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How Brittany Crushed the CPA Exams, Despite Being Very Busy

How Brittany Crushed the CPA Exams

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In this SuperfastCPA podcast interview, you’ll hear how Brittany adopted a few of the SuperfastCPA study strategies into her CPA study process, and how it transformed her study process and allowed her to crush the CPA exams, and still have time to play video games each night.

IMPORTANT LINKS:

Master your study process by attending one of our free study training workshops:
https://www.superfastcpa.com/study-secrets/

Watch the interview on YouTube…

Episode Timestamps

  • 0:00 Intro
  • 03:20 Why Brittany Wanted to Get Her CPA and Her Initial Study
  • 05:09 Starting to Get Burnt Out Studying the Traditional Way
  • 06:30 Finding SuperfastCPA and Implementing 3 Weeks Before Exam
  • 08:00 Transformed Her Study Process Using Info from the Free Webinar
  • 09:12 Studying in the Mornings is So Much More Productive
  • 09:53 From Three Hour Evening Study to Two Hours in the Morning
  • 11:48 Studied the Remaining Material in 2 Days Instead of 2 Weeks
  • 13:31 What Made Sense from the Free Training Webinar
  • 14:13 Getting Information Faster Than the Traditional Study Method
  • 14:56 Brittany’s CPA Exams Timeline
  • 16:46 How Tiffany Came Up to Schedule Tests in Four to Five Weeks
  • 17:35 Focused Mainly on Working the MCQs
  • 17:52 How Tiffany Would Tackle the Sims
  • 18:54 Left 4 Or 5 Days for Final Review and Doing Whatever It Takes to Study
  • 19:54 Managing Study Time During Weekends
  • 22:33 Birttany Found the Audio Notes to be Really Helpful
  • 25:59 Brittany’s Note Taking Process and Flashcards
  • 27:05 When She Would Write Down a Topic on Her Notes
  • 27:52 She Started the Re-Review After the First Week
  • 29:04 Had No Trouble with Time Management on Test Day
  • 32:16 Finished the Four Sections in Around 4 to 5 Months
  • 34:05 Even Managed to Get Some Game Time in the Evenings
  • 36:44 Worked in Internal Audit but Found AUD the Most Difficult
  • 37:21 Nailed Her Study Process By the 2nd Exam
  • 38:40 Glad She Was Able to Do Other Things
  • 40:22 Top Tips for People Still Struggling with their Study Process

Interview Transcript

Brittany: [00:00:00] I was almost through the material in mid June when, um, I saw a YouTube ad for Superfast. And once I took that free training session, I inputted those practices the next week and all of a sudden it said I had like a week, week and a half left of material to get through and I got through it in two days.

It’s like holy cow that, where has this been?

Logan: Welcome to another episode of the CPA exam experience podcast from SuperfastCPA. I’m Logan, and in today’s video, you’re going to hear Nate and I talk to Brittany.

So Brittany’s story starts out similar to a lot of people’s stories. She had been in accounting for about five years and she was really close to finishing her master’s. So she decided to go back for that to become a CPA and also to get the bonus for becoming a CPA at her firm.

And soon after graduating with her master’s, she started studying for the CPA exam.

However, as she was getting into studying with her review [00:01:00] course, they were saying that she wasn’t going to be ready for the exam for almost four months, even though she was studying three hours every weekday and studying six hours on the weekends. She felt like she was putting in a ton of time and they were still saying that she wasn’t going to be ready for almost four months.

She realized that she was doing okay, but she was forgetting a lot of the stuff that she had studied one or two months ago, and she was starting to get worried. One day, she saw an ad for SuperfastCPA on YouTube, and she watched that, watched the free webinar training, and immediately started implementing the SuperfastCPA strategies.

And once she did that, her review course said she still had about one or two weeks of material left. She finished it in two days.

Logan: And from there, she completely crushed all of the exams. She passed all of them first try in about a four or five month period once she started implementing the SuperfastCPA strategies. And she was able to do this with a family, with a job, and in the evenings she was still even able to play video games with her husband, which is a favorite hobby of hers.

This interview is a great example of how important it is to be [00:02:00] effective and efficient with your studying. She went from studying three hours in the evenings, to studying two hours in the mornings, and working through the exams very quickly and doing very well on them.

I think you’re going to like this interview. And before we jump into the interview, I just want to give one more reminder about our SuperfastCPA training webinar on superfastcpa.com. It is only one hour long, it is free, and we will teach you how to be effective and efficient, just like Brittany was so that you can pass your exams more quickly, more effectively, more efficiently, and not waste months or years of your time.

The link will be in the description of this podcast episode or in the YouTube video so make sure you check that out. And with all that said, let’s dive straight into the interview with Brittany.

Nate: And are you, are you all done? Like, where are you at with the exams?

Brittany: I’m completely done. Licensed CPA now.

Logan: Awesome.

Nate: Awesome. So I just, I did just search your email while we were, you know, chatting and you would only purchase like six. Well now it’s been eight months, but you, you purchased a, your initial purchase was like back in [00:03:00] June, which is to be all done. So I did, did you, were you just starting back in June? You’ve from June till now is when you obviously passed all four.

