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SuperfastCPA Reviews: How Jeff Passed His CPA Exams
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May 3, 2024
In this SuperfastCPA reviews episode, you'll hear Jeff's journey to passing his CPA exams. As the years went by, Jeff realized that he needed his CPA to get where he wanted in his career, so Jeff finally buckled down and started the CPA study process. After some ups and downs, Jeff had several breakthroughs in his study process that led to passing all 4 exams in a row after making these key changes. IMPORTANT LINKS: Master your study process by attending one of our free study training workshops: https://www.superfastcpa.com/study-secrets/ Enter our free monthly podcast giveaway: https://www.superfastcpa.com/enter EPISODE TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Interview with Jeff 00:51 Introduction 05:02 Beginning of Jeff's CPA Journey 07:16 Jeff's First Attempt at the FAR CPA Exam 08:24 How Jeff Found SuperfastCPA 09:23 Jeff's First Study Breakthroughs 13:23 How Jeff Used SuperfastCPA in His Study Process 17:06 The Before & After of Jeff's CPA Study Process 19:30 Getting the 4th Passing Score 21:25 The Hardest Part of the Study Process
View Video Transcript
0:00
I guess your strategy worked tremendously, and it was a game changer for me
0:04
You know, whether I would have passed exams, if I didn't use that, who knows, but I did
0:08
And it saved me time. It saved me energy, and I got passing scores
0:12
So I would say really look into using that strategy and, you know, make it work for you
0:19
because it's a great strategy. It's the best way to retain information, and it really does get you prepared
0:26
And then secondly, as we spoke about the why, I, I think. I think that was very important because as you get through the exams, it just wears on you
0:35
And it doesn't mean that you're going to have less to do
0:39
You know, it just makes everything harder. And if you don't have a reason for continuing, then it's easy to stop
0:51
Welcome to episode 79 of the CPA Exam Experience podcast from Super Fast CPA
0:57
I'm Nate. And in today's interview, you're going to hear me talk with. Jeff. So as Jeff got into his accounting career and the year started going by, he started noticing
1:04
more and more that it really seemed like getting his CPA was critical to getting to the
1:11
spots he wanted to be in in his career. So he came back later on, went and did his master's and
1:18
at the same time was taking the CPA exams. So as you'll hear in Jeff's story, he started with
1:23
FAR and he spent three to four months studying for FAR that first time. And of course, he was
1:28
studying the traditional way trying to consume every single resource in his review course
1:33
It took a huge amount of time and he ended up getting a 74. And as you'll hear Jeff say, was a huge disappointment after all that time spent
1:41
So after that, he reevaluated his study process and he made a few key changes, which you'll
1:47
hear in the interview. And after making these changes, he passed his far retake and then he went three for three
1:53
on the remaining three exams. So Jeff has a ton of great tips and resources and ideas to share
1:58
in his interview, but a few things to listen for specifically. He talks about the one key study tool
2:05
that he started using a lot throughout his day that really helped things start to fall into place
2:10
and just helped make everything about the material easier to understand. He also talks about the
2:16
idea or maybe the false confidence that you can get from patting yourself on the back too soon
2:23
just by spending time studying and not really thinking about or evaluating
2:28
your actual process as to whether it's effective or not. And then not realizing that all this
2:34
time spent wasn't that effective until weeks or months later when it's too late and what those
2:40
mistakes were and what to do differently. Another key strategy that Jeff shares is the one thing
2:46
that he would do on the morning of an exam that he felt like made a huge difference once he got
2:52
into the testing center and started seeing the questions. He also talks about how he would
2:56
spend the last two days before an exam that would boost his scores on his practice testlets by
3:02
10 to 15 points. And then how that obviously translated on the actual exam, because like I mentioned
3:08
once he adopted these new strategies, he essentially went four for four. So before we get into
3:13
the interview with Jeff, I just need to mention two things. The first one is, of course, our study
3:18
training webinars. If you would like to learn our strategic CPA study process, in other words
3:24
how to use your review course much more efficiently, much more effectively
3:29
Pretty much everyone you've heard on this podcast started by watching one of these training
3:32
sessions. These are a free one-hour webinar that will do just that
3:36
Walk you through our course strategies, how to be much more efficient when you do sit down to study
3:42
You can sign up for one of those sessions at our main website at superfastcpa.com
3:47
It's the main thing at the top of the homepage. Or there should be a link down in the description if you're watching this on YouTube
3:52
The second thing is to enter our free podcast giveaway. Each month we give away three pairs of Powerbeat Pro headphones to three random people that we select as long as you've entered the giveaway
4:03
You can do that at superfast cpa.com slash enter. Or again, if you're watching this on YouTube, there should be a link down in the description
4:11
So with that out of the way, let's get into the interview with Jeff. Eastern time, where are you located
4:19
In Florida, South Florida. Awesome. I've been out there a couple times
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It's pretty cool. Yeah, on vacation? Yes. And then I actually did a kind of a sales internship in the middle of my bachelor's degree out there
4:35
So I lived in, what was it called, Pompano Beach. Oh, okay
4:40
All right. I'm close by. Yeah. Yeah, parking. Yeah, it was fun
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On the weekends, we'd go to the beach. And, yeah, that was pretty much it. Yeah, I don't go to the beach
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Yeah. probably one of those things if you live there. It's just like just there
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Yeah. You might go once in a while if people visit you. Exactly
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That's exactly what it is. Yeah. So where are you at in, you know, like how long have you been out of school
