New Roger CPA Review Guest Blogger – Donna Elish!

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This week we welcome a new guest blogger, Donna Elish! Read more about Donna below! 

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Greetings All!

My name is Donna Elish (pictured here with my husband of 27 years, David).  It is obvious that I am non-traditional student.  I graduated from Northeastern State University, in Broken Arrow, OK, in 2011, at the age of 44 with a degree in Accounting.

I’ve spent the majority of my married years raising three children.  In 2005, after my oldest child graduated from high school and with the other two close behind, I decided to go back to school.  I took one class a semester for almost two years before I thought, If Im going to be serious about this, I need to manage a bigger course load.” 

At the time I was working full-time during the day and taking classes at night.  My greatest obstacle during that time was being able to attend my children’s sporting events.  I had always been there for them; every practice, game, scrimmage and tournament. I decided that being there for them was not going to change while I was in school.

 I remember doing homework until 2:00 AM some days, knowing that my alarm clock for work would be going off at 5:00 AM.  I turned our dining room table into Study Central.  My children and I, along with some of their friends, would have laptops and books sprawled across the table. The dining room table became a place where we laughed, told stories, helped each other stay focused and most importantly, awake!

I am now embarking on an even more difficult professional goal of obtaining my CPA licensure.  I had to take some additional classes after I graduated from college in order to reach the 150 hour course requirement so I didn’t start studying for the CPA Exam right after graduation. Nevertheless, I have been studying for the CPA Exam an embarrassingly long time (at least in my mind).  I was hoping have the whole thing finished within a year. 

Of course things don’t always go according to plan! I started preparing for the CPA Exam by purchasing the entire Becker course, because everyone told me it was the best review course available. Actually, it’s just the most expensive.  Anyone who has used it can attest to the fact that the videos are just a guy in a nice shirt and tie reading the textbook to you and occasionally emphasizing a topic. To me, it is mind-numbing studying for the CPA Exam this way. After 18 months of studying and two failed attempts at BEC, I finally passed.  I was excited at first, but then realized that the rest of my materials had expired.  I knew I had to try something different. 

So, I decided to buy the Wiley book for REG which came with video lectures on a USB drive. Unfortunately, the lectures were equally as boring as Becker’s, but thankfully only half the cost. Sadly, I didn’t make it halfway through the book before I thought, This isn’t going to work either.  

After watching a short YouTube video of the Roger Philipp, CPA, I thought, Well, at least this guy is actually moving around and not just sitting at a desk!  After watching the first lecture all the way through, I knew that Roger CPA Review would be the review course that would get me through the rest of the CPA Exam.   

The tests are still hard but I find it much easier to stay focused and engaged when studying with the Roger CPA Review course, and I feel like I am able to understand the concepts and not just memorize them.  

I’m looking forward to writing about my weekly CPA Exam journey. Thanks for reading! 

Donna Elish – guest blogger for Roger CPA

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