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Once I started using the Super Fast system, things changed. I bought Super Fast in October of 2018 and I had passed all of my exams by June of 2019
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That's awesome. So I sing your praises whenever I can. Welcome to episode 10 of the CPA exam experience from Super Fast CPA. I'm Nate and in the call today, you will hear a call that I did with Shanna. She's a CPA up and
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Alaska, and she's a, I guess you would say, a past Super Fast CPA customer
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In this interview, we just talked through her whole study process from start to finish
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Some of the struggles she had in the beginning, how she was approaching things that she figured
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out weren't really paying the dividends she needed. And so some of the changes she made, some of the things that she personally discovered
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and then kind of how she came across Super Fast CPA and added some of our strategies and
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study tools to her daily process and the difference that those things made. Now, in these calls
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as you've probably seen, we're starting to do these interviews with past super fast CPA customers
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And the thing that you will see, hopefully if you're in the study process currently
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you will watch all of these calls or listen to all these episodes. Because there are kind of two
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key points or two big things that you'll discover. First of all, there's kind of the big items
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there are things that you will see that each of these candidates did kind of in the same way
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There are these kind of big pieces to the process that you'll see candidate after candidate on these
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interviews. They all kind of did these things and figured out one by one, okay, I basically have to be
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doing it this way. I have to be doing this. And then at the same time, on the other hand
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you will hear a lot of their own little individual tips and tricks on some of the smaller
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details. And some of them did things very differently, but they all, you know, ended up passing
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their exams. And so there are lessons to be learned from both of those things. And again
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you will hear her talk about how she came across super fast CPA in the beginning. Pretty
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much everyone starts with one of our free study trainings. And what those are is it's a free
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webinar that we put on multiple days each week. We will walk through our study process
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how it's different from the normal way and why it works so much better
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And that is where pretty much everyone you'll hear on these interviews started with Super Fast CPA
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So if you're listening to one of these episodes for the first time, the way that you can register
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for one of those trainings is to go to SuperfastCPA.com slash training or just text pass
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now one word to 44222. And we will text you a link to register for a training
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You can also just go to our site at superfastcpa.com and you will find
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the link pretty easily somewhere. So again, if you are currently in the study process, I would
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highly recommend that you listen to these episodes as they come out each week where we're talking
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to past candidates that have figured out the study process, whatever that was for them
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because you will find a lot of beneficial things that you can add into your own daily routine
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So that all being said, let's get into the call with Shana. I'm here with Shana
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and why don't we start with, again, thanks for being on here
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Like I just said, I think a lot of people find this really valuable
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So at this point, you've passed, is it three that you've passed
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I'm a CPA. I got my license last. Oh, you're done. Yeah, I'm licensed
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Oh, you're done. Oh, geez. That must have been, I was looking at right before this with someone else I was going to do a call with
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Okay, so I guess just just. from the beginning, like where did you start with the CPA study process? What did you do in the
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beginning? Did you just get a review course and just kind of start studying? Or how did the actual
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study process start for you? So I talked with people in my office and who had been through the
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process. Everyone in my office is either a CPA or studying to be a CPA. It's a requirement
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It's actually a requirement that you're eligible to sit for the exam as a, um
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is part of the eligibility for the position. So I talked with other people and to figure out what was working for them
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And I had done a lot of online classes. And so I was fairly familiar with my study style
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And I ended up starting with Becker. I bought the Becker program
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And I passed the first two exams without any problem. and then I hit FAR
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What were the first two? Well, I did. So the first two I did was, I did audit first
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Working in an audit shop, I was a little afraid that practicing audit would not necessarily
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be theory. So I wanted to get the test out of the way before I got confused by, well, this is how we usually
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do it. Come to find out my audit shop pretty much. all those standards like exactly
