In this SuperfastCPA podcast interview, you’ll hear how Ryan was able to pass his CPA exams while still in his master’s program, and how you can use his tips and insights to avoid mistakes and make your own CPA study process more effective.
IMPORTANT LINKS:
Master your study process by attending one of our free study training workshops:
https://www.superfastcpa.com/study-secrets/
Episode Timestamps
- 00:00 Introduction
- 04:09 When Ryan Decided to Take Accounting
- 05:27 How Ryan Started Studying for the CPA Exams and Deciding to Get SuperfastCPA
- 08:37 The Trap Ryan Fell Into Before SuperfastCPA
- 11:47 The Realization of Learning the Why Behind the Question
- 12:56 Things Ryan Changed When He Got SuperfastCPA
- 16:14 How Ryan Dealt with Difficult Topics
- 18:15 Because of His Busy Schedule, Studying in Chunks Played a Big Role
- 19:47 What a Day of Studying Looked Like for Ryan
- 23:41 Confidently Sharing SuperfastCPA Helped Him Pass to the People Around Him
- 27:22 Bought SuperfastCPA and Gave Himself 4 Weeks for the BEC Retake
- 29:17 Ryan’s CPA Exam Timelines
- 34:57 Didn’t Study at All Until Graduation While Waiting for His Score Release
- 36:45 Finding Out He Finished the CPA Exams
- 38:16 How Ryan Celebrated After Passing the CPA Exams
- 40:43 Going Through the Same CPA Journey with a Friend
- 42:50 Didn’t Find BEC to be an Easy Exam Like What People Said
- 45:50 Made Use of the Becker Practice Exams Near Testday
- 48:48 The Scores Ryan is Getting from His Daily Study Sessions Near Testday
- 50:43 How Ryan Learned Better Through the Questions First Approach
- 53:14 Ryan’s Study Process for Tackling the Sims
- 56:32 Top Tips for People Still Struggling with their Study Process
Interview Transcript
Ryan: [00:00:00] this isn’t like a college exam where you can just cram one or two nights before like this is something that you have to just keep, keep going at every single day until you take the test. And that’s what I did. I never took any days off when I was studying for the exam.
Nate: Welcome to another episode of the CPA Exam Experience Podcast from SuperfastCPA. I’m Nate, and in today’s interview, you’re going to hear Logan and I talk with Ryan.
So as you’ll hear in the interview with Ryan, he found SuperfastCPA, or at least saw our ads and then watched one of our free webinars, six months before he actually started studying for his CPA exams. And at the time, he kind of thought, that kind of sounds too good to be true. And then if I run into problems with the way that I’m going to study, then maybe I’ll come back to this.
So six months goes by, then he starts studying for his first exam. [00:01:00] He focuses on the dashboard, making sure everything’s green, checked off at a hundred percent, thinks he’s doing everything he’s supposed to do, and he still got a failing score in that first section. So then he came back to SuperfastCPA, he got our Total Bundle, carefully watched the PRO course videos so he was clear on all the strategies, and then from there he just passed each exam while spending a lot less time than he was previously.
So like the other interviews, we go over pretty much every aspect of the study process, and you’ll get to hear Ryan’s unique views and insights on each part of the process, what worked for him and what didn’t, but there are three key things I want you to listen for in this interview.
The first thing is that Ryan describes a big misunderstanding he had between the MCQs in his review course and then on test day, and the comparison between those two things and the simulations. So, he gives a lot of really good tips around that idea [00:02:00] in this interview.
The second thing is a common trap that he fell into doing so many MCQs. And even though our approach is based on primarily just doing a lot of MCQs, there’s still this strategic distinction that you have to make, and Ryan kind of discovered that on his own and then comparing it with what he learned in our PRO course, so he describes that in a lot of detail that you’ll find helpful.
And then the third thing is a daily exercise he would do with our review notes and audio notes that’s a little bit different than normal that he mentioned multiple times through the interview about how helpful it was in his process and helping him grasp the concept or the idea behind the questions he was using in his main study session.
So before we get into the interview with Ryan, I just want to mention our free study training webinars. Again, in Ryan’s story, like pretty much every other interview, that is the first thing he watched from SuperfastCPA. It’s really this one [00:03:00] hour introduction into our strategies, our philosophy on the study process, and just even with a few mindset shifts in how you approach studying, how you can make your study process much more effective and efficient.
So if you haven’t watched one of those trainings, that is the best place for you to start. The link to that will be down in the description of this episode, either in the YouTube version or just the audio podcast version. So make sure to watch one of those if you haven’t. With that out of the way, let’s get into the interview with Ryan.
Nate: Uh, podcasts or episodes, you kind of know how these go?
Ryan: Yeah, so when I was studying for the CPA exam, I was listening to a lot of the podcasts that, um, you guys were uploading when I was taking a break from study. And I was just kind of listening to what other people shared with their stories and, um, kind of strategies and tips that they shared with, um, other people.
Yeah. So I, I’ve listened to a lot of them, so I usually know how they go.
Logan: Well, [00:04:00] awesome.
Nate: Yeah. We’ll just kind of sequentially talk through your, you know, study journey, so if you, if you’ve listened to a few episodes, then that’s exactly how this will be.
When Ryan Decided to Take Accounting
So yeah, let’s just start from the beginning. So what got you into accounting originally, or more specifically, when did you decide to take the CPA exams?
Ryan: Yeah. So it was actually back when I was a senior in high school. Um, I took a financial accounting class. When I was a senior in high school and really liked looking at the financial statements like the balance sheet, the income statement, the journal entries and all that. It was a challenging class when I was a senior in high school, but I knew that it was something that I liked to doing.
And, uh, when I went to college, I decided to major in accounting and, um, I knew about the CPA exam and that was something that I wanted to do way back then. But I knew that accounting also had a lot of like job security behind it I talked with my parents [00:05:00] about that and they told me that it would be a viable field for me to go into so yeah. It was all the way back when I was in in high school went through, uh, bachelor’s program and then went through a master’s.
Um, I went to Illinois state university uh, I took the CPA exam when I was in my last year of school in my master’s program.
Nate: Nice. Okay.
How Ryan Started Studying for the CPA Exams and Deciding to Get SuperfastCPA
Nate: So once you decide to, you know, study, take the exams and start studying, how did that go? Did you buy a review course? And then what was studying like the first few weeks or months or whatever?
