In this SuperfastCPA podcast episode, you’ll hear how Jamie crushed her CPA exams, mostly by constantly evaluating and improving her study process. She shares a ton of great tips and strategies you can use to make your CPA study process more effective and efficient.
IMPORTANT LINKS:
Master your study process by attending one of our free study training workshops:
https://www.superfastcpa.com/study-secrets/
Episode Timestamps
- 0:00 Interview Edit
- 02:20 Why Jamie Wanted to Pursue Her CPA
- 04:40 Jamie’s Study Experience in the Beginning
- 06:23 How Jamie Found SuperfastCPA
- 06:58 Why Jamie Decided to Get SuperfastCPA
- 09:35 Doing the Questions First Approach Gradually Made Sense
- 10:39 Her Study Process Kept Evolving Throughout the Different Exams
- 12:00 Used the Podcasts to Evolve Her Study and Using Excel for Flashcards
- 16:16 A Morning Person Already But Dedicated 2 Hours Due to the PRO Course
- 17:07 Jamie’s Daily Study Routine
- 20:12 Constantly Adjusting Her Study
- 22:43 How Jamie Would Study on Weekends
- 23:06 How Jamie Got Some Studying for the Sims and Test Day Experience
- 25:36 The Mental Battle is What Makes the CPA Exams Difficult
- 26:47 Jamie’s CPA Exams Timeline
- 28:06 Jamie Made Sure That Studying Will Not Take Over Her Life
- 30:05 Still Have the Habit of Waking Up Early
- 30:58 What Jamie Found to be the Hardest and Easiest Exam
- 32:39 Tip He Got From His CPA Brother
- 33:25 A Reminder That Every Second Adds Up and to Keep Going
- 35:55 Make Sure Not to Get Distracted in the Morning Sessions
- 37:19 Deep Diving Questions and Using Other Resources for Understanding
- 41:42 Jamie’s Final Review Study Process
- 45:16 Things That Jamie Found Really Helpful
- 48:57 Top Tips for People Still Struggling with the Study Process
Interview Transcript
Jamie: [00:00:00] I mean, I would say it was more of like a mental game because my study process evolved and I feel like it got more efficient and I was like kind of building momentum. Like, you know, as you’re passing them, you’re feeling just, I guess, better that it’s possible. And like, okay, I’m going to do this, but it’s still the whole mental battle of like, it really is a marathon.
Logan: Welcome to another episode of the CPA Exam Experience Podcast from SuperfastCPA. I’m Logan, and in today’s interview, you’re going to hear Nate and I talk to Jamie.
So Jamie had been out of school for about a year and she was working part time as a health nutrition coach and she was kind of trying to decide what route she wanted to take. Did she want to go more of the business management accounting side, or did she want to pursue something she was passionate about, which was health and nutrition.
In the end, she decided to go for the business and accounting side of things while still keeping nutrition and health as a passion. And she dove [00:01:00] straight into the CPA exam, she bought Becker and was studying with Becker for about two weeks.
Then she saw a YouTube ad from SuperfastCPA and it sounded pretty good. She was a little bit skeptical, a little bit hesitant, but she went and watched the webinar and listened to a whole bunch of the different podcast interviews and in the end decided to purchase the whole SuperfastCPA bundle.
And as you’ll see, she crushed her exams. It took her a little bit to get used to going straight to the questions and using those as the main learning material, but it did eventually click. And something that I want you to look for in this interview is she was continually improving her process.
She is a great example of never being fully satisfied with one way of doing it, but trying to continually tailor and improve her process so that she could pass her CPA exams more efficiently and more effectively each time.
This is going to be a great interview, but before we jump into the interview, I just want to remind everyone about the free one hour webinar training on superfastcpa.com. Again, it is only one hour and it is free, and we will teach you the key ingredients to passing the CPA exam. We will teach you how to be [00:02:00] effective and efficient with your study process so that you don’t waste months and maybe even years of your time.
Logan: Be sure to go check that out. And with all that said, let’s dive straight into the interview with Jamie.
Nate: So, uh, just going straight to the beginning or back to the beginning when you decided to do the CPA, where were you at?
Why Jamie Wanted to Pursue Her CPA
Nate: Where were you at in your career and what made you want to do the CPA?
Jamie: Yeah. So I was actually about a year after college. So I went to college for accounting. Um, but then when I was graduating, it was kind of around COVID time and I wasn’t entirely sure like if I wanted to go the CPA route. Um, so I ended up just graduating with like a business management degree and I actually like kind of explored some other career options.
But then after a year I was like, I think I’m going to regret it if I don’t like pursue that. And I’ll always wonder, um, if I should have gone down that route, and I actually have two other CPAs in my family. So it’s, would be kind of a constant reminder.
[00:03:00] Um, so I just decided to go for it. Um, so at that point I had to go back to school just like I did some community college classes to get that 150 credits. Um, and then, yeah, just kind of went all in.
Nate: Okay. And so you ended with, I mean, you, your master, not your master’s, your degree was business management, but you had mostly done. accounting type stuff. You were still kind of in accounting?
Jamie: Yeah, I basically had all of my, like, core accounting classes except for, like, audit and, um, advanced accounting.
Nate: Okay, so.
Logan: Said that you, oh, sorry, I was just going to say, you said that you explored some different things. Like what did you do before you kind of were like, well, I’m going to go get my CPA?
Jamie: It was actually a very different field. I’m also interested in, like, health and wellness, so I actually worked, um, like part time as like a nutrition health coach, um, cause I was kind of going back and forth of like, do I want to just pursue the passion, but like [00:04:00] have the business from like the school side, um, or go all into business and accounting.
And I kind of decided at the end of the day, I really love that as a passion, but my skills really align more with accounting and actually doing the business side. Um, and to kind of pair with that, I also worked as like a virtual assistant. Um, and I just found I fell in love with the business side.
Nate: Yeah, I think there’s a lot to be said for keeping your favorite things as just like a hobby where you can just enjoy it instead of to make, once you try to make something a business, it just becomes like work. But anyways.
