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The Study Tweaks That Turned Kevin's CPA Process Around
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May 3, 2024
In this episode you'll hear how Kevin turned his CPA study process around by making a few specific tweaks to his study process, which led to him starting to pass his exams after failing several times. IMPORTANT LINKS: Master your study process by attending one of our free study training workshops: https://www.superfastcpa.com/study-secrets/ FULL EPISODE PAGE: https://www.superfastcpa.com/the-study-tweaks-that-turned-kevins-cpa-journey-around/ Episode Timestamps 0:00 Intro 01:48 A Brief Background on How Kevin Got Into Accounting 02:51 Kevin's Biggest Struggles Before SuperfastCPA 04:39 Finding SuperfastCPA and Changing Review Course 06:16 Getting SuperfastCPA and Things That Made Sense 07:43 Using SuperfastCPA Study Tools Throughout the Day 08:42 Kevin Even Got A Tutor to Help Explain How to Solve the Problems 11:08 The Things Kevin Went Over with His Tutor 13:06 Had a Newborn Between Passing FAR and Audit 14:07 The Biggest Relief of Being Done with the CPA Exams 14:30 Things that Kevin Was Still Able to Do Despite Busy Studying for the CPA Exams
View Video Transcript
0:00
Well, I think, like, a lot of your strategies, like, focusing on the questions and not so much reading the textbook
0:06
Like, before, I was kind of reading the textbook too much. Like, it was just a waste of time
0:11
And, like, I was watching the lectures the Surgeon had, and they just weren't helping me at all
0:17
I wasn't spending as much time I just stood on the practice question. And so I thought that was the real, like, game changer for me
0:30
Welcome to another episode of the CPA exam experience podcast from Super Fast to CPA
0:36
I'm Logan, and in today's interview, you're going to hear Nate and I talking to Kevin
0:40
Kevin really struggled with the study process at first. He just couldn't figure it out and just wasn't working for him, and he took multiple exams
0:47
and kept failing to the point that he eventually gave up for a while. A little while later, his wife encouraged him to get back into it, and at that point
0:55
he discovered Super Fast CPA. From then on, with some tweaks and some changes, he was able to start
0:59
passing exams. Even when in the middle of the process, his wife had their daughter, and he was still
1:05
able to keep passing exams while as a sleep-deprived new father. Not only that, Kevin was still able to
1:11
go to a concert or two, which is something he loves, because his process became so efficient
1:16
Before we jump into this great interview, I just want to give everyone one more reminder about our
1:20
free one-hour training webinar on superfast cpa.com. This is one hour that will save you months and
1:25
months of struggling with your study process. With all that said, let's dive straight into the
1:29
interview with Kevin. So I'll just start with a couple direct questions about pre-superfast
1:37
CPA and then once you started like using our stuff and then we'll kind of go into the whole
1:42
study story. Okay. That's great. It's a long story. Okay. Okay. I guess somewhat going back to the
1:49
beginning or before you started using super fast CPA, what were the biggest struggles you were having with the
1:55
study process and the exams in general? I mean, I just didn't know how to study at all. Like
2:01
it's totally different from school, these exams, and I just didn't know how to apply my study
2:09
program, and I just, it was just such a struggle in the beginning. It just didn't click with me
2:15
at first, and then multiple choice were just rough for me. So I'll just go back to the beginning
2:21
Okay, yeah. I was a business major in college. And I didn't know I wanted to do accounting then
2:29
So I just, I, I did business instead. And then I, after I graduated, I got a job at a business management firm in Nashville where I live
2:40
And I started working in like accounting, bookkeeping. And then from there, I got my, I went back and got all my accounting hour
2:48
And then I started studying for the TPA exam after that. And so like how long of a period was it in the beginning
2:55
the struggle period before you came across our videos or whatever. Okay, yeah
3:01
So that was back in 2017. I was just, I was really struggling
3:06
I was using Surgent CPA review, and it just didn't click with me at all
3:10
But then I went back and got my all my accounting credits at Lipscomb University
3:16
And so I did really well there. So I just decided to stick with accounting for my career
3:22
And then after I graduated from that, I started studying for the TPA exams in 2016 and early 2017
3:30
And I started with BEC and just nothing clicked with me for that
3:35
It was just all over the place and I just didn't know anything
3:40
I took it three times. I did not pass one of the highest scores of the 70
