In this SuperfastCPA podcast interview, you’ll hear Scott’s amazing story of passing all 4 CPA exams in just a few months, and scoring above a 90 on all 4 exams.
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 Intro
- 03:35 How Scott Got Started with Accounting
- 06:10 Juggling Working, a Newborn, Going to School and Studying for the CPA Exams
- 07:52 Started Pursuing His CPA in Less Then Four Years
- 08:29 Got Advice About Going the CPA Route and One Step at a Time
- 10:16 Had His Back Against a Wall, Had to Do Whatever It Takes to Advance
- 11:34 Found SuperfastCPA Through a YouTube Ad
- 13:21 Kept the Same Schedule of Studying at Night
- 15:16 Got 98 on FAR Applying only What He Got from the Free Webinar
- 16:14 Why Scott Bought the SuperfastCPA Materials
- 17:47 Passed FAR with 98 on His Own, What Getting SuperfastCPA Added to His Study
- 20:56 Scott’s Process for Making Flashcards
- 21:53 The Time When Scott Would Review His Flashcards
- 22:46 How Scott Would Study for a Section/Topic
- 26:52 How Scott Does His Re-Review
- 29:45 Made Flashcards to What Need to Know More from His Notes
- 31:27 Using the Spreadsheet Strategy for Computational Problems
- 32:50 Had a Difficult Time with REG than AUD
- 35:18 How Scott Used the Practice Sims
- 39:33 Scott’s Process for Learning the MCQs
- 42:12 The Time Scott Would Leave for Final Review and His Process
- 44:40 How Scott Felt About Life After Finishing the CPA Exams
- 45:44 Didn’t Have Anything Else to Do Other Than Study
- 46:39 The Thought That Kept Scott’s Head in the Game
- 50:28 Ocassionally Used the Mini Quizzes But Always Used the Audio Notes
- 51:59 You Still Need to Do Your Part to Make It Work
- 54:12 Top Tips for People Still Stuggling with their Study Process
Interview Transcript
Scott: [00:00:00] Just, I took the, you know, the four or five tips you gave in the webinar and tried to apply them as best as possible. I think I watched a couple of the, um, like these, these, these interviews to kind of give confidence that this had worked for other people. And I just went for it.
So I took FAR, it was just under seven weeks from when I started studying to when I actually took it.
Nate: A 98, a 98 on far.
Scott: Yeah, I mean, I was I was shocked. I was shocked that I nearly fell out of my chair when I when I saw that result, I definitely didn’t think I had, I had done that well.
Logan: Welcome to another episode of the CPA exam experience podcast from SuperfastCPA. I’m Logan, and in today’s episode, you’re going to hear Nate talking to Scott. Now, unfortunately, I didn’t get to join in this interview because I was on vacation. But I really wish I had been a part of this because honestly, Scott has an amazing [00:01:00] story.
So to start, Scott back in 2018 was working in food service. He didn’t have a college degree. And he was just doing the best he could.
But a cool opportunity came along. At that food service, they asked him to come kind of help with the bookkeeping a little bit, because they really liked him and they knew he didn’t really want to work in food service anymore. So he was helping them with that a bit more. And he liked it. That was his first intro into accounting.
And then something happened that motivates a lot of people. His wife got pregnant and he decided that he needed to do more, to be able to support his family.
So he took his new found learning in accounting and decided to go back to school. And he blazed through school. He did 112 credits in a little under three years. And after that, he still had a few classes to do and so he knocked out a few extra classes to be able to sit for the CPA exam.
And then of course, by this point, if you can imagine he was totally exhausted. Understandably. And he didn’t know how he was going to be able to do the CPA exam.
He had just spent the past three plus years working to get his college degree. And now he also [00:02:00] had to take the CPA exam.
So he was trying to figure out how to do it. He saw a SuperfastCPA YouTube ad. He watched the free training webinar, and this is gonna blow your mind.
With just what he learned from the SuperfastCPA training webinar, he was able to pass FAR on his first try with a 98. Again, Just with what he learned from our free training webinar. He got a 98 on FAR. Afterwards, he found a lot of value in what was taught in the webinar and decided to purchase the SuperfastCPA materials.
But you’ll see and I think we just need to get into the interview here quick because he has great tips. He crushed the exams. He passed all three exams in three months in the nineties, while working full-time.
So with that, I’m sure you want to get into the interview.
And just before we get into the interview, I want to give you one more reminder about the SuperfastCPA training webinar on superfastcpa.com.
This is the same one that taught him the strategies so that he was able to pass FAR with a 98. Make sure you go check that out. The link is in the description of the podcast or the YouTube video. And let’s just dive straight [00:03:00] in, Scott has an awesome interview for you to listen to.
Nate: So welcome to the call, Scott. I’m excited to hear this story. Um, you know, just for the sake of people listening to this, your, uh, your email that you sent me back in December, you just said it passed in three months. Uh, well, we’ll get into the whole background, but basically you crushed these exams.
You passed in three months scoring in the nineties on each one. So this will be, I’m sure you’ve got a lot of really good tips and things to share and insight for the people that listen to this.
How Scott Got Started with Accounting
Nate: So, uh, so let’s go, let’s just start at the beginning. When you decided to do the CPA, where were you at in your career and what made you decide to do the CPA?
Scott: Yeah, it might, it might be helpful to actually back up a little bit farther than that, even. Um, back in, going all the way back to 2018, I was working in food service. I was just recently married and, um, I didn’t [00:04:00] like it like a lot of people in food service, um, but I didn’t, I didn’t have a college degree.
I’d only done one year of college and then I had dropped out several years prior. And, uh, the owner of the cafe approached me and he was like, Hey, Would you be interested in maybe doing some kind of back office work, um, for me? I know you don’t love the food service aspect, but you’re a really valuable worker.
I’d love to kind of keep you involved and keep you here as long as I can. So I did, um, and that was my, my very first taste of accounting. It was very entry level it was quick books, um, just a lot of repetitive tasks, but I really enjoyed it. And it was the first thing I had done in several years that was kind of intellectually stimulating since I was, uh, since I had dropped out of college. Um, and then in, I did that for a couple of years and then towards the end of 2019, um, my wife was pregnant and I realized, okay, well, maybe it’s time to try to make something of myself. And I’ve been enjoying this accounting. It seems like I’ve got a knack for [00:05:00] it. Um, I’m going to try to go back to school and go for it. So I started at the local community college in January of 2020. March of 2020 hit, kind of the whole world shut down, which was actually, I’m, I’m one of the few people that really benefited from that because it allowed me to take a much, um, a much heavier schedule load, um, because I didn’t have to commute to school. Everything was online.