Or had you had some done before that?

Brittany: I didn’t have any tests done before that. I started studying in April and found you in June.

Nate: Nice. Awesome. Okay. All right. Well, we’ll get into all that.

Why Brittany Wanted to Get Her CPA and Her Initial Study

Nate: So, um, going back to the beginning when you decided to do the CPA, like where were you at in your career? What made you, you know, make that decision?

Brittany: So I’ve been working full time in my position for, um, almost five years now but my employer offers a bonus for being a licensed CPA. Um, I just needed a few more credit hours and to pass the tests and I’d have it done. I got my master’s to meet the credit hour requirements, um, finished that in February of 23, and then jumped straight into studying for the CPA test in April.

Nate: Okay.

Brittany: Yeah, I was using Wiley because that’s what my master’s [00:04:00] program gave us to use. Um, and I started the normal way, watching all the videos, doing everything, and I was getting very burnt out and very discouraged quickly. Um, I don’t know if all the study materials have you did, but with Wiley, they have you put in how much are you going to work on this every day and every week to give you when they think you can take the test.

And when they said I wouldn’t be taking it till July, I was just bummed because I wanted it done.

Logan: Hmm.

Brittany: But started anyways.

Nate: What did you, so, and what did you put into their planner thing at the time when it gave you that?

Brittany: So I was doing three hours a week, a day during Monday through Friday, and then like six hours every Saturday and Sunday.

Logan: And they were like, that’s still that’s not enough time.

Nate: Three month timeline?

Brittany: I was hoping to be done by the end of 23 before all the tests change.

And it felt like they had ruined my plan.

Logan: Mm hmm.

Nate: Okay.

Logan: I remember that with Becker. Same thing.

Nate: Yeah, [00:05:00] yeah. They’re, uh, recommended timelines are if you don’t sign, you know, if you don’t put in like five or six hours a day, then yeah, it’s really long.

Starting to Get Burnt Out Studying the Traditional Way

Nate: Um,

so when you say you were getting really burnt out, what was like, what was causing that? The amount of time you were putting in and also some aspect of, I’m guessing, feeling like it wasn’t even working still, or what was causing that?

Brittany: So I, it was about middle of June and I was, um, getting frustrated that, I was putting all this time and I was doing okay on the MCQs as I finished the exam or the lessons, but I was starting to think, I don’t remember what I looked at in April, early May and how in the world am I going to remember that for a test in July? And I was getting really worried that I was going to fail just because I didn’t remember what I had done 3 months ago. Um, it was spending a lot of time watching those videos, which I think were helpful, but it was just so slow moving.

Logan: Mm hmm.

Brittany: That [00:06:00] I didn’t think I was gonna retain it.

Nate: Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. Um, there’s, yeah, there’s just a lot of info in every video and then the chapter. And, uh, yeah, it’s hard to, I mean, day by day, if you’re just constantly refilling your short term memory with two or three new hours of material, it’s especially in that form. It’s very, uh, broad like the videos, funneling down to the questions is, you know, what you need to know anyways.

Finding SuperfastCPA and Implementing 3 Weeks Before Exam

Nate: So, uh, so you did that for a few months. Did you ever take, uh, an exam when you just were using Wiley or, or no.

Brittany: No, No, so, but I was almost through the material in mid June when, um, I saw a YouTube ad, Superfast. And once I took that free training session, I inputted those practices the next week and all of a sudden it said I had like a week, week and a half left of material to get through and I got through it in two days.

It’s like [00:07:00] holy cow that, where has this been?

Nate: Uh, in those two days, I mean, do you feel like it was, like it was making sense even, to cover that much? Yeah. By going through the questions first, I get, I’m guessing?

Brittany: Yes.

Nate: Okay.

Brittany: Yeah. Through the questions first. So then all of a sudden I had three weeks before my exam to just hammer back through and I did my full review then with the Superfast materials.

Nate: Okay. And did you pass that first, uh, section?

Brittany: Yes. I did with an 82. That was FAR. Um,

I, I was kind of nervous coming out of it, whether I had done it or not, but.

Nate: Mm-hmm.

Brittany: Um, yeah, it, I really think the, having that much time to review was nice. Two months of slowly going through material.

Nate: Mm-hmm.

Brittany: Um, but then having the review materials to go back through quickly and refresh my memory on everything I have learned, helped before that first [00:08:00] exam.

Transformed Her Study Process Using Info from the Free Webinar

Logan: So the, uh, so you watched the webinar, um, and I kind of have two questions. So first, so you watched the webinar and did you purchase all the materials like the PRO course and the study materials or what did you purchase? And then after you purchased it, um, did you just completely change your, study routine to be to mirror what we recommend in the SuperfastCPA, uh, strategies.

Brittany: I didn’t do the PRO course. I just did the study materials. Um, but yes, I did completely transform my study process. I was studying at night, um, because I work full time. I have three kids. And so it was after they went to bed that I was doing my studying and obviously pretty tired by that time in day.

