Taylor is in her Master’s program, works full-time, coaches two sports teams, makes time for the gym… AND is passing her CPA exams all at the same time!
Episode Timestamps
- 00:00 Introduction
- 01:04 Effective Studying “Gives You Your Life Back”
- 01:46 Enter the Podcast Giveaway
- 02:27 Where Taylor is at in the CPA Process
- 03:57 The Beginning of Taylor’s CPA Study Process
- 05:03 “It Took One Module to Realize…”
- 06:01 How Taylor Does Her Main Study Sessions
- 07:00 Not Using SIMs or Video Lectures on FAR
- 07:55 Does Learning Style Matter for the CPA Exams?
- 09:12 How Taylor Uses the SuperfastCPA Study Tools
- 09:55 What Taylor Uses the Most
- 10:35 Why Simplicity Boosts Progress
- 13:04 Coaching a Sports & Other Hobbies, While Passing CPA Exams
- 15:36 How Taylor Studies on the Weekends
- 17:45 “I Had No Intentions of Sitting for the CPA…”
- 19:05 How Taylor Continually Improves Her Study Process
- 20:45 Clarifying Taylor’s Simulations Approach
- 21:49 Time Management on Exam Day
- 23:42 What Keeps Taylor Motivated
- 24:20 How Taylor Gets Up at 4:30am to Study
- 26:10 Taylor’s Flashcard Writing Process
- 27:25 Taylor’s Final Review Process
- 30:04 Taylor’s Favorite SuperfastCPA Study Tool
- 30:59 Taylor’s Top Tips to Current CPA Candidates
Episode Transcript
Nate: So you’re in a master’s program, studying for the CPA exams and you work full-time, too?
Taylor: Yeah, I work 40 hours a week.
Nate: Well, and you say you go to the gym, coaching your softball team. That’s a lot of stuff,
Taylor: What’s really nice is I don’t have to limit myself to like putting time away, specifically to study in the evenings.
I get to still go to the gym and coach a softball team and do all the things I want to do, which is I think the nicest thing about it.
Um,
Nate: Welcome to episode 68 of the CPA exam experience podcast from Superfast CPA. I’m Nate, and in today’s interview, you’re going to hear me talk with Taylor. So Taylor is currently going through the CPA study process or the CPA exam process, she has finished FAR, and as you’ll hear on the interview, she is incredibly busy.
Now at the same time, you will hear her describe how she manages a study process that is allowing her to pass sections and maintain all the activities that she’s also doing throughout the rest of her life.
Effective Studying “Gives You Your Life Back”
Nate: So it’s just another testament to the fact that you don’t have to put everything else in your life on hold as you go through the CPA exam process. As long as you have your daily study process nailed down and really figured out, and you know what you’re doing is effective. So that leads us into the two things I need to mention real quick before we get into the interview with Taylor. First, if you have not taken the time yet to watch one of our free study training webinars, that is the best place to start.
That is the most helpful thing you can do to get a cohesive overview of how our study strategies fit together specifically by how to use your current review course much, much, more effectively and much, much, more efficiently. You can sign up for one of those sessions at our main site at superfestcpa.com.
Enter the Podcast Giveaway
Nate: The second thing is that we’ve revived our podcast giveaway where just by entering you can win one of three pairs of Powerbeats Pro wireless headphones, which are my personal favorite headphones, and the idea is three listeners out there are going to get these headphones where it makes listening to the audio notes over and over, much easier and much more convenient. So to enter the giveaway, you can go to superfastcpa.com/enter, or there’ll be a link in the description of the YouTube video, or you can go to the actual episode page on our website at superfastcpa, this is episode 68 with Taylor. So with all that being said, let’s get into the interview with Taylor.
Where Taylor is at in the CPA Process
Nate: So have you heard some of these other interviews? Do you kind of know how these go?
Taylor: I’ve listened to a lot of the podcasts, I haven’t watched any of the videos yet, but I listened to the podcast.
Nate: So you’re through with one section, correct?
Taylor: Yep I just took FAR in August, the end of August, and I found out my score on that about two and a half weeks ago and I passed. So that was very good news.
Nate: Awesome, yeah, that’s huge. Passing FAR is a… I mean, especially if it’s your first one. You’ve probably heard me say on other episodes, like I consider that being like 70% done, all things considered.
