In this episode you’ll hear how Kevin turned his CPA study process around by making a few specific tweaks to his study process, which led to him starting to pass his exams after failing several times.
IMPORTANT LINKS:
Master your study process by attending one of our free study training workshops:
https://www.superfastcpa.com/study-secrets/
Episode Timestamps
- 0:00 Intro
- 01:48 A Brief Background on How Kevin Got Into Accounting
- 02:51 Kevin’s Biggest Struggles Before SuperfastCPA
- 04:39 Finding SuperfastCPA and Changing Review Course
- 06:16 Getting SuperfastCPA and Things That Made Sense
- 07:43 Using SuperfastCPA Study Tools Throughout the Day
- 08:42 Kevin Even Got A Tutor to Help Explain How to Solve the Problems
- 11:08 The Things Kevin Went Over with Her Tutor
- 13:06 Had a Newborn Between Passing FAR and Audit
- 14:07 The Biggest Relief of Being Done with the CPA Exams
- 14:30 Things that Kevin Was Still Able to Do Despite Busy Studying for the CPA Exams
- 16:35 Waited Another 2 Months to Get His License
- 17:26 Goal is to Finish the CPA Exam Before the 2024 Changes
- 19:39 The Big Changes That Led to an Approach That Was Working
- 21:02 Kevin’s Top Three Tips for People Still Struggling with the CPA Exams
Interview Transcript
Kevin: [00:00:00] Well, I think like a lot of your strategies, like, uh, like focusing on the questions and not so much reading the textbook, like before I was kind of reading the textbook too much.
Like it was just a waste of time. Like I was watching the lectures that Surgent had and they just weren’t helping me at all. I wasn’t spending as much time as I should on the practice questions. And so I thought that was the real, like, game changer for me.
Logan: Welcome to another episode of the CPA exam experience podcast from SuperfastCPA. I’m Logan and in today’s interview, you’re going to hear Nate and I talking to Kevin.
Kevin really struggled with the study process at first. He just couldn’t figure it out and just wasn’t working for him. And he took multiple exams and kept failing to the point that he eventually gave up for a while.
A little while later, his wife encouraged him to get back into it and at that point, he discovered SuperfastCPA.
From then on, with some tweaks and some changes, he was able to [00:01:00] start passing exams.
Even when in the middle of the process, his wife had their daughter and he was still able to keep passing exams while as a sleep deprived new father.
Not only that, Kevin was still able to go to a concert or two, which is something he loves, because his process became so efficient.
Before we jump into this great interview, I just want to give everyone one more reminder about our free one hour training webinar on superfastcpa.com. This is one hour that will save you months and months of struggling with your study process.
With all that said, let’s dive straight into the interview with Kevin.
Nate: So I’ll just start with a couple, direct questions about pre-SuperfastCPA. And then once you started like using our stuff and then we’ll kind of go into the whole, study story
Kevin: okay. That’s great. It’s a long story.
Nate: Okay. Okay.
A Brief Background on How Kevin Got Into Accounting
Nate: I guess somewhat going back to the beginning or before you started using SuperfastCPA, what were the biggest struggles you were having with the study process and the exams in general?
Kevin: Um, I mean, I just didn’t know [00:02:00] how to study at all. Like it’s totally different from school, these exams. And, um, I just didn’t know how to apply the, my study program. And I just, it was just such a struggle in the in the beginning. It just didn’t click with me at first.
The multiple choice were just rough for me. So I’ll just go back to the beginning.
Nate: Okay. Yeah.
Kevin: I was a business major in, in college and I, um, and I, I didn’t know I wanted to do accounting then. So I just, I, I, I did business instead. And then I, uh, after I graduated, I got a job at a business management firm in Nashville, where I live, and I started working in, like, accounting, bookkeeping. And then from there I, I got my, I went back and got my accounting hours.
And then I started studying for the CPA exam after that.
Kevin’s Biggest Struggles Before SuperfastCPA
Nate: And so like, how long of a period was it in the beginning? The struggle period before you came across videos or whatever.
Kevin: [00:03:00] Okay. Yeah. So that, that was back in 2017. I was just, I was really struggling and I was using Surgent CPA review and it just, it didn’t click with me at all.
