Up next in 10
In this SuperfastCPA reviews episode, you'll hear Anthony's CPA exams study tips that are allowing him to pass his CPA exams while still having time for friends and family in the evenings and on weekends.
IMPORTANT LINKS:
Podcast Giveaway: https://www.superfastcpa.com/enter
Free Study Training: https://www.superfastcpa.com/study-secrets/
More SuperfastCPA Podcast Episodes: https://www.superfastcpa.com/category/podcast/
EPISODE TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Anthony Interview
02:11 Podcast Giveaway - Powerbeats Pro
07:00 Anthony's Daily Routine
08:20 Finding the SuperfastCPA Podcast
09:25 The 6 "key ingredients"
10:39 How Anthony used the SuperfastCPA app through his day
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Yeah, that was actually the benefit of this program, like the super fast you pay where you could actually have the extra time at night where you don't have to be studying like the full, like, 10 or like 12 hours and stuff like that
0:11
Yeah, that's crazy. But it actually works super good. So like any time there was like, say, like a graduation party, I know I would be able to get my studying in like in the morning and do what I had to do
0:22
And then I'll be able to just forget about it for that day and be like in the moment with my family and stuff like that
0:30
Welcome to episode 67 of the CPA exam experience podcast from Super Fast CPA
0:38
I'm Nate and in today's interview, you're going to hear me talk with Anthony
0:43
So Anthony is in the middle of his CPA study process. At the time of the interview, he had passed far
0:51
And then now I believe he's now done with Reg as well. So he's done with the two hard ones
0:56
And in this interview, you'll just hear kind of his, daily process. He actually, he found us through the podcast originally. And then, of course
1:07
he ended up watching one of the free study trainings that I'm always talking about. And I might as
1:11
will throw that in right now. If you have not taken the time to watch one of those and you're not a
1:17
customer, if you're a customer, watch the pro videos. That's, that's like everything from beginning to
1:24
end, how every part of the study process should work. That's obviously the best thing. But if you're
1:29
You're not a customer, but you're a listener to the podcast. The best place for you to start to get a concise, linear overview of how our study strategies
1:39
work, how you can get a lot more out of your current review course and a lot less time
1:44
then you want to watch one of our free study training webinars
1:47
You can do that at our main site at superfastccec.com. It's the main thing at the top of the home page
1:54
You just pick a time that will work for you and then watch the whole thing
1:58
It takes one hour, but it's one hour that will literally save you months and months of time
2:02
Again, if you're a listener to this, at this point, you probably heard that pretty much every person that's come on here on the podcast, they started by watching one of those free trainings
2:11
Now, the second thing, small announcement, we are restarting the giveaway. So probably my favorite item in the world that I use the most are these nice little Powerbeat pros
2:25
I actually have two pairs of these. I keep one in my car for when I'm grocery shopping or whatever, anywhere I go
2:32
So anyways, we're going to give away three pairs of these things
2:36
And the giveaway is based on essentially if you're a listener, just leaving a review for the podcast
2:44
And I'm pretty sure on Spotify podcasts, you can't even leave reviews. So mainly this is for Apple podcasts or iTunes podcasts
2:53
but if where you listen to this you can leave a review you can leave a review of the podcast
2:59
take a screenshot and submit it the URL to enter the giveaway is superfast cpa.com
3:07
slash enter and we'll also put a link in the description or on the episode page on the website
3:13
again this is episode 67 with anthony so the giveaway the structure will be there's more
3:20
details once you have to enter your name and email to enter the giveaway because then there will be
3:25
separate communications to people that enter the giveaway. So we will be giving away two pairs
3:31
if you are a super fast CPA customer and you enter the giveaway and then one pair to a
3:38
just a listener who's not a customer. I know there are a lot of people based on the downloads
3:43
that's clear that there's a lot of people that listen to these episodes that aren't customers
3:48
So if you're in that segment, that's great. We appreciate you being a listener, but you can enter the giveaway just the same and you have a chance to win one of these
3:59
And it will be a rolling giveaway. So currently we're going to keep this going for several months, at least
4:06
We'll be doing the three pairs every month. And if you enter once, you don't have to enter again
4:12
And it's on like an entry system. You'll see once you opt into the giveaway, there are additional ways