Um, and so starting in the Fall of 2020. I really, I really ramped it up. I was basically in school full time from that point until graduation. Um, I think in the email I might’ve said this, but I think I took something like 112 credits in 34 months. I mean, I was just, I was just on an absolute tear I realized when I started, if I’m doing one or two classes a semester, I’m going to be in school until I’m like 50. Uh, so just, I just got to buckle down. I just have to do it. Um, and, uh, yeah, it was tough. I mean, we had our, we had our first child in [00:06:00] July of 2020 and I was, you know, I was studying in the hospital and just continued going all the way through up until graduated in May of 23.
Juggling Working, a Newborn, Going to School and Studying for the CPA Exams
Nate: You were still working full time doing this.
Scott: Still working. Yeah. In 20, in 20, uh, let’s see the very end of 2020, November of 2020, I got an accounting job at a, at a local church. Um, and then I was still doing a little bit on the side at the cafe, just a few hours a week, um, helping them out. So yeah, working, going to school, a baby at home. Um, but I was extremely motivated to, to get it over with. So May of 23 rolls around. I graduated. I was still a few credits shy of being able to sit for the CPA exam. So I banged out a couple quick community college courses in June. You know, those quick three week summer courses. Got a new job at a small public accounting firm in Chicago, and they were willing to pay for it.[00:07:00]
So I was like, I didn’t really want to take any time off. I was still kind of in the study and groove and just used to a routine. So I decided to just go for it, purchase my materials. And on July 12th, I started studying. So it really took, took no gaps from January of 2020 until, until then.
Nate: Wow. Uh, so, so when were you, you know, okay, so going back to just the, your college credits, I mean, college, I guess, um, when were you studying, well, yeah, when were you studying and doing all that schoolwork, coursework?
Scott: Yeah. Just, just in the evenings.
Nate: Okay. So you’d come home from work, maybe see your family.
Scott: Yeah. See, see the family, have dinner. My, my son would go to bed and I would hit the books for, you know, however many hours each evening, two or three hours every evening.
Nate: Wow. That’s awesome.
Started Pursuing His CPA in Less Then Four Years
Nate: And then at the same time, uh, I guess really in a span of four years, less, less than four years, [00:08:00] you finished your, I mean, basically started from the beginning with the education requirements and finished your CPA.
Scott: Yeah, yeah, in, in, in just under four years, I went from high school diploma to completing the CPA test. Still waiting on the actual license. I can’t actually say I’m licensed CPA yet, but completed the test. Yeah.
Nate: Wow. That’s awesome. Well, congrats. Uh, yeah, that’s, that’s a crazy turnaround.
Got Advice About Going the CPA Route and One Step at a Time
Nate: So, one last question about, so you start doing some accounting work for the cafe. I’m assuming then you weren’t even thinking, or probably the CPA wasn’t even on your radar. Um, so somewhere in doing your accounting classes, you start to understand that the CPA is kind of the culmination of, an accounting degree. Is that basically what happened?
Scott: Yeah, absolutely. I, I spoke to, when I was considering going back to school for accounting, I went and I, I, [00:09:00] um, I got together with my uncle who had been a CPA early on in his career. He then transitioned to finance later on, um, just to talk to him about it. He had been, it started out in big four, um, just to, you know, see what he would recommend about, about going that route. And he made it pretty clear that you can have a decent career in accounting, but the CPA is really the threshold for being able to advance and make, you know, a significant amount of money. Without it, there’s you’re kind of capped as far as you can advance and the amount of money you’ll be able to make, which is not really what I wanted to hear at the time.
Just the idea of going back to school while working with a kid on the way was, was very intimidating, but the thought that I would have to do all these years at school and then study for this big test, try to pass it. And really that would be the start. Like the starting line was, um, was really overwhelming.
And I, I kind of put it out of my mind. I kind of decided like, if I get it, I get it, [00:10:00] but I’m not going to, I’m not going to shoot for that now because that’s, that task is too big. It’s too overwhelming right now. I’m just going to focus on going back to college, getting an associate’s degree, like that felt manageable.
Nate: Yeah. Yeah. I guess. Right. One step at a time.
Had His Back Against a Wall, Had to Do Whatever It Takes to Advance
Nate: Um, so, okay. So, so again, from previously, whenever that was dropping out of college to then just locking down and working all day and then studying three to four hours every night. How did, where did that, uh, where did that ability come from? Or just the, the motivation, you know, to just, you know, do that out of nowhere?
Scott: Yeah, that’s a, that’s a great question. I would, I would say it was a miraculous gift of the Lord if I’m, I’m honest, but, uh, I mean, it makes a difference when you’re married and have a kid there suddenly, you know, it really felt like my back was against the wall and, um,
Nate: I was just thinking that phrase. Yeah. Yeah, that’s
Scott: it was suddenly three mouths to [00:11:00] feed and, um, kind of like failure really wasn’t an option and, um, and going slow didn’t feel like much of an option either. So every.
Nate: yeah.
Scott: Every night it’s like, yeah, you’re tired. There’s a lot of people that are tired. There’s a lot of people that work way harder than I was working for a lot less. Um, so yeah, if I was, if I was single, I’m sure I would still be doing what I was doing, you know, five years ago and it wouldn’t be pursuing accounting.
Nate: Yeah. Yeah. No, that’s, I mean, that’s, that’s kind of what I was expecting you to say, but you know, for the sake of hearing it for the people that are going to listen to this.
Found SuperfastCPA Through a YouTube Ad
Nate: Um, all right. So, so you finish your, finish your education. You get to where the, uh, the firm you’re working for is going to pay for the CPA.
And then where did, where did a SuperfastCPA come in? When, when in your timeline did you find us?
Scott: Yeah, I guess kind of, I kind of left that out. So I, I wanna say it was just before I had graduated. Like, it [00:12:00] might have been late April, early May, or shortly after graduation, I, I came across one of your ads, your YouTube ads. Um, and I didn’t click skip for some reason. And, uh, you know, I, I watched the whole ad and I was like, man, this sounds like such a scam, but he, I mean, you caught me when you said I passed in three months.
I was like, I was like, I, I gotta hear what this guy is saying because I’m, I’m so burnt out right now, but I can’t stop. Like, I’m so close to to finishing. Like, I can push for three more months. I don’t think I can push for six. I can’t push for a year, but I bet I can push for three. So I went to the free webinar, and I was like, man, this guy is making so much sense. All right, like, do, do the multiple choice questions, right? Like, that’s, they’re from the test. These are old test questions. This is what you’re going to be seeing. Like, yeah, why, why wouldn’t I do that? Right. It made so much sense. It was so obvious, but I definitely wouldn’t have studied like that, right.