Jamie: Yeah. It wasn’t fun anymore.
Nate: Yeah. Okay.
Jamie’s Study Experience in the Beginning
Nate: So when you decide to do the CPA, I’m guessing you got a review course and what were, what was the study experience like in the beginning?
Jamie: Yeah. So, I bought Becker. I’m kind of a go bigger, go home person, so that’s what, um, my brother’s actually a CPA, so he had kind of gone through that route, [00:05:00] so I knew it worked for him, um, and, yeah, so I went with that, and then I was about like two weeks in, and it was also just that adjustment of like getting back into the study mode after college, along with opening up Becker and seeing what all was in there.
I started with BEC. Um, so yeah, it was just a lot of material. And I was after two weeks, I was like, man, I think this is going to take me forever because I’m also the like Type A, you know, if you give me like 50 practice problems and a slideshow, I have to take all the notes and do every single practice problem or else I feel like I haven’t done enough. Um, so that was just like really overwhelming. And, yeah, that’s kind of what led me to explore other options.
Nate: Okay.
Logan: How much time each day, like how much time were you dedicating to that each day doing all that?
Jamie: Probably about three or four hours. At that time, I was working more like part time, so it worked out that I did have more time, but I knew I wouldn’t [00:06:00] have that much time throughout my whole study journey, so I was kind of trying to plan for the long game too.
Nate: So, so I’m guessing what happened in those two weeks was you were watching every video, reading the chapter, and to do that for every little lesson or module, it just set in how much time that was going to take?
Jamie: Yep, yeah, it was feeling really overwhelming.
Nate: Okay.
How Jamie Found SuperfastCPA
Nate: Uh, so how did you find us? YouTube ad or what’d you find first?
Jamie: Yeah, I’m not sure if it was just like YouTube targeted ads were really good and knew that I was starting the journey, because I don’t remember, like,
Nate: Yeah.
Jamie: I don’t remember specifically looking for like other study alternatives, but then again, I think you just popped up and I was like, well, one minute, let me just watch it and see the ad. So, and it was very, yeah, very inviting.
Nate: Uh, so did you, so from there all the ads go to like the free webinar. Did you watch the free webinar? Was that your first thing you saw from us?
Jamie: Yeah, I did.
Nate: Okay.
Why Jamie Decided to Get SuperfastCPA
Nate: And what, [00:07:00] what was on there? Do you remember specifically that made you think, okay, I’m gonna try this?
Jamie: I think just the general, like, um, it was very different than anything I’d ever heard before, of like, studying from the multiple choice first. So, it kinda took me a little while to like, get behind it, cause like, I feel like it would go against everything I ever did in school studying wise. I was like, this is a big exam.
Do I take this risk? Um, but then I think I, it’s like screenshot at all, like your main steps and ideas. And then I think I binge some of the podcast episodes, um, for a little while. And then I just decided to go for it.
Nate: Okay,
Logan: And from there, did you go purchase like the pro course and, and the study tools or what, what did you use throughout the process?
Jamie: Yeah, I did the PRO course. So I just got everything.
Logan: Oh, you, okay. You got, Okay.
Nate: So you went in, watched all the videos [00:08:00] and was it, did you just try to follow that exactly, basically? I think you kind of said that in your, on the form, anyways.
Jamie: Yeah, I did. I went in and watched all the PRO course videos. I think it was just knowing my, like, two weeks of experience. I, as much as that was my natural tendency, I just couldn’t see that happening for the whole course. So I was kind of thinking, like, this is my best bet, um, and it seems like it’s worked for other people. So that’s when I just decided to fully adopt it and give it a shot. Knowing that I was learning the material, like, either way, it was just a matter of reducing a lot of hours of watching lectures and reading the book.
Nate: Yep.
Logan: Cutting through the fluff.
Nate: Yeah. Yeah. There’s a lot of, uh, there’s a lot of like story types of people that, you know, find us eventually people that start while they’re still in their masters. I mean, that’s what like Logan did, so from very beginning, or people that have struggled for years. But 1 [00:09:00] thing that I’ve heard is someone who kind of does what you were doing the first two weeks.
Like they they’re doing everything. It’s taken them many hours a day to study and they pass their first section. But then their thought is that nearly killed me. Like that amount of work. I can’t do that three more times. Um, there’s gotta be like a more efficient way of doing this, even though they passed their first attempt.
So, I mean, kind of all of the above, I guess. So, so you watch our PRO course and then you start applying those methods.
Jamie: Mm-hmm.
Doing the Questions First Approach Gradually Made Sense
Nate: What were the first few weeks of that? Like, or how long was it until it clicked and you could see, okay, this is, this works better in less time.
Jamie: Um, I would say it was a gradual process. I definitely saw, like, right from the get go, or I just, it made sense to me of, like, what I’m gonna be doing on test day is multiple choice, for, and the sims, obviously. Um, so, to me, it clicked that why [00:10:00] wouldn’t I spend most of my time focusing on those and just getting really good at those? And I think the more I did them, the better I could see I was getting at just, like, even guessing on ones that I didn’t know just from seeing so many. So I think that was encouraging for me. And then also feeling like I was absorbing the information without doing all those lectures and I was doing fine on like my daily re-review and things. Um, so I think, you know, if I had all of a sudden been doing really poorly, that would have made me second guess, but because I was improving and picking things up, I didn’t really second guess it.
Nate: Okay.
Her Study Process Kept Evolving Throughout the Different Exams
Logan: And how did that go? Like, so you started doing that, um, well, you did your first two weeks. How long did you study before you took your first exam? And you know, what, what was that like?
Jamie: Yeah. So it was about like a month and a half, um, in total before, like I started, yeah, I took my first one in June. And so I think I [00:11:00] started, started like a month and a half before that. So I guess about a month of, um, just SuperfastCPA techniques. Um, and it went really well. I would think it was definitely an evolution.