Yeah. From a mental standpoint, it’s just such a big step.
Taylor: And I was especially like nervous with it being my first one, cause I was like, I’ve never been through this and, but using Superfast, straight out of the gate really helped because I mean, I had it with me on the go and like you probably saw in my email, I’m a very busy person, so it’s been nice to have the app and everything.
Nate: Yeah, I’m glad it’s been helpful obviously, you know, there’s our strategies and everything, but then just the study tools themselves, it just kind of makes sense if however much time you fit in with your review course each day.
But then if you have study tools, we all have our phones, wherever we go. And instead of doing the normal social media games or whatever it is, if you’re going to go through this process anyways, you might as well just like use as much of that time as you can.
The Beginning of Taylor’s CPA Study Process
Nate: So, did you have a period of studying where you were just using your review course before you found our study tools or you came across it before you fully started studying?
Taylor: So actually, whenever I was going through the interview process, when I was near graduation and firms were asking, if I’ve got into the CPA process or anything like that,
I started to really think about it. And by that point I wasn’t graduated and I wasn’t eligible to start taking them. So I was looking around seeing what I could do to get prepared, and I actually ran across it before I ever started studying. So I think that was a blessing because it has helped a ton.
Nate: Nice. So do you remember what the first thing you saw? Was it a YouTube ad?
Taylor: Yes, it actually was. I think it was your success story that I listened to first.
Nate: Yeah. I kinda hate having to like, say that on, like I passed in three months, you know, but that’s like the nature of trying to put the message out there. it doesn’t have to be a year of torture or whatever.
So you watched the, the one hour webinar.
Taylor: Right.
“It Took One Module to Realize…”
Taylor: So I had heard your podcast, and then whenever I actually like got Becker from the firm that I ended up going with, I had done like one chapter of one module, and I was like, yeah, I got to get that thing that I heard a podcast about. So I actually started cleaning my whole house, listened to the training, and I was like, yeah, I’m buying it.
Nate: Nice.
Taylor: Like it took one module to realize, I, I can’t, I literally don’t have time to do all the videos, all the lectures, everything. So…
Nate: Yeah. That’s the thing. Review courses just kind of come with the assumption that you’re supposed to learn every single thing in it.
And, you know, use every resource, watch every video, do every pre quiz and post quiz and skill check or, you know, the different review courses call their stuff slightly different things, but there’s really just a few like key things that matter, anyways, we’ll, we’ll get into all that. So, instead of watching every video, using everything in your review course,
How Taylor Does Her Main Study Sessions
Nate: How do you actually use your review course materials for your main study session?
Taylor: Right. So my main study session is like what you said, I like waking up early. I feel like I have a way better chunk of my day to just spend doing it, instead of coming home after work, being exhausted, not wanting to do any of it.
So I actually, I have Becker and I use that in the mornings. I planned out exactly how many modules I want to get done a week ahead of time. But, I strictly do the multiple choice. Like I will go completely through, read the explanations, if there’s something I missed multiple times, I make note cards.
That’s how I, I don’t know. I really don’t even look back at them, but just writing them down helps me.
Nate: Yep.
Taylor: So that’s what I do, and then after I’ve finished them all, I go back through the ones I missed, redo those. And then at the end of the week, which is usually a whole module, I go through back through everything for repetition, to make sure I’m not forgetting everything.
Nate: Nice,
Not Using SIMs or Video Lectures on FAR
Taylor: But I never do any of the SIMs or any of that. I did not touch any of that on FAR.
Nate: Really? Like you, you didn’t use the practice SIMs whatsoever?
Taylor: Nope… Or the lectures. I didn’t watch a single one.
Nate: you know, and some people have said that, well, the lecture thing, a lot of people just kind of skip those.
If you come to some topic that’s like really complicated, you never really covered that in school or whatever it is, you know, it’s, it’s just nice to use it in reverse kind of. You use the multiple choice to learn the material in the same context that you’re going to see it on test day.
And then you use the text or the video to kind of fill in your understanding if you need more versus that from the top down, like watch every video, read every chapter, that just takes so much time that you’re, you’re already tired by the time you get to like the practice questions, which is what really matters.
Does Learning Style Matter for the CPA Exams?