Um, so I started getting up at 4:30 a.m. to do it first thing in the morning, which was not easy at first, but I got used to it and I enjoyed having my evenings back with my kids without worrying about studying that [00:09:00] night. Um, so yeah, I completely changed everything and I saw the benefits very quickly with that test to being just a couple weeks away, and then I implemented that into the last three tests.

Nate: Yeah.

Studying in the Mornings is So Much More Productive

Nate: Um, so switching to the morning, even just that alone, irregardless of the strategies, did you, I’m, I know what you’re going to say. But that was, uh, that alone was just much easier to be productive. I’m, I’m guessing, right?

Versus fighting yourself at night when you’re already tired.

Brittany: Yes. So much more productive. And, you know, when you’re done, everyone congratulates you on that such a hard task that you passed, but with doing it this way, it didn’t feel as hard.

Nate: Yeah.

Brittany: As it was those first two months I had tried studying with only Wiley and getting it done in the morning. It was a great start to the day.

Logan: Yeah.

From Three Hour Evening Study to Two Hours in the Morning

Logan: Did you cut it down from three hours to two hours or are you still studying three hours in the morning?

Brittany: Um, [00:10:00] during the, so audit was the next test I took that I completely just used Superfast on and I had just done the two hours then, which that was actually during my busiest month as a family. We have all my three kids birthdays in that month, our anniversaries in that month. It was just, was a crazy time. And I was still trying to figure out exactly what worked for me. I ended up implementing about two or three weeks and, um, to review the notes before going into

the MCQs just so I had a, um, snapshot of what I was getting myself into, um, and seeing how much practice I really needed, uh, before going through the questions.

Nate: Are you saying notes, you would read our notes all the way through? your notes. Yes. just a section.

Did you say two or three times? Oh, you would just read it before you went into the MCQs for that lesson.

Brittany: Yeah, yes, just so I knew what I was getting into with the questions because I still struggled going in [00:11:00] blind. And I mean, it’s definitely a mind game, but I like to have a little bit of knowledge before going in.

Logan: Yeah. I, I really liked reading the Superfast review notes before going in because it gives you like even if you don’t really understand what you’re reading in the review notes, because you know, Yeah. Yeah. you haven’t studied that material yet. still gives you an idea of like, okay, word or that equation, or like a really basic understanding of these seem to be the important things.

So that’s what I need to look for in these questions. Like it just helps the questions first approach feel like a total, uh, like total confusion, uh, uh, cause you know, it can be confusing at first if you’re, uh, diving into the questions without too much context, you know, so I think I love that idea.

Studied the Remaining Material in 2 Days Instead of 2 Weeks

Nate: So I have a question going back to your, um, just the comparison. So you were saying that once you saw our free training, what you had planned for the next two weeks, you got done in two days. [00:12:00] So what were the actual differences? Like how would you sit down and study before that? And then after watching that, you know, what were the changes that let you get through that much more material in such a drastically different timeframe?

Brittany: So with just doing Wiley, I was watching every lecture and I, I like taking notes. So I took handwritten notes about everything in the lecture, every minute detail that I really didn’t need to be taking notes on, and then I would take the questions. And if I felt like I did really bad on that quiz, I’d go back and watch the video again, or read the notes that it had with the video, trying to figure out where I went wrong. Um, so those, I would only get through two or three lessons in a day. Um, but when I switched to doing the questions first, I’d read the review notes, which the Superfast notes are much condensed compared to Wiley. I’d get the key points And I’d go straight into taking questions. And then, um, when I would do [00:13:00] the questions, um, if I got it wrong or didn’t understand what the question was asking, I’d read the description at the bottom, um, and take notes on that. So for FAR, I had, I had these notebooks. Um, I filled a whole notebook for FAR.

Nate: Yeah.

Brittany: I don’t, I don’t know why, but yet this is all I used for the last three exams. So it’s just, I, it was just streamlining the process in every way. How many notes I was taking, how much time I was spending on, um, reading notes and then just taking the quizzes.

Nate: Yeah.

What Made Sense from the Free Training Webinar

Nate: And I guess, so to add onto that, so clearly, so the question is what specifically, or what specific ideas from the free training, do you remember that like made a lot of sense? So clearly one of them is, you know, the questions first thing, did we mention that on the training? Like, you don’t want to take notes your first time through necessarily, because it will all seem new and like, did you, you obviously quit doing that.

Brittany: I did [00:14:00] quit doing that because it was just still time taking. I don’t remember if that was from the training or not or just something I started, when I started doing questions first, There wasn’t anything to take notes on when you do questions first.

Nate: Okay. Yeah.

Getting Information Faster Than the Traditional Study Method

Nate: And, uh, and you just felt like, I mean, we already kind of talked about this, but you could just felt, or you could just feel like, even in those first few days that it was Working better. Not even that it was faster, but that it was actually allowing you to understand the questions kind of right off the bat without watching the videos.

Brittany: Yes. And I had also just come in from finishing my master’s. So a lot of the material was somewhat in my brain. Just needed to pull it out. So combining that with the questions and the review notes.

