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How Shaka Passed Her CPA Exams

how shaka passed her cpa

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In this episode, you’ll hear me talk with Shaka, a SuperfastCPA customer and now-CPA, about how she passed her CPA exams, including a very unconventional motivation tip.

How Shaka passed her CPA exams on Youtube…

Transcript:

I just I, I like that because I’m, like, really hard on myself in general. Even I never thought of something like that. That is. That is funny.
Welcome to Episode 18 of the CPA Exam Experience podcast from SuperfastCPA. I’m Nate. And in today’s interview, you’re going to hear me talk with Shaka. She’s a CPA exam candidate. Well, a SuperfastCPA customer and now a CPA, a past candidate, I guess you’d say. And in this interview, there are three things that I want you to listen for. And again, we cover a lot more than three things. There are all kinds of tips.

3 CPA Study Tips to Listen For

And what’s most useful is hearing her entire CPA study process and all the insights that she got as she went through the process from struggling in the beginning, as almost everyone does, too. Then when it all starts to click and then going on into the phase where she just passes such section after section. But there are three specific things that she shared that I thought were very good tips individually or very just specific things.

So the first one is she had a little rule for herself. Anytime that she pulled out her phone throughout the day. So listen for that. The second thing is she talks about switching review courses even before she had passed any sections. And she thought it was because there was some kind of inherent problem with the review course she was using. But what I wanted to listen for is the realization she had and how she changed things after that. And then the third thing that you should listen for is she shares one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard. In any arena, not just the CPA topic about how she had this goal reward program for herself, but also a punishment when she failed a section and I just thought this was so funny because I am someone who thinks in those terms I’m very hard on myself, but even I would have never really thought of something like that.

So it’s just very amusing, to say the least. So if you find this episode helpful or you’ve listened to any of the previous episodes and you found those helpful, I would ask you to do two things.

First. Share your favorite episode with someone else who’s studying for the CPA exams, because these episodes are free. They are, I think one of the best resources for CPA candidates online as far as something that’s free, because you just get a lot in terms of motivation, trying to put yourself on the same page as these people who are describing their CPA study experience. And it’s just helpful to hear the full story of what someone has been through that you are trying to do yourself. You’re trying to accomplish something that these people have and hearing how it went for them start to finish, including all the warts and all. So to speak, so that you can identify with yourself. OK. I’m having a rough time, but so were they. And if I just keep putting in the time and effort and the strategies, this will all start to click. And from there, that’s when you start passing your exams.

The second thing, of course, would be to just look up the podcast and your favorite podcast app wherever you listen to these. And we’ll review for the podcast. So in that spirit, I just want to read one or two of our newest reviews. These are from Apple podcast specifically because that’s what I use. I just pull this up. So this is from Kfitz97, he said, or I guess I don’t know if it’s a he or she. They said, I’ve taken two of the exams so far and I’ve past both using SuperfastCPA, both the course in these podcasts are great.
Then another one from Mamoud, Michael’s story.
This is he says, this story is really helpful. It gave me energy and motivated me to schedule my exams sooner and most importantly, to start to start waking up earlier in the morning. So thank you for those reviews. Again, please take a second if you found these helpful and find the podcast and your podcast up and leave a review.

Now, the last thing, if this is the first time you’ve come across SuperfastCPA, these podcasts are helpful, but they kind of jump all over the place. But you will hear it referenced over and over. Our study methods are the CPA or the SuperfastCPA approach to studying. The best place to go for a free one hour training where we will walk through that thing exactly is one of our free study trainings.

These are one hour webinar where we will teach you how to have a two hour main study session with your review course. It doesn’t matter what review course you’re using and you can get more done in these two hours than someone who’s studying for five hours the normal way and normal way.

That’s explained on the training, the mistakes or the problems with the normal way of studying, which most people are using, and then how you can just make a few small tweaks but get insanely better results from two hours instead of like four hours. So the big claim is that on weekdays when you’re working, that is all you need is one, two hour session done with your review materials. And that’s all the time you need to find or set aside to study with your review course on weekdays so you can go to superfastcpa.com/passnow, or just text PASSNOW one word, to 44222 to get a link to one of these upcoming trainings. So with that, let’s get into this interview with.