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What made you want to get your CPA? Let's start from the beginning. Sure
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Well, actually, if we go back all the way to the beginning, when I started my bachelor's
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it was actually in communications. So it wasn't even in accounting. So I made like a total 180 and I just happened to take an accounting course by, you know, by chance
5:27
And I just loved it. So that's why I switched. But as far as the CPA is concerned, as I was out of school, the more and more, I worked in different companies
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I noticed people had their CPA. And if I wanted to get anywhere in life, that was something I needed to have
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So I finished my bachelor's. Oh, it's been a while, forgive me, probably 2010
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And then I started my master two years ago. I finished last year
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So at the same time, I was actually taking my CPA and, you know, my master's finishing that up
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That's a lot of work and working, I'm guessing. Yeah, I was working for, well, working for the first half of that
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And then, you know, COVID layoffs and, you know, I was part of that
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Okay. And so now you're done, right? You've done with all four of your exams
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Correct. Nice. And do you actually have your CPA or do you still have like the little state ethics things
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like those last few things, or you actually have it? Yeah, no
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No I have it Yeah I submitted everything in July I believe and I took forever but I got the certificate like about a month ago Awesome
6:45
Yeah. Okay. So when you started studying, what was that like? Did you just get a review course and kind of jump into the lessons
6:52
I did, yeah. So I got widely. I started with FAR just because I thought that would be the most interesting one
6:59
And I heard it was, I don't know if I heard it was the hardest, but it had the most content
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so I figured get that out of the way. So, yeah, as soon as I got it, I just started jumping in the lessons, reading, watching videos
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and, you know, taking the small quizzes they had after every lesson
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Okay. What was kind of your progress? Did that work? Did you just start, did you pass the first time you went and took a section
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So, no, I did not pass. I think I got like a 74 on the first try
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and that study format, I guess, that they kind of sell you on when you buy the study course
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It's very hard because as you're studying, there's so much content and you're learning something new
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and you're concentrating on the new lesson. You kind of forget everything you've studied as you go
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So then when you are at the end and you're taking the full exam, it's kind of like
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all right, I have to go back and restudy what I learned in the beginning
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So it's kind of counterproductive, I guess. It just took a long time
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I was working when I started that exam, but to study the whole thing
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it took me to study and take it. I think I probably started for like three, four months
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And then to fail it was kind of devastating after taking all that time out to study
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Do you remember where in your study timeline you came across our stuff for the first time
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Yeah, so it was, I think it might have been before I got the results from the first exam
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But I remember walking out of the first exam, and I kind of had a feeling, which probably doesn't say much because you don't know either way
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But I think I might have seen your ad in YouTube. So it just kind of stuck
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And then when I got my results, I was like, okay, I need to do something different
8:55
And that's when I decided to try it out. Okay. And so did you sign up for one of those free one-hour trainings where you kind of got an idea of what our strategies are
9:04
Was that your first thing? I think I did. Yeah. Just to check it out because not just in, you know, the CPA study around, but there's so many of those three ads like, you know, promising Amazon
9:19
Yeah, so I was just one of those. Yeah. So at some point you got our package because you mentioned watching the strategy
9:28
videos. Do you remember just what was some of the key ideas or like different ways of
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approaching this that made sense to you? Do you remember just what some of those kind of light bulbs
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were? Yeah. Well, the first and most prominent one is probably, you know, just using the, the quizzes
9:49
and the, well, just the quizzes, honestly, as your first kind of line of defense in learning everything
9:57
I think that kind of, it's something that as soon as you start, it kind of just, it kind of just clicks the way everything is, the way everything falls in line
10:07
It's much easier to retain the information because you're going through everything, you know, not just new material, but old material that you've gone through already
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So that was actually the approach I used for all the other three exams
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well, the floor exam school had to retake far. Yeah, and I didn't fail a single one after that