Cause like from my first test to my last, my study process was just different and like my first one, I did handwritten note cards because I felt like writing it down might, um, I don’t know, help with like getting into my head more. But then I noticed like as I was getting closer to the test, like my stack was just getting thicker and thicker and it was harder to like go back and edit them. Um, so just things like that, that all in all I was trusting the process because I was performing well on my practice and I did like the practice exams too. Um, but I could still, I was still ready for like the next exam to kind of like restart the process from the beginning. Um, and be able to, yeah, I guess change up my techniques a little bit to feel even more [00:12:00] efficient.
Used the Podcasts to Evolve Her Study and Using Excel for Flashcards
Nate: And so, so you passed that first section on your first try. Okay. And, uh, so from your first one to your second one, the main thing was that changed, I guess, was just that you felt like you took too many or made too many note cards basically, or what else changed as you went through the different exams?
Jamie: I think the biggest thing was, as I listened, I think some of the other people’s podcast episodes, I was getting ideas for like other things to switch it up. So I think some of the biggest ones were, um, just outlining all of the material and the multiple choice questions. Um, like someone had the idea to create that like an Excel spreadsheet basically with just all the different modules in Becker, um, and how many multiple choice questions were in each section so that kind of helped me break it down of like, how many total questions I have to get through? What’s my timeline of how many days I want to take? Um, and that just helped me like stay on track because like before it was always [00:13:00] like, am I on track to get through all the material with a little bit of review time?
Am I behind? I don’t really know. Um, so that helped me like organize it better. Um, and then yeah, just the general notes, I, even though I switched up the process and like wasn’t just taking notes on the lecture, I was definitely still taking too many notes on the multiple choice right from the get go, um, so that naturally built up the material I still had to go through just to like review my notes. So I evolved to creating like tabs for each module to just to like capture any like obvious things that I’d have to memorize like a formula or like a certain set of procedures. That way I knew I had it. But I really tried to stop like every little thing that I felt was important, putting that down right away and wait until I was actually doing the re-review and like seeing it over and over again, then add it. And then from there, like in my Excel spreadsheet, from that information, [00:14:00] that’s how I created my note cards. So it’s kind of like the Excel spreadsheet was like the first stop of like capturing some of what I thought was important information, and then I could break it down even further to my flashcards. That way my flashcards weren’t getting out of hand because, um, the first couple of tests, I felt like I was, like, willy nilly with creating flashcards, so then at the end it was, like, a lot more work to review and cut it down to, like, just making them make sense or, um, what really mattered, basically.
Nate: Okay. Yeah. So you were just kind of letting, through the new topics, making notes on things that were important in your Excel spreadsheet. And then if you missed questions on it, once it showed up in like re-review sets, then you were, would come back and say, okay, this is something I should make a flashcard on.
Is that basically how you did it?
Jamie: Yeah, basically ones I missed, but I did add some of just, like, really important formulas or concepts just so that as I was reviewing them, [00:15:00] um, because I did use the flashcards for final review. That way some of those big topics were in there, too.
Nate: Okay.
Logan: And you kind of mentioned this, but did you migrate to digital flashcards instead of physical?
Jamie: I did, Yeah.
After the first test, I was like, I Can’t
Logan: Can’t carry around this massive stack.
Jamie: Exactly. Ooh, even to like, edit them too, because I would come across like, new material and be like, man, I feel like I remembered making a flashcard on that, but I can’t find it really easily in my big stack. So, yeah.
Logan: I’d have to go like erase it or something to change it. Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah. We typically recommend, I mean, there’s been quite a few people on the podcast who still do physical and, you know, it works for them, but I would say most people, it’s just easier to do, uh, the digital cause everybody has a phone almost.
Pretty sure everybody has a phone. So you can just use the app. And I really liked that. Did you use, uh, Brainscape or Quizlet or what did you use?
Jamie: I did Quizlet. Yeah.
Nate: That’s funny. My kids are like learning [00:16:00] cursive in school. They’re like will I use cursive the rest of my life? I’m like, no, don’t even need to.
Jamie: They always threaten.
Nate: Yeah. Like you, you don’t even really know how to, you don’t really need to know how to even write. You just need to learn to type, anyways.
Jamie: Yeah, so true.
A Morning Person Already But Dedicated 2 Hours Due to the PRO Course
Nate: Um, man, I had several questions in there, but let’s go back to like your daily routine. So did you study at night or in the morning?
Jamie: I’m a morning person, so, yeah. It was definitely a lot easier just to, like, commit. At first I was like, do I want to wake up at like 5 or 5:30 every day? Especially when I didn’t technically, like, have to based on my work schedule. Um, but it was just easier once I decided this is what I’m doing. I’m committing at least for until I take the first exam.
Um, yeah.
Nate: Yeah. Did you start out that way or was it the PRO course videos that made you switch to the morning?
Jamie: Now, I’ve always been a morning person, um, but I think the PRO course helped me to just dedicate a [00:17:00] solid two hours to do that specific routine and also just a little earlier than I was doing before.
Jamie’s Daily Study Routine
Logan: So, so with that, so what was your daily routine and did that change as time went on? Like, you know, you had your main study session. What did the mini sessions look like throughout the day? Like, what did that all look like?
Jamie: Yeah, so I started typically around 5:30 was like my window adjust a little earlier or later depending on the day. And that was when I would do my main session. I actually started with my 30 re-review first, um, cause I put a lot of time into going through each one like, right and wrong like was I getting did I actually understand the ones I got right or was I just guessing?
Um, so I found like sometimes that would take me a good hour just to like do that and review it. But I knew I was learning from the review process too. And then from there I would start doing the multiple choice of like the new information. Um, and I would also, [00:18:00] one thing that was helpful was reviewing the, like, outline notes, like, the review notes before I started the section. Um, I actually tried to read through those start to finish before I started each, like, exam section, just to get, like, a big overview of, like, the whole test. Um, so that was helpful, too. Um, but then within my daily routine, I, yeah, would do the new multiple choice and I found it was really important not to spend too much time trying to guess.
Like I think, what do you say, like a minute max, um, before you just guess.