Who, everyone, you watch the lectures, you read the book, [00:13:00] you get around to some questions and I was like, yeah, no, everything he’s saying makes sense. And he did it in three months. Like, I’m in, I’m in, I’ll, I’ll, I’ll do it. I’ll try it.
Nate: Man, that is a, well, yeah, you, you greatly surpassed my results. My scores, I mean, I passed in three months, but, uh, my scores were not in the nineties.
Kept the Same Schedule of Studying at Night
Nate: That is, so, so let’s kind of get into that. So, uh, did you just basically keep the same schedule? You were applying our strategies, but just doing it the two or three hours at night after work.
Scott: Yeah. So I, I took maybe it was like two or three weeks off from actually completing all my credits to then studying. So I took a little two to three week, um, vacation from late evenings. And then, yeah, I was right back into it. So two to three hours every evening. At first I was doing closer to two, when I first started, um, it wasn’t until later on that I [00:14:00] really started ramping it up more, but, um, yeah, evenings, evenings was my go to.
You talk a lot about working in the mornings, um, for me, you know, the kids are up early. I wasn’t going to be able to do anything before work. And I’m, I was just, I’m more wired to be more efficient at night. The house is quiet. Everyone’s in bed and I I’m the type of person that when I don’t understand something, it’s, it’s going to, you know, bug me all day until I figure it out. So the nice thing about being in the evenings is that I didn’t have that hard deadline of like, all right, I have to stop now and go to work. Um, if I needed to, to, work on something in extra 20 or 30 minutes, like I can do that.
Nate: Yeah. I mean the, the big caveat with studying in the morning, you know, and I, I do, I basically like pretty much everyone should study in the morning just because, uh, you know, you had a track record of studying at night and you were doing it consistently. So if you can make that work, it really doesn’t matter [00:15:00] when you study.
I just, for most people, they’re just not, at night, you’re tired. You’re, you know, you’re fighting off distractions, but if it works, that it really doesn’t matter when you study. That’s like the big caveat with me always saying you should study in the morning.
Got 98 on FAR Applying only What He Got from the Free Webinar
Nate: Um, so did you just kind of feel like the, well, let’s go back one step. So you watch the free training and then did you go in and watch the PRO videos as well?
Scott: So the irony in all of this is that I didn’t actually buy the course right away. I actually took, I actually took, the first exam without purchasing anything. Just, I took the, you know, the four or five tips you gave in the webinar and tried to apply them as best as possible. I think I watched a couple of the, um, like these, these, these interviews to kind of give confidence that this had worked for other people. And I just went for it.
So I took FAR, it was just under seven weeks from when I started [00:16:00] studying to when I actually took it.
Nate: A 98, a 98 on far.
Scott: Yeah, I mean, I was I was shocked. I was shocked that I nearly fell out of my chair when I when I saw that result, I definitely didn’t think I had, I had done that well.
Why Scott Bought the SuperfastCPA Materials
Nate: So.
Scott: So question is, then why would I, why would I buy this stuff if I had done well with
Nate: That’s my next question.
Scott: Yeah, yeah. And that’s right. A lot of people are looking at this being like, all right, 98 on FAR seven weeks. Wow, why would I purchase anything? Um, and the reason is because once I passed, I was like, wait a minute, I have a legitimate shot to finish in 2023, which I had kind of given up on based on just, you know, I, I took FAR in seven weeks, which isn’t that long, but if I kept that pace, I wasn’t going to be able to finish in 2023.
Nate: Okay.
Scott: And so the last testing date of the year was December 15. And just with the difficulties of scheduling, um, the way things would fall, I knew I really, realistically, I had like a three month [00:17:00] window. Um, so basically finishing right, right around the 1st of December. And I was like, Hey, that’s, that’s what he advertised in his, in his thing.
He advertised three months and I decided basically I’m going to throw everything at this that I can. Um, if I have a shot to finish this before, before the end of the year, before all the changes come, I’m going to do it. And again, my company was, was very gracious and was willing to pay for the full package. Um, so a big part of it was just the confidence of like, I’m utilizing every resource available to me.
Nate: Mm-hmm.
Scott: And and no regrets. Like, Hey, if I don’t, if I don’t pass one of them, or it just doesn’t work out that I make it in 2023, at least I tried, at least I know I gave it. I gave it everything.
Nate: Yeah.
Passed FAR with 98 on His Own, What Getting SuperfastCPA Added to His Study
Nate: Uh, so again, though, from studying and getting a 98 on your own, or I mean with just your main review course, what did, what did getting our package add, if [00:18:00] anything, to your process?
Scott: I actually, I actually wrote things down here. The, yeah, there was a few things. Um, one of them was the spreadsheet method for working, working through the problems kind of systematically.
And keeping a record of what you had done. That was really big. That was actually most helpful for, for BEC. A lot of, um, those problems are calculations,
Nate: Mm hmm.
Scott: Understanding the formulas, being able to implement the formulas and then being able to like see my work over time was was really useful and I wouldn’t have done, I wouldn’t have thought to do it that way. Probably like most people, I would have just had like a pad of paper and just would have been scribbling on it as I went and then, you know, throwing, throwing the sheets away as, as they filled up. So that was a big thing. The kind of an underrated key was the, was the note cards tip. About not making like a flash card for every little definition or every little thing that would can [00:19:00] conveniently go on a flash card.
Actually being disciplined and only writing down the things that you’re really struggling with, or that are kind of imperative to memorize like the, um, like the COSO internal control framework, right?
There’s a bunch points and they you know, there’s there’s like the main ideas and then kind of descriptions of each. Like putting those on a note card and making sure I was always flipping through that and memorizing that and not wasting my time on every little formula that came by that, frankly, I, I knew anyway, and putting it on a note card would have just been to kind of make myself feel good. Like, Oh, I know all these,
Nate: Yeah.
Scott: But would have been distracted me from learning the things that I really needed to focus on. There was a couple other things. Um, Oh, the audio notes, the audio notes was huge because I would listen to those to and from work every day, which was over an hour in the car of what would have been kind of just like wasted time.
Um, but like basically a free extra hour plus of studying over the course of those three months. [00:20:00] So that was big.
Nate: Okay. Yeah. The, uh, yeah, the flashcard thing. Well, I can just, I can tell you watched the PRO course and really understood everything that was in there. Um, you know, cause I guess the basic version of those two tips would be, you like work out the problems on a spreadsheet, but there’s a lot more nuance to it than that.
