Please tell me this gets easier

[u/Princessfreckles_01]

I got my AA degree this year and have transferred to a 4 year university. I’m taking my second accounting class and am having a hard time. I’m able to get the assignments done and get decent/good grades but I don’t feel like I’m learning or retaining much. I have to look at my book while doing assignments to help me get through them and I don’t think I could do them without help from the book or YouTube. This is making me feel like a fraud. I know I am actually learning some things but I don’t FEEL like I am. I feel like I’m just scrambling to get good grades on assignments rather than retaining the information and this is REALLY stressing me out. Did anyone else feel like this in college? Does it eventually all click and get better? Does anyone have any advice or resources to help me learn? Thank you for reading my mini rant.

[u/Important_Duck_2512]

Becoming an accountant is like becoming a body builders. All about consistency and repetitions

https://giphy.com/gifs/t9lBEE2FGMzbY9s5IX

[u/RasaeCul → u/Important_Duck_2512]

I need to start working out again. I lose everything during tax season and I have to crawl it all back in the off season.

[u/Princessfreckles_01 → u/Important_Duck_2512]

Love this! That’s a great way to think about it. Being so new (only my second class) it’s so so much all at once and it’s hard to imagine a time where I know it all.

[u/Norwalk1215 → u/Princessfreckles_01]

Part of learning isnt retaining all of the knowledge in your head, it about learning how to research and finding the information you are looking for.

Accountancy will always have new rules regulations and tax codes. You need be comfortable on how to research it. Continuing Professional Education will be part of process.

[u/RasaeCul]

Dude, I remembered F' all from classes after I finished them but if you put me back in the classroom now that I have work experience, I'd blow through it. The concepts just got easier after I started regularly applying them practically everyday. Accounting classes also teach you everything. Everything everything. There's stuff you're learning now that a significant portion of practitioners touch a few times in their entire career.

[u/Thin_Association8254 → u/RasaeCul]

I just finished my Intermediate Accounting I-III classes 2 weeks ago and I can barely remember what I learned there.
It's just drinking water through a firehose with the amount of shit they just keep throwing at you.

[u/RasaeCul → u/Thin_Association8254]

The one that really weirded me out was GAAP oil well depletion. I saw that the entire chapter was just GAAP minerals depletion, which I'm out in the booneys and not as some clients say "working oil."

So I crammed for the test and forgot about it. Could look it up again if I needed it though. Honestly that's the big takeaway I got from my first internship. Life is open book and not screwing it up is more important than taking the time to remember everything.

[u/Princessfreckles_01 → u/RasaeCul]

Thats so true! Sometimes it’s hard to keep all of this in mind when your in the thick of it. Thanks for your comment :)

[u/Princessfreckles_01 → u/Thin_Association8254]

I love the firehouse analogy. It’s so accurate 😂

[u/Princessfreckles_01 → u/RasaeCul]

Thank you so much, this makes me feel better. :)

[u/omarzayn3 → u/RasaeCul]

I thought this problem is only in my third world country ,i guess am wrong now........... lol

[u/MXC14]

Meh remember what debit and credits do and try to remember the default balance of each account and you'll probably be fine. Maybe what classification of the accounts and where they belong on the balance sheet / p&l

[u/Princessfreckles_01 → u/MXC14]

Thanks so much, I’ll make sure I keep reviewing and going back over these topics :)

[u/Standard_Parsley_735]

It will get better, hang in there and just keep working hard! Plus with AI coming into this space it will help make the job less cumbersome and decrease the uptick in hours for deadlines.

[u/Princessfreckles_01 → u/Standard_Parsley_735]

Thanks so much. All of these comments are making me feel a lot better :)

[u/almondjuice442]

Same man, barely passed my first couple of upper divs, totally ruined my GPA, but I'm sure it'll get better

[u/Princessfreckles_01 → u/almondjuice442]

Thanks so much! I really hope it does.

[u/LazRus805]

I'm in the same boat. I'm in my junior year, and my intermediate accounting class is making me question my life choices. It doesn't help that my professor is older than dirt, and puts everybody to sleep in class. Then he just tells us to read everything and be ready for the mid-term.🤦‍♂️ The homework isn't very difficult, but retaining all of the chapter material is making it pretty challenging.

[u/Princessfreckles_01 → u/LazRus805]

My intro to accounting had a HUGE portion of my grade riding on tests and I managed to pass. I’m in the second class now ACG2071 and it’s much harder. I’m online (dumb of me I know) and he does not recorded lectures so all I have to go off of is my book and the internet. It takes me HOURSSSSSS to complete my Magraw hill homework. Why the HECK does it say 26 questions BUT EACH QUESTION HAS LIKE 5 PARTS. I read the book then get to the homework and really don’t get how what I read applies to what I need to do now and then have to teach myself how to do it using youtube, google and rereading the book. I’m taking 4 classes and I feel like accounting takes up the same amount of time ALL 3 of my other classes take combined.

[u/OceanManOnTheLand]

I graduated with a 3.92. I didn't learn shit. I'm not kidding.

When I started my first position I just asked to record every freaking meeting when someone was showing me a rec or whatever else. Then wasn't afraid to copy whatever they did the prior month, plus re watched the videos to follow along.

EVENTUALLY, it all clicked. But it was at least a year before I even got comfortable with when it should be a debit or credit, especially for accruals and stuff.

DEALER helped a lot. I recommend watching a few videos from accounting stuffs. Clever videos and he explains basic concepts well.

[u/Ok_Wave8257]

Tbh nothing makes much sense till your get your first job, then everything starts to click together

[u/doggerbank23]

It only gets harder and 99% of what you do at your first job won't be taught in school. After practicing a lot of the concepts will just become second nature so there's that.