4:18
that you can earn more entries, and then we just randomly draw them
4:23
So the more entries, the bigger the chance you have of winning one of the pairs of headphones
4:28
So these are my favorite headphones. Again, it's the Powerbeat Pro that have the hook on the ear
4:35
Basically, when I'm at home, I have one of these in one ear, and you can listen to podcasts, to your heart's content, or audiobooks, or whatever it is
4:45
I mean, for you, if you're working on your exams, the key point, point and the reason we're doing this giveaway is you can listen to audio notes constantly
4:54
when you're around the house. These are awesome. And we're doing three pairs of these
4:59
Enter the giveaway, superfastcpa.com slash enter. So back to this interview with Anthony. He just
5:05
has a lot of really good practical tips. He mentions that he up until the point where we did
5:10
the interview, he had listened to all the previous episodes. So he's a big listener of the podcast
5:15
and gives the podcast interviews a lot of credit for kind of forming just how his daily
5:22
routine works. And you'll hear him describe his daily study routine and how he still has time
5:27
He doesn't really study in the evenings because he gets it all done the first part of the day
5:32
So he still has time in the evenings to hang out with his friends, go to parties, just do the
5:37
stuff he would normally do in the evenings. At the same time, he's just passing each section one by one
5:44
because he has a solid study process in place and a solid daily routine that lets him take the evenings off
5:51
So with all that being said, let's get into this interview with Anthony. All right
5:58
Where are you located? I'm in Danbury, Connecticut. Nice. So you've heard some of the previous episodes
6:06
So yeah, we basically just talked through your study experience so far. And like in the past, we've kind of always done interviews with people that were done
6:14
done with all four, but this time I thought it'd be good to hear from people that are like
6:19
currently somewhere in the middle too. So yeah, on your thing, it says you're done with one, right
6:24
Yeah, I finished the far and right now I'm doing reg. I'm studying for reg
6:29
That's awesome. Yeah. So you passed far. So you've got it far locked up. That's seriously like
6:36
80% of the battle. If you pass far, you know, you have a process that will work and you just
6:42
repeat it basically. So yeah, let's just start from the beginning. How long have you been studying
6:47
total? Like when did you start the CPA process? So basically this past May, I graduated from
6:55
college and then that June I started studying like basically full time Nice And so when you started what did you Oh go ahead Oh yeah When I started so basically I had a Google Excel
7:11
or Google Sheets, and I like basically uploaded all like my schedule
7:15
So every day I would put what modules I needed to get done in order to basically spread out how many weeks I wanted to complete far in
7:22
So like, for example, like day one, I'll do module one and two
7:26
or like F1 module. I use Becker, by the way. And then so every day I'd basically outline what modules I need to get done
7:33
So basically outline my schedule for the day. Starting off, I got six
7:37
And then from six to seven, I would work out every single day. I go for a run
7:41
I just lift on my house. And then eat some breakfast. And then starting at 8.30, I would see on my to-do list
7:48
which is like the spreadsheet and see what modules I needed to get done for that day. And then, like, I literally heard every single podcast
7:55
So I try to implement every single. thing I can from every interviewee
7:59
So basically I did that two-hour study session in the morning, and that really helped me a lot
8:05
I figured out that basically organizing your day and what you needed to get done is easy to help you stay on track
8:12
And every day I would just do that, and I would find myself not getting behind and, like
8:16
being on top of my actual studying. So that was really good for me. Nice
8:21
So from the beginning, before you even really started, you had found our podcast
8:26
and started formulating kind of a plan before you even really started studying
8:31
Is that what you're saying? Yeah. Like, I was trying to do a lot of research and I was trying to get like super motivated
8:38
So even before I was able to like study or like, you know, get my eligibility and stuff like that, like my NTS
8:46
I try to like research everything. One day I was on Spotify and I was trying to look up like CPA podcasts
8:52
Like I haven't even seen any ads on YouTube or nothing like that. Okay. One day I was just like, I was just on Spotify, just trying to look up a CPA podcast to get me like in the mindset and stuff
9:03
I was like, oh, shoot, like super fast CPA. So I started clicking on one
9:07
And then I heard there's a podcast and like them sharing their stories and like some tips and tricks