So, uh, you’re talking about the, it’s kind of like a three hour long video in the PRO course, right? The planting the seeds where I go through entire
Scott: Yeah. When you went, yep, yep, absolutely.
Nate: And then, uh, yeah, the flashcards thing is the tip isn’t just make your own flashcards again. There’s more nuance to that. You, you kind of go through new lessons, new material.
A lot of it’s going to fall into place, like you said, and it’s kind of when, so where you basically waiting until you were doing re-review sets and you miss something for the second, third, fourth time.
Scott’s Process for Making Flashcards
Scott: Yeah. I, I’d typically didn’t even start making any flashcards [00:21:00] until pretty deep into the studying when I was doing a lot of re-review, um, again, there was the occasional thing where it was like I can tell this is a major, a major thing that I’m, that is not easy to memorize quickly, and I’m going to just need to be seeing it over and over. So those things I would make flashcards for kind of right away, but the vast majority of the cards didn’t get made until pretty late, um, last studying for each test.
Nate: And, uh, I have several try to remember this, but back on the flashcards first, were you making digital flashcards with like Brainscape or were you making handwritten ones?
Scott: Yeah. Handwriting. I, me personally, I think writing down, I’m sure there’s studies about, you know, actually writing things down and reading your own writing that kind of sticks it in your brain better. Um, but I’ve always preferred the physical holding on being able to carry them around with me.
Nate: Okay.
The Time When Scott Would Review His Flashcards
Nate: And then, yeah, so that, when would you review your flashcards? Once you started making them for a [00:22:00] section, when would you use them and review them?
Scott: Yeah, I was doing a lot of, a lot of review, um, primarily on the weekends. Um, once I was kind of done working through a full, uh, you know, all of the units for a test and I was starting to do more just review. I would kind of incorporate them into my nightly sessions. But a lot of the times on the weekend, when I was just tired of sitting and staring at the computer and trying to work through multiple choice questions, I would, you know, I’d go to a different room of the house and I’d just start going through my flashcards.
Nate: Okay, so let’s uh, let’s go back to, I mean again a 98 on FAR with, were you using Becker I’m guessing?
Scott: Yup.
How Scott Would Study for a Section/Topic
Nate: What was your process from start to finish for a topic? You go to a new topic in Becker, you’re sitting down for your nighttime study session. What were you actually doing?
Scott: Yeah, yeah, I wrote that down too. [00:23:00] Um, so in the, in the evenings, so my primary, my primary study session in the evenings, um, from the, from the get go, and I was very thankful for this, like, I was, I never was enticed by the lectures. I don’t even think I, I watched like a complete 30 minutes, um, you know, again, doing the free webinar, getting the PRO course later. Hearing kind of testimonials. It was like, okay, these things, these things aren’t helpful. And even the couple of rare times when I didn’t understand something that felt like it was important and I went back to see how the lecture addressed it. Often it didn’t or, or didn’t, it wasn’t helpful.
So I was, I was straight to the, the multiple choice questions kind of right off the bat. Um, especially initially with FAR, at some point, I realized that Becker actually has this really nice feature where they give an outline of each module. And that was actually really helpful because they, they basically highlight all of the main points and it tracks in [00:24:00] order of the questions that you’re going to see. So usually I, I began starting every evening by reading through that outline, getting an understanding of what I was going to be seeing, um, noting the things that, you know, I knew I’d covered in school, things that were totally new that I’d never seen before and just kind of prepping myself for what I was going to see in the questions. Um, and then jumping straight into the questions, I did, I would do every single question and as I would go, I would write down, usually in kind of a brief summary form, I would write down the answer to every question in just, in just a notebook. Um, and often you’d get, uh, especially for a kind of a, a major topic, you could get anywhere from four to 10 questions dealing with that, that one singular topic.
And so if I’d write down two or three sentences, just kind of explaining the point to me, then when I would do my re-review during the day, which we can get to, I would, I would have [00:25:00] just straight up kind of bullet, bullets of all of the really all of the answers and all of the major points of the, of the MCQs. So I wouldn’t skip any questions I’d work through all of them and it would just kind of depend on how long the modules were, how difficult they were that would determine how far I’d get in a given evening. My kind of 2 to 3 hour study session.
Nate: Okay. So when you say you’re writing down the answers, you were kind of, you’re trying to extract the key takeaway. You weren’t just copying
Scott: No, no. Yeah, right. Exactly. Not, not just copying the solution. But trying to understand and put in my own words, really, you know, why is this answer correct? And it was one of the great features probably on every study program, certainly Becker, where they give you like a paragraph explanation with, with every single question. So yeah, just reading the answer, understanding why it was the answer, Writing a couple notes, right on to the next one.
Nate: Yeah. And then the other thing you said was [00:26:00] that you would notice that for a group of questions on a topic, those kind of key takeaways are the crux of the question, really funneled down to like three or four key ideas per lesson? Is that.
Scott: Yeah, and again, that’s why the outline was so helpful, because sometimes I could just cross reference this, cross reference the questions and see, okay, how is Becker distilling this in one or two sentences? And compare it to what I had written down being like, okay, do, am I understanding what they’re saying?
Does it match with what I’m saying?
And it was, it was really nice. It was a great feature that I think people
should utilize if they’re using Becker.
Nate: Yeah. That’s, I mean, I’ve never heard someone say that. Um, and I don’t spend a ton of time like in Becker, you know, trying to figure it out, but that’s, that is a good tip. Really good tip. Most, I don’t know, eight out of 10 people are using Becker, so.
How Scott Does His Re-Review
Nate: So you mentioned a re-review during the day. So during FAR, even that first exam, what were you [00:27:00] doing for that?
Scott: Yeah. So you, if I remember correctly, you would kind of, your strategy was 90 minutes of new material, 30 minutes of re-review. You do like 30, 30 MCQs of the material you had covered up to that point. And so, because my, my timeline was so condensed. Basically any, any time I had in the evening was dedicated to new material period.
And then every day at work on my lunch break, I would sit because that, you know, I’d take 30 minutes. And I’d do 30 MCQs and I’d have my notebook open with all the things I had written down as I got questions wrong, I could look, okay, did I, you know, did I write this down? Is this, is this new to me? Did I just forget? So constantly reviewing both things, the questions and what I had written down. And if I, if I was really struggling with a particular unit, sometimes I would do like 20 questions, just that unit or one or two units, and then [00:28:00] another 20, uh, you know, all of the other units that I had covered to date. So trying to get a little bit more focus on the difficult areas, but also not neglecting just constant stream of, of everything I’d seen.