Ryan: Yeah, definitely. So I actually found SuperfastCPA about six months before I started studying for the CPA exams. I found you guys through a YouTube ad.
And originally at the beginning, like I, I watched your, um, one hour training course that kind of talked about the tips and how to just actively learn [00:06:00] when you’re studying for CPA exams because that’s so important because people will be doing all these, um, like watching lecture videos or reading the textbook, but if you’re not getting anything out of it, then you’re kind of just wasting time.
So I remember watching your training video, um, and then about six months go by, um, I get into Becker and I start, this was in June of 2023. I start with BEC, and I remember saying to myself, well, I like your, I like this guy’s tips, you know, and if I’m ever struggling with the CPA exam, I’m going to go for it and buy his stuff cause it seems, this just seems right.
Um, so yeah, I went through BEC for about eight weeks in June of I took the exam in August of 2023 and I was kind of doing some of the stuff you’re implementing, but I didn’t have like, I didn’t have your review notes. I didn’t have your audio notes. I didn’t have your mini quizzes [00:07:00] to kind of help me get that, um, background information to really understand the material.
So, I also had kind of this misunderstanding where I thought a lot of the Becker multiple choice questions were going to be pretty much exactly like the real exam questions. And then I got into the exam and I was like, boy, this was like a total misunderstanding I had here. And so, um, I also realized that. didn’t practice enough sims, and kind of just like, didn’t really get like the format or the structure behind them, and so I struggled with that too, and I also went way too fast, so. ended up failing BEC back in August of 2023. And I said to myself, I was like, all right, I got nothing to lose. I’m going to look into SuperfastCPA again.
And, uh, I was originally a little bit skeptical about SuperfastCPA
Logan: Yeah.
Ryan: And I know other people have said the same thing before too, but, [00:08:00] uh, was like, I’m going to go for it and, you know, let’s see how it goes. And so, I bought like your whole package. So I think you had the, um, like all the multiple choice, all the, like, so all the mini quizzes, all the review notes, all the audio notes, and then along with your, um, PRO videos, I believe they were.
So that was in, yeah, that was in August of 2023. I bought that and then, um, yeah, kind of just. I watched your videos at the very beginning, from the beginning to end, and a lot of stuff just made sense and kind of just went from there.
The Trap Ryan Fell Into Before SuperfastCPA
Logan: So what was your, like you dive into BEC, what were you, what was your typical day of studying like, you know, so that we can contrast that to what you changed when you got SuperfastCPA. What was the difference?
Ryan: So before, obviously before I had SuperfastCPA, I only had Becker and I [00:09:00] was doing like the two hour morning sessions that you guys recommended. So, I had a, I had an internship at the time, but I was getting up at like five in the morning to do like two hours of, um, of like new material.
So with the new material and then 30 minutes with the re-review. And, um, I remember like I was just doing multiple choice over and over again. And it came to the point where I was like memorizing the questions and I wasn’t actually learning them. And that’s kind of a trap that you can get into with Becker and doing too many multiple choice questions is that, you know what the answer is, but do you know like why the answer is what it is and so, why the incorrect answers are incorrect.
So that was a trap that I ran into and I wasn’t actually learning anything. And it was nice, you know, doing the re-review questions, you know, at the end and getting a hundred percent, but it was like, I couldn’t actually like explain it, you know? And [00:10:00] so kind of the trap that I fell into. So while I didn’t watch the lectures or read the textbook, like I still wasn’t really learning through the multiple choice.
I was just trying to like through the multiple choice as quick as possible. And, but not like actually understand it. It was just memorization. So I had that. And then the sims, like I almost never practiced and I’ll talk about the, how I practiced the sims once I bought SuperfastCPA, but, that was another thing that just when I got to test day, I was just like going through all these exhibits and not being able to really just complete them and break them down, you know, cause that’s what you really have to do.
So, um, that, that’s what it was. Um, when I had BEC, when I took BEC the first time. Then after, uh, I bought SuperfastCPA. So I had SuperfastCPA with Becker. Um, I [00:11:00] started, I still did the multiple choice a lot. I didn’t watch the lectures or read the textbook, but I was more understanding like the questions and why the answers were correct.
I wasn’t memorizing them anymore. Um, I was,
Nate: Can I, can I ask you that real quick? Sorry to cut you off, but I think that’s a really good, uh, distinction because a lot of times, like really you could sum up our approach as like, just do the multiple choice first. But, there’s a lot more to that. Kind of like you just said you were, you had watched our free training, so you were doing the multiple choice, but yeah, you were just kind of going through the motions basically it sounds like, and not really digging into the what and why behind the questions.
The Realization of Learning the Why Behind the Question
Nate: And so was that difference? Did you get that from the PRO course? Do you remember?
Ryan: Yeah. I remember just like, I knew that you emphasized in the PRO course to, [00:12:00] to do the multiple choice and to like, like to start with that. And so I did get that from the pro course. I did start with that, but I just, I wasn’t like learning, you know, I was just going through the Becker stuff and just
Nate: So I mean the distinction of after BEC, once you, like, when did it click for you? Was it just your own experience on BEC or where did you pick up the, that distinction of, okay, I really need to really understand the why behind these questions. Like when did you pick that up and where?
Ryan: It was definitely after I took BEC the first time. I realized I didn’t actually learn some of the stuff that I was going through. I was just memorizing questions.
And it, it, it seemed like I was learning the stuff because I was getting like a 100%’s on Becker, but it wasn’t, it wasn’t actually learning.
It was just memorization.
Logan: Mm hmm. Okay.
Nate: Gotcha.
Things Ryan Changed When He Got SuperfastCPA
Logan: So once you got to the, once you got the PRO course [00:13:00] and you kind of learned that for yourself, like to learn from the questions and everything, what else did you change?
What else changed with your strategy once you kind of learned those things and got the PRO course?
Ryan: Well, I had the review notes. The review notes were very helpful with SuperfastCPA. And so what I would do is, um, every day I would implement reading the review notes and I would have the audio notes in the background. So I would be reading like Nate talking, like on a, on a page, like I’d be reading what you’re saying. So I would really stay focused and
Logan: The follow along
Ryan: Not get distracted. Yeah. Cause like reading review notes, like I could read that and get to the end of the page and be like, what did I just get out of this? But with the audio notes, it like made me stay focused. And the review notes were very critical in getting that background information, getting just some of the basics, um, with, with some of the [00:14:00] content in all the sections and that’s what I really needed at the end of the day. And then I didn’t have that the first time when I took BEC. So I understood that I kind of needed something to supplement with Becker and SuperfastCPA was a great resource with that because just doing the multiple choice was like not enough for me to actually learn the material.