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So, but I also wanted to kind of start with a win. I was afraid of starting with the hardest exam, even though I've learned now that is the
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best theory because I didn't know how I was going to take it emotionally if I failed my
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first attempt. So I started with audit and then I had a time constraint because we were going, we were moving
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into our busy season. So I only had about two months. that I had for the next exam
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So I went ahead and grabbed BEC also. And I also wanted to do
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this was back before BEC had started with Sims. So I wanted to grab BEC because I knew it would be easier to study
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And I wanted to get my win, my pass it before they started requiring stems along with the written communication
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So then we went into our busy season, which was a horrendous busy season
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and I ended up taking the entire busy season off from studying based on everyone's recommendations
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So five months later, I started studying far and it just was not sticking, was not sticking at all
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And ended up losing credit for both BEC and audit because I kept failing, yeah, because I kept failing far
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Yeah, so fast forward, fast forward 18 months. and Becker Times out, and I still haven't passed
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I got a six-month extension. That didn't do a whole lot, and so I was trying to figure out, you know, here I am
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I've been at this for like a year and a half, two years, and I'm almost back to where I started
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And so I signed up. I actually bought Surgeon. I mean I still had the materials for Becker the books and everything but with Surgeon I just I got the I got Surgeon and actually super fast about the same time I think I discovered you I know it was around October Oh goodness what year was it It must have been like 2018 And I had I had another I had another far scheduled but it was like in a week or so So it wasn like I could use super fast techniques or your audio files for that attempt at FAR which I ended up failing
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And so this was late 2018 and we're going into another busy season
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And then the tax job, the tax cut and jobs act was going to get initial
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had been implemented and then the exam was going to change based on that
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And so I got really scared because, unbeknownst, I mean, I grew up under the 86 tax law
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I filed all of my taxes underneath that. I kind of knew it just by using it and I was afraid of having to relearn another tax law
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So I hurried up and tested for reg in December of 2018 before then
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made the changes and for that I was using I had started using the technique of studying before work
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and listening to the audio files which I was actually listening to while I got ready for work in the
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morning my commute is literally 10 minutes from like going yeah I'm lucky that way but I didn't have
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the luxury of like listening to the tapes for you know half an hour in the morning right so I would
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listen listen to them when I'd get ready in the morning and pretty much
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like instead of listening to music, I would listen to those. I think that just helped me, you know, I can absorb things orally
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but also having the transcripts with them. So the first time I went through it, I could go through the audio and read it at the same time
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which is super effective for me. Yeah. It also helped with review because there's no testing center in Juneau
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we have to fly up to Anchorage. Anchorage is the closest one
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So there's always a day of travel involved. And so I would listen to the audio files
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and bring the transcripts with me on the plane and the airport
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So that was really helpful having those. And I think, well, once I started using the super fast system
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things changed. I literally passed the rest of my exams in nine months. So I bought the
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I bought the super fast in October of 2018 and I had passed all of my exams by June of 2019
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That's awesome. So I sing your praises whenever I can. Yeah, I mean, you know, I'm glad it could help somewhat. So going back
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you said you started studying in the mornings so before that you were uh you would study after work normally
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i would so i would uh stay at my office after i clock out um and and study there it was you know
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i didn't have to come home and say hi i'm here but i'm not really here i just wouldn't come
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home and you know my my body and my brain was like okay i'm in workspace yeah so i was trying
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to use that technique and putting in hours. I mean, for, and it just wasn't, just was not sticking
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And I'm sure a lot of it had to do with the fact that your brain is already tired at that point
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Yeah, definitely. When you say that you're putting in time and effort, but it's not really
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clicking, what was your process where you just kind of doing, I always call this like, you know
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the normal way, where you just, why? watch the video lecture, then you try to read the whole chapter, then you go to the questions
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I mean, or what was your process kind of before when you were just kind of struggling, I guess
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When I was using Becker and there was lectures involved, and during my time with Becker
