In this episode of the CPA Exam Experience Podcast, you’ll hear how Matt was able to pass the CPA exams in just 5 months with no accounting experience, at the age of 52. Matt had been a finance major in school and worked as a commodity broker for 20 years before deciding to get the CPA. He felt totally lost at first, but started implementing the SuperfastCPA strategies and, as you’ll see, got results.
You’ll hear how Matt focused on multiple choice questions to learn the material. He also mentioned multiple times that all he did was follow the SuperfastCPA process and it was as simple as that. Again, he passed with essentially no accounting experience, so pay attention to his tips so you can pass the exams too!
IMPORTANT LINKS:
Master your study process by attending one of our free study training workshops:
https://www.superfastcpa.com/study-secrets/
Episode Timestamps
- 00:00 Matt Interview
- 02:45 How Matt Decided to Pursue the CPA
- 04:43 Finding SuperfastCPA
- 07:07 He Had Been Studying Using the Questions Even Before SuperfastCPA
- 07:48 Matt’s Daily Learning Process
- 09:53 How Matt Studied in the Beginning
- 13:02 Studied More Once Classes Were Over
- 13:41 Barely Did Any Flashcards
- 14:11 First Test Experience with FAR
- 15:42 Studied for the CPA Without Any Experience with Accounting
- 17:32 Passed All Four for Four First Try and Thoughts on AUD
- 19:30 Found TCP Harder Than Expected
- 21:49 Matt’s Timeline for the CPA Exams
- 23:13 The Benefits from SuperfastCPA
- 25:21 Thoughts About the Sims
- 26:05 How Matt Studied for the Sims
- 29:11 Matt’s Love for Biking
- 31:14 Was Able to Have Free Time Despite Studying for the CPA Exams
- 31:50 Printed Out the Review Notes for FAR
- 32:16 Taking the CPA Exams at 52 Years Old
- 33:23 Shared it with His Son and His Son Passed 2 Exams
- 34:16 On Following the SuperfastCPA Strategies
- 36:29 Top Tips for People Still Struggling with the CPA Exams
Interview Transcript
Matt: [00:00:00] No, it’s funny because, it’s funny, like when I posted in the, uh, in the forum, you know, like I really did wanna just be like, look like I, I have zero accounting experience, right? Like any of you people in here. Just follow the process and it does work.
And then like, I don’t know, like I feel like some, I get some messages back saying so what process did you use? I’m like, in SuperfastCPA forum like this is, this is what I did. There’s no other secret sauce here.
Logan: Welcome to another episode of the CPA Exam Experience podcast from SuperfastCPA. I’m Logan, and in today’s episode, you’re going to hear me talking to Matt.
I really enjoyed talking to Matt. He had a lot of great thoughts, but what it really came down to was he just wanted to say, Hey, SuperfastCPA worked and there wasn’t anything else special about it. He just followed the SuperfastCPA process. The first time I saw him was actually on our forum. He joined the forum just to say that he passed the CPA exams with [00:01:00] SuperfastCPA.
And I really enjoyed hearing his story. He had zero accounting experience. When he was in college, he had decided to go with finance instead of with accounting because at that time that was just the easiest thing, you know, GPA preservation, as he says in the interview. He just wanted to be able to graduate with a decent GPA, so he went for finance because he wasn’t doing very well in his accounting classes.
30 years later, he’s 52 years old, has no accounting experience, and is still able to pass the CPA exams by following the SuperfastCPA strategies. It’s as straightforward as that, and you’ll hear him mention that multiple times. That’s all he did. He just followed the process and he passed the CPA exams.
So I feel like you’re really gonna like this episode. He has some great tips, so make sure you listen through the whole thing.
Now, before we dive into the episode with Matt, there’s just a couple things I wanna remind you about. There is our SuperfastCPA training webinar on superfastcpa.com, where we will teach you the key ingredients to passing the CPA exam.
And after you watch that, you’re going to want to learn more. So make sure you also check out becoming a SuperfastCPA PRO member, PRO members get access to the full versions of our [00:02:00] multiple choice question walkthrough videos.
So we have the shorter versions on YouTube for free, but if you want the full versions, you become a SuperfastCPA PRO member and you’ll get access to the full versions so that you can get a little bit more help and a little bit more practice. So make sure you check out becoming a PRO member. And the easiest way to do that is by again, checking out the free webinar.
Now with all that out of the way, let’s dive straight into the episode with Matt.
Logan: Thanks for being on the call today with me, Matt. I’m excited to be talking to you. Uh, I saw your, I think you joined the forum just to post that you had passed, um, at least that was when I saw, saw you join the forum so I’m excited to hear your story. So like, like I typically do, I would like to just kind of jump in from, kind of, from the start.
So
How Matt Decided to Pursue the CPA
Logan: So where were you in your life, in your career when you decided you wanted to go for the CPA?
Matt: Uh, yeah, I mean I was a commodity broker for like 20 plus years. Um, I had left my job in 2018 ’cause [00:03:00] my wife and I were kind of building a daycare business,
uh, for, you know, we were like about 10 years into that and it was like, well if I get another one of these things, I could probably, you know, do
something else.
Logan: Okay. Yeah.
Matt: Yeah, and like, they kind of need some, they kind of needed somebody on the back end. It was a lot on her plate. Um, we had four kids and, uh,
you know, four kids, like 16 and under at the time. And, uh, yeah, it was a little hectic, so.
Logan: Yeah, I bet.
Matt: it was gonna be, if I left it was gonna be tight, but we could probably swing it, you know.
Logan: Mm-hmm.