3:45
So you were getting close, just kind of following the traditional method
3:50
You were getting pretty close. I was fairly close, yeah. Yeah. But then I got, so I think the scores were 56, 70, 64
3:58
So then after that, I just essentially, I took a break and kind of gave up
4:04
And then, so fast forward five years, late 2021, I got married and my wife really encouraged me to go back into this and pursue it
4:14
So I really have heard of thank for completing this journey. I think we all feel the same way
4:21
Oh, good. Absolutely, yeah. Because she's actually an internal auditor. And so she doesn't have her CPA
4:27
She has a certified information systems auditor. Okay. So that was at the end of 2021 when you got married
4:34
And then she was just, she was really encouraging me to go back into it
4:39
So that's about like when I found your video on YouTube. Okay
4:44
And then I, that was like a month before my, I was going to take BEC again
4:49
So I didn't really have time to apply your, your strategies or anything, but I did buy all your, the products, the study tools
4:57
And so I was still using Surgeon at the time. So I went in there and I did not pass again
5:05
I think I got like a 56 or something like that. So then after that, I needed a new strategy
5:13
So I went back and I purchased Becker because I'd heard really good things about Becker
5:18
I think that was one of the things that really helped me
5:22
because their approach is just more streamlined and sergeant and it's just a lot easier
5:30
It was a lot easier for me to follow it. Were you trying to do the adaptive thing from Surgeon
5:35
Yeah, I was. It just never worked for me. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of that
5:42
I think it's better to manually cover each lesson, you know. Oh, yeah
5:46
Yeah, that's why I kept. failing. It's like I didn't cover everything. I didn't know. In BEC, I thought, was the hardest
5:55
exam anyway. Oh, I thought audit, audit, because I've never been an auditor. I've just done taxed
6:01
and bookkeeping or bookkeeping and accounting. So audit was very hard for me because I just
6:07
like there are two different answers and a lot of multiple choice. Yeah, it all sounds. I think I got 75, I don't know. Nice. Awesome. Perfect. Very happy to make perfect score. Yeah. So yeah
6:16
I purchased your all the study materials and pro videos that went through all that and that was very helpful
6:22
Do you remember what specific strategies or things from the pro course that really helped you out compared to what you were doing before
6:30
Oh yeah, like just focusing on the questions and taking notes and yeah, the question's first approach was the thing that sticks out in my mind
6:40
Okay. Because I thought to practice multiple choice questions are the most effective learning tool
6:47
I learned really well by taking notes and writing stuff down. So I would take a good amount of notes as well
6:53
And I would also work the problems in Excel I thought that was really helpful I thought Excel is a very great tool to have
7:04
I don't know if it's still, is it still in the 2024
7:09
They have another spreadsheet. I believe so. Yeah, they're doing just kind of a new little generic spreadsheet again
7:17
like they did pre-27. Oh, interesting. Oh, that's, wow. Okay. So yeah, I would mostly do the problems in Excel, and I would make some flashcards
7:28
Like, I thought that was really helpful from the pro course making flashcards
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Just on like terminology, like for business law or audit. I used brain scape. I thought that was really useful
7:42
Okay. Did you do the, you know, the idea of like mini sessions studying from your phone throughout the day
7:49
Absolutely. That was the next point. on to hit to make. I would constantly
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study it with my phone and read your review notes like over and over and over again
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I absorbed information by reading it and seeing it. I would focus on the review notes
8:04
I did listen to the audio sometimes when I was driving to work. I got about 30-minute commute every day
8:10
Okay. So I thought that was all very helpful. And the mini quizzes also
8:14
were very slowly to me as well. Like I'll do those constantly
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I'll just watching. like just watching TV or something or just at work
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Whenever I had a chance to do them, I would knock out a five seconds, five questions quids
8:29
Yeah, and it just adds up, right? It's just, uh, yeah, yeah
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that's what I found. Hundreds of times. That's just a lot of extra questions