That were available in the CPA app, the Superfast app, it was just so much more efficient and it was pulling out what I needed to know much quicker.

Nate: That’s awesome.

Brittany’s CPA Exams Timeline

Logan: So, you know, you’re, you took [00:15:00] almost months for FAR, kind of doing from April to July, right? Um, so once you got past FAR, um, how did the other three exams go? Like, as far as timelines, like, was it just way shorter? You didn’t like a few weeks or something like that? Or, uh, yeah. What, what was that like?

Brittany: I took five weeks for audit and then four weeks for REG and BEC.

Nate: Nice.

Brittany: I just scheduled, I realized I was getting in an hour and a half in the morning, I was getting eight hours of what Wiley said would be done.

Nate: Nice.

Brittany: So I just used that and condensed it as close as I could because I wanted it to be done by the end 2023 and like we’re making this happen and that, and doing it that way left me no room to sleep in just, I know I’ve got to get this done because I’ve got this scheduled and this, and I’ll be done. It’ll be over.

Nate: Yeah. Yeah. That’s a, I don’t know, I really have liked that idea from the beginning. Just putting pressure [00:16:00] on yourself with setting exam dates, you know, and viewing it as immovable, like, the more the more people I’ve talked to over the years, I don’t know that, that gives some people that’s like, uh, this mental obstacle that they really

have a hard time dealing with.

It’s easier for them to, so that’s, I don’t know, part of it is I’ve had to admit that, okay, the every literal way that I did it may not be the absolute way to do. And for years, that’s kind of what I, how I thought, like, no, no, no, just do it how I did it. I mean, exactly. Don’t take days off, put pressure on yourself, but, uh, yeah, I’ve had to kind of realize it’s not the best for everyone, but it sounded like it worked for you.

How Tiffany Came Up to Schedule Tests in Four to Five Weeks

Nate: So, so how did you come up with those timelines after spending three months on FAR the first time, how did you come up with timelines of five? And four weeks.

Brittany: Um, so I used the Wiley calculator and I just, whatever they [00:17:00] said, eight hours, I started putting in that I was working eight hours a day instead of an hour and a half. Um, and on the, uh, weekends, I was, I was doing quite a bit on the weekends because I was giving myself a short timeline, um, and really cramming and I wanted to leave four days of prep work before the each time. So, um, I just used eight hours for Monday through Friday, and I think I put like 12 or 13 for Saturdays and Sundays and see what it gave me cause I knew I could get through the material that quickly with

Logan: Mm-hmm.

Brittany: The Superfast notes.

Focused Mainly on Working the MCQs

Logan: So with you, so throughout the week, were you only doing multiple choice questions, uh, during your two hour session? And then I have another question after that.

Brittany: Yes. Only the MCQs. I didn’t touch Sims until prepping for the exam at the end.

How Tiffany Would Tackle the Sims

Logan: And that was, that was going to be my next question. So like, you know, throughout the week you do MCQs. And you didn’t, so you just said you didn’t do [00:18:00] sims really till the end. So what were you doing on the weekends? Just doing even more MCQs? Is that what you were mainly focusing on?

Brittany: Yep. Just continuing through like the lesson plan and getting through the material.

Logan: And then what was your strategy with the sims at the end? So you know, you said you tried to leave about four days to kind of have like a big final review. Was that the only time you looked at sims or was it a little bit before that?

Brittany: That was the only time I looked at sims. I did both of the practice exams in Wiley for each test, and I did the sims ever in those exams.

Logan: Okay.

Brittany: Um, because I liked how it kind of gave you a heads up on what the format’s going to be for those sims. Um, I mean, I really feel like it’s not much different from multiple choice questions, but seeing the format was helpful for me. Um, but I didn’t think it was something I needed to extensively study for weeks on end.

Nate: Yep.

Brittany: It’s a pretty time consuming.

Nate: Yeah.

Left 4 Or 5 Days for Final Review and Doing Whatever It Takes to Study

Nate: And so you must’ve said that, but that’s what I was going to ask with a five week timeline or a four week [00:19:00] timeline. What was your final review? So you would leave four or five days for that.

Brittany: Yes. And I would just hammer the MCQs every day. Um, I was listening to the audio notes every time I was in my car. My kids probably know the CPAs at this point.

Um,

uh, at one point for the last exam, my oldest who’s 10 was reading me the MCQ questions from the back of the car. So she got to learn words like depreciation and consolidation.

Nate: that is that is funny, but also just

removing all excuses. I love that. You know, just. Yeah, I’m going to do what this takes. Yeah, just that’s really, uh, I mean, a good idea or just, you know, something that makes sense like here you can read your 12, read me these questions.

Brittany: Yes, and they wanted me to be done as much as I wanted to be done. So they were happy to help.

Nate: Yeah.

Managing Study Time During Weekends

Nate: Um, so yeah, about that, so on the weekends, maybe you said this as well. [00:20:00] What were you shooting for in terms of actual hours? Were you studying like three or four hours on the weekends?