9:12
And I was like, wow, this is actually like very insightful. And then you know, I'm like hearing listening to all of them and stuff like that
9:19
Yeah, we're starting to hear that more and more people finding us through the podcast
9:23
And so it's like good for us. obviously, and then also the episodes, like you're saying, they are really helpful because it's
9:30
just person after person talking through their whole experience in detail, like mistakes they made
9:37
stuff they didn't realize, and then breakthroughs they had. Yeah, it's instead of just starting
9:42
this process by yourself and not really knowing if you're doing it effectively or not
9:50
it just helps a lot to hear all these different experiences about, okay, this is what works
9:55
I don't know if you ever watched that free, like the free webinar, but we go through those
9:59
six ingredients. Those came from doing these interviews. I was like, okay, every single person, they do some version of these five or six things
10:09
So anyways, I'm glad to hear you found us through that. So you study your two hours in the morning, using your Becker stuff, and then you use
10:18
kind of our study tools throughout the day. Is that kind of how you use them? or how do you use our standing tools in your process
10:25
So like after our like started listening to the podcast, it was weird because every time I would Google something on YouTube
10:31
your ad would actually pop up. So like the algorithm or something like. Yeah
10:35
So then one day I clicked on like that ad and then saw the presentation
10:40
And then yeah, so I got the bundle pack with the study notes and the app
10:44
So basically every night I would try to line up where I would be studying for Becker that day
10:50
And then I'd try to. try to read basically the night before of what I was going to do the next day and then that
10:55
morning, like right before my study session, I just review that and then throughout my day
11:00
the app is so good, like, it's easy to basically implement in your life and integrate it so
11:06
easily because the backer app's a little bit, like, hard. It's like simple, but it's like the
11:10
questions are like kind of like a calculator. Right. You can't really, yeah. Yeah, you can't really
11:15
do like the quick, like, problems and like the app like that. But your app is like so good. And
11:20
Some of the, it was crazy because some of the questions like on test day, it was like really super similar
11:26
And the study notes are like super helpful. Like in governmental accounting like for the fiduciary and like all those type of
11:35
Yeah. Fun types. Yeah. Like you broke it down and like how to understand like difference between them
11:43
Just basically like read the word. Just listen to what actually like saying
11:47
Yeah, that sounds like such obvious advice. Yeah. but I'm glad you found him helpful
11:52
And yes, you've probably heard me say this, but the way we put our notes together
11:56
we're not really trying to create just a summary of everything in every topic
12:01
We use past exam questions because it's that same idea. If you go into any lesson
12:07
you know, you can watch the whole video or read the whole chapter and it covers all this stuff
12:11
but if you go through the questions for that lesson, you'll see that it really narrows down
12:16
to the same four or five key things from the lesson. And so anyways, that's how we create our notes so that it's very focused on what you're
12:24
probably going to see on test day. Yeah, exactly. And sometimes I noticed in like Becker, they have extra stuff
12:31
But I knew what to focus on exactly in the notes. Like, oh, if it's on the notes, it's probably not that important
12:36
But like for Beckards, there's like a lot of stuff that like kind of you might not see
12:41
like stuff like that. So it really helped a lot for that. Yeah, I appreciate you saying that
12:46
And I'm glad it's been helpful. Do you use the audios very much, or you mostly use the notes and the quizzes
12:52
Yeah, so, like in my car rides or whenever I have to go somewhere, I would use the audio notes
12:57
Because this summer, I was like a lot of obstacles and stuff like that, like graduation parties and like my cousin, like coming back and stuff like that
13:06
So everywhere I would go, I would try to like implement like the audio notes
13:10
And it was really super helpful to the fact that I listened to them everywhere. So when I was like taking a shower or like making breakfast or going on my run
13:18
I would just try to integrate it wherever I can instead of obviously listening to music or just like watching like a YouTube video
13:24
I'll try to like revolve my life from the audio notes, which was like became second nature
13:29
where I could like know what was coming in the audio notes, which was actually phone
13:34
Yeah. Someone listening to him to that degree. Yeah, it's boring or whatever and you're listening to CPA stuff constantly