Taylor: And then, whenever I see a question. That’s just how I learned, cause I’m like, where are the numbers coming from? What are they doing with them? And that’s just how I am learning-wise, so that’s definitely what helped me.
Nate: Well actually I have a strong opinion on that. Like the whole, a learning style thing, the thing is everyone has to take the same test and you need to be able to answer the questions you’re going to see, like there’s not really a way around that, and so, I don’t know, like auxiliary learning or, uh, however you want to do it throughout the day.
If you like the audios, with our tools, some people really like the quizzes. Some people really like the review notes. Some people really like the audios. Some people use all three or they use like two of them. But, when you sit down to study with your main review course, it just logically makes sense to spend most of your time doing exactly what you need to be able to do on test day.
There’s something about seeing a question, versus reading it in paragraph format from like the textbook that just, I mean, it’s a, it’s a question that puts like this open loop in your mind, like, okay, what is that? And it just frames it exactly how you need to learn it. Okay. So that’s what you do for your main study sessions.
How Taylor Uses the SuperfastCPA Study Tools
Nate: And then how do you use our, uh, study tools throughout your day? Just how do you use them in general?
Taylor: Right, so I live about 30 minutes away from the firm I work at so, after I study in the morning, get ready for work on the way to work, I listen to the audio notes. I usually try to pick ones around what I’m learning at the time, but then I’ll also pick ones after work that I have not, like, studied at all, because then I’m like refreshing my mind on what I have already learned, but I don’t want to forget.
What’s really nice is I don’t have to limit myself to like putting time away, specifically to study in the evenings.
I get to still go to the gym and coach a softball team and do all the things I want to do, which is I think the nicest thing about it.
What Taylor Uses the Most
Taylor: But during the day, over my lunch break or when I am at the gym, if I’m just like walking on the treadmill or something, I always do the quizzes. The quizzes I think are what I use the most.
I’ve actually seen some of the questions on my review course. So I’m like, Hey, I’ve seen that before. So it’s good to know that I’m like learning what I’m supposed to be learning.
Nate: Yeah. so we do, we have AICPA license questions, but then we do a lot of our own because we, we try to do them in like the simplified format, like, if you open the app that comes with your review course, and you’re standing in line at the grocery store, it gives you like full strength questions.
It’s like not practical to, to use it on an app.
Why Simplicity Boosts Progress
Taylor: Right. And you have to download them and it’s just not convenient, whatsoever.
Nate: Yeah. So we tried to make ours, that’s the main point of our app is extremely simple and sometimes people will, they’re like, well, how come I can’t choose all these options and the number of questions and the topics.
And I’m like, listen for, for what this is supposed to be, to use just, seriously in like 30 seconds, two minutes, five minutes. Trust me. You don’t want all those options, this needs to be exactly how it is.
Taylor: and I feel like at the beginning of the, sorry, at the beginning, whenever I started using it, cause I’m on REG now, and all the questions.
I mean, I haven’t seen any of that material yet in my review course. So like seeing it now and like kind of getting a headstart on it is really nice.
Nate: Again, just the fact that you have your phone all the time, it’s applicable in so many ways. One of the other interviews I did well, the one, I, the most recent one we published with John, he talked about some days he would just take off to go mountain biking and not do like a main study session with his review course, but he listened to audios the whole time.
And it’s just, yeah, having this, the tools on your phone, kind of lets you do that. Or other people have mentioned, even when stuff goes sideways and they just don’t have two hours to do their main session. They still, again, they have their phone all throughout their day and they’re at least able to continue making progress by like using the study tools.
So I remembered what you reminded me of is earlier when I looked up our emails back and forth, After you had first purchased, I think you had asked me, so with these tools, am I supposed to be, I think you were talking about the five questions you were like, I can’t choose topics.
Am I supposed to be seeing stuff on content I haven’t covered yet in my review course. And, you know, I obviously answered you back when I was like, like, yes, that’s trust me, just do it like this. Like, do your lessons one by one in your review course. But with our study tools, the whole idea is to jump around constantly.
So now that you’ve used them and pass FAR, I’m guessing you, you get what I’m saying? When I said that?
Taylor: Yeah it makes so much more sense now, yeah.
Nate: That’s funny. Okay.
