March 2017 Student of the Month: Fred Lam

Why did you take Roger CPA Review?

A friend of mine who was going through the same journey as me recommended Roger CPA Review. He used another provider but wasn’t able to pass any sections. I had experienced the same thing.

In addition, some of my accounting college courses used Roger CPA Review also. I knew it was a good program, so I decided to switch over. And I’m so glad I did.

What was your favorite aspect of the course?

I really enjoyed the fact that the course took really complex topics and simplified them. While Roger explained bits and pieces of every topic, he also showed you how it related to the bigger picture so you can tie it back into your studies. This made everything make a lot of sense rather than just explaining parts of something without seeing how it relates to the whole.

How has passing the exam affected your personal and professional life?

More than anything, it has boosted my confidence about myself and my work. When I was taking the exam with a previous provider and failing, I thought I wasn’t capable of being a CPA, even though I graduated with an Accounting degree.

But now that I only have one more section to go, I feel unlimited in my career opportunities. Even among my peers, not everyone has their CPA license–despite the fact that we’re a Big 4. So I feel like I’ve put myself a little bit ahead of the game.

What piece of advice do you have for other CPA Exam candidates?

I was an average student back in college. There may be people out there who can pass the exam in a short amount of time because they just get it, but most people aren’t like that. We’re all different types of learners, whether we learn by example or doing, or a combination of everything. No matter what type of learner you are, find out what study method works best for you.

For me, it was all about repetition. Often times, I would finish a chapter, go do the practice questions, and get a lot of them wrong. That’s when I go back to the lectures and textbook and then just practice over and over again until I got it right. Roger’s method of teaching is similar. I enjoyed the way he explained topics and then reiterated them two or three times. That helped information sink in too.

I consider myself as someone with average intelligence who was never really great at taking tests. So I believe that if I can do it, anyone can.

Anything else you would like to share?

If you think that you can’t do it, then you’re probably right. If you think that you can do it, then you’re probably right. That’s how I felt about the CPA Exam. I had many days when I did questions and I would only get 2 or 3 out of 10 correct. But I told myself to just keep going. If you believe that you can do it, you eventually will. For me, it was all about repetition and perseverance.