13:42
but it's the constant repetition is really just like the key to you just keep making connections in your mind
13:52
It helps you retain everything because the worst thing that can happen is you spend all this time studying
13:57
and then slowly forget all this stuff you spent so much time learning and then you know fail on test day That like the worst thing that can happen And it helps like you said audio is just such a good like I listen to podcasts constantly
14:11
audiobooks, like anything you want to learn, audio is such a helpful medium because you can
14:15
just do it while you're doing other stuff. So you said you study in the morning and that's very helpful to just lock it in
14:22
And so then do you, you have time in the evenings basically to still go out with friends
14:28
or do stuff you would normally do? Or what does just a typical day look like
14:33
Yeah, that was actually the benefit of this program, like the super fast you pay where you could actually have the extra time at night
14:39
where you don't have to be studying like the full, like 10 or like 12 hours and stuff like that
14:45
Yeah. Yeah, that's crazy. But it actually works super good. So like any time there was like, say, like a graduation party
14:52
I know I would be able to get my studying in like in the morning and do what I had to do
14:57
and then be able to just forget about it for that day and be like in the moment with my family
15:02
and stuff like that because this summer was like a lot of graduations
15:07
like my cousin came back from the army, my aunt had a baby, and it was like a lot of stuff like Fourth of July
15:13
You know, there's a lot of stuff going on. So, but with super fastly period
15:17
it was easy to basically not forget stuff as well as keep integrating like the little stuff in your day
15:24
to help you keep progressing in your studying, which is awesome. Yeah, it's, again, it's just
15:30
we have smartphones, we take them everywhere, and while you're in this process
15:34
you've done years of school, thousands of dollars just to take these exams
15:39
like you might as well just be using all possible time that you can
15:44
Instead of looking at Reddit or Snapchat all day, and whenever you look at your phone
15:49
you might as well just be constantly making progress. And that's why when I started Superfest CPA
15:55
studying from my phone was huge, but that was like, I don't even know, eight years ago or so
16:02
and there wasn't any really good solutions for it to actually be simple to study from your phone
16:07
I just saw how helpful it was, even though I was having to, like, zoom in on, you know
16:12
trying to use the actual document on my phone was so annoying, and then zoom back out
16:17
go to the next page. But yeah, just to have study tools, people underestimate how effective it can be to study from
16:25
your phone, even if it's just little five, 10 minute chunks. But once you make it a habit, like you said, you mean, you can add an extra hour, two hours
16:36
three hours a day just by going through your normal day, you know? Do you study differently on the weekends or what's your process on the weekends
16:44
For the weekends, I try to get a little more studying in. So basically, I would try to, like, actually, like the weekends are like more of my sim days
16:53
So on the weekdays, I would try to do more of the multiple choice. And then for the weekends, I would obviously do like the cumulative
17:00
Every single chapter went over, try to do like the 33 questions and then the back to back 32 questions
17:06
And then focus on like Sims because for me on test day, like it was the multiple choice
17:12
I got by super quick, which is like basically so helpful. The Sims are only like the poor I had to worry about, spend most of my time on
17:19
So it was actually good that every weekend I would go over the Sims and stuff like
17:23
that just to just keep an idea of what type of stuff they do at you and like how to handle the
17:29
exhibits but if I have all the multiple choice done like really quick or help give me more time
17:34
on the other testlets which is awesome yeah that's really what it's all about on test day is just
17:41
nailing the MCQs so that you have as much time as possible so that you're not rushed during
17:47
the sims you're not freaking out you can just take your time look at all the exhibits like at it
17:52
arranged or whatever, however you do the Sims. But the daily sets of 30
17:57
that just solves a lot of problems in advance. You get good at MCQs so that it's just relatively simple on test day
18:05
And then, like you said, you have the time to work on the Sims. The other thing I ask about is
18:11
what's your process for making your own notes or flashcards? Did you say you do it in Excel
18:18
Or I can't remember what you said. Oh, I would have like my schedule on Excel. Oh, that's right
18:22