Brittany: Generally, three or four, three or four, and those generally were in the evenings. Um, just doing whatever, I mean, my kids play sports and you know, things are actually crazier than the weekdays in our household most of the time. Um, so I would squeeze in a couple hours, three, four hours in the evening then, but just going through more material, more MCQs, more lessons, Getting through it.

Nate: So I was going to ask how you made that work with like three kids that are in sports on the weekends. Uh, you would just wait until the evening when games were over. So the weekends you would study again in the evenings.

Brittany: Yeah, pretty much after dinner, my husband would the three kids somewhat quiet, generally watch a movie or something with them I went off to study. And then they were usually in bed before I’d be done for the night. But it’s like, it’s just a few months. We can do this.

Logan: I love that, that kind of like [00:21:00] became like a, like a family thing. I do think that that is something that people do forget to do. They kind of look at it as totally alone, which, you know, maybe nobody else really understands the CPA around you, but you can still have, you can still talk with them about it and be like, Hey, I need your help to make this happen, you know, or whatever, kind of like making it a group effort, even though you’re the one going for it. Um, I think that’s a great, I mean, you embodied that. I think it’s a great thing to remind people that you don’t have to be totally alone going through this, even though you are, you may be the only one that is actually doing the CPA stuff you know?

Nate: Yeah. And, uh, a few people have mentioned Some version of that, like having their significant other read them, usually they mentioned flashcards, like when they’re watching TV at night, handing their flashcards over to their, you know, girlfriend or wife or, you know, husband [00:22:00] and having them quiz them on their own flashcards.

And so that is something anyone can do. We, cause we get asked that a lot, like, how do you find time to do the mini sessions? And, uh, You know, there’s general suggestions like, well, you can create these opportunities throughout the day. It’s pretty normal to leave your desk every hour or two when you’re at work, you know, You could take a few quizzes while you walk to the break room or whatever.

Uh, but yeah,

it’s, you know, obviously the main idea is you just find ways to make it happen.

Birttany Found the Audio Notes to be Really Helpful

Nate: So, uh, so on that note, you mentioned using the audios you would, whenever you’re in your car, you would have

your.

kids read you MCQ questions. Um, you would use the review notes before you jumped into your main study session or the questions for a topic.

Any other ways that you were using the study tools from the app a lot throughout the day?

Brittany: Those were the main ways, um, the audio notes really were huge for [00:23:00] me. Um, if I was having, if I was going on a walk or something like that, the audio notes were playing, um, while I was in the shower in the morning, the audio notes are playing just anytime

where there’s somewhat quiet, let’s fill it with this material.

Nate: And then if you can, what, what specific, well, contextualize this, so, That’s also what I tell people is like, okay, with the audios, cause it seems like some people think that they need to almost sit there and just be able to like, listen intently just to that. And what I say is like, no, basically have those on whenever you can, even if you pick up hypothetically 10 seconds out of every minute or two, if you’re just constantly having them play, this stuff just kind of comes in layers to your mind.

Um, so anyway, so if you can, how did you see the specific or what specific benefits of listening to the audio so [00:24:00] much do you think, uh, or how would you describe the benefits you got from that? Yeah.

Brittany: I remember specifically there was, I don’t remember what the topic was now but there was a topic I was kind of struggling with it in the MCQs, and I planned on making a flashcard for it and because it was driving me nuts and then all of a sudden in the car the audios play and it just clicked. I, that was probably the sixth or seventh time

I’ve listened to it but all of the sudden I think just from the repeat exposure to it over and over and over it finally just clicked and If I hadn’t been doing that, I may have still struggled with that on exam day, um,

but some of the lessons that got to where I could name off what you were going to say next, listening to it so much, but that meant I knew it.

Nate: Yeah.

Brittany: I knew what I was studying for.

Nate: Yeah. That’s kind of the perfect example. And, uh, that, that’s kind of what I would say is hearing something so many times, a really good parallel for these CPA exams is like [00:25:00] learning a language, learning a new language. You, there is no other way of doing it versus or besides just kind of immersion and hearing the same things over and over and over until it starts to really set in.

That’s really the only way you can learn something as complicated as a new language. And, uh, I think the CPA exams are just a really close parallel to that, you can go really deep, watch the whole video, you know, spend six or seven hours on one lesson, like Wiley might recommend. But like you said, you’re going to do that again for a hundred different topics over the next six weeks.

And you cannot just see that stuff one time or even two or three times. So this idea of re-review, constantly re-hitting things. I just, you know, it makes sense when you say it out loud, but it’s most

people don’t approach this process that way. Um, but yeah, it just, it makes sense why it works so much better.

Brittany’s Note Taking Process and Flashcards

Nate: [00:26:00] Um, let’s see. So talked about your weekends, how you do the Sims. You showed us your notebook. Was that your primary way of taking notes or did you do any flashcards as well? Or was it just notes in your notebook?

Brittany: That was my primary way. Um, in my study session a couple of days before the exams, I would make flashcards on the couple topics that still were not 100 percent for me. Um, and so they are only be like, four or five flashcards at that point. But that’s what I would take with me on exam day to review one last time before I walked into that building. Um, but yeah, my notes in my notebook were my primary note taking.