Once you got to that point. How did you kind of start the CPA study process? Did you just get a review course and just kind of jump into it? Or how did it all start for you?

Starting the CPA Study Process

So I was actually a campus representative for Rogers CPA Review, so I was able to claim that course in the time I was ready to start. But after graduation, I actually had an internship, so I wasn’t able to. Well, I could have started studying right away, but it turns out the community, but after the internship actually had a gap of like fifteen months. But after my internship, I had like a vacation plan to go back to the Philippines. I was in the Philippines for three months and I tried to study there. It was really difficult, just like having that almost two month gap between graduation and the time I tried to say to me again for go to school. I tried to study for far and that didn’t go so well. So I moved on and tried to study REG instead. So Sankari, I grew about, I think, two or three months. But for some reason, I just like things were going the way I planned. And I figured that it would be easier for me to just maybe I’ll get a part time job while studying. Or I actually would suggest for both people, because not a lot of people can sit down and study for eight hours straight.

Some people can like both you. But a lot of people say there are a lot of studies that show that if you study just for four intense hours a day, it’s much more effective than doing it all within an eight hour window. So that’s what I did. I had a part time job at a monkey school. I think I was working about 30 hours a week. And then I would it was from twelve to six hour to study in the morning, in the evening. And I think that was that really helped me. So I was using Rodder at the time and actually found SuperfastCPA. I think about it on a Reddit forum

Yeah.

I feel like we’re suppose that even the CPA exam is like looking for motivation or people who have been through or are going through what you’re going through. Just look it up and you probably find something on Reddit or things. This forum called another seventy one.

SuperfastCPA Mini Quizzes

I found it on Reddit and I wish when I found it, I was like, wow, I wish I found it sooner because there are some review courses that have apps, but there aren’t any that have like those mini quizzes that SuperfastCPA. Yeah. The five questions and sometimes I really all you need are all you have time for during. Right. A 15 minute break. So I think that was really helpful for me because wherever you are like what I tried to do is every time I pulled out my phone, I would have to do five questions before I click on my email or go on social media or anything. So that really helps.

That’s and that’s a good tip.
I’m going to say that to people because it helps keeps you keeps you focus on your goal because like out of habit, you look at your phone and keep scrolling through social media, but you could, like, rewire your brain somehow and it helps just keep you focus and you be responsible throughout the day. Even when you’re not looking at the review course or watching the lecture, at least you have that app.
Now, some.
So did you. Did you actually take any sections and and fail or like what was the kind of. How did that go?
Yeah. So I.

I first took REG, and then before I even got the results, were I moved on to audit because at that time in 2018, there was actually like a one month gap between the time that you took the tests and they would release a score. So I don’t want to waste time at that. So I just moved on and study for audit. You know, I took the chance hoping I would pass. Right. But I failed both parts, unfortunately. And it was rough. I was expecting the best. At least one.

But you think.

It’s better. It probably was better that way because then I pushed myself. I knew that, like even though I was studying really hard, it probably had a better a better study method. So I just switched it up instead of, like, watching all the lectures.
Most people said, just go straight to the multiple choice. And that’s why I SuperfastCPA really helpful, because then you have the multiple choice questions on your phone ready whenever you need it. And then oh, and also the the voice lectures. Audio lectures.

Yeah. So I would play that in my car, even though it’s just like a 15 minute drive to work or anything, I just play that.
And even though, you know, absorbing everything, you at least learned a thing or two every time you write an audio lecture. I think those are really helpful. And then whenever I was at home and I had like a longer time to study, then that’s when I’ll do like the longer.

Twenty five, 250 questions or the lessons. So that was kind of my study method, just wherever you are. You should have it on your mind or something playing in the background. That’s like keeping you focus so that you don’t take like. I think that. Were you taking the CPA or when you study for the CPA exam, you can’t really take more than a few days break if you are taking it seriously. It’s hard to take even a day off because your mind’s always on it.