So I had the review notes that I was reading relentlessly with the audios playing in the background. And then along with that, I was still doing the multiple choice. I was still doing the re-review. I also implemented using the Becker flashcards. So what I would do is usually in Becker for each section, there’s like six to eight chapters for each section of the CPA exam. So I would go through half of them one day and then the other half the other day. And when I’d be reading the flashcards and make sure I’d be reading them, I’m fully paying attention and I’m flipping them over, I’m [00:15:00] understanding like, okay, this is why the answer is what it is. This is why this makes sense.
Um, and if I wasn’t paying attention and if I caught myself like reading something, but not getting anything out of it, I would reread the flashcard and make sure that like actively learning cause that’s the whole part of this process. You have to be actively learning. So I had that implemented.
Um, so the review notes with the audios in the background, the multiple choice every day, the re-review, uh, the flashcards, and then I also had the mini quizzes, um, and so I was, I was in my master’s program at the time, but I would pull up the mini quizzes on my phone. Like I had your guys’s app and I would just do like five questions.
If I was. in line for food somewhere, or if I just had, yeah, quick time to just get five questions done because they only took like two or three minutes to do. And there weren’t like any complex math calculation questions which were really easy to just get done in [00:16:00] a short amount of time. And that was just another part of capturing the understanding, really getting just the concepts down, really learning the material this time, um, being able to explain it. That was something I had.
How Ryan Dealt with Difficult Topics
Ryan: Um, and then one other thing I started doing was when I was stuck on a topic, when I really just couldn’t understand it and I needed to go back to it again. Like even after the day was over, that lesson was over and I had to move on. I would write it. I would keep. Track of it in a notebook.
So I just have simple bullet points of things that I just knew, knew I needed to remember again, because I was struggling with the topic and I continue to struggle with it. And I would read those notes, um, every night before I went to bed, just to, just to kind of refresh, um, the things that I was stuck on. So that, those kind of five [00:17:00] things, along with doing sims on the weekends, I did like. I think maybe five to seven practice sims on Saturday and then five to seven on Sunday. That was really key, honestly, in just being able to be successful, uh, with the CPA exams going forward. Um, I, I went through BEC, had my retake last September, it, went through audit the same way, passed that, then FAR and REG, and then FAR and REG actually were after the changes in 2024. It just, it worked out, you know, I just knew that like the, what you guys talked about in your PRO course videos just, just worked and it’s all about the process of actively learning and, it just, it made sense, you know?
Nate: That’s awesome. So I think I remember that from your, uh, little note. So after you kind of adopted our program, you just went four for four?
Ryan: Yep. Yep.
Nate: Awesome. Yeah. Uh, so I, I know you just kind of [00:18:00] explained this, but so the, our study tools and like the, the idea of kind of just studying in small chunks throughout the day, in addition to your main session made a big difference compared to your attempt on BEC.
Because of His Busy Schedule, Studying in Chunks Played a Big Role
Ryan: Yeah, absolutely. Because SuperfastCPA was just another kind of, yeah, the small chunks, with studying at certain points of the day, were critical for me because I was in my master’s program. I was working as a graduate assistant on campus, and then there are a couple organizations that I was involved in.
And so I had, I had a lot going on along with studying for the CPA exam. So there were certain parts of the day where I knew that I was going to be able to get some study time in. And so, I would dedicate one, one time in the day to do the review notes and the audio notes, um, just listen to those and then flashcards.
And then I made sure, um, [00:19:00] when I had time where I wasn’t going to get interrupted somewhere, when I was like back at, back home, then I’d be able to do like going to Becker and do the multiple choice questions and capture that, that understanding, going to the main lesson in Becker. uh, making sure I was doing the re-review and I didn’t have that obviously the first time with BEC because I didn’t have SuperfastCPA yet.
So yeah, just being able to kind of utilize multiple study methods with the review notes, the audio notes, the multiple choice, the mini quizzes, the sims. For me, it was also the flash cards, like I mentioned, and then taking notes of things that I was stuck on. That is just what worked out for me.
Nate: Yeah. Okay.
What a Day of Studying Looked Like for Ryan
Logan: So I kind of want to break down your like day to day. So what was, cause you said you were quite busy. I mean, you were doing your masters. Uh, I did a similar thing and so that makes you extra busy. So how did you, what did you have to [00:20:00] do to structure your day so that you could get your main session in? And then how did, like, did you just set aside like one specific time a day to do certain things or was it kind of just all throughout the day you were doing many sessions? Kind of just, what was your day to day? Like,
Ryan: Yeah, absolutely. So when I was working as a graduate assistant, I was working 20 hours a week, four hours every single day, Monday through Friday. So, um, there was downtime that I had at this job that I worked at. So any, literally any second that I had downtime, I was pulling up the review notes with the audio notes playing in the background. So I would just go through that, making sure that I’m fully paying attention right now. And if I’m not like I’m rewinding the audios and I’m going back to the page that I just missed. Um, and so I had that and then I would also, after that was done, I would just go through the flashcards. so, um, yeah, I had [00:21:00] those two.
I made sure to get those done. Um, and most of the time I was able to do that at work, thankfully.
Logan: Okay.
Ryan: I was at a job that I didn’t have to do much work, which was nice. Um, because the guy that had my position last year, uh, came back full time. So my responsibilities were actually split in half. Um, from when I was originally offered the job, which was amazing, you know, just to be able to have some more study time with the CPA exam.
So I had that usually in the morning. And then once I was done with classes and work, um, and I was back at home, I would do my main session and that would be with Becker.
I’d go immediately into the multiple choice for each section. And I would do maybe one or two lessons every single day. And then, um, after that I was in re-review and for re-review I did 30 MCQs, but I did it five times.
So I did 150 MCQs every single day. [00:22:00] So it was like
Logan: Wow.
Ryan: Amplified. Yeah. So I made sure that like, I was really, like pounded the MCQs. I made sure that I was, I was learning. I wasn’t memorizing this time. And so I had that. And then yeah, if there’s anything I missed, sometimes I wasn’t able to do the review notes and the flashcards every day at work.