Logan: So the flashcards for you, you know, cause you know, we typically say like, you know, throughout the process you’re making them, but for you, it was almost more like the flashcards were at the very end, just the condensed, like all the way down to, these are the, like the last few things that I still don’t understand is that kind of what [00:27:00] I’m, what you’re saying there.

Brittany: Yes.

Nate: Yeah, and that’s.

Brittany: Just put it in my head one more time

before I walk in.

When She Would Write Down a Topic on Her Notes

Nate: And so with your notes, uh again your first couple months, you know, you said you were taking notes on everything after you switch to this our approach basically, when would you take notes? And then when would you review your notes if at all? Um.

Brittany: So I would only take notes after taking the questions. If it still just didn’t quite make sense, if I got the answer wrong, it was like, Oh, well that I get that I wasn’t going to take a note on it, if I got it wrong and it was still just kind of tough, I’d write it down just to help me process it a little more. And I would review those in my last couple of days cause it’s only 10 to 15 pages of notes. Um, that this was the stuff that gave me a little bit of trouble. Let’s go through it again.

Nate: Yeah.

She Started the Re-Review After the First Week

Logan: And were you, were you, you might’ve mentioned this, but you know, you were doing an hour and a half of new material. And were you doing the 30 minutes of review every [00:28:00] day as well?

Brittany: Um, during the first week of each exam, no. Because I was going through material, I didn’t feel like there was much to cumulatively review at that then after that, yes, um, to keep it all fresh.

Logan: And did you see like, how did that feel? Like, cause you know, at the beginning you were thinking, Oh man, how on earth am I going to remember what I did in April? What benefit or how quickly did you see like, Oh, this is really helpful when you started doing the cumulative review every day?

Brittany: Um, when I started doing it for audit, I could see, it just, um, was reassuring to see that I still knew that stuff. Um, when that was my concern with FAR and those first couple of days that I was re-reviewing before the FAR exam, kind of scary at first.

Logan: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I don’t know if I’m going to remember all this stuff.

yeah,

Brittany: yeah

Logan: And so it sounds to me like. If I’m not wrong, you passed all of them first try. Is that right? [00:29:00] Okay, that’s awesome.

Nate: Very good. Yeah, that’s awesome.

Had No Trouble with Time Management on Test Day

On test day, uh, did you, did you find the MCQs relatively simple or meaning, did you get through them fairly easily after all this MCQ practice day to day, uh, to where they kind of took care of themselves as far as time wise?

Brittany: Yes, I had no trouble with time. Um, I was generally walking out after two and a half or three hours. Um, so

yeah, when you’ve practiced in that much, they’re just.

Logan: Yeah. It becomes like, it’s like, we’ve said this a million times, but you can get so good at not even just the material, but just multiple choice questions. Like it is a, a skill to be able to at a question, read it and kind of quickly pick out what are they really asking? And then being able to, even sometimes you don’t even have to know about accounting.

You can just, or I guess don’t know how to know very much [00:30:00] as long as you can kind of deduct like, uh, that one doesn’t make sense. And this one doesn’t make sense. It just makes your accounting knowledge that much easier to apply, anyway. It is like a skill to just be able to mow through multiple choice questions, but still getting them right. So did that leave you a ton of time for the sims on test day, I’m assuming?

Brittany: Yes. Yeah,some of those took a little longer than I would have liked, but I had the time, so no problem. Um, I think BEC written was the hardest.

Logan: Yeah. Those ones were, it was so, I did not like the written ones. They definitely made me feel like, I don’t know, I’m just kind of writing stuff. I hope it’s right. Um, about how much time would you say that you had for sims each test, roughly?

Brittany: Um, I probably had two to two and a half hours. I think I was doing about 30 minutes per booklet.

Logan: Okay. Mm

Nate: Yeah, because if you were having a full hour left [00:31:00] or more with each exam, you didn’t, yeah, you were going fast. Um, that’s another thing to point out about just learning how to answer questions strategically because you mentioned in your first few months, you know, your approach was, and this is what everyone does I think, I’m pretty sure. They would watch the video, you know, look at the chapter, take the questions, and if the questions didn’t go well, instead of kind of strategically reverse engineering the questions, they just assume, well, I guess I didn’t understand the video well enough. So they go back to the video, you know, which the context is so different.

It doesn’t really connect,

you know, and that’s, so yeah, that just kind of keeps you in the same cycle. Um, whereas that shift of this is about the questions, learning how they work. And like Logan said, there’s a lot of nuances to just answering questions in general, little strategic things that just become clear as you answer so many questions. [00:32:00] So.

Brittany: And that’s something that has stuck with me from your free training was what you’re doing on exam day.

Nate: Yeah.

Brittany: So just

practicing those over and over and over makes exam day feel like not as big of a deal. It’s still stressful but not as bad.

Nate: Yeah, that’s really cool.

Finished the Four Sections in Around 4 to 5 Months

Nate: So, uh, so when did you finish, when was your last exam and when did you get your score on your fourth one?