But then I went back and got my, all my accounting credits at Lipscomb University. Um, and so I did really well there.
So I just decided to stick with accounting for my career. Then after I graduated from that, I started studying for the CPA exams in 2017, 2016 and early 2017. And I started with BEC and there’s nothing clicked with me for that because it was just, it’s just so all over the place and I just didn’t know anything and I took it three times.
I did not pass once, the highest score of the 70.
Nate: Mm. So you were getting close just kind of following that traditional method. Yeah. You were getting pretty close.
Kevin: I was fairly close. Yeah.
Nate: Yeah.
Kevin: Uh, but then I got, so I think that the scores are 56, 70, 64. So then [00:04:00] after that, I just essentially, I took a break and kind of gave up.
And then, the fast forward five years, , late 2021. I, I got married and my wife really encouraged me to go back into this and pursue it.
Nate: Mm-Hmm.
Kevin: Um, so I really have her a thank for completing this journey. And
Logan: I think we all, I think we all feel the same way with our spouses.
Kevin: Absolutely. Yeah. Because she’s actually an internal auditor. so she doesn’t have her CPA, she has a, Certified Information Systems auditor.
Logan: Okay.
Kevin: So that was at the end of 2021 when I, when we got married. And then she was just, she was really encouraging me to go back into it.
Finding SuperfastCPA and Changing Review Course
Kevin: So that’s about like when I found your, your video on YouTube.
Nate: Okay.
Kevin: Um, and then I, that was like a month before my, I was going to take BEC again, so I didn’t really have time to apply your, your strategies or anything, but I did buy all your, the products and the study tools. And so I was still using [00:05:00] Surgent at the time.
Uh, so I, I, I went in there and I did not, did not pass again. I think I got, got like a 56 or something like that. So then I need after that I needed a new strategy. So I went back and I purchased Becker because I had heard heard really good things about Becker. I think that was 1 of the things that, that really help me because, like, their their approach is just more streamlined than Surgent and it’s, it’s just a lot easier. It was a lot easier for me to follow it.
Nate: Were you trying to do the adaptive thing from Surgent?
Kevin: Yeah, I was.
Nate: Yes.
Kevin: It just never worked for me.
Nate: Yeah. I’m not a, yeah, I’m not a big fan of that. I like, I think it’s better to manually cover each lesson, you know?
Kevin: Oh yeah. Yeah. That’s why,
Nate: Yeah.
Kevin: I think that’s why I kept failing. It’s like, I didn’t cover everything and I just, I didn’t know.
Logan: And BEC I thought was the hardest exam anyway, so.
Kevin: Oh, I thought audit was harder because I’ve never been [00:06:00] an auditor. I’ve just done tax and bookkeeping or bookkeeping and accounting.
So audit was very hard for me because I just like, there are two different answers and a lot of multiple choice. I got 75 on that one.
Nate: Nice.
Logan: Awesome.
Nate: Perfect.
Kevin: I was really happy to, perfect score, yeah.
Getting SuperfastCPA and Things That Made Sense
Kevin: So yeah, purchased your, the, all the study materials and PRO videos that went through all that, and that was very helpful.
Nate: Do you remember, what specific strategies or things from the PRO course that really helped you out compared to what you were doing before?
Kevin: Oh, yeah, like, just focusing on the questions and taking notes and yeah, the questions first approach was the thing that sticks out in my mind.
Nate: Okay.
Kevin: Um, because I thought, I thought the practice multiple choice questions are the most effective learning tool, but I learned really well by taking notes and writing stuff down. So I would take a good amount of notes as well. And I would also, I would also like, work the problems in Excel. I thought that [00:07:00] was really helpful.
I thought Excel was a very great tool to have. I don’t know if it’s still, is it still in the 2024? Do they have another spreadsheet on there?
Nate: Yeah, they’re doing a new little generic spreadsheet again, like they did pre 2017.
Kevin: Oh, interesting. Oh, that’s wow. Okay. Um, so yeah, I would mostly do the problems in Excel and I would make some flashcards.