I would just do that after my main session at night when I had more time.
Logan: Okay.
Ryan: But it always, I always made sure to get like those four or five things done before I went to bed. Cause I knew that I was like, if I just do this every single day, like this is going to work out. And I saw that after I retook BEC last September and, um, on the weekends, I had more time, obviously.
So I implemented the SIMS as well, uh, with everything else I was doing. so, yeah, I mean, it just, it just worked out and having those small chunks to, to do study time were [00:23:00] absolutely critical. I mean, any time I had free time. I was making sure that I was getting some study time in. And when I was in my master’s program, some people wanted to wait until after graduation to start the CPA exam.
And they’re like, like Ryan, you’re taking this too seriously. Like, you know, you don’t need to be like doing mini quizzes before class starts or something like that. But I was like, no, no, like this is, this is really important. And like, this isn’t like a college exam where you can just cram one or two nights before like this is something that you have to just keep, keep going at every single day until you take the test. And that’s what I did. I never took any days off when I was studying for the exam.
Logan: Perfect.
Confidently Sharing SuperfastCPA Helped Him Pass to the People Around Him
Nate: Have any of those people come back to you and been like, okay, now, now tell me more info on how you did this.
Ryan: Yeah. Well, I have, so I had two college roommates, um, that were also in the master’s program, like I was, and, uh, both of them were going to wait until [00:24:00] after school to, to start taking the exam. And, uh, now that we, because we graduated back in May, um, one of them actually works in the same office that I work in now, which is really cool.
Um, and he took, he took FAR in July and then audit, uh, a couple weeks ago, but obviously now you have to wait a long time to get your scores back.
Logan: Mm hmm.
Nate: Yeah.
Ryan: But he has, he has asked me like, like, how do you, how have you studied like on a day day? Like, what was your process? And, I mentioned SuperfastCPA to him.
I’ve mentioned SuperfastCPA to a lot of people. Um, not only that I knew in college, but also the people that I now work with just cause like it’s just, this is just so important. You know, this is how you like with this process just works.
Um, it saves a lot of time, you know, with having to retake exams over and over again. Um, I don’t know if I would still be [00:25:00] studying right now if I didn’t buy a SuperfastCPA one year ago. But I just knew that based on the, um, other people that have been on this podcast before in the past and their stories and, and their struggles and when I went through that. This is something that more people have to know about.
And, I’ve talked to people about it at work before. There’s actually one guy that’s actually using SuperfastCPA now to go through his exams. So I was like, oh, no way, that’s super cool, that’s what I did for the CPA.
Nate: Oh, and you hadn’t mentioned it to him. You just found out he was using it.
Ryan: He told me where we’re eating lunch and I was like, Oh, no way. That’s cool. That’s what I did as well.
Nate: Awesome. Yeah, that’s good to hear.
Logan: That’s how I was too. I randomly found out after, after I had already been doing my exams that somebody else in my office done it before. And I was like, Hey, like, you know what, you know what you’re doing? You know, cause she was the only, like one of the few people in the office who had passed her exams, like really quickly.
And then a whole bunch of other [00:26:00] people were struggling because they didn’t do the SuperfastCPA. So and I was similar to, and my master’s like, I was the guy who was everybody about it. And a lot of I could tell a lot of people were like, whatever, like, I’ll just like, cool it. Like, I’m gonna do it after you know, I can I have that time.
But I was saying I was like, no, I’ve got to get this done. Yeah, that’s awesome that you’re you’ve been able to share it with a lot of people.
Ryan: Yeah.
Logan: With the yeah, yeah.
Ryan: No, I was just going to say with the whole, I talk about SuperfastCPA and I talk about the study approach and people just give you this weird look, they’re like, what? You don’t watch the videos. You don’t read the, the text book.
You go through the multiple choice first.
Nate: I don’t get that people act like that’s so weird, but it’s like, well, look on test day, you don’t watch any videos. You just, you have to know how to do these problems. So work backwards from that. And you just figure out how the problems work anyways. [00:27:00] Yeah. But yeah, that people act like that’s mind blowing when they they’re like, so wait, but so I answer the questions before.
I, and you know, if you’re just doing practice questions, there’s no consequences, you know, like the AICPA is not watching, you can get stuff wrong, resubmit it, you know, yeah, the whole, uh, that still surprises me, but I mean, we hear that a lot.
Bought SuperfastCPA and Gave Himself 4 Weeks for the BEC Retake
Logan: I did have a kind of like I did have a question with the timing so once you started studying for Superfast, with SuperfastCPA, excuse me, uh, you passed all four But how much time did you give yourself for each exam and did you give yourself a final review as well? What was what did that look like?
Ryan: Yeah, definitely. So when I failed BEC, right after that, I bought SuperfastCPA and um, gave myself, I think it was four weeks for the retake. Um, the semester was just getting started and there was a lot of things going on. I just wanted to give myself a little bit of time and kind of adapt to the new study approach I was [00:28:00] about to go into with SuperfastCPA and Becker.
And so, um, I gave myself four weeks for the retake. I was doing everything that you guys had said to do, um, along with the Becker flashcards and then taking my own notes and reviewing those every night. And so I retook it in September. Passed that. And then I gave myself, I took that on a Friday. think the following Monday I went right into audit.
Um, people, it was kind of funny too. People were like, oh, you’re only giving yourself the weekend before going into the next section. I’m like, yeah, let’s, let’s do this. This is working.
And I immediately saw that with my retake, when I got into my BEC retake and I went through the multiple choice, I’m like, this is so much different than like the first time around. I knew that I was actually learning the content and I was like, able to answer a lot of questions with confidence. And then when it came to the sims, like I wasn’t, they were challenging, they were tough, but they were definitely manageable and I had more than enough time to get that [00:29:00] done. So, and I always had a rule for myself when it came to the, to getting to the sims. I had at least 2 hours and 30 minutes left for the sims.
Logan: Wow, okay.
Ryan: To be done with the multiple choice by that point, just because I knew that that would be enough time to get that done.
Ryan’s CPA Exam Timelines
Ryan: So, and then when I got to audit, I gave myself 7 weeks for audit. Audit was six chapters back then in Becker. So I would do one each week. I don’t know how much it is now. I think it’s the same.
Logan: I think it’s still six. Mm hmm.