I would try to keep a Word document up and sometimes I would join the Becker like on Facebook, like the group and stuff
18:32
I like some people like a lot of people upload their nose there. So you can compare your notes and see what's like the like what's popular, popular sections and like stuff like that
18:43
So I used to do that and then I kind of type my notes because if I type it then I'll like basically like read it and then type it, which is
18:52
looking at it twice and stuff like that and that helped a lot too. Yeah, that's just key
18:57
It doesn't really matter if there are flashcards or not, but just some way of taking the concepts that are difficult for you
19:04
for whatever reason, and putting them in your own words. That's just like a
19:08
that's a huge piece that I think a lot of people don't really do. Yeah, exactly
19:14
So what, what's been the hardest part of the study process for you
19:17
The hardest part probably was like, like getting into the groove and stuff like that
19:23
Like obviously far has a lot of material and like not like losing focus or like motivation and stuff like that
19:31
Just trying to stay on track and kind of think about the end result. What's to come after all this
19:36
But like listening to the podcast is actually like pretty motivational and stuff, which is kind of like wanted me to keep going and stuff
19:43
Like never get discouraged because some days you just don't want to study or some days
19:48
Right. You just don't want to do it. But you just got to stay
19:52
Yeah. There's two sides to it. When you have your study process really nailed down and figured out
19:58
and like you do, you know, you pass far, you know what you're doing is working, it's a lot easier
20:03
You have this sense of momentum and progress. Some days it's still a battle just to get yourself to do it
20:09
But it's really hard if you're putting in a bunch of time and effort and it's not paying off
20:15
or you feel like you're not making progress. And so that's why, again, looking online, trying to
20:22
find strategies to follow. Our podcast is a really good resource for that
20:26
Just being strategic about how you study. If you're only a tool against this is like time
20:34
like I just need to watch the video again and again and again. That typically doesn't work out that well
20:39
But yeah, just having a strategic approach and constantly reevaluating, okay, what am I doing that's working
20:47
What am I doing that's maybe not as effective and not just
20:51
blindly putting in time if you don't know what you're doing is working
20:57
Yeah, and sometimes the audio, I mean the audio notes in the notes they a good way to basically listen to the material in like a different way explain it in a different way which is easier to understand because sometimes like in the lectures I would like yeah what did I just hear and try to move a video on YouTube
21:14
But I realized the notes simplified it and I was like, wow, this is actually like that simple
21:19
Yeah, the review courses, like you need the depth that they have for certain things
21:24
but it is, it's easy to get lost and just the same reason
21:28
It's easy to get lost in how deep they go on every single topic
21:32
How did you do a final review or what did you do the last few days before your exam
21:38
So the last few days, I kind of did like a two-week review
21:43
So every day I would try to do like a chapter, like trying to do basically all the multiple choices for that chapter
21:51
So first I would do, I'll wake up and then do like the 33 questions for like all 10 now
21:58
modules and then I would just focus on like that first module like that day and then just try
22:03
to do all the multiple choice and all the sims and then the next day I would just focus on
22:07
one through 10 again and then I'll narrow down to the module two every day I would try to do one
22:12
module and then I did the mock exams too in between and I feel like to be honest those kind of
22:17
took a lot of time and if you just focused yeah just doing multiple choices like you probably get
22:22
the same results you know yeah I tell people like okay if you really want to do a full
22:28
like four hour mock exam, maybe do it once, but don't do those over and over
22:33
It's much more helpful to do smaller sets of 30 and then five to seven practice sims
22:39
You're accomplishing the same thing, but it's really that practice of just sets of 30 and
22:44
practice sims. So really we've gone through everything. What exam did you say you have next
22:49
Oh, I have reg next. So I'm trying to like basically do the same like routine and stuff for reg, you know
22:55
waking up early. I feel like I have to like kind of be a morning person
23:01
I just got to fight through it, get those hour sessions in, and then you can just
23:05
have the rest of the day. Because it's kind of hard to like play catch up if you do like, I mean if you, by all
23:10
