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Memo to CPA Exam Candidates: Don’t Park in the Tow Away Zone at Prometric

Over the years, we've shared several CPA exam horror stories ranging from shameful idiocy to prison yard shanking level asshattery.

For example, there was the person trapped in Prometric for 6 hours due to a system freeze. That's pretty bad but on a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being the grey screen of death and 10 being a portal to hell opening up beneath Prometric and swallowing up the testing center, this is probably a 2. After all, the candidate could have walked out at any point.

Or how about the guy who got an email from NASBA informing him that his FAR scores were lost? It's not like the scores are hand-delivered in a briefcase like Oscar envelopes, how exactly do they lose scores? The good news is his scores were eventually recovered but still. Being told your scores have vanished into thin air is probably, what, a 5?

Let's not forget the young lady who was kicking ass so hard on the CPA exam, her nose started bleeding halfway through. Unwilling to forfeit her exam by leaving the room, she finished up her simulations like a boss with blood dripping down her face. While that's a pretty terrible situation, it's less a horror story and something she will get to brag about for at least another few years. "Oh yeah, you think YOUR exam experience was hard? Let me tell you about what happened to me…"

Well, today comes a story that many of us can relate to.

Imagine going about your business, walking out to the parking lot, and realizing your car isn't there. Assuming you've been making your car payments on time, it's a safe bet you got towed. Your eyes may glance up and notice the conspicuously posted "NO PARKING" sign you missed when you happily took that "parking spot" and trotted off to do your errands. Or maybe you have been avoiding the parking authority for months knowing one of these days all those unpaid parking tickets will catch up with you. Whatever the reason, finding your car is not where you left it is a terrible feeling.

Now imagine you've just walked out of the CPA exam. You already feel terrible. You probably plan to go straight home and drink heavily. Guess what? Your car isn't there.

Yup, definitely the worst part of your exam experience.

Now, we're unsure on the details here but may we offer a suggestion for others who may want to avoid this situation? If this is your first exam or you haven't used this testing center before, do a dry run before your exam. Figure out the best way to get there and the safest place to park. If there is a paid lot, we humbly suggest you cough up a few bucks to safely stash your car there.

Do you have a CPA exam horror story of your own to share? Get in touch.