Coaching a Sports & Other Hobbies, While Passing CPA Exams
Nate: You kind of mentioned this, but I was going to ask, so if you nail your morning study session, and then you, you said you’re working right now, right? So you have work. Okay. And you kind of use the study tools throughout the day. And as long as you’ve done that, then you just take the evenings off to do your normal stuff.
Taylor: Right. So I’m actually in a master’s program. So I usually spend the evenings doing my homework, then the mornings doing studying. So yeah, I mean, I don’t really ever get a break from accounting, but it’s better than studying both.
Nate: Yeah. And you mentioned in the little thing you filled out before we got on here, you uh, you coach a…, you coach sports teams?
Taylor: Yeah, I coach a 16 year old traveling softball team, and I’m starting to coach a middle school basketball team this winter. So yeah, it’s nice to be able to have freedom to do that and not just be like tied down to studying. And I mean, I’m only 22 once, so I’m like, I’m going to do what I want to do still.
And it’s nice to be able to know that you can pass the exams without studying four hours a day.
Nate: Yeah, well again, technically you kind of are fitting in three or four hours, you know, but it’s, it’s that dedicated time that, if you’re trying to study four or five hours a day with your review course, you have to obviously find that much dedicated time.
Whereas, kind of with this, format or whatever, you just need the two hours with your review course, which is small enough you can fit it in the morning and then make up the other extra hour or two hours again with the, with the study tools just as you go through normal day. So yeah, it is, it’s just makes it, it makes your life a lot more flexible.
So you’re in a master’s program, studying for the CPA exams and working… you work full-time, too?
Taylor: Yeah, I work 40 hours a week.
This week, I just got lucky and had a day off.
Nate: Nice. And you’re coaching, uh, coaching.
Well, and you say you go to the gym, coaching your softball team. That’s a lot of stuff,
but
Taylor: yeah my plate’s usually pretty full,
Nate: That’s cool though, you’re able to do all that. Yeah, so one of the, one of the questions I’ve been asking is what kind of stuff had to go on the back burner while you are in the study process, but it sounds like you’re kind of still doing all your normal stuff.
How Taylor Studies on the Weekends
Nate: I mean, how do you, how do you treat the weekends or when do you study or, and how do you study differently and just, what do you do on the weekends for studying?
Taylor: So I usually take Sundays completely off from studying. I just think it’s worth it to give myself a day off during the week. Um, but Saturdays like doing stuff around the house, I mainly do audio notes on Saturdays. I don’t usually do my Becker stuff. Or if I go on a walk, I’ll listen to audio notes while I’m on my walk.
So it’s not a full weekend off, but I mean, I take it pretty lightly.
Nate: Yeah. And that’s, that’s one thing that, like once you, once you have a routine, if you broke it down into a meaningful segment, I would say it’s really like the week that matters.
Not necessarily the day. And so if you, uh, if on a week to week basis, what you’re doing is working, because for me, when I was studying the idea of just not taking days off was easier for me to just accept the whole thing mentally, and then doing these interviews, there’s been a lot of people that, people would take the weekend completely off. They’re like, I’m not looking at this stuff on my weekends, but they’re still, once they’ve figured out their process and they know it’s working. I mean, if it is working, then you can do that. Or like you said, you kind of just use the study tools, but you don’t have like a formal sit-down study session and then Sundays, you don’t do anything.
So that’s. That’s just where like, kind of the personalization comes in.
Taylor: Yeah, cause my weekends are all over the place. Like if I’m coaching and we have a tournament over the weekend, I mean, I’m probably not going to get a lot done, so I don’t want to plan myself to that, oh, you’re going to hold this off or whatever to do it over the weekend and then end up not getting it done.
So that’s why I like to push through on the weekdays and I try to really challenge myself to get more done than I think I can.
Nate: Yeah, and so, how long did you basically, like, what was your study timeline for FAR?
Was it like eight weeks or 12 weeks?
“I Had No Intentions of Sitting for the CPA…”
Taylor: So honestly, I had no intentions of sitting for the CPA exam ever, and then after I did. Yeah, and then after I did all my interviews and that’s like the first thing people ask.
Nate: Yeah.