Matt: So, you know, I don’t know, seven years later, and now my, then 16-year-old is 22 and he is starting at RSM, um, um, and he’s about to take his CPA exam and, uh, and I kind of thought like, I don’t know, like I’ve been trying to figure out something else to do. Uh, you know, I’m like, I was like, all right, I’m, you know, part of it was like a challenge.
Part of it
was like, you know, I’m 52. I mean, it’s definitely skews about 30 years higher than the average average entry level guy. But, [00:04:00] um, um, you know, I’ve probably got another 20 years left of, uh, of, you know, maybe working,
Logan: In In, the In the tank, 20 years tank? Yeah.
Matt: You know, I kind of like to stay busy. So if I don’t know, maybe I could make this work.
Uh,
so, um, and what, basically what my son was doing, he didn’t do a MAC program. He graduated Penn State in four years, and then he did, uh, he just went on like the CPA credits.com and
like, um, you know, and got the rest of his credits,
So I was like, well, I could do that.
Um, so I needed, I had 12 credits from 30 years ago in college, so I needed 15 more to sit for the exam.
So, you know, I, I did that and I bought Becker. Um, and then a week later I bought, you know, I got the Superfast.
Logan: Okay.
Finding SuperfastCPA
Logan: And did, how did you hear about Superfast? Did your, did your son ever use it or was that just something that you found?
Matt: No, I mean, I found it because, you know, our phones spy on us, right? So like,
Logan: Yeah.
Matt: after about a week of that, next thing, Nate is basically on it. [00:05:00] Any social media thing I may have, which is, really honestly just like Instagram or like freaking YouTube videos, Right. But I mean, I mean, that’s definitely what it is, right? And then, you know, and I kind of was like, all right, whatever. I don’t, I don’t know, like, I mean like SuperfastCPA, like, you know, I like, I wasn’t like. Yeah, I figured, you know, maybe I’d give it a chance, but I’d try this Becker thing out first, you know?
um, um, but you know, I mean, like, you kind of figure out about three videos into Peter Olinto, um, that, uh, you know, it’s gonna be a lot more than than that, right?
Like, I mean, you,
if you, I guess if, I guess if you’re gonna go that route, like you’re gonna have to read the textbook.
Which, like, I wasn’t reading that textbook, like, you know, like it’s not happening, right? Like, I mean, like, I guess if you had a few years to do it, right? Like, I mean, so like,
Logan: The full 30 months.
Matt: Yeah, like super, super fast is kind of what I wanted.
Logan: Yeah, exactly.
Matt: Um, so, uh, yeah, I, uh.
Logan: So did you see and see one of the ads? And [00:06:00] then did you go watch the webinar and then buy it? Like, did you buy the full course, like the study materials and the PRO course?
Matt: I thought the PRO course was just everything, no?
Logan: Uh, so the, there is the, there’s the total bundle where you have the PRO course and then the study tools. Did you have both?
Matt: I guess I feel like I had everything. I don’t know. You guys were running a deal. You guys were running a deal like last October and I,
Logan: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Matt: I, I took the deal and that, you know, I mean, whatever. It came with the app, it came with the audio notes, it came with the,
Logan: The review notes.
Matt: So it was like, is that what you’re talking about?
Logan: Yeah, yeah. So that’s the study materials. And then did you also, uh, if you didn’t, that’s fine, but the PRO courses is where Nate has a whole bunch of video lectures explaining the whole process in, in.
Matt: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I
Logan: You had that as well? Okay. Yeah.
Matt: I had that. I don’t know that I, I mean, I, watched a few of the videos. Um, you know, I did that long one that
where he goes over walkthrough, yeah.
Yeah, I don’t know. It seemed like it was like four hours or something. Um, that, uh,
Logan: Yeah.
Matt: Yeah, I mean I like, that was [00:07:00] crazy. Like I actually was, couldn’t even believe I was going through that, that whole video, um, at first, but it actually turned out to be quite helpful.
Logan: Yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
He Had Been Studying Using the Questions Even Before SuperfastCPA
Logan: So I guess let’s just dive into your process then. So did you study, I mean, you did a little bit of Becker, but pretty quickly you’re like, okay, I need something a little bit quicker,
Matt: Yeah, I mean, like in, I was inclined to, like, basically when I studied for the series 7, 25 years ago, it was the same type of thing. Like I got the textbook and I was like, yeah, I’m not reading this entire textbook right. And I, I
just did the multi, I just did the test. So I just
kept doing the tests and so like, got an 85 and I sat for the test and got an 85, right?
So like, it was kind of like, you know, I was looking for somebody else to like, sort of tell me to go that route with
the CPA exam. Um, so yeah, I mean,
that’s what I did.
Logan: Yeah.
Matt’s Daily Learning Process
Logan: And so when you, so did you, did you study the, like with the Superfast process, like did you study in the morning? Did you do multiple choice questions first? Like what did your study process look like?
Matt: Um, yeah, I mean [00:08:00] I was, I would, I would get up early, um, you know, and I would do, I mean, basically what, what Nate said to do, kind of do a, like a, a module. Is it a module or a chapter? I think I did Becker. So it’s like, so like it would be like
F1 and that had a bunch of different chapters, right. So I would, I would do one, right.
And then, you know, basically get everything wrong. Um.
Logan: Yeah.
Matt: Right. Like, you know, honestly, at one point I said to my wife, I might as well try out for the Knicks. Like, I have no idea what I’m doing here, right? Like, um, so like, I would do that and then, uh, yeah, and then the re-review, right?
