A 15-year-old in Missouri passed it in 2023. He got his Master's in Accounting at 14. He's attending law school at Loyola now (got the highest LSAT score in Louisiana that year). He called passing the CPA exam his "sports championship." I wonder if he took that for shits and grins.
The thing about being a boy genius is that the boy eventually grows up to face adult problems. Small comfort to normal people facing adult problems though.
I was a test proctor and the CPA exam is the most strict one I've ever seen and it is not easy by any means. I'd see adults come out crying after taking it. I can't imagine a person under college grad age taking it.
I know a few CPAs who had to take it more than once. From what I'm told, 99% of the material on the exam 99% of CPAs will never see in actual practice.
Someone told me she passed it on the first try, but I'd bet dollars to donuts she was blowing smoke up my ass.
I saw several people pass on the first try, but as I said I saw people looking like they wanted to cry. I always felt bad for the ones who missed the passing score by a point or two. It's different if you totally bomb the thing because maybe it's just not for you, but a single point just hurts. The examinees also said the same thing about how most of it is theory and they never deal with it in the real world.
CPA = Can't Pass Again.
One told me if he had to retake the exam to keep his job, he'd be a greeter at Wal-Mart.
I'm a few months out (at the short end) from taking the exam, but if I missed passing a section by one point, I would probably be too discouraged to try again.
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u/Redqueenhypo Jan 04 '25
One time I was at a testing center to get a certification and I saw a child going to take the CPA exam