Like, I thought that was really helpful from the PRO course. Making flashcards just on like terminology.
Nate: Yeah.
Kevin: Like, like, for business law or audit. I mean, just brain scape. I thought that was really useful.
Nate: Okay.
Using SuperfastCPA Study Tools Throughout the Day
Nate: Did you do the, you know, the idea of like mini sessions studying from your phone throughout the day?
Kevin: Absolutely. That, that was the next point I wanted to hit, to make, I, I would constantly study my phone and read your review notes like over and over and over again. I, I [00:08:00] absorb information by reading it and seeing it. I would focus on the review notes. But I did listen to the audio sometimes when I was driving to work.
I had about a 30 minute commute every day.
Nate: Okay.
Kevin: So, I thought that was all very helpful. And the mini quizzes also were very useful to me as well. Like I would do those, I would do those constantly.
Nate: Yeah.
Kevin: Sitting, like just watching TV or something, or just used at work, whenever I had a chance to do them, I would knock out a five second, a five question quiz.
Nate: Yeah. And it just, it just adds up, right? It’s just.
Kevin: Absolutely. Yeah. That’s what I found.
Nate: Hundreds of times. That’s just a lot of extra questions. Yeah.
Kevin: Absolutely. Yeah. I thought those are very useful, helpful to me.
Kevin Even Got A Tutor to Help Explain How to Solve the Problems
Kevin: And then, then, so I just, I just thought I need some help. I got it, I got a tutor and, um, and she really helped me, like, with a lot of the material and just showing me how to solve the problems because I just didn’t really know how to do.
Nate: [00:09:00] Yeah.
Kevin: How to do them on my own. So I just reached out for help and she, next time I took it, I passed with a 78.
Nate: Awesome.
Kevin: And then, so after that I was, I, I had, it just raised my confidence so much that I knew I could do this. And after that I, I went in, I started studying for FAR right after BEC. It took about three months for that. And I. I passed it with an 84.
Nate: Oh, wow.
Logan: Awesome.
Kevin: Yeah.
Nate: On your first try?
Kevin: First try.
Nate: Yeah. Okay.
Kevin: Yeah. I was really surprised. I think like my accounting, previous accounting experience was very beneficial to me in that there’s like a lot of financial statement material. And I was, I’d done that a lot of that in my work experience.
Nate: But also, a lot of people are like work in auditing.
They’ve worked for 10 years. They’re nearly an audit manager, but they still really struggle with the exam. So I get basically what I’m getting at is,
Kevin: Oh yeah,
Nate: I think [00:10:00] your experience was helpful, but I think mostly you had the process kind of figured out by then.
Kevin: Oh yeah, absolutely.
Nate: Yeah. So what did that, what did it look like at that point?
What was the day of studying once you were studying for FAR? Where you got an 84 on your first try, like what was the whole day of studying your main session and also the, I guess basically you use the study tools throughout the day, what was your study? Yeah.
Kevin: I’m more of a night person, so I would study at night.
I know you, I didn’t recommend doing it in the morning. I just, I couldn’t bring myself to wake up that early. Um, So I would do like about a 2 to 3 hour study session a night just going through the multiple choice mainly and practice sims. Like I wouldn’t, like I did watch the lectures, but they were just so, they’re so dense in Becker.
There’s a lot of just goes over my head. So I would just, I would focus on all the questions because that’s how I learned that just by doing them and solving [00:11:00] them. I thought that was the most, the best strategy for me. And like I said, I would take notes on some things I struggled with or take flashcards.
The Things Kevin Went Over with Her Tutor
Nate: Did you keep the tutor through the whole thing or was it just for that?
Kevin: Oh, I, no, I did actually. Okay. I kept her throughout my process.
Nate: How often did you meet with her?
Kevin: Um, probably once every two or three weeks or so.
Nate: Okay. So that’s interesting. So if it was that infrequent, how, did you just go to her with, these are the problems from the last two or three weeks that I’m struggling with?
How do I do these?
Kevin: Oh, yeah, basically.
Nate: Okay.
Kevin: We would work in like google sheets, and so I would just like take screenshots of all the the problems. I had questions on and she would just show me how to work them in excel.