Correct. That’s kind of what I. It’s kind of miserable anyways. And so it’s almost easier to just accept that I’m just not even going to take days off and I’m not even gonna take hours off. Kind of like because I was always trying to study from my phone and. I had stuff that was not ideal from my phone. I had like word documents that I was trying to, like, pinch and zoom in. That was kind of where. That’s why we made the study tools the way they are. Just this should all work right inside of an app. That’s just super fast. Well, that’s super quick to pull out and start using, you know. Yeah. So, yeah. How about your main study sessions, like when you were studying in the beginning? When you sat down with you, would you use Rajouri said.

Initially, yes, I used Roger and actually ended up using a combination of Roger and Becker because Roger wasn’t all innocent.
I thought that it wasn’t working for me because I failed both REG and audit. Yeah, but in the end, it was like it was a study method. All I had to do was just keep like, you know, hammering down the questions, which I wasn’t doing enough the first.
OK, so that’s what I’m basically asking. So, yeah, when you actually sat down with your main review course in the beginning stages when you were, you know, ended up failing those sections. What were you doing then and then? How did you change it? What are kind of the things you figured out for your main study sessions?

To Highlight or Not to Highlight?

So when I first started studying, so the very first time it actually started cutting for far, I was gonna be my first attempt. I was reading the book and actually going through it and highlighting it because I know I thought it would be an effective way to study because, you know, that give you a book.

Then, you know, you expect to read through the whole thing. But those probably like the worst advice I could never give to anybody unless you. You thrive in that type of learning environment, then I would I definitely would not suggest doing that. If anything, I would suggest you could watch the lectures, but I would suggest watching it at one point five or two types speak because some of them go really slow and then you just lose your focus really quick, especially when the topics are really dry. So that’s what I did during my first attempt. I just watched the video lectures and then we’ll do the Multiple-choice right after. And I did all the questions, but I don’t think I did the questions more than twice, which was probably a mistake because I won’t even do it like back to back days. I would take breaks every now and then, and that’s not very effective. So the second time around, the advice I got from most of my friends who have passed and they like their first or second try. They said that they just. Went through all the multiple choice questions, like they wouldn’t even look at the lecture unless they were completely lost.
And when they would watch it, like I said, you would have to play it in a faster speed to keep you interesting for that long. Yeah, I think multiple choice, just drilling those down, even if you feel like sometimes you’re memorizing it after a few times, if you read the explanation, it’ll click.

Yes, it’ll make sense to you eventually. And once you do enough in the multiple choice that everything makes sense or most things, not everything will make sense. Like your first time, right. Once you do it enough times and you do, this seems like it will make sense.

Yes, that’s a great. Yeah, that’s a. That is how it works, you know, it feels like your first few weeks or your first few times through kind of a topic that she’s like, this is. I just don’t even understand what this is saying. Like, it’s just spending enough time working through the questions, just like you said, it just starts to click. And so. Yeah. And then how about what was your process for The Sims? Did you do a bunch of practice Sims where you kind of writing your own flashcards for journal entries or how did you kind of prepare for the simulations?
So for The Sims, I think the first few tests actually did a lot of the practices. But as I started retaking the tests, I realized that, like during.

Using MCQs to Prepare for the SIMs

Like redoing multiple choice questions helped me more in the Sims than actually doing SIMs, because the more you learn about that concept, the more it’s hard to make sense. And then The Sims, I can sort of just like sometimes people find the right guessing game through The Sims bill make more sense than you remember. Like, oh, this is what I learned from that one multiple choice questions that applies to this. That’s what I did. So I actually took audit three times. And for my last attempt that I finally passed actually barely did any Sims until the last week. So when I mastered or what I felt like I was at a confident level with a multiple choice questions. That’s the only time that I moved on to The Sims. So I think I did Sims for four or five days straight, and then I did a mock test. Said it also depends on the part. So, like for far, you will need to do more civs. Definitely. Right. Because I’m going to keep track of, like, all the tables and the journal entries. But for audit, where it’s more conceptual, that you’ll probably need to focus more on the multiple choice question.