So it’s like, you know, if you did F1 and then F1, M1, right? And then next day, F1, M2, right? I do the M2’s and I do a, a review, a 30 question review of one and two,
Right? Sometimes like if a, uh, like if a, you know, if a chapter, I guess, we’ll, we’ll call the M’s, chapters, um, if it didn’t have like, like a ton of questions, I’d do two of them,
Logan: Yeah.
Matt: Um, you know, [00:09:00] and, and then do the re-review, right?
Um, I would listen to the audio. I would listen to the audio notes. Why? Because like, basically I gotta work like four hours a day for the most part. I gotta stop by, check on the, check on the schools. So I’m driving over there, I’m listening to Nate.
Um.
and uh, I do mini quizzes. I did a, I did a ton of mini quizzes, you know, throughout the day.
Like, I mean, he is right, like you, you have your phone, like instead of looking at something stupid on your phone, do a mini quiz. So I would do a mini quiz, right. Um, and, uh, I mean, I’d even go, I’d, I’d go to bed ’cause I sleep with headphones. I’d go to bed and I would sleep with the audio notes on, right?
Logan: Oh,
Matt: Like, I would just pass out. Right. Like, I mean, Nate’s voice is kind of
Logan: Oh, I know.
Matt: He can, he put you to sleep a little bit.
Uh, Um, so I don’t know, maybe some of it kind of penetrated while I was
Logan: Maybe osmosis a little bit.
Matt: Yeah, yeah. Um, so yeah, I was doing that.
How Matt Studied in the Beginning
Logan: Okay, so you, so you were waking up doing the, basically you’re just doing the, the process, waking up, doing the questions in the [00:10:00] morning, doing the re-review
throughout the
day. You’re listening to, yeah.
Matt: I’m sorry. So first couple of months I had the, first three months I was taking those classes, right? Cause I needed the extra 15 to be able to sit
for the exam, right? So like, it was kind of like, and that was tedious. I mean, it was, you know, whatever. it was all online, all online classes like zero teaching, but like, just like a, a ton of homework Assignments, right? Like, it was very time, time consuming.
Um, you know, and then I would, you know, so like in the morning, like, like I said, I would do what I said with the, with the Becker review material as per Nate. Um, and then most of the rest of the day I was kind of just like banging out the assignments ’cause I just wanted to get through it as fast as possible.
Like I got the five
the five classes done in three months.
Logan: Okay. Yeah. Wow, that’s pretty quick.
Matt: Yeah.
And then I had like three weeks left at, at the end of that when I had to submit it to, I, I guess you’re
submitting
Logan: For your NTS.
Matt: to nasba, right? Like, I needed to, like I needed the approval now, right. And
Logan: Oh, yeah, yeah.
Matt: that’s when I like really went hardcore into, uh, you know, into all the Becker.
Yeah,
[00:11:00] Like, I mean, then I would go crazy, like I was doing like 120 to a hundred to 200 questions a day. Like I would do, I do F1, F2 30 questions, F3, F4 30 questions, F5, F6 30 questions, then I do a 30 question review. right? And then if I wasn’t too exhausted, I would do like 30 questions of, Becker has that personalized mode.
Logan: Right.
Matt: Um, and I’d do those, um, you know, like, and I don’t, I’d always have like another window open blocking the, you know, the answers to the
questions, right. Cause look, I mean, if you’re doing all these multiple choice, like, I don’t, I don’t care if you have like a photographic memory or not, like, you’re gonna remember these questions, like, you’re
gonna remember the answers, right?
Like, I mean, so you’d always have to block them. And then like, you’d have to be like brutally honest with yourself. Like if you’re clicking a, an answer, right? Because you know it, or, or you just remembered the answer, right. You know, so like there are plenty of times when I do a practice test and I’d click the wrong answer on purpose, just ’cause I knew that, like, yeah, I knew the answer, but like [00:12:00] I didn’t know how to, I still didn’t know how to do it, you know?
Uh,
and like, what good is that? Like,
Logan: Yeah, that’s something, that’s exactly something that we talk to people all the time, especially in the coaching program where, uh, and I, this happened to me all the time, exactly like you said, when I was doing audit, especially where I could just, I saw the question without even having to read it.
I would just know the structure of the question and be like, okay, I know what this question is. I know what the answer is. And I had to really stop myself from picking the right answer because I didn’t know why that was the right answer.
So, I like you, you, you pretty much did exactly what we recommend to pe, you know, we recommend to do is just pick the wrong answer on purpose.
So, um, that, that’s awesome.
Matt: Yeah. Yeah.
Logan: Um. Uh,
Matt: Yeah, because I mean like if, whatever, I mean, who are you really helping? If you’re just gonna click, you know, click an answer just because you memorized it, right? Like, it’s like,
Logan: Yeah, it, it doesn’t prove anything ’cause nobody cares.
Matt: Yeah, yeah.
Logan: N nobody cares if you get all the answers correct or anything like that. The [00:13:00] only thing that matters is on test day.
Studied More Once Classes Were Over
Logan: So, so, just to make sure I’m understanding you there, so you were kind of doing like a little, like a normal two hours, but then you were hitting the classes really hard, but then once you finished the classes.
You were studying a lot more. Were you studying a lot more than two hours a day? Were you doing like four to six hours a day or something like that?
Matt: Um, I mean, I would say average still on a, on a weekday, probably about two, two hours. Like I do two hours in the morning and at night I’d probably, you know, I, I guess maybe it was closer to three, like four, once I, once I was done with the classes.
Logan: Yeah.