Nate: Yeah, that’s, yeah, that’s a perfect, uh, kind of what I recommend now, or at least when someone’s kind of in their final review is to kind of alternate between, maybe do a set strictly on one topic that you’re kind of struggling with, then go the next set, make it fully cumulative and you can kind of filter through your weaker topic.
So it sounds like you kind of just figured that out.
Scott: Yeah, it was when you get, you get to a point where you’ve covered so many units and there’s so many questions that you can do 30, 40 questions and maybe see one or even zero from a, from multiple modules. Um, and so, and again, that’s fine. If you’re doing it every day, you’re eventually going to see this stuff.
But if there’s a particular area that you’re weak in, you want to be a little bit more focused and trying to iron [00:29:00] that out before you get to the final review. And you’re, you know, you’re scrambling to like, Oh, wait, how does this work again?
Nate: Yep, yep, exactly. Yeah. So, I mean, I really liked that strategy you just explained. So you go through the questions for a topic, you are distilling down the key takeaway from each question, and then you’re kind of comparing it with Becker’s outline. Then you have this notebook when you do your re-review set where, uh, anything you missed, you kind of re reference your own notebook for those question types.
So I’m guessing you continued that process through the remaining three.
Scott: Yep. Yep. I’ve got, you know, two, two full notebooks of all my notes from all four tests.
Nate: Okay.
Made Flashcards to What Need to Know More from His Notes
Nate: So I guess in your, or how would you explain, I mean, what did making flashcards add to that? Cause that already sounds like a really effective process.
Scott: Yeah, the flashcards, when, you know, FAR had like 10 [00:30:00] units and, you know, it’s like 60 plus modules in Becker. So the notebook, it gets, it gets huge. And so it was, it was the way to take all of that information and then again, hack it down even more to a much more focused, um, kind of set of things that I need to learn and look at. And, um, again, when I’m doing the notebook, I’m just, I’m writing absolutely everything down.
So a lot of it, a lot of it is pretty filler, even things that I knew I was, I was writing down. Um, so the flashcards were a way to be like, okay, of all the, of everything I’ve written down, these are these are the most important things to memorize.
I have to make sure I know these backwards and forwards. These are the things that I’ve struggled with. I want to keep seeing these, you know, a a dozen times now before I actually sit and take the test.
Nate: Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. Uh, I guess that’s kind of, that’s the way I describe the, the flashcard process. Ideally there’s two buckets [00:31:00] bucket. One is stuff that just falls into place in your mind by you just kind of doing the studying, you know, MCQs practice sims, and then there’s everything else. So if you’re making flashcards on the things you really struggle with, your flashcards contain your weakest areas, but if you’ve been reviewing them, they become part of bucket number one, you know, hypothetically, that’s of how it should work.
And that’s, yeah, basically what you described.
Using the Spreadsheet Strategy for Computational Problems
Nate: Uh, so I guess, again, almost the same question because you mentioned after watching the PRO videos, the, the spreadsheet thing. Um, I guess to me it sounds similar to what you’re doing with your notebook. So what would you say that added to what you had done in FAR, like using a spreadsheet?
Scott: The spreadsheet was, was important for the, all the computational problems that BEC had, a lot of the cost accounting stuff, things that I could write, you know, I could and would write down the actual [00:32:00] formula in the notebook and then potentially later on a note card if I, if I needed to keep emphasizing it, but actually doing all of the computations, I didn’t want to kind of fill up my notebook with just math haphazardly everywhere.
So the spreadsheet gave, gave things order. Um, and it’s nice because, you know, Excel does the actual calculations for you
Nate: Right. Okay.
Scott: Kind of like you did, you know, a tab, just new tabs as I, as I progressed through the sections and I found doing it that way, I didn’t really have to go back and look at much.
Um, once you kind of find the rhythm and you, you understand how to extract the pieces from the question that you need and how they fit into the equation. It, it, you know, everything kind of falls into place. And, um, by the end, you just know how to do it. You’re not surprised by the different kinds of formats of the questions.
Nate: Yeah.
Had a Difficult Time with REG than AUD
Nate: Uh, let’s see. So how about the audit exam where you didn’t work in audit? Uh, you know, if someone didn’t, [00:33:00] if someone doesn’t work in audit and maybe they’re the two auditing classes that were required was possibly three or four years ago, did you find audit especially difficult or what was your experience with audit?
Scott: Yeah. Audit wasn’t, it wasn’t so bad. It was, I mean, it was my lowest score, so there’s, there’s something to that, but, um, yeah, right. But, uh, it was, ironically, it was also the test I walked out of most confident, so, you know, go, ahead and try to figure that out. But to me, audit, it just, it makes a lot of sense.
I think REG was, was probably the most difficult as far as the study process because, I don’t know, intuition just didn’t seem to get me very far with, uh, REG with tax stuff compared to audit, just understanding like audit evidence and what’s superior audit evidence. That just felt, that’s like more how I think again and like, financial accounting and reporting, that’s just kind of more up my alley [00:34:00] naturally.
I’m kind of more wired that way. So yeah, audit, I don’t remember anything particularly about audit. I was a little intimidated by the, the simulations going in because it’s like that, that higher level type of question that you’re going to see, but as far as the actual simulations on the test, nothing stood out as particularly difficult.
There was definitely other, other tests that to me had harder simulations.
Nate: Yeah. Yeah. When it comes to audit, I, I tell people a lot, try to think about what the words mean. Like, I don’t know, that sounds dumb, but it does make so much logical sense the way that the way that an audit works. It just, like you said, testing, testing controls, uh, the assertions, it all, it makes a lot of logical sense.
If you’re just thinking about what is the substance of what we’re trying do here.
Scott: Yeah. Critical thinking is, is kind of most key there. And actually probably the [00:35:00] more you get away from memorization for most things, you actually may be better served because then when you see something that you don’t quite recognize and you’re like, Oh, I didn’t, I didn’t learn this. I didn’t memorize this.
You’re less likely to panic if you’re like, Oh, I just need to think through this. Like I’ve done with all of these other problems in my study sessions.
Nate: Yep.
How Scott Used the Practice Sims
Nate: So you mentioned the sims and that’s one thing I was going to ask about. It sounds like your process was at least the first few weeks, it sounds like for each exam, we’re just pretty much MCQ. So when did you do or use practice sims?
