If you’re thinking of getting an accounting degree then you might be wondering how hard it will be as a major.
This post will show you how hard an accounting major is and things that you can do to make it easier.
So, is an accounting major hard? Accounting is generally considered as being somewhere in the middle in terms of difficulty. If you are good with numbers then you shouldn’t find accounting to be a particularly difficult major.
There are actually a number of factors that will influence how hard accounting is as a major for you and there are a number of things that you can do to make it easier.
It depends on how well prepared you are for it
How hard accounting will be for you will largely depend on how well prepared you are for it.
If you did well with numbers in high school then you will likely not have too much trouble when taking accounting classes. However, that doesn’t mean that it will be easy it will still be necessary for you to learn the different accounting concepts which can be difficult at first.
If you did not do very well with numbers in high school then you will likely find accounting to be a difficult major. However, that doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to do well in the major but you will need to put in more work than other students.
You’ll need to study outside of class
Accounting is a major that will typically require a lot of work outside of class. There will usually be a reasonable amount of homework that gets set that you will need to complete. There will also be a number of different ways to phrase questions so you’ll want to see multiple variations of questions ahead of exams so that you are prepared for them.
It will also depend on your interest in the subject
How interested you are in accounting in general will also be something that will impact how difficult it is for you.
If you have a strong interest in the subject then it will be easier for you to push through the challenging topics so you will likely have an easier and more enjoyable time overall.
Whereas, if you are not very interested in the subject but maybe you’re doing it for a job then you will likely have a harder and less enjoyable time in the major.
The professor can impact the difficulty of the class
Something to consider is that the difficulty of a class will greatly depend on the professor that is teaching it. The professor will dictate the pace of the class, what gets covered in exams and how much homework you get. Some professors will tell you to know everything from the textbook and others will give you a study guide.
Before selecting a class it would be worthwhile to look at what other students have said about the professor in the past on ratemyprofessors.com. Make sure to select your classes early since the recommended professors will usually have their classes fill up quickly.
The electives that you choose will also have an impact
While an accounting major is not typically considered as being a very difficult major, the electives that you choose can also have an impact on the difficulty of the degree.
Often, accounting students will take a lot of classes from finance and business. These classes tend to be of a similar difficulty to accounting but they can become very mathematical at the 400 level.
Ways to make accounting less difficult
There are a number of things that you can do to make your time in accounting or any other major much easier. I will mention a number of them below.
Separate the difficult classes
It would help to spread out the difficult classes as much as possible. If you have to take multiple difficult classes in the same semester then you will have to spend a lot of time studying, you might struggle to keep up with the work and it could hurt your GPA.
While it might not be possible to avoid taking multiple difficult classes, at the same time, in your junior and senior years it would be helpful to plan out your entire degree sequence as early as possible. You can do this by getting help from an academic advisor from the accounting department.
Plan the schedule of the semester out in advance
At the start of each semester it would be worthwhile to plan out all of the due dates as soon as you get the syllabus for each class. By doing so you will be able to spot in advance potentially demanding weeks, know when you need to start preparing for exams and avoid missing out on homework.
Make sure to do well on the homework
Often, you will find that the homework will have a reasonably high weighting. Many students don’t take the homework very seriously. However, doing well on it will help you to do better on exams, help to make up for poor exam scores and it will make it easier for you to study before exams.
Get help when you get stuck
There will be resources available to you for when you get stuck on things. It is important to get help when you really get stuck. By getting help you’ll be able to show the professor that you are putting an effort into the class, avoid having gaps in your knowledge on the exam and you will be able to have a higher homework grade.
With that being said, before going to the professor for help it would be worthwhile for you to make sure that you have already read the textbook chapter, watched Youtube videos on the topic and searched for help on Google.
Prepare ahead of time
If you think that a class is going to be difficult then one option you have is to study the class before taking it. You can do this by getting a highly rated book from Amazon or Ebay, watching tutorial series on Youtube or seeing if it is taught on Edx or Coursera.