Nate: Okay,
Kevin: Google sheets.
Yeah.
Nate: Okay, so.
Logan: And then you would rework them so that you knew how to do them?
Kevin: Oh yeah, absolutely.
Logan: Okay.
Kevin: I would do the same thing with all the sims as well. [00:12:00] I would, I would rework them before the exam. And then, really helped me out.
Nate: Okay. That is helpful, but every two or three weeks isn’t enough to where it’s like, I mean, this was still mostly your process working. You’re studying every day, you’re kind of just troubleshooting spot treating areas with her, basically.
Kevin: Exactly, yeah.
Nate: Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah. Yeah, because a lot of the, a lot of the material in FAR was, was like, it’s just clicked free for the most part, so.
Nate: Okay.
Logan: Mm hmm.
Kevin: And I actually work in tax, so, so REG was like, kind of the same way.
Logan: Mm hmm. Yeah.
So you passed FAR, and then did you go for REG or audit next?
Kevin: Uh, I did audit next.
Logan: Okay.
Kevin: And I failed it the first time. I got a 71 and then I, it was brutal getting that. And then I went back. Um, I think, I think I took it in January, 2023 for the first time, which was just crazy. Cause I’d just taken FAR in December [00:13:00] of 22. So that was just, I just rushed it. It’s just, I wanted to get over with, but should have taken more time.
Had a Newborn Between Passing FAR and Audit
But then a few months will go by me between passing FAR and passing audit. My wife and I have, uh, had a daughter.
Nate: Nice. Congrats.
Kevin: Thank you. So then after, so yeah, she was, it was like six weeks old when I bought it again. And then I just went back and took it and passed this time.
Nate: Awesome. Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah.
Logan: Even sleep deprived!
Kevin: Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. I was very sleep deprived at that point.
Nate: Yeah, I bet.
Kevin: But, but yeah, I was able to do it with two, two exams. And then, so yeah, I passed audit, then I went back and did, uh, REG. And I also passed that one on the first try as well.
Nate: I was looking up your email cause you had emailed me like mid 2023 just saying like,
Kevin: Oh yeah.
Nate: I passed. Thanks. You know? So you’ve been done for close to a year now, or I [00:14:00] mean, eight months or so.
Kevin: Almost eight month.
Nate: Yeah.
Kevin: It was end of June last year when I took it, REG.
Nate: That’s cool. Yeah.
The Biggest Relief of Being Done with the CPA Exams
Nate: How does it feel to be done the last eight months after all those, you know, struggles and how hard it was?
Kevin: Oh, I can’t even describe the feeling of relief. Like it’s the best, it was the best feeling in the world to finally be done with this and have my life back. as I’m sure everybody else on here says, like, that’s a huge accomplishment. The best feeling in the world.
Nate: Yeah, definitely.
Things that Kevin Was Still Able to Do Despite Busy Studying for the CPA Exams
Logan: Was there anything during this process, you know, you’re married and then partway through this, you have a daughter. Is there anything that you made a priority to make sure you didn’t sacrifice like that you were able to still do during all this, even though you were so busy?
Kevin: Absolutely. I made it a point to work out, so, um, I just, I needed that in my life.
Nate: When would you fit that in? Was that a morning thing?
Kevin: I would do that in the morning, usually. Yeah, and study at night. Um, I didn’t really do a great job of that, but, um, [00:15:00] I still, I’m still able to work out some.
Also, I really like going to concerts and seeing live music. So that was something I did not sacrifice. Like for instance, we went and saw, uh, Taylor Swift.
Nate: That’s lucky.
Kevin: The Friday before.
Logan: The big one?
Kevin: Yeah. The Friday before my audit exam, I went and saw her with my wife because she’s a huge Taylor Swift fan.
So I think that really helped me relax and do, and pass the exam.
Logan: How many concerts did you go to? Do you know? Throughout the whole process?
Kevin: Throughout the concert. Oh, not as many actually
Nate: What are your favorite bands or what were the best concerts you went to?