Yeah, the yeah, the REG Sims and the FAR Sims are just nasty, hard to prepare for, but that is much worse than the other two. And what was your system of taking notes or writing your own flash cards or what was your way of doing your own notes if you did that?
So for my first time, I actually. Did not write that many flashcards. I up while watching the lectures, I would take notes and then I just read the right notes. But and then I told myself that in the end, like two weeks or three weeks before the test, I would like great summary pages. But since I was going through every single lecture, I found that I didn’t have time to even make a summary for myself at the end. So during the second time around, I focused on making flashcards. So I would watch a few lectures on the topics that I felt like I was working and make flashcards based on those. But most of my flashcards were actually from the explanations on the multiple choice questions because on the test. There on the lectures, probably only 60 to 70 percent of the content is actually going to be in the multiple choice questions. The rest is just more explanations that you might not even remember later.

Yeah, I think it’s more. I wouldn’t say I mean, almost even less, but. Yes. Yeah, I fully agree.
And same with the book itself. So any additional information that you may not even need? So what I would suggest is just reading more of the multiple-choice explanations, writing those out. And just like you pointed out, there is a full explanation, just like. Five to 10 worried that most they can fit in one line for the questions that you really you feel like you are still weak on. And then just drill drill those down, keep reading them wherever you are, like waiting in line for food or something. Just bring those flashcards out. I my last audit attempt. There was only one test that I took while working full time when I started out of public accounting firm, and that was probably it was really hard to find time to. While working full time, because in my prior job, I only worked 30 hours at that at the new and I had 50 hours plus like a two hour commute.

So every day I was on the bus at the gym, like on the lunch break at work. I had my flashcards and I had I made sure I was reading. Those flashcards are really helpful.
Yes. And the way you explained it is the best way I think is you want to just in general, again, you can watch the lecture or read the chapter and they present everything. And it’s kind of in a different context than when it shows up in the form of an actual question. And so when you when you are going to make notes or a flash card for something, you want to be basing it off of kind of the language of the questions, not just kind of the bullet point summaries of the text or the video lectures. So, yeah, exactly what you said. And the flash cards are known to be much more helpful that way.

Yeah. Let’s see. So we went through. Oh, what about your version of a final review, like what did you do in the last two or three days before an actual test?
Well, for like the week, one week before I would take a mock test, at least one mock test. But for the first the last three days, I think that would depend on the person, because for me, I would take another Mochis. And even if I got like 60, it wouldn’t scare me, because I know, like, if you look up like let’s say for Becker mock test, you look at the average people who get to 60 on the mock tests actually end up still getting an 80 on the test. But for some people, they let that score get to them like, gosh, I’m not ready. So it really depends on you. Just try not to beat yourself out when you see your score. Be ready to see something below the passing score. Say I would do that. Take a Marcus review the questions that I got wrong. And even though it seems like the last three days, I would still take note of the questions that I got wrong, because anything that you write down, you’re going to remember at least at least 50 percent of that.

Shaka’s Final Review Strategies

So I think it helps to take notes continuously, take notes for. So at that point, within the last week, you said you have like all your press flash cards and summary pages of notes. If you do that. But for the last three days, if you feel like there’s some things you are still having trouble remembering or understanding, I would suggest writing them down just like the main points, not your whole summary page. Again, just the parts that you’re struggling. And I think that that would be helpful. And some people suggest just not setting at all on the last day. But for me, I could never do that. I was probably reading my flash cards up until I. To the testing room.

Yeah, exactly. That is the same as me. I, I just crammed around the clock like those last two days were. That was the only time where I studied probably 10 or 12 hours a day and then the morning of it was all about my own flashcards. And another thing you just mentioned is a huge tip. And we we’ve covered this on multiple ones of these interviews because it’s kind of interesting. These people I’m talking to that have, you know, figured out how to pass.