Ryan: Yeah, yeah, I think it’s still six. I would do six, six, six weeks of learning new material going through the whole section. And then the last week was final review, the final review. Honestly, it was not really that much different than like what I’ve been doing all along. I made sure that I was still doing the multiple choice. I was still doing the re-review.
I did take the Becker practice exams, which were a lot. I mean, cause there, I [00:30:00] did, there’s like two or three you can do for each section. And if you, I mean, you have to sit down and it could take you three to four hours to, to complete those.
And it is a big time commitment, but, uh, those practice exams can really be a confidence killer, uh, sometimes because you get like, 50s and 60s and then you go through the questions you got wrong and it’ll be like one word, especially in audit, it’ll be like one word that’ll change like the entire answer
Uh, to the question.
Nate: Yeah.
Ryan: And for audit, it’s, it was so important to read the whole question, to read every single answer and to pick like the best answer, you know, cause it, it all sounds the same. Um, and I had never worked in audit up to that point. I had done two audit internships, but I hadn’t worked in it yet. So, um, that was, that was challenging.
But then FAR, I gave myself six weeks to do because I was, um, I was in winter break for my school.
And so I had [00:31:00] Christmas break to, uh, just go through FAR. It took me four weeks to get through the content. Um, and then I gave myself two weeks for final review for FAR, because I, because FAR was, it was challenging, probably the most challenging to get through the material, at least. It was very, they, they do have like really tough, like multiple choice questions.
Logan: Mm hmm.
Ryan: And, um, there are a lot of things you have to be thinking about. And so I did make sure that I gave myself 1 more week of final review for FAR. I still remember being super confident in the final review and with the practice exams, like I wasn’t, even if I was getting like 50s or 60s or 70s, I knew that I was ready for the exam. Um, and I felt confident in the entire time. And then I think I remember REG, final review was again, one week. I did seven weeks for REG and I took REG actually over spring break. Uh, uh, it was cool so, um, [00:32:00] yeah, I mean, it wasn’t, I remember you guys mentioning about how you don’t want to drag each section out for three months and I totally agree with that. Like, you want to make sure it’s, I would say like six to eight weeks for each section, depending on the section.
And, you know, making sure That you’re staying committed. I, I didn’t take any days off, but obviously that’s not everybody, you know? Um, and so I wanted, I would always book my exam dates, uh, before I even started studying for each section and I would not change it, you know?
So I made sure, okay, is the day I’m taking the exam it’s not going to change and so would kind of be like a more just way to be more committed, uh, to the whole process.
Nate: Yeah.
Logan: Yeah. That’s something I wanted to say, kind of like with the setting of the exam date and then, uh, you know, making sure that you, you get it. Um, that’s what I probably like if I wasn’t like, you know, with like coaching clients and stuff like that all the time.
That’s what I typically would [00:33:00] think. Um, you know, with these long score releases, we’ve been kind of telling people like, if you’re not ready, don’t take the exam because you’re going to have to wait like three months or four months. But overall, I think in general, it is good to have that goal so that you push yourself, you know.
Nate: And you knew you had your process down, so that’s kind of a different.
Logan: That was a part of it too like, I know I can get to this and I know I can do it. So anyway, yeah, I, I typically, I typically do recommend that like, I think it, I think most people can do six to eight weeks Transcribed And I think, especially with the exam changes, because all of the exams are a little smaller now, especially FAR, FAR used to be in Becker like 10 modules or 10 sections, and now it’s only six. Uh, and then the discipline exams aren’t that big. Um, anyway, I definitely think I agree with you, like six to eight weeks. You could probably do almost any exam if you’ve got your process down, like, like you had down Ryan.
Ryan: [00:34:00] Yeah, I 100 percent agree with that cause like when I, going into the new exams in 2024 and I had BEC done, I had audit done. So, and I knew my process was working and you made a really good point about being especially ready in 2024 when you’re going to sit for an exam. Cause yeah, I took FAR in late January and then I took REG in the middle of March. And originally, the release date was like June 4th.
Logan: Yeah.
Ryan: We ended up getting our scores actually May 28th. It was like a week earlier, but I had to wait four months to find out my score for FAR and then like two and a half for REG. So I was like going into the exams, especially for those two, I knew my process was working.
I knew I was ready, but I was like, I am definitely ready, you know, cause I’m not waiting two or three weeks like I was last year. So that, no, yeah, that was a really good point that you made.
Nate: So this won’t really be relevant cause they’re going back to a continuous testing in 2025.
Didn’t Study at All Until Graduation While Waiting for His Score Release
Nate: But you took REG, you [00:35:00] know, you didn’t know for sure if you were done, but did you keep studying at all? Or were you just like, I’m pretty sure I passed those. So were you just done studying after you took REG until you got those scores?
Ryan: Yeah, no, I’m really glad you asked that question. So after I took REG I had like two and a half months where I didn’t know still two out of four, three out of four, or I was completely done. Uh, it was really just, I didn’t know. And honestly, no, I didn’t restudy, but I did, it was still in the back of my head.
So what happened was I finished out the semester. Um, I didn’t touch Becker, um, at least until I was, until I graduated college. And so I just made sure to kind of lay low on the studying and just hang out with friends. Enjoy the last two months of college before, you know, I was going to be graduating and then, you know, starting to work full time, started my career and whatnot. [00:36:00] Um, so I didn’t touch it. But then I knew once I, after I graduated that June 4th, uh, was coming up. and so I think it was about a week after I graduated that logged back into Becker and I was like, all right, I’m going to do, uh, like a hundred multiple choice questions for FAR and REG every single day for two weeks.
Nate: Man.
Ryan: Cause like, I knew that if I failed one, the turnaround was like three weeks, you know, for quarter two. So, I was like, I’m just gonna do this, uh, for two weeks. Let, we’ll see what happens on June 4th and then hopefully I, I never have to open Becker again.
Logan: Yeah.
Finding Out He Finished the CPA Exams
Ryan: I, so may 28th came around actually. And I found out on Reddit that, um, they were going to be releasing the scores a week earlier than expected, uh, on NASBA.
And so I, uh, I was like, Oh, no [00:37:00] way. Maybe I don’t have to, I don’t have to keep going with this for another week. So, um, I remember through Reddit and then people are getting scores for audit, FAR and REG. And so I was like, all right, I’m, I think it was around noon. I was like, I’m going to check now.