Taylor: Do you plan on sitting for the CPA? And I’m like, well, I better kick it into gear. And so at the end of, so I graduated in December of 2020 with my bachelor’s and then I submitted my transcripts and whatnot to the Kansas board and found out what I still needed to do to be able to sit, and submitted my application and it took a lot longer than I thought it was.
So I had started studying, just thinking I would get it back as soon as I could, because I didn’t want to be rushed on my first exam and put myself just setting myself up for failure. But, I studied for FAR for, I started in, probably the beginning of June and I just took it at the end of August. So, I mean, I had, I reviewed for like almost a month.
Nate: You, you had gotten through the material in like eight weeks then about?
Taylor: Yeah. And my certificate of enrollment and everything was just pushed back. And so I was like, kind of stuck because I wasn’t eligible until the end of August with my credits and whatnot. So I had to wait.
Nate: Yeah.
How Taylor Continually Improves Her Study Process
Taylor: I started studying for REG, this’ll be three weeks ago and I’m already like on module six out of eight. So, I mean, I’m probably going to have to end up moving it up. I am scheduled to take it the first week of November, but I don’t need that long. It’s been nice, like just to see how I can change, like just after one exam, I’m like making all the changes I know that’ll help even speed it up even more than it already was, so.
Nate: Yep. And that’s, I think I say this in the, in the pro videos, but, what you’re really trying to do with this process is, uh, I think a lot of people just view it as I’m just trying to learn the information.
Whereas this whole thing works better and happens faster, if you’re constantly kind of re-evaluating your actual process. And when you start thinking about that, you start making breakthroughs, like how you dissect multiple choice questions, how you create your own note cards and you get, you get good at it and you get better and better at it.
Whereas, like when you said you might move your test up. I did that on my last exam. I had the exam date set and I just got through like my little process with four weeks to go. And I was like, I, I would rather pay the money and like change this sooner.
It’s a good feeling to know, like you just kinda know, like, I’m going to go ahead and pass this because your, your process is working so well.
Taylor: And I think that helped having FAR first, because that process in general is just way longer.
So now that I’m like, oh, this is easy, like I got this in the bag now.
Clarifying Taylor’s Simulations Approach
Nate: I was going to ask you about the, uh, ‘ cause I, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this to everyone, but it’s interesting you didn’t use your practice SIMs at all. So what was your experience like on test day when you opened up the SIMs?
I mean, I’m assuming you, at some point kind of looked through, practice SIMs just to see like, you know, what SIMs look like and everything. But what was your test day experience with the SIMs when you really didn’t use practice SIMs in your study process?
Taylor: Right. So I actually did one mock exam. So I saw them on the mock exam.
That helped me a lot. And then after that I went through some of Becker’s, just like their videos and I watched the topics that I was not good at. And I just looked at like, kind of the format of what the SIMs looked like. and that’s like about as much experience as I had with it.
Yeah, it was just, the SIMs were, definitely the hardest part, but, and I think going forward with REG I’ll definitely like, look over the SIMs a little bit more ahead of time. Cause that was definitely my weakest area on FAR.
Time Management on Exam Day
Nate: Yeah. And then, on the other side, cause what I always say is like the, the number one thing on test day is to leave yourself tons of time to just work through the SIMs and doing, focusing so much on questions in your study process kind of solves that in advance because you just get really fast at MCQs.
Was that your experience on test day?
Taylor: Yeah I think I only took about 50 minutes on MCQs.
Nate: And so you probably, you probably finished with like time to spare, like finished everything?
Taylor: Yeah, I had about 30 minutes left when I was done, so.
Nate: Yeah. I mean, it’s anecdotal for sure. But whenever, when I do these interviews, like again, when someone really gets their process nailed down, that’s typically what happens on test day.
Like they finish early and when that happens, it’s almost always that they’ve passed it. I guess one question I have is, so you did a bachelor’s in accounting? And then, you said, I wasn’t even planning on doing the CPA. What were you kind of viewing your, uh, career path being at the time to where you had that idea that you weren’t even going to do the CPA?
Taylor: Right. So I, I mean, from the get go, like when I started college, I had always planned on going for accounting. Like I never switched my degree. I just was always like, I’m good with numbers. I want like an office job. Like I never thought, like, I would want to be like one of the people in charge or like a CPA.