Scott: Yeah, I was, I was not really sure how to approach the sims for FAR. Again, I hadn’t brought, I hadn’t bought the PRO course and I don’t remember it being talked about that much in the, in the free webinar. Um, but I think it was actually in an email from you. I was like, Oh, that makes a lot of sense. And you were talking about, um, you know, how it’s 50%, uh, MCQs and sims, as far as your grade and so you [00:36:00] want to allot roughly equal amounts of time. And so the, the benefit of emphasizing MCQs during the studying is that you learn to work through them very quickly and you’re building up all the base knowledge for actually completing the sim. Whereas if you’re trying to incorporate sims right from the get go or focusing on them, you know, you don’t have that quick knowledge that you’ve gained over time from doing the MCQs and it’s just going to be a lot more, a lot slower, a lot more painful. So I pretty much didn’t touch sims until I had worked through the entire, uh, the entire course for each test.
There were, there were some exceptions and we can talk about the exceptions, but as a general rule, I would save those until I was, until basically the last week before I, um, would test or at least like the last 10 days. And then once I had been through all the material, my two to three hours in the evening was totally re-review. So I’d do like 50 MCQs, and 10, and 10 sims. And probably the [00:37:00] biggest, the biggest gift you gave me in that email was as soon as you get stuck, just get the answer, right? See how they look through it.
Don’t spin your wheels. Like you’re not, there’s, there’s nothing to be gained by, by guessing and wasting time. So anytime I got stuck, I’d look at the answer. If it was like, Oh, Oh, of course. How did I, you know, how did I miss that? Then I just go onto the next one. If it was like, Oh, I really don’t understand this. I would keep reworking it until it made sense and I could do it. And, uh, I didn’t worry too much about doing all of the sims, I mean, there’s so many. Um, for me, it was more, it was more like, okay, have I seen a wide variety and have I done well across the variety to the point where I’m, I’m consistently getting them entirely right or, or, you know, very close, um, again, very important to do all the MCQs for me, that really was like the bedrock of the knowledge. Um, but if I could get in a good rhythm of knocking out the sims, it wasn’t imperative [00:38:00] that I did all of them.
Nate: Yeah. Oh, yeah. That sounds, uh, that’s basically it. Um, half the battle with the sims isn’t really to do with the sims. It’s getting really good at and proficient at MCQs so that you have time to just sit there and make sense of all the exhibits. You know, you’ll see a few sims that just seem really difficult when first open it up and the time to open the exhibits probably multiple times each as you’re trying to connect the dots.
But eventually you get to where, okay, I see what’s going on here. They’re not, I mean, some can be difficult. I remember a REG sim that was just,
Scott: The REG sims were the hardest for me, for sure.
Nate: Yeah, yeah. There was a crazy sim that I got. Um,
Scott: No, the intimidation factor is, is one of the biggest things. I mean, they, they look, even a relatively mild one can look so daunting. How can I possibly pour through all of this information? Where am I going to find these answers? I don’t even really understand what the [00:39:00] question is, is asking me. When you start opening the things you start reading. And sometimes it’s like, Oh, actually this is, this is very obvious. So just being, just being familiar with the formatting can be a big step towards succeeding, basically allowing yourself to think and not panic.
Nate: Yeah, yes. And that’s a lot easier if you’re not, well so, not panicking is a lot easier if if you have tons of time. But if you have an hour left for all the sims, then you’re trying not to freak out while you’re trying to make sense of, yeah.
Scott’s Process for Learning the MCQs
Nate: Uh, so what you mentioned, um, just submitting a SIM, if you’re like a practice SIM, if you’re stuck to just see instead of staring at it or spending 20 minutes trying to fill it out only to find out you did it wrong anyways, would you, uh, did you do that with the MCQs as well?
I guess, basically, could you describe your, again, let’s say you’re going into a calculation heavy topic on BEC [00:40:00] that you haven’t seen before. What was your actual process of using the MCQs to learn how to do them and learn that lesson or that topic?
Scott: Yeah. Right. Um, right off the bat, generally, I’m just kind of just going in and clicking answers, right? Like I had just finished my accounting degree. So a lot of this stuff I had taken within the last 18 months. So nothing was like so far back in the past, but there’s a, there was a lot of material across the tests that never even entered into the, the curriculum at school. So it doesn’t matter how long ago you got your accounting degree, like there’s some stuff we’ve never seen. Um, and so I’m just, I went in and if I knew the answer, great, I knew the answer. If I had no idea, no, I didn’t worry about it. Just pick an answer, see what the answer is, see why, write it down, move on. Um, and with the, with the calculation heavy ones, typically, for two or three of them, yeah, I’m just going to pick an answer. And then once I [00:41:00] understand the formula and, you know, oh, okay, when they ask the question this way, the formula still applies, even though it looks pretty different than the previous one, okay, and then I get a third or a fourth question. Now I’m going to sit down and actually try to compute it and pick an answer based on, you know, what I get.
Nate: So you would, uh, that’s, that’s what I was wondering at some point you re-perform, so a calculation problem is in front of you. You don’t know how to do it. So you just hit submit and make sense of the solution. And then would you just try to then re-perform it, like on your spreadsheet to see if you can go through the steps and get to the right answer on your own?
Scott: It would depend if it was If after understanding the formula needed, if it was a pretty straightforward problem, often I would just go on to the next one because I’m like, I’m going to see a handful more of these, most likely, no need to, and, and I’m like, I’m comfortable with this one. I know how they got the answer. I know I can do it. I’m not going to waste my time. And [00:42:00] again, when you understand the re-review, it’s like, I’m probably going to see this particular question like six times over the next four or five, eight weeks, however long you’re studying.
Nate: Yeah. Yeah, that’s all true.
The Time Scott Would Leave for Final Review and His Process
Nate: And then, uh, what about your, you kind of mentioned maybe a week, what, what was your final review, how long would you leave for that and what did you do during your final review?
Scott: Yeah, final review, I tried generally to schedule an exam like right after a weekend, a Monday or Tuesday, which I know is, is one of the things you recommended. Um, and that was really helpful being able to just to, yeah, just have a, one or two days, totally free to focus, to cram, um, was really helpful. I ran into some trouble with, with scheduling at the end of, um, any kind of test window, right?