Kevin: I like rock a lot, so I’ve seen, I mean I’ve seen a lot of concerts. A lot of bands, like, I’ve seen The Who a few times, and, you know, like Rush, and
Nate: Okay, so you like, you like classic rock?
Logan: That’s amazing.
Kevin: I like classic rock and modern rock, but
Nate: Yeah.
Kevin: I like pretty much everything, man.
Logan: That’s awesome.
Kevin: Yeah.
Logan: I’m hoping to go to, I’ve actually [00:16:00] never been to a concert. I’m hoping to go to a Metallica concert in Seattle later this year.
Kevin: Oh, cool.
Logan: Yeah, that’s awesome that you’ve been to so many.
Kevin: I’ve been to, I’ve seen them a few times.
Nate: A few times, that’s cool. Yeah, so you must, you must go to a lot of concerts.
Kevin: I used to, I don’t go as many anymore cause now that I’m married and have a child.
Logan: That’s awesome that you’re able to do it, you know, still.
Kevin: Oh yeah, I know, like, yeah, that was something I was not willing to sacrifice.
Nate: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, as long as you have your daily process nailed down, you know, you can fit stuff in still. It’s kind of, yeah. It’s the whole thing.
Kevin: Yeah. I did.
Waited Another 2 Months to Get His License
Kevin: So, so yeah. Then we basically went out to dinner after I passed REG, celebrated and then it took another, I got my license in September, so it took about two months to get it. That’s just how long it takes NASBA to send everything to Tennessee, but it’s worth the wait.
Nate: Once you have the four big exams passed, that’s when it’s,
Kevin: Oh yea, that’s true.
Nate: You’re basically done, you know, then it’s just kind of [00:17:00] waiting for some paperwork, but like the daily struggle is over.
Kevin: Exactly. I just, I took, I had to take the ethics exam too for Tennessee, but,
Logan: Mm-Hmm. Yeah.
Kevin: But that was, I mean, it was kind of tricky because it was open book, so,
Nate: Mm-Hmm.
Logan: Yeah.
Nate: I remember.
Logan: Good thing about that one is it’s an open book, yeah.
Kevin: It took me few attempts.
Nate: It’s basically like a gigantic, what are those old SIM types? Research Sims. It’s basically a gigantic exam of that.
Goal is to Finish the CPA Exam Before the 2024 Changes
Kevin: They don’t have research sims anymore?
Nate: No, not in the 2024.
Logan: Not that we can tell.
Kevin: Oh.
Logan: From everything we’re seeing, they’re not there anymore.
Nate: It’s like an impossible, yeah.
Kevin: I was going to ask about if the format’s changed, or what all’s changed in the 24?
Logan: Uh, no, no more written communication, obviously, because that was in BEC.
Kevin: Oh, yeah.
No research sims from what we can tell.
Logan: Like, there’s kind of nothing about it, but also on the AICPA website, There’s no longer any research sims as practice, so we’re pretty sure that it’s not there anymore. And then mainly a lot of the exams kind of got cut down [00:18:00] so that some of them could be distributed to the new discipline exams.
Nate: Yeah. BEC went away and now there’s three new discipline exams. That’s the biggest change. That whole, yeah.
Kevin: Exactly. Yeah.
Nate: Yeah.
Kevin: I think FAR, maybe getting easier. Yeah.
Logan: It does have less.
Nate: FAR and REG should be slightly easier.
Mm-Hmm.
Kevin: Yeah.
Logan: Yeah.
Nate: Yeah.
They kind of took the advanced stuff from FAR and the advanced stuff from REG and then some of the stuff from BEC, and that’s all on the BAR exam now, so.
Kevin: Oh, I see. Okay.
Nate: Yeah, I’m interested to see what the pass rates are. It just, I think BAR is going to be the hardest exam from now on. I mean, I think, yeah. Yeah.
Kevin: So yeah, that was another goal I have is to be done before the 24 changes. I didn’t want to
Logan: That’s a really good.
Kevin: Didn’t want to mess with that. Cause Like their score release schedule is just crazy.
And,
Logan: Oh, it’s bonkers.
Kevin: Yeah. So I’m really glad I’m done now.
Nate: Yeah.
Logan: Yeah.