I just was fine with that. But after hearing, I’m like, I need it, and a lot of my professors were like, Taylor, you need to work in public accounting. Like. Get your CPA while you can, and so that’s what kind of drove me to do it. Cause I really had no intentions of it until my junior year, I had never even talked about it in school or anything, so.
What Keeps Taylor Motivated
Nate: Gotcha. So, you know, some people, once they just decide, that’s what I’m doing, motivation’s not really something they struggle with. They’re just do the process each day. Do you ever have bad days where you don’t feel like studying and if you do, what do you tell yourself?
Like what, what’s your reason for forcing yourself to study on days where you really don’t want to?
Taylor: Right. I’ve always just kinda been like, I’m not going to give up once I… once my mind set on something, like I’m gonna do it. And I think that comes from, I played softball in college. So I kind of have that mindset of I’m not gonna give up.
How Taylor Gets Up at 4:30am to Study
Taylor: And I mean, it’s always been a life goal and I’m like, I’m not telling people that I’m studying and doing this just to not become a CPA, like I’m going to do it. And that’s kind of my motivation. I have a lot of hard days and I mean, it’s not easy waking up at 4:30 in the morning when everyone else is still asleep and it’s dark outside.
I mean it’s worth it and I know it’ll be worth it in the end. So that’s just what I have to tell myself. Like it’s hard now, but it’ll pay off.
Nate: Yeah. Yeah. That’s pretty early, but I mean, that’s, I got up at four when I was doing this, that was going to be one of my questions. Is what time do you, uh,
What time do you get up? So 4:30…. So are you, you’re pretty rigid with like when you go to bed. Like you’re, you know, you’re flexible in the evenings to kind of do the stuff you want to do, but then if you’re getting up at 4:30, are you really strict with when you go to sleep or as long as you get up at 4:30, you don’t really care when you go to bed?
Taylor: I’m pretty strict. I like to be in bed by like nine or 10, just, I mean, I have to wake up early because I’m like, I have either softball practice or homework to do so I like, I can’t not wake up is my kind of thing. Like, I got to get it done and I think pushing it back, I’m very OCD about like time management.
So I’d rather get it done early than late.
Nate: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. There’s so many reasons why studying in the morning works better. That’s intense, the coaching thing. How many days a week do you guys have practice?
Taylor: We practice one to two times a week. We usually alternate, but we’re usually playing out of town on the weekends.
I mean that’s Friday, Saturday, Sunday, usually. That’s it it’s a lot, but I mean, it’ll be over here pretty soon until the summertime. So I’ll have a few months to get some more studying under my belt.
Taylor’s Flashcard Writing Process
Nate: Hmm. Yeah, that’s cool. I think you mentioned, what’s your process for making notes or writing hard concepts in your own words?
Taylor: Yeah. So I, I use note cards and I only write them if I’ve missed a question more than one time, because other than that, and like I said, I don’t ever really even go back and go through them. I just do it just to write down and get the memory in my head. I also did the AICPA, like newly released questions.
I went through that and I went through the sample test, so that was another review thing I did.
But, other than that I didn’t take any notes.
Nate: That’s almost word for word out of our, uh, like our PRO videos is you obviously don’t want to, cause a lot of people take notes or try to make flashcards their first time through a lesson. And it’s like, well, you have to realize this is all going to sound new to you and kind of confusing the first time you hear it.
That would take way too much time to make flashcards for everything the first time you go through it. You want to wait until you’ve missed a question on it, like two or three times.
Taylor: That is something I taught myself too during FAR. Cause I started out doing that, where the first time I missed it and that was like a stack this big of note cards.
And I was like, yeah I can’t do this. So then I limited myself.
Taylor’s Final Review Process
Nate: Yeah. We talked about how you use SIMs. What about your, well, you said you ended up reviewing for about a month for FAR. But like the last few days before the exam, did you do anything different? Just the two or three days before an exam?
Taylor: So I did the whole final review on Becker for like, think, I would say like a week or two, but that was a week or two before the exam. The week before I did a hundred multiple questions a day. Multiple choice questions a day. And then I would read through at night the notes on my phone and because I hadn’t read through the notes, like at all, like I barely used those, but that was what I used at the end, just to kind of like wrap it up for me in my head and touch base on everything that’s not a multiple choice question.