Matt: Um, you know, ’cause uh, you know, ba basically I was just like waiting for that window where they, or whatever that time they said that I can actually take it,
Barely Did Any Flashcards
Matt: you know?
Um, so, um, you know, I didn’t do flashcards. Like the only thing I did flashcards for was, uh, like, you know, a few days before the test for FAR, I made flashcards for, um, for the ratios.
Logan: Oh, okay.
Matt: Um, I was like, I just, I’m not gonna remember. Like, I, I didn’t even [00:14:00] bother mem, like memorizing most of them, most of them before that.
Like, I’m just gonna bang this out in the last few days. And, you know, that worked out fine for me.
Logan: Yeah. And I, and, and I did want to ask you about that.
First Test Experience with FAR
Logan: So, you know, what did it look like or what happened when you got to your first exam? Did you take FAR first? Is that what you did?
Matt: I did, yeah.
Logan: Okay. So how did that go? What was it like?
Matt: Um, well, I think I crushed the multiple choice. Like I felt, I felt great and like I was actually worried because like, whatever, I mean, I, I feel like there was always this rumor going around like that, uh, when you get to the second set of 25 questions, right? If they were harder, that means you did well on the first 25 questions.
If they were
easier, that means you did, you know, you didn’t do as well on the first 25 questions. So when I got to that second testlet and like, it was just as, I felt kind of as easy as the first testlet, I was like, oh man, like, I don’t know
Logan: Oh
Matt: feel, right?
You know? But I don’t know. I, I think that’s incorrect anyway.
Um, yeah, and then it’s the sims, right? Like, I mean, honestly like. I, I mean, to be [00:15:00] perfectly honest, I, I left every exam feeling like I failed, like, you know, like,
so, uh,
you know, so on FAR, I mean, I, I think, I think I crushed the multiple choice and, you know, I guess maybe I, you know, I then, if that’s the case, then I didn’t do it as well obviously on the, on, on the sims, I got a 79, right. I mean, it’s not like I had a 90,
right,
So like I couldn’t have, you know, if I, if I crushed the multiple choice, then obviously I didn’t do that great on sims, um.
Logan: But it doesn’t matter.
Matt: it doesn’t matter. right? You passed.
This 79 and, uh, I was thrilled to not have to just, to not have to study that anymore, uh.
Logan: Oh yeah.
Matt: It’s terrible. Uh, so it’s
terrible.
Logan: Uh, what, oh, yeah. FAR, FAR is brutal.
Studied for the CPA Without Any Experience with Accounting
Logan: And you, uh, so you did FAR first, and if, correct me if I’m wrong, so you were, you said you were a commodity broker, is that right?
Uh,
Matt: the futures, market mostly in the energy.
Logan: Okay. So were you, was any part of the CPA exam familiar to you?
Matt: Zero. [00:16:00] Well, I
mean, all right,
not zero like there was some of the bond pricing stuff
I knew from like that was on like the seven. From what I, on the series seven, from what I recall, like I was somewhat familiar with that, but I had zero accounting experience besides
like, you know, took whatever, I mean, I took what 12 credits in college. Um, but like, I didn’t do well in those classes. Like, you know, like I was a, I was doing better in my finance classes at 19 years old. I couldn’t tell you the difference between what an accountant was, or somebody with a finance major and like, you know, I took the path of least resistance and I became a finance major.
You know, at that point it’s like GPA preservation, right, and I dropped accounting. Um, so yeah, and no, this was all new. Dude, like, I didn’t, um, I didn’t even know like how to handle debits and credits. Like, you know, like to me, like if you’re debiting my checking account, you just took cash out of the account, like you didn’t add it.
Logan: Yeah. so that kind of had me twisted for a little bit. Uh, yeah, So, yeah. [00:17:00] Zero.
So that’s, I mean, that’s pretty impressive that. You’re able that, I mean, and we’ve, we’ve had that happen before. We talked to a guy on the podcast like a year or two ago, uh, who was a helicopter pilot
before Before he, before he wanted to do the CPA, so just like, had nothing to do with anything to do with accounting.
Uh, but he was able to do it as well. And, um, it just shows that like if you have the right process and you’re, you know, dedicated and consistent, you can do it.
And, uh, so, so you did FAR, got 79, which is awesome.
Passed All Four for Four First Try and Thoughts on AUD
Logan: And what, I mean, we don’t have to do like every single little bit, but how did the rest go? Did you pass all of them first try? Did you, was there any struggles?
Matt: I passed all of ’em first try. I did, you know, I, uh, I went to audit next, um, which was, I mean, you know, Becker’s got like, you know, I think Becker has 1800 questions so FAR. There’s like over 2000 questions for audit. Like, I mean like, like at that point, like when I went [00:18:00] in like, I didn’t, audit is just, for me, it just felt like straight up memorization, whereas like, there were a lot of concepts.
I, I just really kind of like, that was beating my head against the wall with, with FAR, which is,
you know, like, I don’t know. It didn’t feel the same way for, for audit, you know, so like my game plan for audit was like, like, I just want to get to what, where I’m doing 30 question tests over and over again of all the materials.
So like, I was just like plowing through just that initial, um, that, that, that initial go through of all of all the questions. Like I would do a re-review, but like I would maybe do like, you know, two, three, um, chapters, modules, whatever a day, right, and then go into re-review. Um, uh, and it was exhausting, like, I mean, like the way they word those questions for audit.
Logan: Yeah.
Matt: Like when I think about like, cause I’ve heard some of your podcasts where like, you know, some of these, you know, some of the people you’ve had on are like English as a second language, like I don’t know how they get through that. Like,[00:19:00]
Logan: Oh yeah.