They kind of all in general have they’ve figured out some of like the same kind of key ideas. And then that’s one of them, is you want to you don’t want to just take notes on everything kind of mindlessly, like basically rewriting your own summaries. You want to specifically write down the things that you personally struggled to understand or remember, you know, which is basically just what you said and. I mean, that makes sense. But a lot of people starting out. They spend tons of time. Well, almost almost like you said, your first attempt, you spent a lot of time like highlighting, you know, just general stuff in the in the text. And it doesn’t really translater or do anything but writing down things that you specifically struggle with. That’s that’s what you want to spend time writing thing, writing down because, you know, that’s your personal weak area. Yeah. Yeah. All right. And then what about the. Do you remember the day you got your fourth passing score? What was that like for you?Oh, yeah. So that day.

Usually I look at my score at midnight or 5:00 p.m., but that day since it was my last test and I knew I was going to work, I didn’t want to open it right away because if I, like, failed again, it would’ve been the worst day of my life. And I just I didn’t look at it until the end of the day.
And I was actually at work and there were only two other people. There was me and my career advisor and my other coworker. And I like I couldn’t like scream or dump or anything. I should have opened it at home, but I finally passed it. I was just like a huge weight off my chest and like there, you know, they’ve been through the process. So they’re really happy for me, too, because they probably had like flashbacks or when they look at the results of the election. Yeah, that’s a good feeling.
Yeah. And that’s exactly what you describe.

It’s just just the biggest relief in the world because it’s just this thing that’s just been hanging over your head every day for months. And yeah, that was a great day for sure. So one thing I’ve been asking everyone is. So looking back, what do you think the top maybe one or two things that were just the biggest difference makers for you that you would tell other people that are currently in the study process?
So the first thing to be being specific on the study technique, I would definitely say just drill down multiple choice questions.
One of my friends who passed the first time on for four tries and all he did was multiple choice questions, barely watched any lectures, and he only saw you four hours a day. So, yeah. Wow. That is really all you need if you have a full time job. You have no excuse if you really want. You really want to be a CPA.

You’re gonna make time to study for the test. Right. And some people like they get really caught up on the day to day responsibilities of going to work and studying. And they just they kind of lose focus. So I think it’s important to zoom out and think about what you really want. So if a year from now you want to be a CPA, then just keep focusing on that, because that’s going to make you want to put in the four hours every day. And if you put in the four hours every day, not even a year from now, even two months from now, you’re going to be a little less miserable. Yeah, for sure. Something that people should focus on, I think.
Yeah.

Yeah. And I, I kind of tell people that in emails a lot like, listen, you’re you’re just as miserable like if you have any sections that aren’t passed, meaning you’re still working on this in any form, you’re just as miserable if you study two hours a day or like four hours a day or five hours a day, but you’ll get done and your odds of passing are way, way higher if you just make it four or five hours a day. So you might as well. Yeah. And you made me think of a question I should have asked this to. I haven’t been asking this. So looking back, you tried to hit four hours a day with your main review materials. Does that kind of what you were aiming for each day?
Yeah.

So it’d be four hours of mainly multiple choice questions where my main review course. And then that doesn’t include the time that I put in throughout the day, like doing the SuperfastCPA questions.
That’s what I was collectors. That’s what I’m getting. So what do you how much more time do you estimate you fit in each day? Like another hour or two?
I would say yes. About an hour. And for those four hours. So I actually started my own timesheet. And it would be four productive hours.

So for those people who are already in the public accounting world, they know that good concept of billable hours. You can’t build the time that you’re like looking at your phone or looking something up on Google. That’s not TV related. So what I would do, I would do a timer start and tyber and every time I take my eyes off the screen or even every time my mind wanders off or more than like five minutes. Because you can’t count that as four hours of study time.
Yeah. I mean, that’s a that’s a very strict definition. But I mean, that’s kind of how you have to get really.
Yeah.