So that was helpful too to cut down on like how much time it was taking to get through the multiple choice. Um, so from there that would pretty much end my session. Towards the end I would like add a sim or two or at least just like watch the skill builder portion on, um, Becker, which is basically them just like going through the problem.
And sometimes they also added like helpful concepts, um, that I was able to pick up. So from there, I would kind of look at, like, my Excel tracker and see, okay, did [00:19:00] I get through the number of multiple choice, um, for that day, basically. I kind of had, like, a goal each day. And then if not, I would do more at the end of the day. Um, and I would typically add, like, an hour between, in addition to the mini session, just between, or the main session between my mini ones throughout the day or doing extra multiple choice just to get back on track. Um, and then from there for the mini sessions, I really, I didn’t have a set like, oh, I have to do 10 mini quizzes a day or like X number of, um, minutes reading or something.
I really tried to do the audio notes every time I was in the car. Um, and I like to give myself like little rewards throughout, along the way. So I would do like one or two audio sessions. And then if I saw time left in the car ride, I’d do a little Spotify or like something to like end on a fun note. So do that.
And then I also did a lot of like walks outside, um, that I [00:20:00] would do the same thing. Um, and then I kind of switched it up between the mini quizzes or just reading the review night, review notes, um, at night before I went to bed for like 15 minutes.
Logan: Nice.
Constantly Adjusting Her Study
Logan: And that, um, so you kind of mentioned that at least at the start, uh, you were working kind of part time, kind of, uh, did that ever change? Like, did you ever, I’m just curious, like, did your work schedule change and you had to like adjust what you were doing each day?
Jamie: Um, after my first two, that’s when I started working full time. So that’s when I really just had to get pretty strict with like my two hours in the morning and then averaged around like an hour after that.
Nate: Uh, so one question I had about your spreadsheet setup and how you through the lessons. So you map out Becker, how many questions are in each topic, and then when you do your planting, the seeds are like your first time through a new topic. Were you trying to get through all of the questions Becker had for that [00:21:00] topic?
Or would you just do, I don’t know, 15 or 20 till you felt like you had the gist of it, knowing you’d see the remaining ones in your daily sets of 30. Or how, how did you do that?
Jamie: I did all of them, yeah.
Nate: Before moving on to the next topic.
Jamie: Yep.
Logan: And, and did you try to, cause this is actually a question that I’ve gotten multiple times. Uh, did you just get to a certain amount of questions for the day and you’re like, that’s how many questions I’m doing for the day. And I’ll just pick back up where I leave tomorrow. Uh, basically a lot of people seem to really worry about like, well, I didn’t finish the module today, so I’m going to really behind. Um, but I, you know, my thought process was always like, if I did all I could in the time, I’ll just pick back up where I, where I was tomorrow. Like, what was your thought process with that? Mm hmm.
Jamie: Yeah, it wasn’t like a strict, like, I have to get done this module, especially because of breaking, the way I broke it down [00:22:00] between just like, let’s say I had to get through 50 questions a day if I want to take the test by X date. Um, that kind of gave me a general gauge, so on some days if like the questions were a lot more like in depth or I didn’t, wasn’t able to guess quite as quickly or go through them. Um, I only got like 30 or 40. I didn’t push myself to like struggle through the rest. Um, I would typically pick that up on like the weekends or if I had a day that I either had a little more time or just sometimes depending on the sections, like they were a little more easier to guess with like common sense.
So I was able to get through like 60. Um, so they kind of just averaged out, if that makes sense.
Um, versus. Yeah.
How Jamie Would Study on Weekends
Nate: And did you do anything different on the weekends? I mean, time wise or strategy wise with how you studied?
Jamie: Um, I still did a two hour main session each day. Um, and then from there I, I did more if I had to catch up on multiple choice. But other than that, I [00:23:00] tried not to go too hard on the weekends just cause I need, knew I needed that mental break.
Logan: Mm-Hmm,
Nate: Yeah.
How Jamie Got Some Studying for the Sims and Test Day Experience
Logan: And where did you, so I think you kind of mentioned this at first, but what did you do when it came to sims? Because, you know, we typically of say, do sims on the weekends. Do like some extra studying for that. So what were you doing to get, make sure you got some studying and for the sims.
Jamie: I, the sims are always interesting cause I felt like I kind of ignored them a lot, up until like about three weeks before maybe. I would plant a couple here and there’s like I would do one or two occasionally if I had time at the end of a two hour study session or like I said just like watch the skill builder. And it just felt like one of those things I kept going back and forth between like do I go hard and like, do a lot to get the repetition of like practicing the sims, but then you also have the people say that like you really never know what you’re going to get.
So is it worth putting my time there? Um, so I ended up [00:24:00] focusing on them more like three ish weeks before the exam of just adding more, I guess, you know, one or two or a couple on the weekends. Um, but I still never felt ready for the sims, so, even with that.
Logan: Mm-Hmm.
Nate: And, and how did they, like, how did they go on test day? Were you, was it like every exam you had a few sims that were just, you know, just seemed really, really difficult or, I mean, yeah, just how did, how did they go on the actual exam?
Jamie: Um, yeah. I think they were, I always felt more calm, I guess confident on the multiple choice section and then the sims, it just felt like you never knew how they went. I don’t know. I just kind of had, I struggled with like I guess staying confident in that I did them mostly right because it felt like oh they could be all right or all wrong. Especially when you get the ones that are just like all fill in the blank, so it was hard to know. But yeah, I, I never really felt like I saw something that was like, I don’t even know what they’re asking or like, [00:25:00] it feels like it’s in Chinese or something.
Like I always understood the question. Um, and was able to easily give some sort of an answer that I felt like was a good educated guess. Um, and then you have the occasional, like, you know, little things here and there where you’re like, are they trying to trick me or are they not? But all in all, I felt like I could answer them sufficiently.
Nate: Yeah. And you must have, I mean, yeah. So, so how’d the remaining, I mean, I know this from, again, your little thing you put, but you, uh, didn’t you pass all four on your first try?
Jamie: I did. Yeah.