means if you have to do it on night, but like if you have the option because that night's harder because like you have the full day like the full day like that you just went
23:18
through, you're exhausted. You just want to relax and stuff. So once you get out the way, I feel like it's kind of good for you
23:23
You feel like on top of your day. Oh, definitely. Again, it just helps with that momentum
23:29
It helps you feel more motivated because you just feel good that you did the big, important thing before you even leave the house
23:35
Did you say you're in your master's program or you're working right now
23:41
So actually, like my college had the program where it was an honors program
23:46
So I was able to take more credits from my undergrad. So I like four years, I just, I fulfilled the 120 credits or 150 credits
23:54
Yeah. Yeah. And then I. I skipped the master's. So in the fall, which is like next month, I'm going to start with my firm
24:01
Gotcha. I mean my study program too. So I kind of like did the shortcut
24:06
But I wasn't sure because some days I'd feel like, oh, like this is like difficult
24:10
Did I need my master's program to like be able to pass the CPA
24:14
Yeah. Not really like that. No, it's not. People email me all the time that have been out of school for 10 years or something
24:21
And for whatever reason in their career, they want to come back. can do their CPA
24:25
And they always ask that. And I'm like, it's not, the Masters does not just magically prepare you to pass the CPA
24:34
You still have to do, it's a very distinct separate thing. And I feel like you don't only have to be like the smartest person ever
24:42
Like you just have to be like basically determined and just stay motivated because
24:46
Lizzie, like anybody could do it. Yeah, you don't have to be like the one if you just like felt like you were not that good
24:52
of a student in college, like, it's pretty easy to, like, just flip the switch and just
24:57
become, like, kind of get this new mindset when you're trying to tackle these exams
25:02
because you can definitely do it. Yeah, totally. It's when I talk about all the time, making the all-in commitment
25:08
You do have to get to this point where you go to a new level of, even if you're nailing
25:13
your study process, you're doing it in the mornings so you can take the evenings off
25:18
You still, you have to treat each day, take it seriously. you can nail the study process
25:25
And then if you do that by the time it's 5 or 6 or 7 p.m
25:29
They did a lot. You made a lot of progress and you just take the evenings off
25:34
Don't worry about it for the nighttime and then the second half of the weekends
25:39
So, yeah. Awesome. It sounds like you're on the right track. The last question I always ask is
25:44
what would be your top two or three tips you'd tell the people that are
25:50
you know, if someone was like really struggling or trying to figure out their own study process, what would be your top tips to them
25:56
I would say to never be discouraged because one thing my professor told me, like, I remember
26:02
like he said this cool, like, failure is the tuition you pay for future success
26:07
So if you feel like you're down right now, just got to push through it because there's always light at the end of the tunnel
26:12
And just to, like, day by day, just get a little progress done because if you do
26:17
if you like to say do one percent better every day, like by the end of the year, you've got to be
26:22
be under 65% better. Yeah, there is a lot of power in just, even on your worst days, just doing something
26:29
And a lot of times that'll just kind of flip the switch and you end up doing more than you
26:33
even planned on. But yes, I agree. Well, I appreciate you doing the call
26:39
As you said, in your experience, people find these just really helpful to just hear other
26:43
people's experiences. And yeah, it's good to hear from someone who's in the middle of the study experience because
26:49
it's fresh. like you're currently doing it every day. Appreciate you having me
26:53
That's honor. Okay, so that was the interview with Anthony. I hope you found that very helpful
27:01
And again, if you did, please take a second to weave a review for the podcast
27:06
And if you're going to do that, you might as well enter the giveaway. I mentioned at the beginning of the episode at superfastcpa.com slash enter
27:13
And also, if you have not ever taken the time to watch one of our free study trainings
27:18
make sure you do that. That's the main thing on our homepage at superfastcpa.com
27:23
It takes an hour. It will give you several aha moments, make you view the study process much differently
27:30
which will just dictate how you actually spend your time studying, and it will be much more effective
27:37
much more efficient to the point where you can literally spend less time
27:41
sitting in front of your review course every day. So thank you for listening
27:45
and we'll see you on the next episode