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they changed their setup a little bit and added these like skills tests in addition to the multiple choice questions
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And so I would like listen to the lecture. I would try the skills like, you know, beforehand
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They suggested doing the skills beforehand just to see, you know, if you know this already
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you don't have to study it. But that would take me a lot of time because it was cold
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You know, the material was cold. So that was probably more of a waste of time looking back
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And then I'd listen to the lecture and go through the book
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And so, yeah, I guess it was like the normal, the normal process
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Okay. And then when it started clicking, how to, I mean, what do you feel like was kind of a
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breakthrough in how you studied? I, well, so when I, after Becker timed out and I was using surgeon, I would just, based
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on your recommendation that multiple choice questions were really the best way to, to steady
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Because you really don't know what Sims are going to look like. So I totally agree and concur that the better you know the material, the better you'll do
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on Sims because you'll just be prepared for whatever shows up. So I would, once I got Surgeoned, I just hammered multiple choice questions
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I never touched another Sim. And Sims takes so much time. Right
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So I would just, I would hammer away 30, 30 questions, uh, test
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I would set up like these 30 questions tests and, uh, multiple choices and just, just
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run through them over and over and over and over and over again
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Yeah. Yeah. I, I honestly think even if that's all someone did, it would be more effective than
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messing with like video lectures have their place, you know, you, anyways, but yes, just doing that is so much better than just kind of drowning in the material
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before you ever even get to the practice questions. That's what I feel like a lot of people do
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Exactly. And I think with Sims, I mean, Becker is really nice in that, and I don't know how other
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review courses are, but the Sims are set up in Becker the exact same way as you see them on the exam
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So that, I mean, I think it's helpful to go into it as a candidate just to become some
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somewhat familiar with what you're going to see. But as far as going through and getting stressed out about your scores
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your mock scores on Sims, there's really no way of predicting that
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Right. And that is the big issue because the way they're presented are dynamic
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or meaning the same topic can be presented, I don't know, 100 different ways on test day
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And so going through endless practice sims isn't as effective as like you said
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you have to look at the practice sim to get an idea of what they can kind of look like
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But then to learn them you kind of break them apart Did you do anything with flashcards or what was your system of taking notes or whatever You know I would have used notepads I did have flashcards
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So, yeah, I did have a stack of flashcards with, I didn't buy Becker's flashcards. I just went through and wrote them down knowing that writing something down
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you have better writing something. And so I made myself do that instead of spending the extra cash on flash cards that were pre-printed
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Um, and, you know, I, I wasn't as, I didn't use the flashcards as effectively as I could have, but, you know, I would go out, you know, sometimes just sitting outside of my yard with my dog, um, going through flashcards with a cup of coffee and the sun type of thing. Um, usually during lunch, I was studied during my lunch periods also, but usually that was just, uh, multiple choice questions. And, um, I don't know, the, the flash
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cards almost became more of a security blanket than something I was actually using
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Yeah. Okay. So after you switched to studying in the morning, you were kind of doing your
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main session, meaning like sitting and going through your sergeant materials that was in the
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morning before work for the most part? Yes. Okay. And then you'd kind of listen to the audios
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read the notes while you're kind of getting ready or through the day, stuff like that
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Exactly. Definitely, definitely every day when I was getting ready and instead of
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instead of going to Amazon music, I would go to super fast. Yeah. It's painful, but like, I mean
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that's just what I tell people over and over. I mean, even if it's not our stuff
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if you just kind of postpone all your favorite little kind of time-waster type stuff
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for just a few months until you pass. I mean, it can make it so much easier
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Because keeping that stuff in your head throughout the day, you know, you just get better and better and better
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much faster than just studying once each day and then not looking at it until your next study session again
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Oh, right. And also the app with the five mini questions. question mini quizzes, I would do those all day long
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And that definitely helped. You know, the only thing I allowed myself to listen to outside of super fast when I was
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studying was when I was studying for BEC and I'm a big fan of the Marketplace show that