Brittany: I took my last exam October 30th and I got it mid November.

Nate: Oh, so you did them. Yeah. Once you

Brittany: I did July, August, September, October.

Nate: Yeah.

Brittany: Yeah.

Nate: Very cool.

Brittany: Yeah, I

wanted to leave room in case I failed one.

Logan: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. You, you, you left yourself enough time that you could have even taken two exams.

Brittany: Retaken one if

necessary. Yeah.

Logan: Yeah. Yeah. Um, I mean that if you, I mean, if you think about that timeline if you kind of like I mean, if you started in April, you ended in October, but those first two months were kind of like, kind of wishy washy, kind of [00:33:00] difficult. You really were only doing it for like, what, like four or five months or something like that. I mean, that’s amazing for somebody who’s working, has a family. Like it’s just, um, it just shows that no matter who you are, whether you’re extremely busy or not, which most people are quite busy, um, you can do this.

And so, I mean, that’s awesome. And, and did you feel like that? Like, were you just, uh, were you just elated, like amazed at how well it was going?

Brittany: Yeah, I definitely looked at the statistics on passing all four the first time afterwards

Logan: It’s like 10 percent or something like that.

Brittany: yeah,

Logan: It’s like very high. I think it’s like.

Brittany: Very low.

Logan: I looked at it as well because I was able to do that. And I think it’s like, you know, it’s the pass rate is roughly, roughly 50 percent total, like overall somewhere on there. And of that 50%. Only about 10 percent of those people passed all of them first try. So, I mean, it’s like very small amount of people, like 5 of people basically.

Brittany: It makes you

[00:34:00] feel really good when you do it.

Nate: Yeah.

Yeah. That’s, that is awesome.

Even Managed to Get Some Game Time in the Evenings

Nate: Um, let’s see, so, I mean, as long as you kind of nailed it in the morning and you were doing the, you know, mini sessions, meaning using the study tools throughout the rest of your day, and you kind of mentioned this, but you would just, you had the evenings to, be mom at home, like do your normal thing.

Brittany: Yes. Yeah. And I even, um, I like to play video games. Um, but I even, uh, got to play video games a little bit some nights. I mean, not a ton, but I’m a mom. I don’t get a ton of time to do that anyways, but it’s like, holy cow. I can’t believe I’m doing this, While studying for CPA.

Nate: Yeah.

Brittany: I never thought I’d have that kind of time.

Nate: That’s really really cool.

Logan: Hobbies. What do you usually play? Yeah.

Brittany: Um, well, I had bought Hogwarts Legacy when I finished my master’s last year. So I, I was playing that a lot, um, through the CPA [00:35:00] exam and my husband and I play Call of Duty together.

Nate: That is so funny. I had a major call of duty thing, like the CPA

exams for me, killed, uh,

killed my video game career. I don’t know. I just, I never, I never went back to playing games much like just now recently, my kids play, play Mario. So all the Mario games on the switch I play, you know, like when they want me to, but I keep telling myself I’m going to like get back into, cause I really liked it. I played call of duty.

Brittany: Yeah.

Nate: So much. Uh, I don’t even know what years this would have been, but like modern warfare too. I don’t know how far back you played, but like when it was big, anyways. Yeah, that’s really cool. You were doing all that and playing video games at night. That is funny.

Brittany: Yeah.

Nate: So what did you have to, I’m guessing to get up at 4:30, you had to just cut yourself off at a certain time, like the big thing was what time be to bed.

Brittany: Yeah. I was in bed by nine.

Nate: How early could your kids to bed?

Brittany: On the [00:36:00] late. Eight.

Nate: So you’d get an hour to like.

Brittany: I got an hour to myself to unwind and.

Nate: Nice.

Brittany: Yeah.

Nate: Uh, I mean, yeah, I think you kind of mentioned this multiple times, but so after switching to this, you would just study in the morning. Again, use the study tools throughout the day. But this didn’t, this didn’t have to be a big, all consuming nightmare. I mean, it was relatively smooth and not easy, but relatively simple once you got this process down.

Brittany: Yeah. Once I had my, especially those last two exams, I was confident in what I was doing at that point. And the stress level went way down to get those exams done.

Nate: Yeah.

Worked in Internal Audit but Found AUD the Most Difficult

Logan: I, I do have a, I actually just had a thought. So what do you work in? Like, do you work in public accounting and industry? Like, what do you do for your job?

Brittany: I work in state government.

Logan: Okay. Okay. So was there any exam, I mean, you did them all pretty quickly, but was [00:37:00] there any exam that a little bit more challenging? Like, like you were kind of like, Ooh, this is more difficult than these other exams. Was there anything like that for you?

Nate: I gonna say.

Brittany: I was kind of embarrassed to say, cause I used to work in internal audit, which isn’t exactly the same, but there’s lot of same principles. And it’s like, Oh boy, why is this so hard?

Logan: Mm-Hmm.

Nate: Yeah. Yeah.