Matt: Like it’s like
that’s, that’s impressive. It’s just like, you know, and I guess like with audit, I don’t know if like, if the idea is like, you know, like just in the career itself, that, you know, it’s, it’s just crazy attention to detail, right. And that’s why they sort of make that test like that.
But like, yeah, like one
word changes the whole question, right? So, um, eh, it’s a, it was a lot. Um, and then
I, so yeah, I took that, um, and I got a 77 on audit, um.
Logan: That’s great.
Matt: Whatever. A win.
Found TCP Harder Than Expected
Matt: And then, uh, you know, and then finally you get to REG and it’s like 1100 questions to get to go over, uh, you know, in Becker, right?
Like, you know, so like, Quicker to go through. I had an 83 on, uh, on REG.
Logan: Yeah.
Matt: and, uh, And which discipline did you go for?
TCP, Um, Yeah.
Which quite honestly, I didn’t find it that easy, uh.
Logan: Oh yeah.
Matt: Yeah, I mean, I, I feel like I, like, I don’t know. I don’t know what it is. Like I wonder if some people are, ’cause I, whatever, I’m not working as an accountant, right? Like, [00:20:00] I, I just wonder if some people are working, you know, working on the tax side. And then, then they’re taking TCP and, and that skews it, you know, like, so like they maybe know
a lot more of the material and it’s skewing it higher on the, uh, you know,
because the pass rate’s like, like, like 80%.
Logan: Yeah, it’s definitely by far the highest pass rate.
Matt: Yeah. Like, I don’t know, like to me, like it wasn’t coming as, as easy, but you know, whatever’s my highest grade, I got an 85. Um, you
know, I don’t know. I, I still, I thought I failed that one too.
Logan: So I, I’m curious with TCP, cause I do think most people have taken TCP. I’ve, I’ve met very few people who have taken BAR and then some people who have taken ISC.
So with TCP, you said it was still kind of difficult. Um, what made it difficult to you? Like, cause to me it seems like REG, uh, TCP is kind of like REG
Matt: Yeah. Yeah. I
Logan: like You just contin, a continuation so what was what, what made it a bit more difficult?
Matt: I dunno, everything feels so freaking blurry after taking all that I did have problems [00:21:00] on, I did have problems on a lot of like the partnership basis type
stuff. Um, which is kind of funny, right? Because they have, that’s actually like a chapter in FAR in Becker.
Um, and I was struggling with it there too. And then I had seen like on some Reddit forum that like, yeah, it’s not tested on FAR right. And then like, I looked at the blueprints and like, yeah, it wasn’t on there, right? So then I, you know, with like two weeks to the test, I was like, oh, this is great. I can cross this whole chapter off, uh, off of studying.
Um, and then whatever they tested in TCP and I, I, I, I feel like that was one of my, my, my biggest issues, um,
Logan: Yeah,
Matt: Just that, if that makes sense, I don’t know, is that.
Logan: Yeah, no, that makes sense. I, there’s, there’s almost always some part of each exam that is just harder for than other people.
Matt’s Timeline for the CPA Exams
Logan: Um, so as far as like your timeline, so I think that you said in the forum you took about nine months. Is that right? Or how long [00:22:00] did you take? Yeah. Well, I, I, uh, I started in, uh, yeah, I bought Sup, I bought Becker At the end of oc, you know, like third week in October. I bought Superfast a week later. Um, I took, took FAR in February, audit in April, REG in June, TCP in July, right, so I, you know, I don’t know if you say, say you call it November, Northeast, Jan, Feb, March, April, may, June, July, that, you know, that’s, that’s nine months maybe a, a, a touch over, but like I was so busy
Matt: with all the classes, um, in the beginning that it, you know, like if I didn’t have those to take it, I mean, you know,
Logan: It definitely would’ve been shorter.
Matt: Two months off of that for sure.
Um, and no, and then I had like, you know, the three weeks I felt like where I was waiting for, for NASBA to get back to me like, yeah, I probably didn’t need that entire three weeks at that point, so yeah.
But whatever, yeah, call it nine months. Yeah. You know, and then like, it was
like, and then it was like
Logan: or less. Yeah.
Matt: five months from taking the first one to taking the last one, you know, so.
Logan: That, yeah, that’s kind of, [00:23:00] that’s kind of like how it was with me. I, my whole process was about seven months, but from passing my first one to passing my last one was about four and a half months. So yeah, like, like it, and it doesn’t matter ’cause you passed all of ’em first try. You didn’t have to retake any of ’em.
The Benefits from SuperfastCPA
Logan: Um, something that I was curious about and, you know, we’ve kind of talked about some of your process and things like that, but what was it that, what was it that drew you to SuperfastCPA in the sense that, what benefits did you see when you started using SuperfastCPA?
Matt: Um, yeah, I just felt like I had a, like a real game plan sort of laid out out for me. Like I do a lot of, uh, um, like endurance, like cycling events, right? Like, so like where I need
like a training plan for, for them, right? And like, I’m a guy, like,
you gimme the plan. I’m gonna stick the plan, like I’m not gonna miss the workout, right?
Like, so, like, I’m not gonna miss the, you know, whatever the study session that I need to do, right? Like, I have it all like, laid out for me and that’s like, you know, kind of what I needed and like, whatever, I mean, I guess [00:24:00] Becker kind of does that, but it just wasn’t in the, the format that I, you know, that I, you know, that I wanted.
Logan: Yeah. It’s like that with lectures and textbook and yeah, all other stuff.