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runs on National Public Radio and listen to it for years. I called myself a marketplace junkie
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And so I would allow myself to listen to that during BEC because of all, you know
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it just gets you familiar with, okay, interest rates go down, bonds, yields go up
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and just get you used to those, like, just those, just get it in my brain
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Employment rates and the different things on a high level, the different things that would be affected by those things on a high level
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But other than that, that is a, yeah, I mean, that's, I mean, I'm
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almost like a viable because BEC has so much of that and yeah and listening to kind of the daily
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real world version is probably easier to understand in certain ways than like the review course stuff so
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that is a good idea yeah there's context involved um but the and I I can't say like what percentage
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studying in the morning helped and what percentage the mini quizzes helped and what percentage
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listening to the audio helped. But the combination of all of that and hammering out multiple choice questions
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I finally passed far on the fifth attempt. Nice. I think it was like a, I don't know, it was 77, 78, I don't care
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That's all you need, yeah. Exactly. It's all you need. So your reordered order was, was it reg first
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So, yeah, I guess it would have been reg first, then, I want, how goodness, I want to say BEC after that, had to take auditing again
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And I think, I think FAR was, honestly, I don't remember. Yeah
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I had taken auditing. Regardless. And yeah, in the final, in the final count
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And then what was your, the thing I like to ask everyone? Because this is like one of those moments
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Like I remember like the exact hour before and after when I got my fourth passing score
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What was that day like for you? Or what was it like to find out you got that fourth passing score
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You know, I had to stop myself from hyperventilating. I took a I took a screenshot I took a snippet of I was just afraid that if I logged off the the site that it would be different the next time I logged in
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that's funny what'd you do to celebrate oh um gosh it's such a I think yeah nothing nothing nothing really huge I
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I think the big, yeah, the big celebration came after the license
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I still had a, there was about a two-month lag between passing the last exam
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and when the state board of public accountants to be met again, where they review applications
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One nice thing about the process taking so long is that the time requirement had met the time requirement
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So I just had to put in the paperwork. Yeah, there wasn't like a huge, I mean, we probably went out to the dinner
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The best celebration was not getting up at 4 a.m. anymore. For sure
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Yeah. It's just, it's like the biggest relief in the world, yeah
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Yeah. Yeah, definitely. So that's what you were doing. I mean, to fit in the two hours in the morning or whatever, you were getting up at 4
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Yes. Yeah. And so I would study until about 6, which was when I would normally wake up
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and then I would start my process to get ready for work at that
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And even though I was getting up two hours early, I probably would only get about an hour to hour and 15 minutes of like solid study time
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We have dogs. Yeah. I would try to be quiet, but as soon as I figured out, oh, somebody's up
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There was that. But just, and also the consistency of getting up every day and putting that time in every day
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you would build up. That is. That is an absolutely huge part
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And I would say that's almost the biggest piece is that consistency
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That's your routine. When you leave it for after work, there's just so many things that can come up
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And even if you're missing a day or two a week, you know, if you're trying to fit this one section into six or eight weeks, I mean, that's significant
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it you know that more than 10 of your study time lost Anyways I could go on and on about that but yeah So let see
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We kind of went through everything. What about test day tips? What did you kind of figure out that worked for you on test day
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Or what were you kind of thinking once you kind of figured things out and started passing sections that you figured out for maybe like the last few days before
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section and then your actual test day things that you kept in mind? Sure. So I would try to
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stop studying. I mean, I would, well, I had to travel. I had to travel the day before the exam
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So that was a, even though I was, I wouldn't study too hard. I mean, I would study in the airport
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and on the plane, but it's a fairly short flight. And once I got up to Anchorage, I would set it
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down and just relax and let everything soak in. I would try to arrange my tests for the morning, get it out of the way, and just, and also I found
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as much as I hate mornings, I found out that I'm more effective in the mornings. So I would do that
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So I would, I mean, I would study for a few days