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Awesome. Like you mentioned before, the retention component is really hard when you're kind of
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studying the traditional way. You spend all this time up front on each lesson trying to feel like, okay, I feel good
10:44
about this lesson so I can move on. But then if you think about it, it really doesn't make any sense to put in all that
10:51
work up front just to leave it behind. for several weeks or even months, you know
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Right, yeah. Yeah. And some of like the study lessons and videos
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they're like 20, 35 minutes long. And, I mean, that's just information that you're not going to use all of it
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You know what I mean? So it just makes sense because the quizzes are modeled after the exam to start with that
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Yeah. Right. It sounds obvious once you say it, but like that's one of the key things I try to
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to tell people is like, okay, listen, you're you're studying to pass the exams you're going to see on test day
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You don't need to be able to get up and teach a class on every topic
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And, you know, those two approaches are obviously totally different. Yeah, they are
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Yeah. No, it's totally true. And, you know, aside from that, another point I think I remember you making, I'm pretty sure, was, you know, when you're studying the quizzes, you're, you know, preparing yourself to answer questions, too
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You're not just, you know, listening to information. You're also, you know, studying to actually take an exam
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Right. There's several components. It's the whole idea of kind of like active learning versus passive
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It's easy to press play and start watching a video and pat yourself on the back and think
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okay, I'm studying right now. But maybe 5% of that is actually getting in your head, whereas if you're, you've got to be
12:18
clicking through questions and reading explanations, it's just, It's just different. Your brain is more engaged the whole time
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It is, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's funny you mentioned that because I think when I was studying for father for the first time
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I was kind of patting myself on the back after every lesson just because it took so much for me to listen and get through it
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Yeah, that's the bad thing is, again, I say this all the time on the other episodes
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but there are so many people out there that are dedicated putting in the work
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And the bad thing is, even if you're studying ineffectively, and you don't really know that until test day, you're still taking all that time away from stuff you'd rather be doing
13:03
You know, so whether you're, whether you're studying as effective or not, you're still, like, missing out on whatever it is, your hobbies, family time
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I mean, stuff you'd rather be doing, obviously. And so you really want it to pay off so that you don have to keep redoing exams Right Yeah I completely agree And what about your did you use the study tools kind of throughout the day like our review notes and everything
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or were you mostly just kind of using the strategies applying it to your review course
13:34
Well, I used, I think another thing you mentioned, which was a great idea, was I would take my dog out for a walk and, you know, I'll pop out
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the app and start going through the questions. I would supplement your questions with the ones
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that the review course provided just to kind of get, you know, different questions. So I didn't
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get repetitive. And I would go through the notes. You know, I would read them sometimes. And then
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when I was in the car, listened to it. But I think I went through the notes more rigorously on
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exam day, like before the exam, and I think you mentioned this also about going through the notes
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and making sure you get any last bit you can out of them. And that's exactly what I did. I would
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wake up early and go through the entire notes. And I mean, I think it helped tremendously. I think
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for every exam, there was always one thing that I remember from the notes. Yeah, and a lot of people
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use them like that. You know, you can use them throughout the day whenever it makes sense. But a lot of
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people really focus on them in the last few days, almost as a, well, as part of their final
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review, but almost as like a cram course type thing. Right. Exactly. That's exactly what it was
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yeah. And then another strategy I think you mentioned was, you know, cramming a day or two before
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So that's what I would do, especially as I didn't have a job anymore. I was able to take my
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exams on a Friday as opposed to Sunday. And I would just have the cram sessions on Thursday
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where I would just eight, nine, ten hours a day to, you know, exam questions all day
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I think that was the difference. I think that really helped me
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Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That doesn't solve if you've kind of slacked off and not studied very well for the weeks