Nailed Her Study Process By the 2nd Exam

Nate: So FAR, FAR was, you know, you did it like 90 percent the traditional way, but then audit. So audit was, was audit kind of the big confirmation that, okay, this process really works. I’m done with two now. And that’s why you just did BEC and REG in four weeks each.

Brittany: Yes. Um, I did have a little bit of, I had a 75 on audit, so it kind of messed with my head for a couple of days of, Ooh, which would, do I need to ramp this up a little bit? So I did start studying a little more after finding out that I cut it close. But I knew my process was working. I felt like I wanted to spend a little more time on it.

Logan: [00:38:00] Mm-hmm. I had, I had the same feeling. I, I got a 75 on BEC and I was like, I didn’t actually, I wasn’t actually happy at that. Like when I first saw it like afterwards I was like, okay. But at the moment I was like, uh, like I was just shocked. I was like, I kept telling my wife, like, will you go check that again?

Like, I, I, I even took a screenshot to make sure that they like, wouldn’t change it or something, you know, like was just worried about it. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, afterwards I was like, okay, no, it’s, it’s all good. But yeah, I, I remember that feeling too.

Nate: Yeah I got a 75 on, I can’t remember which one.

Logan: Mm-hmm.

Nate: Yeah.

Glad She Was Able to Do Other Things

Nate: Uh, well we kind of have gone through everything and we, we have been asking people about, was there a hobby that you made sure to keep doing? But you mentioned that with the video games. That’s uh, that’s funny, but it’s also cool. Cause that’s something you and your husband do together. Right. That’s what you said.

Brittany: Yeah.

Logan: Yeah. You were able to [00:39:00] keep like familial relationships and ties, like still close. Like it didn’t feel like you were just gone for those like five months or something like that. Yeah.

Brittany: Yeah. On the weekends they would definitely get a little frustrated with me for closing myself off after dinner but they understood, you know, what’s at stake here, and that it’s a short amount of time.

Logan: Yeah.

Nate: Yeah. Especially when you, you know that it’s working and you’re like, listen, this seriously, I have this down to a science, uh, seven more weeks and I’m all done with this.

Whereas, uh, I’ve gotten some horror emails over the years where these exams have like wrecked relationships because the person’s operating under the assumption that if they’re not at work, they’ve got to be locked in the office at home, like studying, and even then it wasn’t working.

So this has gone on for years, and I’m just like, wow, I didn’t even realize this causes so much destruction to some people.

[00:40:00] Um yeah, it’s, uh, so on the other hand, it’s really awesome that how you were able to do it, study in the morning, use the study tools throughout the day. You still had time to, I mean, you didn’t have to study at night to the point that you still could play video games.

You mean having three kids that’s, uh, that’s just really cool.

Logan: That’s impressive. Mm hmm.

Nate: Yeah.

Top Tips for People Still Struggling with their Study Process

Nate: So what would be your top three tips to people that are maybe in your first phase where they’re doing too much and it’s not even working? What would be your tips to them?

Brittany: Stop watching every video. Go straight to the questions, because that’s where you need to learn, and that’s where you need to practice. Do the cumulative review to keep it fresh in your mind. Even if you’re not trying to cram it into four weeks, I’m not sure I completely advise trying to do it in four weeks. Um.

Logan: Mm-hmm.

Brittany: But do that cumulative review to keep it fresh. Um, but also to keep your why in your mind. Um, I had that bonus hanging over my head that I to grab [00:41:00] and. You got to know why you’re going through it.

Nate: Yeah, definitely. All right. Well, yeah, I appreciate you doing the call, Brittany. That was, that was awesome to hear your story and, uh, I’m glad you found us through that YouTube ad and that it made such a difference and congrats on being done.

Logan: Yeah, congrats.

Brittany: Thank you so much.

Nate: All right.

Brittany: I’m still glad to be done.

Nate: Yeah, I bet. Has it, uh, has it set in yet that you, like, it took me months to get used to not studying. Is that, have you gotten past that finally?

Brittany: I’ve gotten past the, not studying. The fact that CPA is now in my work signature is surreal.

Nate: It all feels new. Yeah, that’s cool.

Logan: All right. That was the interview with Brittany. It was awesome to see that she was able to have that major shift and go from feeling like she was going to take four or five months to study for each exam to being able to pass all of her exams in about four or five months once she started implementing the SuperfastCPA strategies.

And I hope this can be [00:42:00] a hopeful interview for you because she was able to still have some hobbies, still able to spend time with her family, still able to work and not hate her life. And I think that’s what a lot of people are missing. So if that’s what you’re missing in your life right now, make sure you check out our free one hour webinar training on superfastcpa.com. And also make sure you listen to more of the podcast episodes. That is the point of this podcast is to give encouragement, to show good strategies and to help people through the CPA exam process for free. This is the best free training resource out there for CPA exam candidates.

So make sure you listen to some more and make sure you share it with your friends who are also going through the CPA exams,

If you like this, make sure to leave a rating in your favorite podcast app, or to like, and leave a comment on the YouTube video.

Thanks for watching and we will see you in the next episode.

​[00:43:00]

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