Matt: Right, so, um, yeah, I mean, to me it’s just really just having the game plan and like, just, and like, again, like I told you, I, I was sort of inclined to doing it with the multiple choice questions, right? And like, and then, and I heard Nate talking about it, like, you’re basically, like, you’re, you’re reverse engineering those questions, right?
Like you’re taking the test to learn the test, right? Like, I mean, um, so like, yeah. I mean, I was just good at doing those questions and then going over the explanation, right? And if I didn’t like Becker’s explanation, I would go into ChatGPT and I would like talk, talk it out with ChatGPT, right? Like try to, you know, pretend I’m like. 12, right? Like, and you know, like, uh, just dumb this down for me. Um, you know, and, and that’s what I would do. And actually it was kind of cool ’cause what, I didn’t have it for FAR in audit, but Becker did add like an AI, um.
Logan: [00:25:00] Yeah, Newt.
Matt: I had REG and TCP, um, which was kind, was cool because he didn’t have to go bounce back between windows.
It was right there and it was sort of, you know, like whatever the LLM, whatever is, I guess, like tuned for that particular sub, subject.
Logan: Yes, specifically for accounting.
Matt: Um, but yeah, I mean that’s, I mean, that’s just, I mean, that’s just how I did it.
Thoughts About the Sims
Matt: I, uh, yeah, I just really feel like you’re like, and then like the, the multiple choice questions are like the building blocks for the sims, right?
Like, um, and the sims are terrible. They’re terrible like, I just like, oh god, I just like hate opening them up. Like sometimes I was like, I don’t even know what they’re asking me to do, right? Like, could you be a little more specific? I could probably answer this if you were a little more specific, right.
Like, I mean like, see you open ’em up, there’s like half a dozen folders or attachments or whatever like, oh, it’s just terrible.
Logan: Yeah, the extensions.
Matt: Um, but then like, you know, whatever, you take a deep breath, right. Right. And then like you just say, I’m just [00:26:00] gonna try and claw away as many points as possible, um, on this.
How Matt Studied for the Sims
Logan: And I, I was, I was actually gonna ask you about that. It, so how did you study sims? Did you study them? On the weekends, did you, and how did you approach them?
Matt: Yeah, I mean, I started out doing it like what, uh, what Nate said to do, right? So I would use Saturday and Sunday as, you know, the day when I, I’m pretty sure that’s what he said, like tackle the, the sims on the weekend if you’re doing four to six hours. Um, which I, you know, I think that’s a perfectly great plan.
Um, you know, and that’s what I was doing. Um, but, but I still kind of felt like when I was doing the sims, I was like, I am getting all this information from doing the multiple choice questions, right?
So like, I really just need to hammer these down. Like, so, like my plan was basically for all sections, soon as I was averaging like 85, like averaging 85, right?
So I’m getting grades in the nineties, right? Then I’m like, I’m ready to schedule the exam, right? So once I scheduled the exam, I would usually do it like two weeks out from then. And then I would start going [00:27:00] through all the sims. I, I went through all of ’em. Um, I, I didn’t spend a ton of time on all of them, but I, I at least looked at all of ’em.
Logan: Okay.
Matt: You know, and then I would, you know, watch the videos, uh, you know,
Logan: The,
Matt: The skill builder videos.
You know, on, on ones that like, I really felt were important. Like, you know, I’d read that for, uh, for, for FAR like you’re gonna want for the sims, you’re gonna wanna know your adjusting journal entries, right?
You’re gonna wanna know how to do a bank rec, right? You should probably do some appreciation, depreciation stuff. I forget, maybe it was a another one. I don’t know. I just made sure I kind of got like those, those key ones, like I was gonna know how to do ’em, you know? Um, and, uh. Yeah, I mean, there were just days where I would just, I would, I would usually put them off to the last couple of weeks, you know, like FAR again, like I started out FAR doing it the way I was told, but then the, uh, on the other ones I put them off just ’cause they are terrible.
They’re deflating, like, I mean, you know, like, and then like, [00:28:00] I don’t know. And then like, Becker can’t even grade them, right? Like, they don’t even like, like the system. It doesn’t even really,
Logan: It grades all of, if you get one part of it wrong.
Matt: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly right. So like, then like, I don’t know, that was deflating, right? Right. Like, so, like, so I would just put em off, right?
Like, I mean, just ’cause they’re terrible. And then, uh, yeah, and then I, again, I, I, I, but again, like I, I, I did actually go through all of ’em. Um, yeah.
Logan: Yeah. Yeah. So, so just to make sure I’m getting you there, so you would. You know, at first you were doing it kind of that way where you would study sims on the weekend, but it sounds like you kind of ended up doing something similar to me where I did the same thing, where eventually I just, like, I can’t study six hours on the weekends.
I have, I had, I had two little kids and stuff, so I was, I decided to do a similar thing where the last two weeks, like my final review. That was where I did a lot of sims. Um, so that sounds like that’s pretty much what you did, so, [00:29:00] and obviously, I mean, it worked ’cause you were super strong in the MCQs and then probably just strong enough to get to in the sims, to to, to pass each of the exams and, you know, that’s all you need.
Matt’s Love for Biking
Logan: Um, and I was, I was curious, I actually wanted to go back and ask about this if, if you don’t mind. So you, you said you’re into, uh, endurance biking, is that right? Or do you do a whole bunch of endurance sports?
Matt: Um, yeah, mostly bike. I mean, I started out, I had done Ironman like 10 years ago. Um, but then I just, you know, I look, I love the bike, mountain biking, um, mostly off road type stuff. So like, you know, like gravel has become a big thing over the last bunch of years. But, uh, yeah, a lot, a lot of like a, you know, anywhere from, you know, 60 to 200 miles, uh, you know, I’ve done, um, yeah.