Well, for those with limited time, I think the timer does help because it helps you, it helps you track how much time you really spend on it. And I wanted for I think I was for far. I was really strict on myself about that because I had six exactly six weeks to study. And I wanted to track the amount of time that I spent studying.
And I think I was about between 96 to 100 hours.
And then again, I think you you said this, but you were working full time.

So to fit in those four productive hours, which probably meant more like five hours that you were actually sitting there. How did you. You were doing it before and after work, or how were you fitting that in that dedicated study time with your due course each day?
So when I started working full time, it was in the beginning I was able to do four hours.
But when I started hitting like 50 to 60 hour weeks, it would go down to like two and half to three hours, which is still a really good amount.
Yeah, yeah. What I tell people to aim for. Yeah.
Like two to three hours. Yeah.

But when I did the four hours that we tried to do at least an hour in the morning before going to work or anything and I would actually my commute was an hour long and I would be on the bus for thirty minutes. So 30 minutes on the bus. I had to make sure that I was either like listening to an audio lecture, reading my flashcards. I would try to focus on the flashcards on the bus because it’s kind of hard to do anything else on there. Yeah. Then during my lunch break, I would count that time to like 15 to 30 minutes of reading my flashcards. And then another two hours at night.
Nice.

Yeah, that’s what it takes. So.
Oh, there was one more tip that I wanted to give to those who are still taking it. Go for it. So I think. One important thing to do is to talk about it, like with your friends and your family, because that keeps you accountable. And like they know that if they know that you’re taking it over the next time that you see them or next time you talk to them. And then I go, how’s it going? Did you pass apart part and. I mean, for me, it wasn’t that hard to admit that I failed, but I know for some people kind of like a hit on their ego.
Sure, there was no I have specific people in mind.
They just didn’t want to admit that they failed. Yeah. People at work that were like the smart kids in the Masters, but they were like failing.
You know, kept failing sections and they did not want to talk about it at all.
I think it’s a it’s a huge reality check for some people because those who didn’t get a single A in college, you find them passing and like, doing better than those who do have their vaccines. They were in honors courses.

Shaka’s CPA Motivation Tips

So that really shows it kind of shows you what the real hurt is going to be like, because if you put in the work, you’re going to see the results. But it’s just like naturally smart and you put out an hour a day. So, yeah, it’s great, Dad. So talk about it in school either. So for each part, for all four parts, I said just like giving yourself a reward or for me it was actually a consequence. I wouldn’t suggest this. So for me, I didn’t expect to feel as much as I did. So I like a bet with myself that every time I failed, I would cut two inches off my hair.
So that was short and I wouldn’t want to go out and I wouldn’t be at home studying.
And at one point, I think I probably got like six inches off within the first six to eight months.

So people would think that they’re like, oh, no, I guy do enough to tell them that it is that I had that like. That is what I went through. Yeah. And that’s it.
I think I just I, I like that because I’m like really hard on myself in general. Even I never thought of something like that. That is that is funny. Yeah.
Especially for a girl cutting off your own hair. Oh my God. Like for me, I’d be forced myself to not get a haircut because I cannot stand. But I guess I get it. That is. That is hilarious. And my brother would just like so teasing me and that would be both better and better.
But thankfully, I mean, I only ended up being like my neck, so I had some left.
They for most other people. Rewards motivate them, not ones. And so I would suggest maybe like planning a trip. So let’s say, like, you’re going to take your last part in July.

You want to give yourself some leeway and maybe plan the trip in like September. You have to take some time to think that will motivate you, because I want you both to take it. You’re not going to want to go on it if you felt that like study while you’re on the trip.
I don’t know if you ever saw this, but I have this little, like, motivation guide that comes with any bundle that is that exact idea where you you plan out a big reward. And then after each section, you kind of buy one piece of it and you put it. So like for me, it was golf clubs, new golf clubs. So first I bought like a new golf bag after I passed the first section and I set it in my study room. And so I had to like, look at this brand new golf bag, you know, with the tags on it. And and that just drove me crazy to, like, see that thing. And then the next section I bought, like the new the irons. And then on my last section, I like that new driver. And then it was like complete, you know, but yeah, that worked insanely well. I mean, you basically just just described that idea. Yeah. It’s like a trip after one section you, I don’t know, plan where it is and like put a picture of that place Study Hacks section you might buy like a new swimming suit for the trip or whatever.

