Today is a happy day

At 2 PM (Pacific) today, our results for Module 1 was finally posted after almost 4 weeks of waiting.  I was holding my breath during the entire time so I wasn’t in the mood to blog about CASB for a while.  I have never worried about exams before.  If you must know, I *love*the feeling of writing exams.  The best part for me was putting that pen down and handing the paper to the prof.  DONE. FINISH. Now I can get out of here.

But writing CASB exams are of a different league.  So much lies on that 4 hours of your life. First, there’s that money spent on you by the firm.  Second, the fear of having everyone know in the office that you failed.  Third, having to go through every task all over again.  Fourth, having to pay the repeat tuition from your own pockets. Fifth, getting behind a module.  And so on and so forth. Worst kind of exam ever.  To do this 6 more times including the monster of exams (UFE) is something of a feat indeed.  I have never realized what I have gotten myself into until the minute I walked out of that exam room.  Did your crazy CAs really went through this helluva journey!?  Oh man, you guys are amazing.  And I am really stupid for thinking that accounting is the fastest way to earn big bucks.  Frack, no one told about this side of the game!

This is the longest exam I have written so far.  You have one hour to answer 50 multiple choice questions.  No one has told me this, but you really have to think fast or you won’t  reach #35 after the hour.  Just think about it, you’re an accountant, do the calculation.  You have 50 questions and 60 minutes.  You don’t even have a minute and a half for each question.  So if it is a long calculation, trust me there’s many of them, if you can’t answer it in a minute, skip it.  This is also an important part of the exam because this significantly forms the knowledge portion of the competencies.  Finally, never leave a circle blank.  You have one minute to play lotto, do it.

The next part of the exam is a three-hour case.  All I can say is, as long as you did two to three simulation cases before taking it, you’re going to be fine.  If you have never touched any of the practice cases for your review, you’re going to be dead.  Well, not dead, just fried.

After I was done, I was exhausted.  I put down my pen, bound all my loose papers together and handed in my envelope to the facilitator.  *Okay, I think that was enough to pass it.* I got into the car, and more doubts started to fill my brain.  When I arrived at home, I was already freaking out.  *Gosh, I failed it.  I know it.  OMGOMGOMG*  See? Self-brainwash in less than 10 minutes.  So four weeks I have to wait in agony.  I try to forget and live normally, but I just can’t.  By the way, this is just me.  My co-worker is pretty confident he passed it.  That’s because he really studied well for it.  I, on the other hand, this great procrastinator, who has 5 days to study, used 3 days to take long naps in the afternoons, and two days of cramming.  Never again.  I don’t want to ever feel this horrible feeling of “unsurity” again.  The next time I put down that pen, I want to be confident I passed it.

Today, I got my results.  I was told by my co-workers that they are usually posted at 3PM.  I count down the minutes of my pending death.  At 2:15, I received an email from my CASB buddy.  *Did you pass?*  Are they out? I ask myself. Oh, right of course.  CASB’s headquarters is in Alberta.  So they are out.  I immediately went to the site and opened the pdf file.  I typed in my number and there it was “Eligible to Proceed”.

I sit there for 2 minutes in front of my computer, with a big smile on my face.  Another minute.  And another, and another.  I’ll be charging a lot of time to office today. Haha.

I passed.  I am SO happy.

One down, six more to go.

And, yes…I’m going to hate my life for the next two years.