Logan: That’s pretty impressive. I, I, I think the longest bike ride I’ve ever done was a 50 mile bike ride, and that was when I was in like, uh, boy scouts. But, um, and did you ever, uh, have you ever [00:30:00] been out here to Utah to do any biking or
Matt: Uh, yeah, like 10 years ago, I, I was in Moab. Yeah.
Logan: Yep. I was about to say Moabs a an awesome place. I, I’ve been mountain biking there with and the slick rock where your tire grips the rock. It’s super cool.
Uh, well that’s, yeah.
Matt: Like gnarly trails out there, like stuff where like, you know, like the, there’s like, I don’t know, like 400 foot drop cliff, like, like two, two damn close for a guy with four kids to be near.
Uh, I’ve been out to Colorado, like I’ve done, you know, like a race out there and you know, up and down the east coast, you know, um, so like, I’m on Long Island in New York, so, uh.
Logan: Oh, which, you know, we don’t have mountains here, right?
Matt: But we have like, uh, we have, uh, good cross country trails, you know, so like, it’s legit stuff where you can, you know, you can still go out to Utah.
Logan: Do the long distance.
Yeah.
Matt: Um,
Logan: Yeah, yeah. And do your kids do any of that stuff with you or is it just you?
Matt: Yeah. No, I haven’t, uh, I haven’t, I’ve, I’ve
Logan: Haven’t converted any [00:31:00] of them yet?
Matt: I mean, they’ve done it a few times, but it’s like, uh, yeah, it hasn’t been fully embraced, but yeah, but again, like I wasn’t really doing that until I was 25 anyway, so, yeah.
Logan: Uh, yeah, yeah. Well, uh, I was just curious about that ’cause that’s pretty cool.
Was Able to Have Free Time Despite Studying for the CPA Exams
Logan: And were you able to still do some of those hobbies? Well, I’m hoping that you were able to do, still do some of that while you were studying. Is that, is that true?
Matt: Uh, yeah, I mean, you know, ’cause, uh, like I said, like the running the daycare is kind of like, only takes a few hours outta my day. So I was able to get out for a couple hours most days and, uh, kind of do my thing, so, uh.
Logan: Awesome.
Matt: Which is good, yeah.
Logan: Awesome. So I think we’ve covered a lot of things. Um, you know, we’ve covered your study sessions. We’ve covered your mini sessions, which you mainly did a ton of quizzes and the audio notes.
Printed Out the Review Notes for FAR
Logan: Did you also read the review notes as well, or not as much?
Matt: Um, I mean, I did for FAR, like I had those, I actually had those review notes like printed out and like bounded, uh. You
Logan: [00:32:00] Right. Yep, that’s what I did too.
Matt: So I, I did not for, for the rest of them, um, yeah.
Logan: And uh, and then you didn’t really do flashcards. You just, you know, you kind of did a few of them for the ratios at the very end, and then studied sims the last two weeks.
Taking the CPA Exams at 52 Years Old
Logan: Is there any other part of part of your process that we haven’t really covered? Cause I really wanted to talk to you because I think it’s awesome because there’s a lot of people who are worried that, you know, if they’re a little bit older, I mean, like you said, you’re 52, that they’re worried that they’re too old or that they just won’t have the ability to do it, so I wanted to talk to you about that.
Was there any moment that you felt like, like down on yourself for that, or did you feel like you were like, like how did that feel? I’m just curious.
Matt: Yeah, I mean in the beginning with FAR, I mean, like I said, I told my wife I should try, just try out for the Knicks like, cause I just felt like it was so ridiculous. Like, I was like, this is like way over my head. Um, you know, outta my comfort zone.[00:33:00]
Um, but whatever, I mean, you, you fall into a groove and if you, if, I mean, if you’re committed to it, um, like I’m no rocket science, you know, like I’m not super genius here, right?
Like, I just like, uh, you know, there, there’s a, there, there’s a way to go about it. Um, I think you’re crazy if you’re gonna watch those videos and, um, and, and read the textbook, you know, um, yeah, it’s nuts.
Shared it with His Son and His Son Passed 2 Exams
Matt: Like my, you know, like, like, you know, like I did share information with, with my son cause he was taking it as well.
Um, and he got, he got an 86 on FAR in 83 on audit, right? Like, I mean, it’s a, it works. You know, like, I mean unfortunately he just took another job that’s completely out of accounting. He just started yesterday after passing the two hardest exams, um.
Logan: Oh, so, so is he’s only halfway through the CPA.
Matt: Yeah. Yeah, because he was offered this like job on some, like an equity derivatives desk at um, some, and he wound up, he just wanted to, he wanted to give it a shot. I think he should probably still finish, he should take,
Logan: [00:34:00] I, I would, I would definitely advise him to just finish the last two. He, he would, it would be, even if he, just having the CPA would be so much better than being like, oh, yeah, I passed two of them, but then, oh, well, you know, I, I would definitely do it, but that’s me.
On Following the SuperfastCPA Strategies
Logan: Is there any other part of your process that you kind of thought about before this that you’re like, I would like to share that, if we haven’t gotten to cover it yet?
Matt: I don’t know, man. I think it was pretty plain vanilla. Like, I mean, but like, I just really, I really just followed it, right? Like, and again, it’s just, uh, you know, I feel like I can’t stress enough. Just, you know, what we talked about with just being honest with yourself though, when you’re, you know, if you’re, if you’re gonna take this route and really hammer those multiple choice questions, like you’re gonna remember those answers.