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I would usually take off Friday from work and study Friday and Saturday, and then Sunday was travel
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So it was a very, if I studied at all, it was just listening to the audio in the airport
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And then just let my brain rest. So it would soak in
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And then on test day, were you, like the first few sections you took, do you feel like you spent too much time on questions you didn't know or any of the classic mistakes
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or was it just more that hadn't learned the stuff well enough
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Or what was your test day experience? So, I mean, at the beginning, especially with FAR, I wouldn't pay as good attention to the time as I should have been
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And I didn't cut myself off like, okay, just cut bait and keep going
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And so, like, the first few times that I took FAR, I would only have, like, maybe at best an hour and a half to do all the Sims
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because I was spending so much time on the on the multiple choice questions but I didn't
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but I was spending so much time on the multiple choices really didn't know the material as
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well as I as I should have yeah and then in the in the end when you say that you know you
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were mostly your your main study sessions were mostly going through questions and
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then you were doing a lot of the the quick the quick quizzes on our app you just
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you get good at answering questions. Wouldn't you, I mean, you'd agree
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And then that does. It just makes a huge difference on test day
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I think so because you get used to how questions tend to be presented
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and picking out the relevant information through that. So I got faster, but I was also much more conscious of my time
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Like, okay, this is how much time I have left, you know, do your best guess and run through these last six questions just to get done with it because
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you know i need the time for for the sims so i definitely i had i i my time management improved during
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during the process for sure nice yeah and that's again it's you know i think kind of my message to
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people is the the components to being successful at this are pretty simple but that uh that is a
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a big piece. When you get good at answering the questions because you spend so much time
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working through questions, it just, it solves a lot of problems. Like, without really having
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to think about it, it kind of solves time management problems on testing, other things like that
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Yes. So, all right. Well, if you had, if you had one, just one kind of general tip or what
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what do you think your biggest breakthrough was um current test takers
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that's a toss up between the studying before your day has a chance to blow up on you
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and that's a good one and and just focus on the multiple choice it would
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I'd say it's hard to discern between those two which is more important because I think they're
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I think they're equally they were equally important for me. Yeah. And that is that is a big factor. You said it in, whoops, you said it in kind of the
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beginning, there's, there's a lot of aspects that not one is more important than the other. And you
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you were saying you weren't sure if it was reading the notes or, uh, doing multiple choice mostly
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that made the big difference. And I think it's, it's really, it's a factor of those things
27:51
It's the consistency that you started doing by, you know, you're awake and you're studying each
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morning, you don't have the chance the rest of your day for your main session to get derailed
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And from there, you know, you just start the day with the good, or you started on the right
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foot, so to speak. And I, yeah, it's just, it's a combination of all those things
28:13
Yeah. That's a good point. And I think also, you know, the nice thing about the mini quizzes is
28:18
is that even when your focus might be drifting away from, from your work at hand, it's focusing
28:25
to the CPA exam. So it still helps to drive that information home
28:35
Yeah. And there's a lot of science behind that. I believe like the actual brain researchers
28:41
they would refer to that as a retrieval session. But I've just read a bunch of articles on that
28:46
that the more you recall something that you're trying to learn throughout your day
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just how it's dramatically more effective for, retention and understanding. I mean, that makes sense, you know. The more you review something
29:00
the better you get at it. Right. Well, yeah, thank you for being on here. I think people will find
29:07
this really helpful. And every person I've talked to has kind of a, they did things a little bit
29:13
different. But at the same time, there are kind of the big key pieces that you guys have all figured
29:18
out. There is kind of a formula to doing this effectively, I think. So yeah, I think that's
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that's about it. But yeah, it was nice to meet you. Yes. And thank you. I mean, I did the work
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but thank you for providing the tools that really helped push me over the edge
29:40
Yeah, I mean, my pleasure. It's, it is awesome to hear stories like this and to have someone say
29:46
like, you know, your advice or tools or whatever actually, like really helped. A lot of people
29:51
out there like putting in a lot of time and they're just not getting the result and I that's
29:57
another thing I always say is with just like some small tweaks you know you can get completely
30:03
different results yes so yeah great all right shana thank you very much I won't take up more of your
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time thank you Nate have a good day all right you too see you bye bye
