There were a few pieces which I can't really get into. But basically they tried to shock us.
I was waaaaaaaaaaaaiting for some common elements to pop up. But it was truly different. And it took a while to recognize all the issues.
At the very end of the exam, I saw one of my friends, and we just talked about the case we had just done. It was interesting to hear the thoughts of other students. I ended up seeing a hottie, so I talked to her offered her a ride home, and then spoke with her on the way there. Maybe I'll see her after the exams are over. Nevertheless, she was nice. GOTTA STAY FOCUSED THOUGH. If I ever had to do this again, I'd probably go straight home lol for the sake of staying focused.
Interestingly enough, I saw A TON of motivation on the ride back home. The world is an amazing place, and there are numerous permutations of what can be done, created, constructed. All of which have costs. Which is a big reason why people seek higher education, because they know it leads to higher income. In short, I'm motivated. Oh and competition is a great motivator for me. One guy cut me off and I was like damnit! I left space which made me vulnerable! Damn that guy lol but I learned my lesson, after that the road was my racetrack. <-- kidddddding (but not really). Also made me realize, if you wanna be the best you gotta put in hard work....
Oh and a very interesting thing happened!!!!! So, basically, I almost never had the patience to sit in one spot for 4 hours straight to write any of these cases. But as expected, I sat down during the exam and had no problem sitting through 4 hours. I ended up having an 1 egg + 1 diced tomatoe + whole grain low GI bread + sage. I packed snacks (these dark chocolate bars). I didn't end up using it. I should drink water. I didn't bring any water. I overheard some people saying they wished they went to the bathroom before hand lol It's hard to predict. but as I've said before, you can induce yourself to go to the bathroom in a prior post (massage has something to do with it, as well as your diet, water, and exercise).
Now that that is over though, I need to focus on Day 2 and then Day 3.
Day 2.... I'm going to try and master whatever exam that I felt extremely comfortable with first. Then I'll move on. I would really love to master the mock exam.
I have only 8 hours remaining from today. Then I have the 8 hours remaining from 12 AM to 8 AM.
Already 4:36 PM time is flying. I'll need to work as hard as I possibly can after I take a good meditative break for as long my mind sees fit. I plan on listening to my body. And going through a cycle of study, eat, clean, sleep as long as I can and absorbing as much as I can related to day 2.
September 20, 2016
Today I did some work, and I'm still doing some work. It was a very lax day.
I biked to the store to pick up some brain food, and I made some hummus.
I think it's important to be level-headed when I'm writing the CFE.
My training won't betray me :P
What else? Yeah Day 1 exam is in 8 hours and 38 minutes.. but I'll leave in 7 hours and 38 minutes at the latest...
I've been doing work and rehearsing my values... it's working.
The best candidate will have a system of best practices that they will go through more than anyone else.
I'm just doing the module workshop stuff right now, in case anything similar comes up. I'm continually learning. I have a good feeling I'll pass day 1 as long as I can throw my mental momentum for 4 hours. But I really wanna do well, so... I'm gonna go back to studying :) I'm loving it!
Turn your science into an art, and turn your art into a science <-- I'm not sure who said this. If no one did, I'm claiming it as my own!
Peace out! Ttyl. If I ever have to go through blogging again, I'll probably vlog instead just because it's faster to just talk out points than to type them out. Albeit, I am a fast typist.
I biked to the store to pick up some brain food, and I made some hummus.
I think it's important to be level-headed when I'm writing the CFE.
My training won't betray me :P
What else? Yeah Day 1 exam is in 8 hours and 38 minutes.. but I'll leave in 7 hours and 38 minutes at the latest...
I've been doing work and rehearsing my values... it's working.
The best candidate will have a system of best practices that they will go through more than anyone else.
I'm just doing the module workshop stuff right now, in case anything similar comes up. I'm continually learning. I have a good feeling I'll pass day 1 as long as I can throw my mental momentum for 4 hours. But I really wanna do well, so... I'm gonna go back to studying :) I'm loving it!
Turn your science into an art, and turn your art into a science <-- I'm not sure who said this. If no one did, I'm claiming it as my own!
Peace out! Ttyl. If I ever have to go through blogging again, I'll probably vlog instead just because it's faster to just talk out points than to type them out. Albeit, I am a fast typist.
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