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before, that won't solve your problems. But when you do that in addition, I think that that two-day strategy is honestly worth 10 to 15 points maybe
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Like, it's just a huge boost to just those last two days get essentially all the exam information floating around in your short-term memory before you walk in there
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Yeah, and yeah, that's exactly right. I do remember you mentioning that
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And I would remember going into those cram sessions thinking, okay, you know, I've been getting scores of like 85 somewhere around there
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After these cram sessions, it should be getting like 95, 100s. And that was always my goal after, you know, taking the last practice exam or quiz section
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session, whatever, it'd be getting 95 to 100. Yeah, that's awesome. And, I mean, just as a, I don't personally care what you scored on the exams, but just to see
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how that translates, what were your score kind of score ranges on the actual exams
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Sure. So for far, I got 82. Audit was, I believe, at 85, tax was 84, and Beck was 79
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Yeah, those are really good. Yeah, thank you. Squarely in the 70s the whole time
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That was just shooting for perfection, pure efficiency. Well, you know, I don't blame you because I think by the last example
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damn, I wouldn't have cared if I passed by one point or 10. You know, I just wanted it to be over
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Yeah. So that's one thing you mentioned. So when you kind of shifted your study strategies after watching our videos
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did you, did it kind of free you up, make the study process less stressful
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give you some of your day back? I mean, you're obviously still working hard
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You got to study every day. But was it less intense than the first, kind of your first attempt
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It was. Number one, it was more organized because I think when I was taking the review course
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I would just review, review, review. And, you know, sometimes I try to cram in one more review and I kind of wouldn't know when to stop
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But when I was just following your strategy, it was more, for me at least, it was more organized
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I would say, okay, from, you know, eight to noon, I'm going to study and I should be able to get four practice exams
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two seams in there, take up one hour break and then come back till five o'clock, and then
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you know, take however many practice exams and seams in there as well. And at the end of the
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day, I felt much more refreshed and, like, I retained more information and I wasn't bogged down
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with, you know, lessons and reading and videos. And I had the, you know, the third half of the day
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the second half of the day, you know, free to, you know, just do personal things
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So it was a game changer. Yeah, that's awesome. It was. And when I got towards, like, the last exam, my wife had a son
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So, you know, that meant I had even less time to dedicate to the studies
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So that made everything, it made everything harder. But I'm so glad I was able to have a schedule and a study, uh
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strategy that I could use, you know, it really benefited me. I was able to spending time with my wife
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my son, and studying. It was a lot, but, you know, I was able to get it done. Yeah, that's great
19:07
Yeah, that's a lot. Is that your first kid? It is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot. It's cool
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though. And I, yeah, I mean, luckily, I wasn't, I had mine done years before we ever had any kids
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but yeah, that would have been just an extra, yeah, doing it with kids, especially a new baby
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That's a lot. Right, yeah. So what was it like getting your fourth passing score and just realizing you were done
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It was relief. Yeah. Before I took the fourth exam and probably even the third exam, I was just ready to be over, ready for everything to be over
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I was over studying. And it's funny because I'm not sure if everyone feels this way, but kind of
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into the CPA exam you know I mean I like accounting I like theory so I thought it be fun studying for all of this But yeah that lasted probably one maybe two exams
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Right. Yeah, that's funny because, well, one of our strategy videos is about finding your why
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And I think I mentioned in there, you know, whatever motivates you right now, but a few months into this, it's going to quickly turn into the only
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thing you care about is just getting done. And it's not even about the increased salary
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the benefits that come down the line. The only thing you're going to care about is getting done
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So that's, yeah, that's pretty much everyone's experience, I think. All right. I'm glad I'm not alone. I do think it is important to have a why. Whether I believe
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it or not, in the moment, I always just thought, you know, I don't want my son to grow up and