Nate: Nice. That’s awesome.
Jamie: Thanks.
The Mental Battle is What Makes the CPA Exams Difficult
Nate: So you really just had the first two weeks, you know, of kind of the normal way realizing this is going to take forever.
Once you had this process down, you know, it takes discipline to do it each day, of course, but this really wasn’t a huge, really difficult ordeal. You kind of just executed the process each day and passed all four and now you’re [00:26:00] done.
Jamie: Yeah. I mean, I would say it was more of like a mental game because my study process evolved and I feel like it got more efficient and I was like kind of building momentum. Like, you know, as you’re passing them, you’re feeling just, I guess, better that it’s possible. And like, okay, I’m going to do this, but it’s still the whole mental battle of like, it really is a marathon. Um, yeah. And yeah, just hoping that all of your hard work is going to pay off on test day and the waiting period after the test. That’s brutal too.
Nate: Yeah.
Logan: Oh, yeah, and it’s even it’s significantly worse now.
Nate: Way worse now. Yeah.
Jamie: Yeah. My heart goes out to everybody else.
Logan: Yeah, I mean, it’s just blows my mind. Yeah, like people won’t even know their scores until June this year
Jamie: Yeah.
Logan: Or I guess maybe May if you take a discipline.
Jamie’s CPA Exams Timeline
Logan: Um, anyway, so if you can remember what was timeline? Like, you took your first one, I think you said in June. Was this June last year?
Jamie: Um.
Logan: Or in 2022?
Jamie: Uh, this past year, so June of 2023.
Logan: Okay. And [00:27:00] so yeah, how long did you take to study for each exam? And yeah, but like what was the whole timeline from start to finish?
Jamie: Yeah, so I took my first one like early June and then I basically went hard from then until this past December. Um, I think December 12th was my, when I took my last one. And I had about like a month off in that timeframe. Um, just because after I took my first one, I decided not to start studying for the next one a while, just since it was the first exam I had ever taken.
I was like, let me just see if I passed first before I start studying, um, just cause I didn’t have anything to compare it to, um, after taking it. I had no idea how it went. Um, so that kind of slowed me down a little bit because then that score release was about a good month, a little over. Um, so yeah.
Nate: But June to December of the same year. So like six months?
Jamie: Yep. Yeah.
Nate: Yeah. So you just crushed the exams. That’s awesome.
Jamie: Thanks. I’m just one of [00:28:00] those people where I don’t want something hanging over my head. So, like once I was in the zone, just kept chugging along.
Jamie Made Sure That Studying Will Not Take Over Her Life
Logan: And, um, did it feel like, I’m assuming that it didn’t really feel like too much of a nightmare. You know, it was a mental game, like having to make sure you kept doing it every day, but were you still able to do like the things you liked, spend time with family and friends? Like, what was that the case for you?
Jamie: Oh yeah, definitely. I think I heard too many horror stories of like, people saying like, oh, the, you know, months, years I spent studying was like horrible and like had no life. So that was kind of a main goal for me of like just because I’m studying for these exams doesn’t mean my life is over until I pass them. Because for me that would, it would have been harder, I think, to study with that mindset versus building in like, you know, I went away, like we like to go to the mountains. So, you know, we had some weekends at the mountains where I was still doing, like, my multiple choice questions. [00:29:00] So, like, kind of dabbling in my studying, but not, like, full on two hour sessions while we’re at the mountains. Um, so, little things like that and just building in time, yeah, to hang out with friends and family. Really just, like, unwinding at night with them, um, made a huge difference.
Nate: Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, when you get your, well, when you get your study process really nailed down, it unlocks all kinds of things, but specifically that you can, when it’s just really efficient, every hour you’re spending is efficient and having, you know, study tools you can do from your phone. You really can work around pretty much anything that comes up and still, yeah, go on trips, hang out with friends, keep up with your hobbies.
Did you have any hobbies that you made it a point to keep doing or like workouts, things like that?
Jamie: Yeah, more just workouts and, I would, yeah, I would say friends and family and then just time to work out. Other than that, I feel like with [00:30:00] work, that kinda, I also like to like cook and bake, so I did some of that too.
Nate: Yeah.
Still Have the Habit of Waking Up Early
Nate: So now that you’re all done, does your, does just having work just make life feel easy or simple?
Jamie: Yeah, you know, I still get up early. It’s actually kind of been helpful with tax season. So, like, I start work, like, at 5:30 or 6 just to kind of, like, get the hours in early. But now it’s kind of trained me. I was like, I don’t know. I, anytime I wake up, I’m like, oh, I don’t want to start work right away. It’s like, well, I could be studying, so.
Nate: Yeah.
Jamie: it’s positive, yeah.
Logan: Yeah. So I was, I was actually going to ask that, like what you were planning to do with your, with your CPA. Um, so you’re working in taxes right now. Is that right?
Jamie: Yeah, so I work at a local accounting firm.
Um, so yeah, it’s tax season for us.
Logan: We’re glad that you were able to take time off to do a call during tax season.
Jamie: Yeah, you know, I figured I put myself yellow on Teams and it’s my lunch break, so.
Nate: Nice. Oh yeah, that’s true.
What Jamie Found to be the Hardest and Easiest Exam
Nate: What did you find to [00:31:00] be the hardest exam and the easiest exam?
Jamie: I feel like I can never answer that question. Well, for me, they were just like, I guess challenging in their own way. I think the sheer volume of material for FAR was like the hardest cause I had to be really strict and put in probably a little more time than the other ones just to get through all the material, like in the multiple choice questions. Um, but as a whole, I think. I felt like BEC for me, it just felt like a lot of tests in one, and I was also like warming up. Um, but for the other ones, they actually kind of lined up well with what I was doing at the time. So like for audit, I was actually going through my, um, community course audit. So they kind of like paired up well, um, at the same time.
So I was getting the information in from different directions. And then for FAR and REG, I was actually learning that stuff while training on the job too. Um, so [00:32:00] I can’t say that I guess one was a really hard or really easy. Um, but at the end of the day, I was glad that, yeah, my training with work kind of lined up with those last two.