So right next to my mom and my dad was on the phone and they were, they were eager to find out, um, what the results were going to be. And so, clicked on NASBA, check my scores and it said passed credit for both of them, and I was just, a sigh of relief.
It was definitely a huge rush though, to, to finally realize that after all that waiting for those two exams that, that I was done that I didn’t have to torturing myself with multiple choice questions and like that I’m wasting my time right now?
Logan: Yeah.
Nate: Yeah.
Ryan: Yeah, I did re-studying for about a week and then that was it. It was over after that.
Nate: That’s good. At least you didn’t do it all two months. Yeah.
Logan: Yeah. I, I, I told him, I, I, [00:38:00] I told myself, Oh yeah, I’m definitely going to maintain it because I was like, there’s no way. And then as soon as I took my last exam, I was like, No, if, if I have to retake it, then I’ll just, I’ll just find that out and I’ll start then. Because it was just, was just so nice to not study, you know.
How Ryan Celebrated After Passing the CPA Exams
Logan: Uh, did you do anything fun or did you do anything to celebrate passing all of them being done?
Ryan: Yeah. I mean, I just got there with my family. My parents and my two younger brothers, we got, we just got dinner. Um, it was just a huge relief to be done. What also was nice, I guess, that because I had started the CPA exam study process very early on, um, way back when I finished my bachelor’s, I had a whole summer of where I just had a bunch of free time, um, because I was done in late May, my job didn’t start until early August.
And so, um, I was able to keep up with my hobbies, you know, like I was, I was, you know, [00:39:00] working out and I made sure to work out during the whole CPA exam process. Like I didn’t give up on that. I know people will say like, oh, like I’m giving up on working out cause I’m studying for the CPA, but I didn’t do that.
You know, uh, I was working out. I was playing softball. I played a rec league softball with my high school friends. So I had that over the summer. I was playing golf. Um, I like reading a lot.
Logan: That’s the magic word for Nate, golf.
Ryan: Yeah, yeah.
Nate: You can see my sunburned face. Wonder where I got that.
Ryan: But, uh, but yeah, no, I just, I just had a, I felt like my summer in a sense of having that free time and not having, a lot of stress anymore was kind of like, uh, a reward for me in a sense, because I had gotten my bachelor’s in three years because I had a lot of high school credit coming into college and I was always taking classes. I was taking classes over winter break as well. And [00:40:00] so, and then I was in, I was always working whether it was on campus or off campus, and I was involved in so many things where I had like leadership stuff. So it was a lot, those three years. And then especially that last year with the master’s program, um, my job, and then the CPA exam, and then the others trying to still have somewhat of a social life. It was just so much, and so to finally have like a few months where I could just chill and, relax, that, that was awesome.
Logan: Yeah.
Nate: Yeah. That’s really cool. Being done, like graduating with your master’s. Then a week later you found out, right?
Ryan: It was about two and a half weeks later. Yeah, May 28. I graduated May 11th, so yeah.
Nate: That’s really cool.
Going Through the Same CPA Journey with a Friend
Nate: How many other, how many other people in your masters, like did this, were you the first one done as out of everyone? As far as you know?
Ryan: So there was actually one other guy I knew in my master’s program that I had met in one of my classes last fall and, [00:41:00] uh. I didn’t know him before, but we were talking about the CPA exam one day in class last fall, and we were talking about BEC. And, uh, I told him that I had just retaken it and I passed it.
And that he told me he was about to take it in a week or so. And he just asked me for any advice on, on BEC, but, uh, he, him and I were kind of on the same exact path in terms of, uh, how we went throughout the CPA exam. So he took BEC, uh, about, uh, three weeks, a month after I did. And then he took audit about a month after I did.
And then I took, after audit, took about a break, um, before I started studying for FAR. Because I just wanted to relax for the rest of the semester. I had finals coming up and, uh, there were a few things going on, uh, with the organizations that I was involved in with like Christmas events that I didn’t want to miss. Um, so we [00:42:00] had, took FAR, I think about a week apart and then REG also about a week apart. And, uh, he was, I mean, he found out the same day I did on May 28th that he finished FAR and REG like I did. And, uh, it’s, it’s, it’s interesting now because we work in the same office and we are also working in audit together so we literally see each other like every day. And so we’re both, we’re both done with the CPA at the same time. We were on the same exact path, pretty much. Thing is he, he didn’t fail any exams. I failed one exam but, uh, yeah, I mean it was just, it was awesome, you know, to, to be able to talk about it with somebody else in my master’s program because most people were just waiting until they graduated or waiting until after, the 2024 changes, uh, occurred.
Didn’t Find BEC to be an Easy Exam Like What People Said
Ryan: And so I didn’t want to wait because I knew about BEC and I knew that I wouldn’t say BEC was a really easy exam, but people back then said, Oh, [00:43:00] it’s the easiest of the four. But that was, that was a tough exam because those were a lot of topics that were not really accounting related.
And, uh,
Nate: Right.
Ryan: It was especially tough starting out with BEC because most people start with FAR and there are just certain concepts from FAR and this kind of goes with every exam. I come from FAR and if you don’t start with FAR first, it can be tough to kind of answer some of those questions. And I had some difficult questions on exam day for BEC, even when I retook it, that I was like, oh, they were talking about like present value or something like that, and I was like, this seems like a FAR question, like this wasn’t really talked about in Becker for BEC. And then when I took audit, uh, last November. Um, had some sims that were like with FAR concepts and just really covered a lot in Becker. I know a lot of people say take FAR before Audit, and I [00:44:00] agree, but I heard that Audit was getting more challenging in 2024. So I wanted to take Audit in 2023 before the changes occurred.
And so, I kind of got lucky with audit because those two sims, and then I think I got the research sim wrong as well. I mean, I, I just passed, I got a 77 on audit, you know, but it was, uh, it was a relief for sure. So,
Nate: Yeah.
Logan: With BEC first score, do you remember your first score and what was the change in your score? Like how, by how much did you improve for, uh, from the first to the next time?
Ryan: Yeah. So when I, when I failed BEC, um, it was, it was actually a little bit better than I thought it was. I thought I’d completely bombed it, but I got like. Like a 63. And then when I had retaken it, it was a 79. Um, and then audit was 77. And so I knew that with the retake with BEC, that it was going to [00:45:00] be a significantly better score than the first time around.