But yeah, I really that’s going to make me laugh for a long time coming up.
And I started to regret it when I had to cut like six inches off. But then eventually it’s like it actually kind of motivated me because of be there. And I bet about not wanting to get to another six inches off.
Yeah. That’s enough to steal that one – start telling people it’s so funny. All right.
Well, yeah, that’s basically everything I had. But yeah, I appreciate you doing it. And I’m glad, you know, you used our tools and thought they were useful somewhat.
So.

Yeah, yeah. Thanks for having me. This was fun. I haven’t talked about my CPA experience in a while, but always brings back mostly good memories.
Yeah. Right. Thank you. And have a good one. Yeah, you too.

So that was the interview with Shaka again, like all the other interviews. If you watched or listened to this point, meaning you heard the whole thing, I think you’ll have to agree that was very, very helpful. She shared a lot of good tips, a lot of just singular insights that can apply to a lot of areas in the CPA study process. And so, again, the three things that she covered. The first one was she had this little rule for herself where she would take a quiz or read a few pages in the review notes every time she pulled out her phone instead of going through straight to social media or texting or whatever it was she pulled out her phone to do. She held herself to that. And that’s one of the things I’m constantly talking about, if you will just do that.

We look at our phones literally hundreds of times a day. And if you even replaced half of that or twenty five percent of those instances and forced yourself to read five pages in the review notes or take a quiz, that adds up to a lot of extra practice and exposure. And that’s why the idea of many sessions with our CPA study tools on your phone is so powerful and why it makes such a big difference. The second thing she talked about was how she switched review courses because she thought there was some issue with the first review course that she had when she failed the first two sections. And then, of course, a few months later, once she had kind of figured out the study process, she realized, you know, it’s really not about the review course. And that’s something that a lot of people think about or they kind of assume that they’re there’s got to be one review course that just has something that makes this whole process easier compared to the others. And that’s not true.

Any of the big main review courses you can use to pass your exams. It comes down to your strategies. And that is why we have an entire course on the study approach. The daily study process. So why we talk constantly about it is because everyone has a review course and everyone’s kind of doing the same thing there. They try to watch the lecture, read the chapter and then do practice questions. And the fill rates are 50 percent across the board. So it’s obvious that it’s not about the review course itself. It’s how you study how you use those materials. And it’s not as simple as just watching the video and then doing the questions. There are a ton of little strategies within the strategy of how to do each part of that much more effectively. So, again, that’s what we talk about on those free study trainings.

The third thing that she talked about was, of course, her consequence of getting getting a haircut, I guess cutting an inch or two off of her hair. Whenever she failed the section, that is a.
You know, take that for what it’s worth. I don’t think a lot of people out there are going to take that strategy on, but the general idea is, is sound to have some type of thing. And again, I mentioned it when she brought that up, the review or the reward model where you split your four sections into a big goal that you want or a big reward for yourself. My example was golf clubs. And then you you you buy a kind of a symbolic piece or section of that reward.

Each time you pass a section and you put it in the room where you study in its packaging, you can’t open it. You have the tags on it. Whatever it is, you split your reward into four pieces. And the general idea is something like that. So you have this almost like a physical representation of getting a fourth of the way to your goal each time that you pass a section. So I hope you found this interview helpful.

Again, if you’re new to this podcast, go back, listen to some of the other interviews we’ve done. I think you’ll find all of them really helpful. And again, if you want to see a walkthrough of how we teach our clients and customers to study or approach their main study session, regardless of what review course you’re using. Go to superfastcpa.com/passnow, or just find the link below in the description. Or you can just you can easily find a link. Just going to our site, SuperfastCPA. So thanks for listening or watching. And I will see you on the next episode.

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