Logan: Um, to clarify, so were you saying that were you doing community college classes while you were doing the CPA exam or was it
Jamie: They overlap.
Logan: Uh, okay.
Jamie: Kind of during.
Logan: Okay.
Nate: What were you scoring on these exams that you passed on the first try?
Jamie: Um, so my lowest was an 84 and highest was a 91.
Nate: That’s what I figured that you were scoring high. I could just tell. Yeah. That’s, that’s awesome.
Tip He Got From His CPA Brother
Nate: Um, did you ever, so in the beginning where you said your brother’s a CPA, did you ever talk to him about how he studied and like, just what, what were his tips to you back then when you first started?
Jamie: I actually give him credit because he said just nail the multiple choice. He was like with the studying, he just did a lot of those. Um, but yeah, he is, [00:33:00] I guess, a traditional method success story. Cause he, yeah, just did the regular Becker material and it worked out fine for him. So I’m actually more impressed than ever with, uh, like, I don’t know how I would have done it without the SuperfastCPA.
So yeah, that was, I would say the multiple choice or his main, um, was his main advice.
Nate: Smart guy. Um, let’s see, we kind of talked about everything.
A Reminder That Every Second Adds Up and to Keep Going
Nate: One thing I was going to ask, just what would you tell yourself on the bad days? Like, did you have just kind of a singular thought that, you know, if you start thinking like, Oh, I do not want to study or I don’t want to get up tomorrow.
Like, what would you, what were the helpful ideas to just put you back in that mode?
Jamie: Um, I would say the biggest thing was knowing that every little bit adds up. So like, it’s easy to think like, Oh, I only did one multiple choice or like mini quiz for the day. But like, you never know, like one of those five [00:34:00] questions could show up or like an idea, um, could show up. So you just never know. Um, so for me, when I was transition from just like the amount of studying to like the quality then I feel like it was easier to turn that mindset of like because I am actively studying every single minute that I’m focused and absorbing some more information. Well, not just like trying to shovel it all in. Um, actually absorbing the information and being able to like see it, recognize it, and answer questions about it. Um, I knew it was gonna pay off. And then, I feel like once you pass the first one, the easiest thing is like, well, it worked before, it’s gonna work again.
Nate: Yup. I like what you said. Uh, I, I would always have that exact same thought because I used, when I was studying, I studied from my phone constantly and I was using Wiley and back then their app was, better than it is now, meaning more simple. They did just have one button to just start [00:35:00] a quick quiz. Um, that’s where I got the idea.
And, uh, I would always, I always had the thought, like one of these little quizzes could literally be the difference test day. I, so it’s funny you say that. Cause I always thought that, or this one hour or putting on the audios on my drive home, like sounds like torture, but I, that might be the difference.
I might see one question that I heard, and I mean.
Jamie: Yeah. And that did happen to me. Yeah, like I remember sitting in my, I think it was audit, and there was just like one line, um, that was in your audio notes, and I got to the question, and it was like, one of those, you know, random that I feel like if I hadn’t listened to the audio notes, I definitely wouldn’t have known it, but I just sat there, and I could hear your voice saying exactly what the, what the answer was, so that was very rewarding.
Nate: That’s funny. The ghost at the feast while you’re in the center. That’s funny.
Make Sure Not to Get Distracted in the Morning Sessions
Nate: When you would sit down in the morning and that this is one benefit of [00:36:00] studying in the morning because the distractions are already fairly low. Like hopefully you’re not getting work emails or anything at five in the morning, but would you do anything to block out distractions or were you able to just sit down and like, I would put my phone across the room on silent so that it wouldn’t even, or like under something.
So it wouldn’t even buzz just so that I couldn’t even look at it. Did you do anything like that or you’re able to just sit down and once you start, you’re locked in without physically removing distractions.
Jamie: Yeah, I was pretty locked in just because I was doing it on, like, my personal computer for the most part. Um, and I didn’t, occasionally I got random notifications, but I don’t get a lot coming in there anyways. Um, I did, like, when I took the practice exams, I would do, put my, like, phone on do not disturb and stuff. Um, but as a whole, I didn’t really get a lot of notifications at 5:30 in the morning, so that, luckily that wasn’t too much of an issue.[00:37:00]
Nate: Yeah.
Yeah. I think studying in the morning just solves so many problems. I say that about everything. This sets of 30 solve so many problems in advance. Yeah. The mini sessions solve so many problems in advance. It’s just, they’re like the key pieces to the process that if you’re doing all of them, it’s literally hard to go wrong. Um.
Deep Diving Questions and Using Other Resources for Understanding
Logan: Um, for the, for the re-review kind of, that kind of brought that back to me. So you said that sometimes you would spend, you know, upwards of an hour on your, uh, on your re-review. Were you doing 30 questions every time? Um, and, and you also mentioned that you were doing, like, you were diving deep into every question, right?
Like, not just the ones that you got wrong.
Jamie: Correct. Yeah. I, I would say for most of them, I did 30, um, for, I did try to look at like how many questions are actually in the testlet on test day. Um, and I think one was like 36, but I maybe did like 33 or 35. I forget. Um, so yeah, I did [00:38:00] bump it up a little bit, but never more than I think like 35 for my daily re-review. Um, and then yes, I was diving pretty deep. I still tried not to, like, kill too much time on going through each question, um, but if it was one that I had already gotten, like, wrong a lot and, like, it was still clear, like, hey, I’m not understanding this concept, um, then sometimes I would, like, see if there’s any YouTube clips or, like, honestly, I would try to go back to the background material and I know that’s, like, kind of, you know, one of the strategies to have like using those resources like if you need to but I still found that like, there was just as helpful like clips on YouTube.
Like there’s i-75 And just some other targeted even if it wasn’t geared towards a CPA, but it’s still like talked about that topic I found those very helpful, too.
Logan: Mm-hmm.
Nate: Yeah.