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Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I thought that was very useful to me. And then
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then so I just, I decided I need some help. I got a tutor
8:48
And, um, and, really helped me like with a lot of the material and just showing me how to solve the problems
8:57
because I just didn't really know how to do yeah I'd do them on my own so I just reached out for help
9:03
and she next time I took it I passed with 78 awesome and then so after that I was I had it just
9:12
raised my confidence so much and I knew I could do this and after that I went in I started studying
9:20
for far right after BEC. It took about three months for that, and I passed it with an 84
9:27
Oh, wow. Awesome. Yeah. On your first try? First try. Yeah. Okay
9:32
Yeah. I was really surprised. I think, like, my accounting, previous accounting experience was very beneficial to me
9:39
in that. There's like a lot of financial statements material, and I was, I done that a lot of
9:45
that in my work experience. But also a lot of people are like work in auditing
9:51
They've worked for 10 years. They're nearly an audit manager, but they still really struggle with the exam
9:57
So I get basically what I'm getting at is I think your experience was helpful, but I think mostly you had the process kind of figured out by then
10:06
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. So what did that, what did it look like at that point
10:11
What was a day of studying once you were studying for far where you got an 84 in your first try
10:17
Like, what was the whole day of studying your main session and also the, I guess, basically
10:22
you used the study tools throughout the day. What was your study? Yeah. Yeah
10:26
I'm more of a night person, so I would study at night. I know you, I do you recommend doing it in the morning
10:32
I just, I couldn't bring myself to wake up that early. So I would do, like, about a two to three hours study session at night, just going through
10:41
the multiple toys mainly and practice them. I wouldn't like I did watch the lectures but they were just so they're so dense in Becker
10:50
there's a lot of just goes over my head so I would just I would focus on all the questions
10:55
because that's how I learned that just by doing them and solving them I thought that was the most
11:01
the best strategy for me and like I said I would take notes on some things I struggled with
11:07
or fake flashcards did you keep the tutor through the whole thing or was it just for that
11:11
Oh, no, I did, actually. Okay. I kept her throughout my process
11:17
How often did you meet with her? Probably once every two or three weeks or so
11:23
Okay. So that's interesting. So if it was that infrequent, how did you just go to her with these are the problems from the last two or three weeks that I'm struggling with
11:34
How do I do these? Oh, yeah, basically. Okay. We would work in like Google Sheets
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And so I would just like take screenshots of all the problems I had questions on
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And she would just show me how to work them in Excel. Okay
11:50
Google shoots, yeah. Okay. And then you would rework them so that you knew how to do them
11:55
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Okay. I would do the same thing with all the STEM as well
12:00
I would rework them before the exam and then really help me out
12:04
Okay. That is helpful. But every two or three weeks isn't enough to wear
12:09
where it's like, I mean, this was still mostly your process working
12:14
You're studying every day. You're kind of just troubleshooting spot treating areas with her, basically
12:20
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like a lot of material in FAR was like just click the three most part
12:28
Okay. And I actually work in tax. So the reg was like kind of the same way
12:34
Yeah. So you passed far. And then did you go for reg or audit next
12:39
I did audit next. Okay. And I failed at the first time, got 71
12:45
And then I, it was brutal getting that. And then I went back, I think I took it in January
12:54
2023 for the first time, which was just crazy because I'd just taken far in December of 22
13:01
So that was just, I just rushed it. It's just I wanted to get over with, but I should have taken more time
13:06
But then a few months will go by, me, between. passing far and passing audit
13:11
My wife and I have a daughter. Nice. Congrats. Thank you. So then after
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so yeah, she was like six weeks old when I bought it again
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And then I just went back and took it and passed it time
13:27
Awesome. I did. Yeah. Even sleep deprived. Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. I was very sinful at that point