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see that I didn't finish something I started. So that's what kept me going
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Yeah. I think almost everyone that I've interviewed, you know, that has kids, they kind of
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mention that idea. And again, it's whatever motivates you, but also, like, having kids, you do start
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kind of thinking like that, you know, PC, Monkey Doe, you know, like your example is everything
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Right, exactly. Yeah. And it's funny kind of that your mind changes after you have kids
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But, yeah, that was something I, I, that kind of. me going for sure. So overall, what would you say was the hardest part of the study process
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I guess to be honest, maybe less so the process and more so the material back, I think, was the
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hardest for me just because I was the least interested in that portion. So it made everything
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harder. Even the questions, I think the ones that had less to do, you know, with numbers and more
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like theory or just remembering facts. It was just, it made everything harder
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And I think going into the exam, I wasn't even sure if I was ready, honestly
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I knew I trusted the quiz and the study process and having high scores in the quizzes
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But sometimes going through the questions, it was like, I don't even know if the quiz questions
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like, you know, brought this subject up or I don't remember. but, I mean, it worked, obviously, because I passed, so
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Yeah. So going back, that's funny because BEC is, it is basically, like, if you do a bachelor's in business
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it's just a mix of like your undergraduate business classes is what BEC is
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And you said you did communications, right? Well, no, I started in communications and then I switched to accounting
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Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, I did remember some of the. concepts from, you know, my undergrad, but all the stuff that in my undergrad, I..
22:52
A long time ago. Right. Well, yeah, and also in my undergrad, I remember thinking, like, yeah, I'm not going to be
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like, in finance or I'm not going to use this. You know, this isn't an accounting
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So I put it away. Right. Yeah, BEC definitely has just the most stuff that's pretty much outside of what you'll
23:10
ever really do as a CPA. Right. So, yeah. Okay. Well, we've gone through pretty much all the stuff I normally talk about
23:17
about, even if it's something we already covered, if you gave two or three of your best
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tips to people currently studying, what would those be? Well, for me, I guess your strategy worked tremendously, and it was a game changer for me
23:30
You know, whether I would have passed exams, if I didn't use that, who knows, but I did
23:33
And it saved me time. It saved me energy, and I got passing scores
23:38
So I would say really look into using that strategy and, you know, make it work for you
23:45
because it's a great strategy. It's the best way to retain information
23:50
and it really does get you prepared. And then secondly, as we spoke about the why
23:55
I think that was very important because as you get through the exams
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it just wears on you. And, you know, it doesn't mean that you can have less to do
24:08
You know, it just makes everything harder. And if you don't have a reason for continuing
24:12
then it's easy to stop. For sure. Yeah, I was, I got into that idea on the, on an interview I did yesterday where motivation is, again, when someone's starting and having like videos or talking about motivation, someone's starting the study process is just like, just tell me, like, you know, give me the information so I can study
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I was like, well, trust me, a couple months into this, motivation is going to be a huge thing that you deal with every day
24:40
Like, you know, the best strategies, the best material won't do you any good if you can't get yourself to sit down and study
24:48
Exactly. Yeah. That does pretty much cover it. The strategy side of studying and why you're doing this in the first place
24:55
Yeah. Yeah. Those are two big points. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. All right, Jeff
25:00
Well, I appreciate you doing the call. I don't know if you've heard any of the other episodes, but people find these just really, really the main thing we hear about the podcast is how motivating it is for people
25:10
people that are just trying to put this together themselves and they're still, you know
25:15
in the middle of the process. So, yeah, I appreciate taking the time
25:19
I'm really glad our stuff could help. I'm glad you found us through that ad or whatever
25:23
And congrats on being done. That's awesome. Yeah, thank you, Nate. Thank you
25:27
I really appreciate everything. Like I said, everything helped tremendously. And finally great to meet the voice behind the podcast
25:34
Yeah, that's what everyone says. They're like, I go to sleep with your voice in my ears sometimes, listening to this
25:40
stupid audio notes. Like, wow, that's hard to imagine, but okay. So yeah
25:49
All right, so that was the interview with Jeff. I'm sure you found that very helpful and informative and motivating
25:55
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25:59
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26:04
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26:10
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26:15
We would really appreciate if you could take 30 seconds to maybe two minutes
26:20
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26:24
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