Everyone’s trying to schedule cause they want their scores back as soon as possible. Um, and so that was a little difficult. The first test I took, I had to [00:43:00] go all the way to Indiana. Um, but fortunately the next three, I was able to take downtown Chicago and the scheduling worked out where typically I had a weekend right before. Um, yeah, and it was just, it was just a lot of cramming. Um, usually like a hundred or 200 MCQs over the course of two or three days. And kind of as many sims as I could stomach trying to cover every, every unit going through the flashcards at least two to three times over those days. Um, if I could, if I could, uh, like extend that review for several days, and it wasn’t always possible based on, again, just the, the constrained timeline, but if I could spread it out over four or five days, I would do the, not just the simulation exams at the end of Becker, but like the kind of midterm exams they give you. Those were actually really nice because it was more focused on three or four units. And so I, it was, you know, when you’re covering 10 [00:44:00] units in a simulated exam, you might only see one or two questions from an area that you’re not particularly strong in, and you think, hey, I’m, I’m really ready. Um, but when you do those more focused midterms and more, the, the question density is more on maybe an area you’re uncomfortable with, it really helps to expose the weaknesses.
So I really liked those and I would try to incorporate all of those tests at some point. in my re-review. For some of the tests, I took those midterms kind of as I finished those units. I didn’t save them until the very end. For others, I would do both the simulation exams and those, and those midterms in that final three to four day window.
Nate: Okay.
How Scott Felt About Life After Finishing the CPA Exams
Nate: Uh, man, I had a, had a good question there about something you said, but the other thing I was going to ask is, uh, so after, after your four years of essentially studying every night. For two, three, four hours. And now that you’re done with school and the CPA, does life just [00:45:00] feel really easy?
Scott: I was hoping it would, and then it was, it’s right into busy season, so still, still working in the evenings often.
Um, But it’s great. Just the being able to kind of be home, to be present, um, to not feel like my attention is being pulled in, you know, different, different ways all the time. And it’s like, I’m never going to have to take it again. You know, what a, what a wonderful thing. It’s done. I don’t have to worry about any changes. Um, I’m in the clear. Yeah. I mean, that, that relief, sometimes I’ll still just think. I’ll sit down and I’ll just think about it and think about all of those evenings for years,
Nate: Yeah.
Scott: But now it’s like, I want to go to bed early. I’ll go to bed early.
Nate: Yeah, that is a, man, that is awesome.
Didn’t Have Anything Else to Do Other Than Study
Nate: Did you have any, I mean, did you just kind of swear off all your hobbies or watching series? Just, I mean, nothing through those three or four years?
Scott: Nothing, nothing, I had. And so I’m, I’m probably the worst person on here as far as the, [00:46:00] uh, as far as the like, you know, pass the CPA exam and don’t use your social life. I mean, I had lost my social life years ago, um, and wasn’t interested in trying to get it back before passing this test. So yeah, I, there, there really wasn’t any, any free time, sleep, work, study. Sometimes I’d eat.
Nate: Right. I mean, but yeah, but what, what you were able to do in three to four years, you know, because of that, it’s just, I mean, I think a lot of people would say they would trade, you know, take that cost to get that, but, but then people actually doing that is a different thing. I think it’s kind of rare.
The Thought That Kept Scott’s Head in the Game
Nate: And I, you know, I asked you this in the beginning, but, uh, just the drive to do that is, um, I don’t know.
I keep wanting to ask, like, how did you, like, how, what, what were you, what were you thinking consciously? To just sit down and do that each night. Uh, was it just like [00:47:00] you said, the, just kind of the commitment I, this needs to happen because I’m this far down the path or?
Scott: Yeah. I think, I think, um, and this isn’t really a very inspiring way to say it, but like the fear was, was the boogeyman. Um, the idea of like, I could get so close and not quite get across the finish line, um, was enough to keep me up, you know, an extra hour, two hours every night, because I knew that I knew that if I, you know, I basically, I would tell myself, like, if you go to bed now and you don’t have this kind of figured out in your mind and you don’t cover what you’re hoping to cover, like maybe that’ll be the difference. And maybe you won’t, maybe you won’t finish because you decided to kind of go easy this, this late in the game, right? This close to the finish line, you decide to start jogging and not sprinting. Again, that’s not, that’s not very motivational. That’s not very inspiring. Um, but it worked. It was, it was [00:48:00] enough to get me across the finish line against all odds.
Nate: Yeah. Well, that kind of goes with something you said earlier that two ideas that really resonated, or I mean, that I would have all the time. Uh, first you mentioned, so after FAR your main, uh, that’s this recording thing does that if I like put a thumbs up, it does a little cartoon. I don’t know what that is.
Um, the, uh, oh, the idea of, I want every possible resource, you know, cause I’ve already committed years of my life, thousands of dollars, especially when you consider your college degree. Like, I want every advantage to make sure I pass these and just get this over with. So that was my same thing. Cause I bought several study tools in addition to my review course when I was studying specifically to get stuff on my phone.
And then that goes into the second idea of what you just said. Um, I would think that all the time. I would. Uh, [00:49:00] like this little mini quiz literally could be the difference of me passing and failing or every little mini study session or morning session, you know, full study session for that matter. So like, yeah, I never took days off when I was studying.
As soon as I took a section, I would study the next morning for the next one. I just had that same mindset of if I have a chance to like study a little bit right now, that could be the difference. Um.
Scott: And it really is the difference when you add it up over, over weeks, like the idea of, man, I just want to relax and eat my lunch and not look at these questions. I can, I go one day without looking at, at these questions and you do that just a handful of times. And suddenly you’ve, you’ve missed a chance to review 150 questions. That’s, that’s, that’s a lot.
Nate: Yeah, yeah, definitely. Or the, uh, I don’t know the phone thing. Like I, I used my phone relentlessly just [00:50:00] because when I was, when I started working at the firm the first few weeks, I would kind of read the entirety of ESPN several times throughout the day, in these five minute chunks and it finally dawned on me, like you could be.
That’s probably two, three, I don’t know, four hours of studying each day. And that was before you got the screen time report on,
Scott: Yeah.
Nate: Uh, I tell you, yeah, like you found six hours a day to waste on your phone somehow.
Ocassionally Used the Mini Quizzes But Always Used the Audio Notes
Nate: Um, anyways, would you, besides the audio notes, cause you mentioned those, would you do little mini sessions from your phone during the day?
Scott: I would occasionally do the mini quizzes, um, I’m pretty good about not being on my phone a lot, I’m not on any social media, so, like, there’s just not a tendency or a habit for me to scroll.
And again, I had given up my social life years before, it’s not like people were texting me, um, or trying to make plans with me or anything like that, so, you know, texting my wife a couple of times throughout the day. [00:51:00] Um, but yeah, that, that was one thing. Like, I remember you saying that and be like, Oh yeah, that’s, that’s kind of brilliant. It’s like so many people and myself included, like we are on our phones all the time. Might as well generate some productivity with that. Um, but for me, there was, I was pretty, pretty disciplined about doing my re-review at lunch, doing my, my hours in the evening, and because I just wasn’t on my phone that much, I didn’t do a whole lot of, of those, like, uh, five question or three question mini quizzes.
