How to go about CFA, CPA, Series Certifications, etc.

Im a CPA, passed in 2012 so here goes (might be somewhat dated but he get the gist):

Before the test:

- make sure you eligible and have enough credit hours. You need 150 course hours and a variety of accounting course.

- Make sure you register with NASBA, they control the exam and who you are registered with to schedule exams. 

General:

- CPA is four parts; used to be audit, business, finance, and regulation (law). 

- Testing is basically four windows a year with an off month for grading; so Jan and Feb are test months, March is blacked out for grading, restart in April.

- You can schedule the four parts however you want, in whatever order you want. Once you pass one part, it stays good for 18 months until you pass the other three. After 18 months you lose credit and have to retake that part. Works out to pass a part, then you basically have six months to pass each other part. Might have changed, but I believe you can only take one part in each window; ,meaning you can't take audit in January, fail and then take it again in Feb, you have to wait until April (might have to do more with getting the results than anything else. Scores are on a curve, so even though its on a computer you don't get the results immediately.)

Strategy:

- Some people say study for the part  you find the hardest, get that one passed, then the rest will be easy in the window, some people say the opposite, do what works best for you. 

- Enroll in a study program. Some people Becker, which probably runs about $2k, there are other ones, some good, some not. I know when I was studying people would try to combine different programs (notes from one, flashcards from another), you can do that, but I always found people would use that as crutch for not doing work. ( Like I always send, if the CPA was training for a marathon, too many people are worried about which types of shoes to wear rather than actually going out and getting runs in). 

- Do all the questions, lessons and study materials in the program. Work the problems. I know I had trouble in the beginning because I was trying to memorize material but an instructor gave me the tip of its a test of questions, focus on that. Its like you get better at golf by playing golf, not from solely being on the driving range all day, though that helps. But understand why you got questions wrong. 

- Each subject has a lot of topics, its basically a hole thats a mile long but an inch deep. You can't go without knowing anything, but you don't need to know anything. 

- Develop a schedule, don't be lazy, and don't listen to be who say they studied for two days and passed. Also don't worry if you fail a part, there will be some people who pass everyone on their first try, but thats kind of rare and not one asks you when youre a CPA how many times it took you or what your score was. 

 Tips/tricks:

- You can also move your exam date, but if its less than 30 days away its cost like $50 to move (NASBA gives you a ticket/email and you have to schedule by a certain date). I always pick something far out from the exam and move it up if I wanted, its free to move it from 50 days away to 20 days, but not the opposite. 

- As said, its graded on a curve. Don't get discouraged if you dont pass, sometimes its a luck of the draw and don't spend a ton of time on one questions. If you can eliminate one of the four multiple choice, your odds go way up, and if you have to guess from there its better than not knowing anything.