Um, I never, I didn’t pass with flying colors, but a 75 is, is all you need at the end of the day.
Nate: Yeah.
Logan: Yeah, I never scored above an 80, but I didn’t care.
Ryan: Yeah, exactly. You know.
Nate: We’ve had a few outliers on the podcast. Uh, people that followed the system like two hours a day, I mean, and then mini sessions and then still scored in like the high nineties, which is insane cause usually the people that are scoring in the nineties are like, they’re not working, they’re, and that’s like their goal.
They study all day, every day. They’re trying to really like memorize everything. So scoring in the nineties, kind of following our approach is crazy, but I mean, it, it happens. But yeah, passing is, you know,
Logan: That’s all that matters.
Nate: That’s all that matters. Yeah.
Made Use of the Becker Practice Exams Near Testday
Nate: Um, so what I was going to ask earlier was, uh, you mentioned doing the full Becker practice exams for audit. Did you keep doing that for the remaining [00:46:00] exams?
Ryan: I did. I did. And for what I realized with the Becker sims is that with, you could have a lot of rows and a lot of columns. And if you don’t get the, the columns right in a specific row, they mark the whole thing
Logan: It’s all wrong.
Ryan: For the Becker sims, and so I don’t really know if that’s how it was on the real exam, but when I got to the real exam for Audit, FAR, and REG, they weren’t really formatted like that in the first place to where they could mark it and correct.
It was more like boxes and specific sections. And so that
Logan: And they do give you a partial credit on the exam though. So that’s good. Yeah.
Ryan: That was nice. But, um, the practice exams, I mean, I took FAR, I took a FAR practice exam, the first one, and I got like a, like a 57 or something like that. And I was like, oh no, like a week or two out like, this not good and then I took the second one like a day later it was like a 74 and I was [00:47:00] like, okay, like it’s just with the way that a lot of it was with the, how the sims are graded in Becker cause they grade super harshly. And I was like, I hope this is not how the real thing is, but. Um, I did do the practice exams also for REG and REG in each one, they had, um, uh, MACRS depreciation, I think is what and so that was actually a topic for REG that I really struggled with and I just could not understand it. And so I watched, they had like skill builder videos in Becker to where you can watch the whole video and how to complete the SIM and they kind of explain everything in a lot of detail.
And so, um, I was, I remember the last few days before I took REG, I was like, all right, if I don’t get this down, if this comes up as a SIM, like, I need to understand this before I take the exam. And so I dedicated the last few days to just spending a little bit more time on that topic. And then I got to the actual exam and it came up in a multiple choice [00:48:00] question and, and, and that was it, you know. But, uh, the practice exams, I mean, I recommend them, um, just to get some more because they’re different multiple choice questions.
They’re different simulations. There’s just more things that you’re being exposed to. I got them done in usually two and a half, three hours. But then on the real exam, I always took the whole time. but I mean, you don’t have to do them, you know, if, cause then they are a big time commitment for sure.
Nate: I think I’d probably say, I mean, like bare minimum, it’s good to, if you’ve never gone in for a real exam, I think doing at least one. To just see like, this is what it’s like to sit there for four straight hours and go through MCQs and then the sims and just see what that’s like before you do it live where it counts but.
The Scores Ryan is Getting from His Daily Study Sessions Near Testday
Nate: Um, so in comparison, what were you scoring, you know, in your sets of 30, you know, leading up to like your last week, like you in, let’s say FAR for example, you got, [00:49:00] uh, like, what’d you say in the fifties on your first full exam or 60 and then a 74? In that last week as you were finishing the material, what were you scoring on your re-review sets of 30?
Ryan: Yeah. So for FAR, it was mostly in the eighties and nineties, and that was kinda consecutive with the other sections as well. I remember audit, I was always in the nineties. Sometimes I would get a hundred percent, but yeah, with the sets of 30, like the sets of 30 were probably one of the most important things to do in the whole, like the whole study process.
Because you’re not re-reviewing, just if you think about it, you can just be forgetting information as you go through the entire section and then you get to the actual exam and it’s like, What did I learn six weeks ago or eight weeks ago, you know? So, I remember scoring pretty high in the re-review and although I did that the first time with BEC I knew that this time around with the new study approach and with [00:50:00] SuperfastCPA I was actually learning the material I knew why the answer was correct and I could explain it and I knew I was in good shape when I was at least getting 80% on the practice quizzes at the day.
Nate: Yeah. Yeah. That’s right. That’s right where you want to see it. I mean, sometimes people freak out. They’re the first few weeks in and they’re like, well, I’m still scoring fifties or sixties on the sets of 30. And yeah, it’s, I mean, the whole thing’s a progression, right? Like, yeah, they should, you want to see them high, but at the same time, you’re still really in learning mode until, I don’t know, a week or two before the exam. And so really at the end is when that should start to go up.
Logan: Yeah.
How Ryan Learned Better Through the Questions First Approach
Logan: With the, uh, so you kind of talked about this. how did you, or what was your process for, for learning from the MCQs better this time? Because, you know, you’ve talked about, you understood the why and things like that. What were you doing differently, [00:51:00] like the multiple choice question to make sure you were actually understanding it rather than just clicking through it? What was your process for learning the difficult topics you figured, once you figured it out?
Ryan: Yeah. I think the first time I went through BEC, I was just seeing the question. I wasn’t really reading the whole question. I was just clicking on the answer because I had seen it, you know, like a thousand times before, but obviously, you know, that’s not learning. That’s just memorizing. And so you know, I realized that after the first time I took BEC, I’m like, okay, I definitely have to change a few things, even if I pass this exam. Um, so I went into the MCQs with the SuperfastCPA approach and with Becker, it was more about reading the whole question, reading the answers, why the answers are correct. I would read the explanations sometimes in Becker too. Um, some of them aren’t super great. They just kind of regurgitate the answer.
They don’t really explain why the answer is [00:52:00] correct, but for the most part they did a pretty good job, um, explaining why the, the answer was correct. And I knew specifically with audit that, I mean, reading the question is so important and, you know, that was my second, second exam, um, just, the whole question, reading all the, um, all the different options and being able to why the answer was correct.
And I had a lot of, the background information from the review notes with the audios and with the flashcards that it just, I knew that when I was going through the multiple choice questions, that it was just working. The process was working. I, I was understanding the material, uh, a lot better this time around.