13:35
Yeah, I bet. But, but yeah, I was able to do it with two
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two exams and then so yeah I passed audit and then I went back in reg and I also passed that one
13:47
on the first try as well I was looking up your email because you had emailed me like mid 2023 just saying like oh yeah I passed thanks you know so you been done for close to a year now Or I mean eight months or so Almost eight months
14:03
Yeah. It was end of June last year when I took it. That's cool
14:07
Yeah. How does it feel to be done the last eight months after all those, you know
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struggles and how hard it was? Oh, I can't even describe the feeling of relief
14:16
Yeah. It was the best feeling in the world to finally be done with this and have my life
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back, as I'm sure everybody else on here says, like such a huge accomplishment, best feeling
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in the world. Yeah, definitely. Was there anything during this process, you know, you're married and then partway through
14:34
this, you have a daughter? Is there anything that you made a priority to make sure you didn't sacrifice, like
14:39
that you were able to still do during all this, even though you were so busy
14:43
Absolutely. I made it a point to work out, so I just, I needed that in my life
14:49
When would you fit that in? Was that a morning thing? I would do that in the morning usually
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Yeah, and study at night. I didn't really do a great job with that, but I still, I was still able to work out some
15:03
Also, I really like going to concerts and seeing my music. So that was something I did not sacrifice
15:09
Like, for instance, we went and saw Taylor Swift. That's lucky. The Friday before
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That big one? Yeah, the Friday before my audit exam, I went to saw her with my wife, because she's a huge
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Taylor Swift's fan. So I think that really helped me to relax
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and pass the exam. How many concerts did you go to? Do you know throughout the whole process
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Throughout the concert. Oh, not as many, actually. What are your favorite bands
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Or what were the best concerts you went to? I like rock a lot. So
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I've seen, I mean, I've seen a lot of bands. I've seen The Who a few times and
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like Rush and... Okay, so you like classic rock? That's amazing. I like classic rock and modern rock, but I like pretty much everything, man
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That's awesome. Yeah. I'm hoping to go to, I've actually never been to a concert
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I'm hoping to go to a Metallica concert in Seattle later this year
16:05
Oh, cool. Yeah, that's awesome that you've been so many. I've been to, I've seen them a few times
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A few times. That's cool. Yeah, so you must go to a lot of concerts
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I used to. I don't go as many more without I'm married and I was a child
16:18
Yeah, that's awesome. You're able to do it, you know, still. Oh, yeah. I know
16:22
Like, yeah, that was something I was not willing to sacrifice. Yeah
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Yeah, I mean, as long as you have your daily process nailed down, you know, you can fit stuff in still
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It's kind of, yeah, it's the whole thing. And I did. So, so, yeah
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Then we basically went out to dinner after a pass for egg, celebrated
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And then it took another, I got my license in September. So it took about two months to get it
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That's just how long it takes, now it's everything. to Tennessee, but it's worth the wait
16:54
Once you have the four big exams passed, that's when it's... Oh, yeah, that's true. You're basically done, you know, then it's just kind of waiting some paperwork
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But like the daily struggle is over. Exactly. I just, I took, I had to take the ethics exam too for Tennessee
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But that was, I mean, it was kind of tricky because it was open book, so... Yeah
17:15
It's the good thing about that one is it took me a few attempts. It's basically like a gigantic, what are the..
