Going Concern – Off the top of my head, I definitely don’t remember FAR pass rates this low in the 18 years (yikes) I’ve been paying attention to the CPA exam.
So FAR scores haven’t been this low since 2003, and have never been this low since the exam went computerized in 2004. They aren’t entirely comparable but we had to go back that far just to find pass rates below 40%.
FAR is already the hardest exam part for many but pass rates in the upper 30s and low 40s are pretty bad especially when you take into account that CPA exam fees have increased in many jurisdictions.
What’s happening here? The benevolent overlords of the CPA exam definitely need to tweak this one because it’s clearly not working correctly unless the goal is to extract as much money as possible out of failing candidates.
I’m only writing this blog because I absolutely molly whopped FAR on the CPA exam with a 90. People are still talking about it do this day because I was working full time and contributing free Cubs blogs to Barstool when I decided to go full 90. So now almost 12 years later, to see everyone decrying the exams for becoming too difficult… obviously that’s a great personal feeling for me. And what’s the point of keeping a personal blog if I don’t celebrate myself when the time is right?
The reality is that I needed two attempts to get a 90. The first attempt resulted in a 74, exactly one point below the 75 that’s required for a PASS. Maybe Definitely the worst feeling of my life was opening the email and seeing a 74. So I went back and did the full Becker FAR prep class one more time which honestly almost fucking killed me. Physically and the FOMO of missing another 3 months of social activities with my friends in the middle of the spring.
It was a terrible time and in hindsight, completely unnecessary with how my career turned out. For a long time it felt like the most important thing in the world, and that’s because of the sunk cost. I was taught to ignore it but hard to ignore 150 credit hours at college and grad school. Hard to ignore all the certification and approval you need to sit for the exam. Hard to ignore the bonus you get from the accounting firm and the social pressure to pass exams other people have literally no problem sitting for. Hard to ignore a lot of stuff and then one day you’re chain smoking Marlborro reds and drinking red bull by the quart while taking practice exams in the dark.
That sounds dramatic but it’s real and was super lame to live through. So I guess my point is I feel bad for the youngsters out there that are living and dying with some certification process they don’t actually care about. Whether it’s because of parents or friends or your own personal pressure – nothing sucks more than working towards something you just don’t give a fuck about in the long run and that’s exactly where I was taking these tests.
Here’s the problem though.
It would be so irresponsible of me to suggest those exams aren’t important or you shouldn’t sacrifice for something you want. That’s the hard part about reflecting on this. It’s easy to say I should have been thinking elsewhere, but how do I actually know that? We’re all so romantic about everything but the present moment.
So maybe the best thing to do is persevere and then re-evaluate. Maybe you have to earn the right to walk away from something? Otherwise it’s just a fancy way of quiting.
That’s kinda how I see it, which is much deeper than I anticipated for a Tuesday morning but that’s why you do a pilot week. Sometimes you’re going to get deeper than you want.
This is one of those times, so let me summarize with this.
Just try to have some fun before it’s too late.
That’s much better.