UFE Results – How to survive failure Part 1

On first note, congratulations to all those that passed the 2010 Uniform Final Evaluation. It marks a significant milestone in your career and you are one step closer to fulfilling your goal of “IwanttobeaCA.”

However, this article is not about you.

This article is dedicated towards the students who worked extremely hard, and often are the hardest working students, who failed the UFE.

Failing the UFE, when the vast majority of everyone else you know passes is one of the worst possible experiences of anyone’s life. The majority of people who write do pass –
which makes failure so much bitter.

You will have people tell you “There is more to life than the UFE” and “You can just do it again next year, I’m sure you’ll pass.”

Believe me those words don’t offer any sort of comfort.

Yes, there is more to life than the UFE. But the UFE is not just a test. It is a battle that you took over a month to prepare for, every single day, where you poured your entire heart into.

It’s a battle where you stressed over every single night, about how your technical was not strong enough and the disappointing Nominal competents that you received. It’s a battle where you had to sacrifice time with your friends, family, and relationships, and the fights you’ve had because of this “test”.

It was 3 days of agonizing pain. Waking up early, tired from not being able to sleep, going to write an exam where you’re only at 60% capacity and leaving every day with uncertainty of your performance, and knowing the painful cycle would simply repeat itself the next day.

You even had hope it would finally be over on the third day and that you wouldn’t have to look for another pervasive indicator.

Maybe in the back of the mind you considered the possibility of failure, but you still had hope, the 3 months leading up to results day.

Then when you checked the results yesterday, and you looked for your name, and you couldn’t find it, you were in utter disbelief, you refresh again, and the reality begins to sink it that you did not pass. Your friends and family call to see how you did, and you are just in utter shock and cannot do anything and just want to hide yourself from the rest of the world.

The nightmare will continue for you. This is the most demoralizing feeling in the world.

A painful analogy would be being released from jail, only to have to find out you need to go return 3 months later.

These are the painful things you will have to go through.

1) Another month of rigorous studying 8 months from now with stress and worry leading up to it.
2) Taking time off from work to study which translates to loss earnings.
3) Paying for the heavy cost of the UFE à even the big firms don’t’ sponsor second time writers.
4) Paying for additional prep programs.

But the worst part, is the different attitude that your co-workers will show you when you show up on work on Monday, and the people around you.

There will be the people who try to avoid the fact that you failed, and don’t talk about UFE in front of you, the ones in a group who will suddenly talk about something else when you show up and there will be those who ask how you are doing and try to offer emotional support.

Nevertheless, while both groups have good intentions, they simply magnify the reality and importance of your failing the UFE. And you hate them, and their probably gossiping behind your back anyways...

And you will have to wait, a long time, before you get a chance to redeem yourself. AND THIS SUCKS A LOT.

I’m not going to try to hide you from the reality of failure. It sucks and it hurts a lot and I painted the reality of the situation above for you. It will hurt for awhile no matter how many people tell you the UFE is not everything. Unless they are in the same position as you, they really don’t understand what you are going through.

I just wanted to present you with the bitter reality that failing UFE writers are
going through.

There will be a time when I will offer words of wisdom, and how to cope…

But for now, It’s ok to feel bad. It’s ok to to hate life and about how unfair the UFE is. How you worked so hard and your friend who winged it passed. Its ok to be pessimistic, and ok to cry, and ok to feel like the world is ending and that you are the only person in the world going through this. It’s ok to feel disappointed in yourself, and mad at your friends celebrating, and mad that you can’t share the happiness with them. It’s ok to feel hopeless and angry and tired and loss of interest in life.

Because, you are not alone, Trust me.

Sincerely,
The Accountant’s friend
Successful 2007 UFE writer – 2nd try