17:20
those old sim types, research sims. It's basically a gigantic exam of that. They don't have
17:26
research sims anymore? No, not in the 2024. Not that we can tell. From everything we're seeing
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they're not there anymore. It's like an impossible way. I was going to ask about if the format's
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changed or what it will change in the 24. No more in communication, obviously, because that was
17:43
in BEC. Oh, yeah. No research sims from what we can tell it. Like there's kind of nothing about it
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but also on the AICPA website, there's no longer any research SIMs as practice
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So we're pretty sure that it's not there anymore. And then mainly a lot of the exams kind of got cut down so that some of them could be distributed to the new discipline exams
18:03
Yeah. EEC went away and now there's three new discipline exams. That's the biggest change, that whole, yeah
18:10
Exactly. Yeah. I think FAR maybe getting easier. It does have less
18:15
Some of the top of the degree. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, they kind of took the advanced stuff from far and the advanced stuff from reg and then some of the stuff from BEC and that's all on the bar exam now
18:28
Oh, I see. Okay. Yeah, I'm interested to see what the pass rates are
18:32
I think Barr is going to be the hardest exam from now on
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I mean, I think. Yeah. So. Yeah, that was another goal I have is to be done before the 24 changes
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I didn't want to. I didn't want to mess with that because, like, they're
18:48
Score release schedule is just crazy. Oh, it's bonkers. Yeah, so I'm really glad I'm done now
18:56
Yeah, yeah. If you started back in 2017, I just remember this
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That was the last time that there was like this big change
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Do you remember that at the time? I do a little bit. I think they just added Sims to BEC maybe
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They introduced the new, the DRS, the document review simulation, where all the exhibits that open before
19:18
they weren't like that. They didn't have exhibits before then? Well, they might have had some like that, but the one where you
19:26
Oh, oh, yes. I remember the memo and like the lines throughout it can change or
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Oh my gosh. I did not like those. Yeah. Yeah. Those were new on 2017
19:38
Oh, yeah. Yeah. So looking back from that initial period where you were just frustrated and it was
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the whole thing was overwhelming, you didn't really know how to approach it to
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You pass BEC. It sounds like by far that your second exam
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you kind of had a process nailed down that was working. What were the big changes that led to that
19:59
Like the top two or three things that took you from being like overwhelmed
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not knowing what to do to a your approach that was working
20:07
Okay. Well, I think like a lot of your strategies like focusing on the questions
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and not so much reading the textbook like I was kind of reading the textbook too much
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It was a waste of time. I was watching the lectures the surgeon had, and they just weren't helping me at all
20:25
I wasn't spending as much time I just showed on the practice question. And so I thought that was the real game changer for me
20:32
Yeah. And like, for some reason, I just never did any practice sins for BEC when I was studying in 2017
20:40
I don't know why. I thought I could do them on the exam, but that's proof wrong
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And so yeah I think just like the active learning approach really helped me and just reworking all the problems even if I seen it before I rework it And like I do the same times just so I wouldn be surprised
21:02
To wrap this up, we can call it the same thing. What would be your top two or three tips to people struggling with the study process
21:10
Okay, sure. I thought about these because I've seen them on previous podcast
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My number one tip is don't ever give up on this process
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It's a marathon, not a sprint. It takes a lot of dedication and hard work
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But once you get done, it's the best feeling in the world, like I said earlier
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Number two tip is don't be afraid to ask for help, whether it be a tutor or your coaching program, which I'm sure is excellent
21:39
Is that like a tutoring program? Not really. Strategy. Okay. It's kind of helping people, yeah, get the process down
21:47
Okay. We kind of have them record themselves doing a study session so we can see how they actually
21:53
are working through. I mean, it kind of sounds like your tutoring thing, kind of
21:58
We don't really do question walkthroughs per se, but it's more occasionally
22:04
But seeing the process of how someone approaches questions and kind of guiding them on breaking
22:09
them down, making sense of them. Oh, great. Yeah. And then first two tips
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Third tip is like utilize acceptance. or whatever spreadsheet tool you have to solve the questions