And. The whole part was just learning and not memorizing. And that’s what I fell into the first time.
Logan: Yeah, it seems like it was really it was shifted from kind of glazing over the multiple choice questions thinking I’ll [00:53:00] just kind of understand it by seeing them.
Nate: Yeah.
Logan: Through osmosis, but and switching to diving into each question and understanding each question as you went through. That’s what it sounds like.
Ryan’s Study Process for Tackling the Sims
Logan: Um, is, did you kind of do that with the sims as well? Like, how did you break down the sims? Cause you talked about doing those on the weekends. What was your process with the sims?
Ryan: Yeah, for the sims, I would do five to seven on Saturday and Sunday, and I would just randomly generate them on Becker from the, uh, lessons that I had already covered up to that point. So during the week I wouldn’t do sims, but on the weekend I did. And so when I would randomly generate five to seven sims, I Would, um, go into each sim. You know, try to solve it as best as I can and then, um, go through each one, submit at the end and then kind of just look over them. Um, but I knew that like, [00:54:00] even if my scores like on the sims weren’t super great, I wasn’t really affected by that because I knew that it was more about me understanding how the sims work, the structure behind them with all the exhibits that you could come with on exam day. Um, it was more just getting familiar with that and being able to, you know, have enough time to struggle with them on the actual exam, which is why I mentioned earlier, you know, having at least two hours and 30 minutes for the sims was a rule I had for myself on exam day.
But yeah, I mean, I would just make sure I would look at a decent amount of them, solve them as best as possible. If I didn’t score super great on the sims, I, I didn’t really take it too personal, like I just kind of moved on, you know, um, And it was the same thing with the practice exams, because obviously in the practice exams in Becker, they have sims on there as well, and I would, you know, I would do those as best as I could, but, uh, it, I’ve heard other [00:55:00] people mention on the podcast before, it’s more about knowing how the sims work, getting familiar with them. So then on the actual exam, like, you, you know, kind of how they work cause don’t know what kind of Sims you’re going to get on exam day. You’re just more, it’s more about knowing the concepts through the multiple choice that can help you with the sims. And I mean, at least for FAR, like the FAR, even though the FAR exam changed a lot and people say it’s easier in 2024, like I thought some of those sims were pretty challenging on the new FAR exam. There are a lot of exhibits that I had to go through, through, um, most of the sims and you want to make sure you have enough time for them and being able to kind of know what you’re looking for and, uh, yeah, just being able to see a few of them. I’ve seen, I’ve listened to people on the podcast say that they did no sims, that, that’s not me.
I couldn’t do that. I wanted to see at least a few. Cause the first time I didn’t really do any of, [00:56:00] any sims um, but it was more, yeah, just getting familiar with the structure and then making sure on exam day that I was ready for whatever I was going to get.
Nate: Yeah. Well, and having a ton of time to just deal with the sims on exam day, which all the MCQs and getting good at the MCQs that solves that in advance. That’s kind of the big key to the sims is having tons of time on test day. Sounds obvious, but yeah, uh, well, yeah, I think we kind of went through everything.
Top Tips for People Still Struggling with their Study Process
Nate: Um, last question we always ask is, uh, it’s probably stuff we already covered, but if, if you summed up your best 3 tips to people still trying to figure out their own process, what would those be?
Ryan: Yeah. First tip I would say is to, to buy SuperfastCPA. I mean, the program works.
Nate: There we go.
Logan: Right.
Ryan: It’s not a scam out there, you know, it’s a, it’s a reliable program. Um, there are tons of study materials and tips in [00:57:00] there that, that can really help you succeed and, and save a lot of time on these exams.
I, I’ve talked to so many people about SuperfastCPA and how it helped me in my journey. And, uh, I saw, I just recommend getting the program, understand, watching the videos, uh, and then just implementing your study process and going forward with that. Um, I would also say my second tip would be to always practice the re-review questions, the multiple choice questions at the end of the day.
I mentioned it a little bit earlier, but it is, that is so important to do with Becker. Whether you get, uh, SuperfastCPA or not, it is important to be doing re-review every single day, just because like you’re retaining stuff over and over and over again. I didn’t realize how important that was until I started retaking BEC, um, and realizing that retaining stuff and, and knowing that I didn’t have to try [00:58:00] to remember in my final review is something I learned four or five weeks ago, because I never covered it after I covered it one day. Like I knew that because I had re-review that I was just being able to be confident and being able to answer the questions and having enough time for the sims on the actual exam.
So I would always say to, to practice, uh, multiple choice questions, hit your re-review every single day. And then my last tip would just be to understand how you learn best. So I remember in college that in lectures, I would zone out a lot and I wouldn’t really pay attention. And I, so I knew when it came to the CPA exams that watching the lecture videos was probably not going to be the best learning strategy for me. I mean, Nate, you mentioned it earlier, but on the actual exam, you’re not watching videos, you’re answering questions. And so, you know, I think it’s important for everyone to understand how they learn best. So that wasn’t for me, watching the lectures, [00:59:00] that wasn’t opening the textbook, um, but it was practicing multiple choice questions.
It was through the review notes and reading those relentlessly all the way up until I took the actual exam. Um, doing the Becker flashcards, something I mentioned that was pretty helpful as well. And then reading my notes on things that I just could not understand and then that I had to keep reading over and over again, uh, until I was actually ready.
So those are my tips though.
Nate: Yeah. Awesome. That’s perfect. Well, yeah. Uh, thanks Ryan for doing the call. That was, I mean, it’s going to be super informative and just helpful to anyone listening to this. And I’m, I’m glad you decided to give us a try after your first BEC attempt and that it worked out so well. So congrats on being done.
Ryan: Appreciate it. Thank you so much guys.
Nate: So that was the interview with Ryan. Like I said in the beginning, he shared those three key things, but of course a lot of other very good tips, [01:00:00] info, wisdom, insights, all things that you can use to both avoid mistakes and improve your own CPA study process.
So if you found this helpful, please take a second to share it with someone you know who’s also working on their CPA exams. Do the normal things like like the video, subscribe to our YouTube channel. We have a lot of things that we put on the YouTube channel such as free MCQ video walkthroughs that we don’t put on the podcast feed. So you want to be subscribed to both the podcast and the YouTube channel.
Thanks for watching or listening, and we’ll see you on the next episode.