Logan: I mean, that is, that’s perfect cause, uh, there’s just a million tools out there, you know, we have the internet right at our it’s great [00:39:00] to be able to Google something. I mean, we, Nate and I do it all the time at work. Uh, we’re trying to help people with this. So, yeah, I mean, that’s smart to do.
Nate: Yeah. A lot of the tax stuff, like, I dunno, a lot of times when you’re going into something, a concept or a rule almost gives you more questions than answers. And then one of the things like Googling something is just a very helpful strategy. You might see YouTube video, but with tax stuff, there’s all these like specialized firms out there that have stuff published on their site about very specific, uh, breakdowns for tax things that I, I mean, yeah, like Logan said, we still use now to like try understand something better.
Um, good grief. I had a question ready to go till I added that little comment on, um, oh my gosh. What was it?
Logan: Re-review?
Nate: Oh yeah. Yeah. I was going to comment on that earlier when you first mentioned it, how you said that even if you got a question, right?
You were [00:40:00] constantly looking at the questions, you know, after the fact and just asking yourself, did I really know this or not? Like, do I really understand this or not? And uh, and just the idea of what you said about putting in the time to really understand the questions you’ve gone through. That’s something we’re constantly to help people understand is, okay, answering the questions is, you know, necessary, meaning like the set of 30. Getting through the 30 that’s, that’s good. But the most important part is reviewing anything you missed or didn’t fully understand. So you have to make time for that. It’s like this two part thing. It’s not just seeing the questions and then clicking it to see the answer.
Um, everything about this is, do I really understand this or not? So, yeah, I was just, I think I forgot to comment on that when you said that earlier.
Jamie: And I think it was helpful, too, how you say to take it in, like, the test mode, so you really can’t see how you’re doing along the way. Because I found, I don’t [00:41:00] know if I was doing it before, or just the way some were set up, like, I get more distracted if I, like, oh, see, I got that wrong right away, or, um, then can lose time there. Yeah.
Nate: Yeah. The planting the seeds part, like new topic for the first time. I think that makes sense to do in practice mode. So after each question, you’re instantly seeing, okay, this is how you do it. But then the set of 30 is best to do in test mode because then it’s helping you with just what you said, like the way that it will be on test day, um, answering questions.
You don’t, you know, you don’t see the answers. It helps with timing and it’s just replicating the test day thing.
Jamie’s Final Review Study Process
Nate: So, um, I think the only thing we didn’t talk about is, so if you were doing six week study windows, I think you said that was that kind of what you aimed for each time, six weeks.
Jamie: About, yeah, a little longer for, I think, like, FAR.
Nate: Okay. So how long did you [00:42:00] save for a final review and what was your final review? Uh, what did it consist of?
Jamie: I didn’t have a set timeline, but I would say an average of maybe a little more than a week. Um, just because I felt like I was doing the same thing in my final review anyways. Yeah, I guess because you have that daily re-review built in. It didn’t feel like I was starting from scratch or needed quite as much time. I did do some of the final review videos from Becker for audit just because at that time I did have a recent college course, but I still felt like I didn’t quite have, like, the full picture, if that makes sense, or, like, just, I thought it could be helpful to help me line everything up, um, so that was the only one that I watched those videos for. Other than that, I really did the same process of the two hour sessions of the re-review, and working hard at making sure I was understanding all of those, um, [00:43:00] and then from there filling in the extra time with like a sim or two, um, and then also just going through the like review notes, audio notes, kind of whatever I was in the mood for or like thought could be beneficial at that, um, time
Nate: Okay.
Jamie: And the flashcards too.
Logan: Hmm. Yeah.
Jamie: Going through those. I did, go ahead.
Logan: I was just going to ask, did you do like a 48 hour cram session type thing or did you do anything like that?
Jamie: I didn’t do a like formal 48 hour cram session. I definitely like hit it hard and tried to really just get through the audio notes, um, and reading the review notes as many times as I could. I kind of found it helpful to, like, go through them together at the same pace. So, like, I would read one section, then listen to one section. I don’t really know what type of, like, learner I am, audio or visual or whatever, but I felt like just doing everything, um, and seeing the information, hearing the information. Looking at it in a multiple [00:44:00] choice question was more helpful just to get, like, the variety.
So, I tried to take off the day before, like, I think I scheduled some for, like, a Monday, so that I had the weekend.
Um, for my very last one, I just took the day off before. Basically, just made sure I had it designated, um, probably more like six hours each day, was what I would do, so. Maybe more like 12, but then while I was studying, like it was really focused. So I was trying to balance, like, I knew if I did a full 48 hour one mentally, I probably just would have been burned out afterwards.
Um, and also, yeah, just, I could feel when my mind was starting to like go and basically the studying was becoming less productive, if anything, probably more hurtful than helpful.
Nate: Yeah.
Jamie: For myself.
Nate: Yeah. No, I mean, what you said is, is essentially the idea with just, um, if you can setting your test on a Monday so that you have the Saturday and Sunday, but then that Saturday and Sunday just kind of [00:45:00] studying six to eight hours, basically what you said until, until you kind of know that it’s just, I’m past the point of, uh, absorbing anything new right now.
So, yeah. Um, well, yeah, so we have kind of gone through everything.
Logan: Yeah.
Things That Jamie Found Really Helpful
Nate: So were there any other study strategies you used or anything else that would be helpful to somebody else who is struggling with the study process that you felt like was just a really helpful to you, whether it’s a strategy or I don’t know, anything that you did?
Jamie: Yeah, I mean, I think I shared pretty much all, like, the tools between, like, Becker, your guys stuff, um, and, like, the YouTube videos, pretty much, were the tools that I used. But I really think having some sort of structure, I guess, to kind of pace yourself along the way, um, was what I found helpful. And the daily re-review, I think that made the biggest difference, um, for me. And then, [00:46:00] kind of how we touched on earlier, just finding what works for you to absorb the information. I think the biggest thing that helped me with transitioning to the multiple choice strategy was knowing that I was still, you still have to work hard to like, grasp the information. I think it’s easy to be like, Oh, I’m doing this new strategy, but it’s still kind of have that same like passive mindset of like, what you said of like, Oh, I’m just going through all the multiple choice, but not actually understanding it.