22:22
I thought that was very like a game changer for me. I was going to ask you about that actually
22:28
So previously were you just doing stuff on scratch paper by hand
22:33
What were you doing before when you were using, not using Excel? I was essentially doing it just by hand or just in my head, which didn't work at all for me
22:44
Yeah, basically just in my head or on pencil paper, yeah. So was laying it out on Excel
22:49
Was that something you got from the pro course videos, the planting the seeds walkthrough video
22:54
Or when did you start using Excel? I started using it after I started working with my tutor, really
23:00
Okay. Gotcha. Okay. And I would just set up tables to solve the questions
23:05
or just do the calculations through Excel. So it sounds like that third tip could almost be expanded to
23:11
figuring out a way to structure, taking notes, doing calculations in a way that really fits
23:17
and make sense in your brain. It seems like the structure of Excel really helped you put it together
23:23
It did. Yeah. It was very beneficial for me, 100%. Yeah. And I think, like on paper, it's easy for it to, if you're just jotting down numbers
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like just numbers and it's on paper, you can kind of keep track of what you're doing
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in the moment, but it just will not mean anything later on
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It doesn't force you to set up problems in kind of the same structure
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and I think there's a lot to learn from that. Like setting up problems intentionally, like line by line
23:56
just the structure of Excel, I think, helps a lot. Absolutely. Or a spreadsheet, whatever
24:00
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I would use it on the exam day too, of course, like to set up questions
24:07
Yeah. Just to run simple calculations, I would use it. The calculator is fine, but I just thought Excel is much easier
24:13
I found the calculator in the review courses and on the exam
24:17
which is I thought it was garbage. I did not think it was a good calculator
24:22
It's not a good calculator. That's why you could sell. Yeah. Yeah. I preferred using the spreadsheet or even they would give me a physical calculator at the testing
24:31
So I thought that was better. Absolutely. I got physical. Yeah, they gave me a physical calculator too
24:38
I actually don't remember. I took the exams like 10 years ago, maybe even longer, 10 or 11
24:44
I can't remember if they let me have a calculator or not. But yeah, using a mouse to like click buttons on a calculator is ridiculous
24:53
Oh, no, no. A lot of people don't think about this. They don't think about their study process specifically
24:58
They just kind of think, I've just got to put in more time. Eventually, this will all make sense
25:03
And I think that can happen eventually, you know, just using time as your only tool
25:09
But like you said, don't be afraid to look into just other ways of doing this
25:15
If what you're trying to do is not working, reevaluate how you're spending time, what you're doing when you study
25:21
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Okay. We've talked to somebody recently, and so, you know, people who are listening right now
25:27
they might remember hearing this whenever we release the other one too. They were saying it's crazy to fail an exam and then just keep doing the same thing
25:36
just doing the same process failing over and over again. Oh, yeah. You always have to be looking for what you can improve
25:42
And whatever works, whatever gets you to passing these exams is, is worth it, you know
25:48
Yep. A little bit I doubt, you know. I appreciate you doing the call, Kevin
25:52
That was, that'll be a helpful episode. Like Logan was saying, every time we do a new interview
25:58
someone will mention some random thing from like an episode a year or two ago
26:03
And it's surprising to me, like how many people listen to literally every single one of these
26:08
Because there's a lot. Oh, wow. There's like over a hundred. Oh, there's really like that many
26:13
Yeah. So. So, yeah. For a while now. Yeah, it's been close to three years, I think
26:20
Oh, great. For the podcast anyway. And he's been doing super fast since a decade
26:25
Yeah. Super fast for 10 years or so, right? Yeah. It's around there
26:31
It's either 9 or 10 or 11 years. I'm not really sure. But it's been a long time, yeah
26:36
That's great. Well, your product helped me pass, and I can't, couldn't be more thankful for that
26:42
Like, they really help me. Yeah, that's awesome to hear. That's the best compliment we can get
26:47
So yeah, I'm glad you found us. I'm glad I did too. I probably wouldn't be able to pass about super fast EPA
26:54
Yeah, that's awesome to hear. I appreciate that. Absolutely. All right, that was the interview with Kevin
27:01
Again, I thought it was a great interview. I love that he was able to change some small things and start passing these exams
27:07
and also able to still have a family life with his new baby
27:11
go to some concerts, and still have some of the important things in his life
27:15
If you liked this episode, make sure you like it and leave a comment on the YouTube video or leave a rating in your favorite podcast app
27:22
And especially make sure you share this podcast with anyone you know who is going through the CPA exams
27:27
This podcast is the best free resource out there for CPA exam candidates
27:32
Thanks for watching or listening and we'll see you in the next episode. You know
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