I did do some.
Nate: But mainly, mainly the audios, which.
Scott: Yup. Audios every day. Uh huh.
Nate: Yeah. Yeah. The audios are just, I mean, even now, anything I want to learn, you can get an audio book. Uh, there’s podcasts about it. Audio is such a helpful medium because you can be doing other things.
Scott: Yup. Agreed. Yeah, I mean, again, I had an hour, an hour fifteen in the car every single day. And suddenly it went from, it went from, uh, like, I wish I had this as study time to, I do have it as study time.
Nate: Mm hmm. Yeah.
You Still Need to Do Your Part to Make It Work
Nate: Well, [00:52:00] man, we, we kind of went through everything, but this will be a, uh, very, very helpful episode. And hopefully, I mean, basically your, your approach was there was all the strategies, but just, there’s no excuses. This is your, this is your focus besides work. And, uh, just like you said, giving yourself every possible advantage in terms of the materials you had, but also just taking advantage of all the possible time.
Like if you’re already, if you’re committed to taking these exams, why would you waste time or, you know, chip away at your chances of passing when you can be Increasing your chances of passing. So yeah, I just really, uh, agree with that whole mindset. And I think it just makes it so much easier to just accept that this is what it’s going to be until I’m done.
Scott: Yeah, and it’s, it’s not [00:53:00] magic, right? Like, three months. It might sound like magic. It’s like, Hey, how did, how did you do that? But when you actually see it put into practice day after day, it’s like, no, it’s, it’s a lot of hard work. But the, the difference between SuperfastCPA and what most people are doing is like, Hey, get some, get more bang for your buck.
You’re going to be persevering. You’re going to need grit regardless if you do it in three months or 18 months. It’s going to be hard, like get, get some return on your investment. And that’s, I think that’s the key. It’s like, there was so little wasted time doing it this way.
Nate: Yeah, yeah. I, yeah, and I was going to add that just as you described your approach, it was very strategic. You’re getting straight to the heart of what’s important. These are the questions. Can I extract the, the key takeaway, like what, what really is this question hinging on? You’re making notes on those. I mean, I won’t redescribe the entire process, but [00:54:00] if something really is a struggle, you make a flashcard on it, then you’re committing that to memory and your understanding through reviewing it.
Uh, yeah, it’s just, uh, I mean, it worked, worked really well.
Top Tips for People Still Stuggling with their Study Process
Nate: So let’s, so the last question I always ask is, I’m sure we’ve already covered it in different ways, but what would be your top three tips to someone that’s still trying to figure out their own study process?
Scott: Um, the first thing is always like, decide that you want it. Decide that you want it. I think that’s true with absolutely anything in life. Like you want, you want to make a career change. Like how bad do you want to make career change? You want to become a good basketball player? How well, how, how badly, right? As soon as you decide that you want something, you’re willing to make sacrifices, um, and put in the work to get there. So that’s just, that’s, that’s baseline for anything. Decide that you want it. Um, and then the, as far as practical strategies, skip the lectures. Don’t watch the lectures. You’re not going to get anything out of the [00:55:00] lectures. And do your re-review. I think, um, there’s, everyone’s going to figure out little tips and tricks that work for them, but if you’re making sure that you’re seeing this information day after day, after day, after day, it’s going to stick, um, way better than this, than the person that sees it once. And circles back five weeks later and tries to review it.
Nate: Yep.
Scott: Um, yeah, and, and get to the, get to the heart. Like these, these questions that Becker has or Gleim or whoever, they’re not, they didn’t just make them up, right? These are old test questions. People sat at a CPA test and answered these questions, right? So you’re going to get something very similar. Be good at them. Be good at taking the test, so to speak.
Nate: Yeah. Yeah. That’s one of those things that I don’t know, I think sounds funny maybe to someone just starting, but you can get good at every part of this process is like a skill, you know, you can get good at answering questions. There’s your practical knowledge [00:56:00] of the material, but there’s also a lot of nuance to just, answering thousands of questions over, you know, five to six weeks, you just kind of learn these patterns or you just get good at it.
Scott: Yeah, and it’s, uh, it’s, it’s not like taking this test and passing it doesn’t mean that suddenly you can fill out a complicated business tax return, or that suddenly you can just go audit a business. It really is a skill unto itself, right? Like, it, somebody can be really good at auditing and go fail the audit section of the CPA exam, and somebody could, you know, do extremely well on the auditing section and not have a clue how to actually audit when they have to, you know, sit down and do the thing. So, it, it, it is a skill unto itself. Work on the actual skill. You’ll get a job that will teach you how to do the job, right? So, it might help to kind of differentiate those two things in your mind. This is a, this is taking a test, like learn how to take the test.
Nate: Yeah, yeah. [00:57:00] That’s great. Awesome. Well, yeah, I appreciate you doing the call, Scott. That was awesome to hear the full version of your story behind that email. When I got your email, I was like, holy cow, that, this guy crushed these exams three months in the, in the nineties. So, uh, I’m glad you found the webinar and that, you know, it helped sent you down the path and then eventually you got the study tools and everything.
But, uh, yeah, congrats on, on what you accomplished the last four years.
Scott: Yeah, yeah, thanks so much. I, uh, I’m happy to give back because it was, to me, there’s no question, it was the difference maker between I’m, I would still be studying now, no question, if I hadn’t come across this.
Nate: Yeah, that’s cool. That’s awesome to hear.
Logan: All right. That was the interview with Scott.
Again, I wish I could have been a part of it. I wish I wasn’t on vacation just for this interview. He had an amazing story. He did amazing on the exams and I love his work ethic.
That’s something that I really admired about [00:58:00] him in this interview was that it was all or nothing.
He had it, he felt like he had his back against the wall and he knew he had to get these things done.
And he did it. He put in the work. He was able to pass the CPA exams in three months, all in the nineties. And again, he was working full time. Had a baby and it was just amazing to see what he did and how he did that.
I’m sure you learned a lot and you’re going to apply some of what you learned from his interview after this. If you liked the interview with Scott, make sure to leave a rating in your favorite podcast app, or like, and comment on the YouTube video.
Just remember this podcast is the best free training resource out there for CPA exam candidates. So make sure you share it and make sure you listen to the other episodes because you’ll learn a lot just by listening for free to this podcast.
With that, we’ll close out. Thanks for watching or listening. And we’ll see you in the next episode.
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