Um, so I think doing whatever, whether it’s the flashcards or if you just still like to take regular old hand notes from the multiple choice to just some way to make sure you’re actually, yeah, gathering the core concepts really. And they, I found that like my notes and flashcards did really mirror a lot of the things that were in like the audio notes and review notes anyways, um, so yeah.
Nate: Yup.
Logan: Perfect.
Nate: Yeah, just approaching it from multiple angles. There, there is something to that I, [00:47:00] I can’t describe it, uh, scientifically what’s actually going on, but hearing the, like the notes audibly, like listening to the notes, reading the notes, basically seeing the information in question format, then hearing it through audio, reading it at different times in your own words and flashcards, just from all these different modalities, basically, it gets in your head, makes sense a lot faster or more, uh, deeply, I guess.
Jamie: Yeah. And I think, I was gonna say, I think it was helpful to have, like, the products from, like, that you guys put out, and also Becker, like, cause I was going through their multiple choice, so it was almost helpful to see two different people’s styles of, like, questions. I know you all model them after, like, the AICPA questions anyways, um, but I did find that, like, the app questions, like touched on some different things that I hadn’t seen at all in Becker.
Um, and [00:48:00] I found like the just general overview from the audio notes and review notes very helpful to like see the big picture of what the exam was focused on. Um, and obviously it did have like details along the way, but it was just so helpful in like what 80 to 100 plus pages, like basically have the exam summed up and then within Becker kind of fill in more all the details.
It just felt like it was a perfect pairing.
Nate: Yeah, I was going to ask what was your favorite or kind of your go to study tool from us, but it sounds like you used all of them at different times.
Jamie: Yeah, I would say I started out just the audio notes between like driving and going on walks that kind of like made the most sense. Um, but then I started to see the value and yeah, hitting all of them. So I would say the audio and probably the multiple choice I used the most and then read through the review notes as well.
Nate: Yeah. Awesome.
Top Tips for People Still Struggling with the Study Process
Nate: Well you kind of already did this, but we’ll [00:49:00] just ask it anyways the, uh, the last question we always do is just, what would be your top three tips to people that are still trying to figure out their own study process?
Jamie: Definitely daily 30 re-review um, multiple choice questions first, or, um, basically just, I mean, even if you want to spend the time to go through the lectures and review notes, like, I’m not saying that’s a bad way either, like, if that works for you, but I think either way there is value in obviously doing the multiple choice, but when you’re getting those wrong, go back, or even write. Um, really utilizing that to study from, um, as far as that, like active learning portion. Um, and then third, I would say don’t get caught up in like the weeds or like go on rabbit trails. I think it’s really easy to think like every single thing you see could be on the test. And yes, it could, but for myself, it [00:50:00] was more of like a mental thing of, um, I don’t know, going down rabbit trails, especially like the week or so before the test, thinking that I had to master every single thing. And at that point, it’s not helpful. Um, so I think I heard you actually say Nate of like, especially the week or so before, like, just focus on repetition of getting like everything in, versus like, um, yeah, narrowing down one specific topic that you might not even see. So I think, yeah, don’t get caught up in the weeds.
Nate: Yup. Yeah. That’s a very, yeah, very big thing. That was my big mistake on my first attempt at FAR. I spent like the last week trying to learn dollar value LIFO. And then, I mean, maybe I saw one or two, I don’t remember, but saw all these simple questions that I just couldn’t remember because I hadn’t like reviewed it in four weeks. So
Jamie: Yeah.
Nate: Yeah. A very good point.
Jamie: Oh. And also one other thing for the sims, because I always had the like last minute test anxiety of like, I didn’t prepare enough for the [00:51:00] sims. Um, I did like look up, I think like on Reddit or just like Googled like the most common sims. I think you guys even mentioned some for like FAR, and that was helpful too, just to like narrow it down on which ones to focus on.
So like, you know, for FAR, like the bank rec, things like that, um, which made, gave me a little more peace of mind, um, and helped me narrow that down.
Nate: Yeah. Yeah. There, there are, there’s just a lot of resources or strategic ways you can give yourself a lot of advantages on these. So well, yeah, so you kind of had the ideal ideal story you, uh, I mean, the CPA was, you know, you were disciplined obviously, put in the time, but you weren’t putting in an inordinate or unnecessary amount of time and you smashed the exams.
So I’m, I’m glad you found us and that it, you feel like it made a difference and congrats on being done.
Jamie: Thanks. Yeah, I’m really grateful that I found you guys when I did. And anybody who asks, I recommend you guys [00:52:00] 100%. I even told my whole firm because they were like asking people like as the, uh, CPA study process. So, I said that because I gave you guys all the credit.
Nate: Awesome.
Logan: let’s
Nate: All right. That was the interview with Jamie. I’m sure you found that interview super helpful. And again, I loved that after getting used to doing the multiple choice questions, she was still constantly trying to improve. And by waking up early in the morning and constantly studying with mini sessions throughout the day, she felt like her life was still not too bad. She was able to go on hikes in the mountains with friends or family. She was able to have the evenings off most of the time and she was able to still have a life.
I think that’s what a lot of people are lacking when it comes to the CPA exam process. Still being able to have things that you love and enjoy in your life, even though you’re studying for such a difficult exam.
To finish out, just one more reminder about our free one hour webinar training on superfastcpa.com. This is the webinar that Jamie watched and we will teach you the key ingredients to passing the CPA exam. We will show you how to be effective and efficient with your process again, so that you don’t waste months or even years of your [00:53:00] time.
Also make sure to leave a rating in your favorite podcast app or like and comment on the YouTube video. This podcast is the best free resource out there for CPA exam candidates who are looking for encouragement and who are looking for ways to improve their process. So make sure you share it with your friends and anyone you know who is going through the CPA exams.
Thanks for watching or listening and we’ll see you in the next episode.