Nate: Yeah, and a lot of people say that. Well, that exact thing, they use our review notes as almost a cram course type thing. And in fact, that’s in our, that’s in our PRO videos as well, trying to read the notes, like fully twice in just the last two or three days.
and then we talked about your test day experience. Do you have any of your own, just any of your own discoveries? Just things that you immediately cause, like you said, a second ago, you figured out you shouldn’t be making note cards on everything. Any other, just breakthroughs of your own that you had that just really worked for you or kind of sped up your progress?
Taylor: I think I mentioned it earlier, but the thing of listening to videos of old stuff, instead of just always doing multiple choice over things that I’ve already learned, I liked the audio notes because then I like picture it in my head and I’m like, okay, I remember doing that. And it stays fresh. I think that was another helpful thing… that I did.
Nate: Yeah. Okay. So the, the idea of just constant re-review.
Taylor: Yes.
Nate: Yeah, yeah. And it’s, again, it just, it makes logical sense once you say it, but kind of like the traditional way of studying you go through lesson by lesson. Then you do one big, final review, but you’re months, maybe, or weeks, at least from the first half of stuff you studied, it just makes a lot more sense to build in re-review to like your daily process.
So that you’re, you’re, you’re hitting things. You’re bringing things back up in your memory multiple times as you go through the study process. And it’s like, when you say that clearly that works better for retention than just leaving everything behind and just doing the final review clear at the end.
Taylor’s Favorite SuperfastCPA Study Tool
Nate: Well, if you were just to narrow down like the main benefit or your favorite part of our study tools, what would that be?
Taylor: Audio notes.
Nate: The audios? Yeah. Just cause you can do it while you’re doing something else, I’m guessing. Is that why?
Taylor: Yes. And it’s so like to the point, like it’s not confusing. The words you use are not confusing. It totally makes sense. And I like the order you do them because, it just like flows from one thing to the other, which I found really helpful.
Cause sometimes Becker is like all over the place with the stuff that we’re learning. So that was really nice.
Nate: Yeah. We just, when, when the AICPA started releasing these like blueprints with the new exam, it’s not new anymore, this current format, we just changed all of our stuff to just match those because they’re the ones that make the exams.
Taylor’s Top Tips to Current CPA Candidates
Nate: Okay. Kind of the last question? Kind of similar to what I just asked, but what would you say to people that are really struggling with the study process or trying to figure out an effective daily process? What would be your top, like one or two tips to those people?
Taylor: I would say, don’t be too hard on yourself. This process is not easy. Like any part of it is not easy. So I mean, like if you need to step away from it for a day or so, like do it, but don’t take too long off because it will creep back up on you. And then everything happens for a reason. If you’re having a bad day or you’re not getting the information, like it’s okay.
Your, your where you’re at for a reason. You’re not. It’s not going to kill you. It’s not going to cause your success to fail. And then maybe just like reward yourself. Like what I told myself whenever I passed FAR, I was like, okay, what, it costs to apply for an exam,
I’m going to go shopping and spend that money because I earned it and I’d be paying it if I failed the exam. So it’s really, yeah, you have that to look forward to.
Nate: Yeah, that’s a good tip. Several people have mentioned that, giving them the exam fee amount to just go blow it on whatever. And I mean, yeah, it’s a good idea.
Well, I am glad you found us, or I’m glad you saw that YouTube ad and that you found the study tools helpful. That’s awesome. And again, having FAR done is pretty much half the battle. Yeah.
Taylor: Yeah. And I’ve definitely recommended it to some of my friends and they think it’s a genius idea. So what you’ve done, so I appreciate it.
Nate: Yeah. Thank you. That’s awesome to hear.
So that was the interview with Taylor. Hopefully you found that very helpful and insightful. She had a lot of really good tips to share about how she manages her day. Again, being very busy, but still maintaining a clearly very effective CPA study process. So again, if you have never taken the time to watch one of our free study training webinars, that’s the best place for you to start to see how you can get much better results out of your review course materials in literally less time each day.
And then the second thing is to enter the podcast giveaway by going to superfastcpa.com/enter. To get the details on how to enter. It’s pretty simple, or going to the YouTube video page and finding the link in the description or the actual episode page, episode 68 on our website at superfastcpa.com. So thanks for listening and we’ll see you on the next episode.
