Saturday, 7 January 2017
The same thing is happening as last time...
uh oh... I feel as though the same thing is happening as last time. Starting effort was low. Middle effort was high and ending effort was super high. Good news debt is basically gone!!!!
Friday, 9 December 2016
December 9th, 2016
Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, OUCH!
Not only did my prediction about Day 2 & 3 come true. But my prediction regarding passing Day 1 was wrong.
So I got the worse case sceario: failed both parts of the CFE. :'(
Here's what happened to me:
I received two documents from CPA, one simply saying:
Day 1 - Fail. <-- Thanks a lot CPA, this really helped me see where I went wrong! ..... *sarcasm*
The other saying:
Day 2&3.
Level 1
Sufficiency: Fail
Decile Ranking: 5 <-- basically this means I'm in the top 50%. From what I've read: If you had a decile ranking of 1 then you're in the top 10% which means you may want to appeal but there's a 1% chance of changing your sufficiency mark if you have a Decile Ranking of 1, so basically it's like throwing money away.
Level 2
Overall Pass
Depth in F/R - Pass
Depth in MA - Fail
Level 3
Depth in Role Pass
Level 4
Breadth in all 6 roles Pass
So the positive is: I'm smart enough to have passed a bunch of important stuff: I passed my role and F/R for day 2. But not MA... Crrrap. And I passed breadth in all areas. <-- I really didn't think I would have done that but I guess so. And then the decile ranking I'm pretty sure is due to my crap performance on Day 3... I was so unfamiliar with the scenarios they gave me!!!!
I think it's REALLY important to be working at an accounting firm while you're studying. Everyone who was working in my Capstone 1 group passed the CFE. I didn't work, and I didn't do well. I still remember my friend coming up to me after we wrote day 3 and she said: Oh my god, if I didn't have that experience doing taxes I would have been so screwed! But it went really well I think. My response: -_- ............I wish I worked more doing taxes for people and giving strategic advice to people!
I might appeal Day 1. I thought I did really well. But they thought I sucked bad enough to fail... Really pooped...
I'm very tempted to quit the program. But I have a feeling I won't. At the bare minimum, I'd need to renew my student registration (600 bux) and then purchase admission to the exam (1500 bux)...
if I get any of those PAR (Performance Analysis Review) reports, it'll increase the cost but it may be worth it!
I gotta go. Ttyl peeps! And stay positive :) Stress is the root of all evil and it's 90% self induced ;) a fake yet enlightening statistic from yours truly.
Not only did my prediction about Day 2 & 3 come true. But my prediction regarding passing Day 1 was wrong.
So I got the worse case sceario: failed both parts of the CFE. :'(
Here's what happened to me:
I received two documents from CPA, one simply saying:
Day 1 - Fail. <-- Thanks a lot CPA, this really helped me see where I went wrong! ..... *sarcasm*
The other saying:
Day 2&3.
Level 1
Sufficiency: Fail
Decile Ranking: 5 <-- basically this means I'm in the top 50%. From what I've read: If you had a decile ranking of 1 then you're in the top 10% which means you may want to appeal but there's a 1% chance of changing your sufficiency mark if you have a Decile Ranking of 1, so basically it's like throwing money away.
Level 2
Overall Pass
Depth in F/R - Pass
Depth in MA - Fail
Level 3
Depth in Role Pass
Level 4
Breadth in all 6 roles Pass
So the positive is: I'm smart enough to have passed a bunch of important stuff: I passed my role and F/R for day 2. But not MA... Crrrap. And I passed breadth in all areas. <-- I really didn't think I would have done that but I guess so. And then the decile ranking I'm pretty sure is due to my crap performance on Day 3... I was so unfamiliar with the scenarios they gave me!!!!
I think it's REALLY important to be working at an accounting firm while you're studying. Everyone who was working in my Capstone 1 group passed the CFE. I didn't work, and I didn't do well. I still remember my friend coming up to me after we wrote day 3 and she said: Oh my god, if I didn't have that experience doing taxes I would have been so screwed! But it went really well I think. My response: -_- ............I wish I worked more doing taxes for people and giving strategic advice to people!
I might appeal Day 1. I thought I did really well. But they thought I sucked bad enough to fail... Really pooped...
I'm very tempted to quit the program. But I have a feeling I won't. At the bare minimum, I'd need to renew my student registration (600 bux) and then purchase admission to the exam (1500 bux)...
if I get any of those PAR (Performance Analysis Review) reports, it'll increase the cost but it may be worth it!
I gotta go. Ttyl peeps! And stay positive :) Stress is the root of all evil and it's 90% self induced ;) a fake yet enlightening statistic from yours truly.
Friday, 7 October 2016
October 6, 2016
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!
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!
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
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