Like, there’s just like, there’s gonna be like, there’s, yeah, if you’re actually doing it, it would be cr, it’s crazy if you didn’t remember like, a lot of those answers, right. So like, you know, like, so like just be honest with yourself and like really understand why that answer is right and like, and, and how you do it, right.
Especially like, you know, like a [00:35:00] lot of that leasing and bond questions, right? Like, I mean, ’cause they’re gonna hit you on that test with that. Like, I mean, that’s a, that’s a, that was a, I, I feel like there was a fair amount of questions on that. Um, and like those were like, no problem, you know, like, but uh, yeah, like again, I don’t think there was anything else else super special that I did, uh.
Logan: Well, I, I’ve, I’ve really enjoyed talking about your process and you know, we were talking just, just before the call, you know, you’re like, feel like some of these could be done in five minutes, and so I know you’re, there’s no reason to extend this and keep talking about a whole bunch of
Matt: I didn’t mean that like I wanted to have like some short interview.
Logan: Oh, no, no. Uh, but I’m just saying like, I get it. I get it.
No, I get it. Like there’s, uh, I, I feel like we’ve covered, you know, the bulk of how you did it.
Matt: No, it’s funny because it’s funny, like when I posted in the, uh, in the forum, you know, like I really did wanna just be like, look like I, I have zero accounting experience, right? Like any of you people in here. Like, [00:36:00] just follow the process and it does work.
And then like, like, I don’t know, like I feel like some, I get some messages back saying like, so what process did you use? I’m like, in SuperfastCPA forum like Like this is like, this is what I did, right, like there’s no other secret sauce here.
here
Logan: Yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
Logan: I, I like that. I, I appreciate that cause I mean, that does happen. You know, it’s like we, it’s all right there. Like that’s what we told, that’s what we’re telling people to do.
Top Tips for People Still Struggling with the CPA Exams
Logan: Um, so, yeah, I think that like, as we’re kind of finishing up here, you know, I, we always like to ask this question at the very end, so even if it’s stuff we’ve already talked about or if you feel like you’ve already covered it, this is just a nice succinct way to wrap things up.
What would be your top two or three tips to people who are still going through the CPA exams?
Matt: I don’t, I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s just follow that game plan that was, that was laid out like, um, and that the, like, the multiple choice questions like [00:37:00] seriously are really like the backbone of like that whole test, like reverse engineering those questions, right? And making sure, like, I mean, to, to learning by doing the questions is how you conquer that test, right?
Like, and like, and like that, those are the building blocks of the sims, right? Because like no matter how many of those sims you do, right? And I did all of ’em, they’re gonna be completely different on the test.
Completely different, right? Like, I mean, there’s a perfectly good argument for not even looking at the sims, right?
Like so, right.
Logan: Yeah, I have talked to some people who have done that. Yeah.
Matt: You know, I mean, if any points I was getting on those sims was because, because of the multiple choice questions, right?
Logan: Right.
Matt: You know, so like if you’re struggling like especially with FAR, do those, uh, do those mini quizzes, right? Listen to the audio notes. Like listening to the audio notes in the beginning was like, man, what that, like, what am I listening to? Right?
But like, as you’re doing, as you’re doing the [00:38:00] multiple choice questions and you’re listening to Nate, like all of a sudden it’s like, ah, yeah, like it starts to click, right. So, yeah, I think that’s it, man.
Logan: Yeah. Uh, actually one last question. Did you listen to the audio notes on your bike rides and stuff like
Matt: No. no. Um,
Logan: No.
Matt: Yeah, I mean, I just,
Logan: It, it make you, make you pass out while you’re riding your bike,
Matt: It’s not that. It’s just like, that would be like too hard to concentrate, you know, like I could do it with driving, right. But like, there’s just like, yeah, it would, it would never would’ve stuck in there, you know, so.
Yeah, it did not.
Logan: Well. The, I feel like this is a fantastic episode. I am really happy that I got to talk with you today, Matt, and, uh, I think that, yeah, I think we’ve covered everything, so congrats on being done. It’s gotta feel good. Hopefully, uh, you, hopefully your son finishes the last two and, uh, uh, but yeah, I hope you have a great rest of your day.
Matt: Thank you.
Logan: Thank you.
Alright. That’s the end of the interview with Matt and again, I [00:39:00] really enjoyed talking to Matt. He had some great insight. I like talking to him a little bit about mountain biking. I liked that he said, and at one point I may as well just join the Knicks or try out for the Knicks, he had about as much chance of understanding accounting as being able to be on the team for the Knicks.
But as time went on, he was able to figure out the process and he followed SuperfastCPA’s process and passed the exams, it was as simple as that.
Again, as you heard him mention throughout the interview, that’s really all he did. He focused on the multiple choice questions, followed the process, and passed the exams. And that was with basically zero accounting experience. So don’t worry. Whatever walk of life you’re coming from, remember we’ve had helicopter pilots on here. We had Matt on here who said he had zero accounting experience. We’ve had a US marshal on here. Anybody can pass the CPA exams if you are using the right strategies and using effective strategies, which is what we teach at Superfast CPA.
So if you haven’t already, make sure you check out our free one hour webinar training on superfastcpa.com. Check out becoming a SuperfastCPA PRO member to get access to a lot of great stuff to help you [00:40:00] pass the exams.
And just before you leave, make sure to like and leave a comment for this YouTube video or leave a rating in your favorite podcast app.
Thanks for watching or listening, and we’ll see you in the next episode.