Nate: If you started back in 2017, [00:19:00] I just remember this. That was the last time that there was like this big change. Do you remember that at the time?
Kevin: I do a little bit. I think they just added sims to BEC maybe?
Nate: They introduced the new, the DRS, the document review simulation, where the all the exhibits that open. Before they weren’t like that,
Kevin: they didn’t have exhibits before then?
Nate: Well, I, they, they might’ve had some like that, but the one where you.
Kevin: Oh, oh, they, oh, yes. I remember.
Nate: The memo like the lines throughout it can change, or.
Kevin: Oh my gosh. I did not like those.
Nate: Yeah.
Kevin: At all.
Nate: Yeah, those were new on.
Kevin: Oh, okay. Right.
Nate: 2017.
Kevin: Oh yeah.
Nate: Yep.
The Big Changes That Led to an Approach That Was Working
Nate: So looking back, from that initial period where you were just frustrated and it was, the whole thing was overwhelming. You didn’t really know how to approach it to, you pass BEC, it sounds like by FAR that your second exam, you kind of had a process nailed down that was working.
What were the big changes that led to that? Like the top [00:20:00] two or three things that took you from being like overwhelmed, not knowing what to do? To a, your approach that was working.
Kevin: Okay. Well, I think like a lot of your strategies, like, uh, like focusing on the questions and not so much reading the textbook, like before I was kind of reading the textbook too much.
Like it was just a waste of time. Like I was watching the lectures that Surgent had and they just weren’t helping me at all. I wasn’t spending as much time as I should on the practice questions. And so I thought that was the real, like, game changer for me.
Nate: Yeah.
Kevin: And like, I, for some reason, I just never did any sims, practice sims for BEC when I was studying in 2017.
I don’t know why. I just, I thought I could do them on the exam, but that’s proved wrong. And so, yeah, I think just like the active learning approach really helped me. And just reworking all the problems, even if I’ve seen it before, I’ll rework it and like, I’ll do the sims like, so many [00:21:00] times just so I wouldn’t be surprised.
Kevin’s Top Three Tips for People Still Struggling with the CPA Exams
Nate: To wrap this up, we call it the same thing. What would be your top two or three tips to people struggling with the study process?
Kevin: Okay, sure. I thought about these because I’ve seen them on previous podcasts. Um, my number one tip is don’t ever give up on this process. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, takes a lot of dedication and hard work, but once you get done, it’s the best feeling in the world. Like I said earlier, number two tip is don’t be afraid to ask for help, whether it be a tutor or super, your coaching program, which I’ve heard, I’m sure is excellent.
Is that like a tutoring program or is it
Nate: Not really.
Kevin: The strategy? Okay.
Nate: It’s kind of helping people. Yeah. Get the process down and.
Kevin: Okay.
Nate: We kind of have them record themselves doing a study session so we can see how they actually are working through. I mean, it kind of sounds like your tutoring thing, kind of.
We don’t really [00:22:00] do question walkthroughs per se, but it’s more
Logan: Occasionally, but
Nate: Seeing the process of how someone approaches questions and kind of guiding them on breaking them down, making sense of them.
Kevin: Oh, great.
Nate: Yeah.
Kevin: And then there’s two tips. Third tip is like utilize Excel or whatever spreadsheets tool you have to solve the questions. I thought that was very like a game changer for me.
Nate: I was going to ask you about that actually. So previously, were you just doing stuff on scratch paper by hand what were you doing before when you were using, not using Excel?
Kevin: Uh, I was essentially doing it just by hand or just in my head, which didn’t work at all. For me, yeah, basically just in my head or on pencil paper.
Nate: So it was laying it out on Excel. Was that something you got from the PRO course videos with the planting the seeds walkthrough video, or when did you start using Excel?
I started using it after I started working with my [00:23:00] tutor really.
Nate: Okay.
Gotcha. Okay.
Kevin: And I would just, I would set up tables to solve the questions or, or just do the calculations through Excel.
Logan: So it sounds like that third tip could almost be expanded to figuring out a way to structure, taking notes, doing calculations in a way that really fits and makes sense in your brain.
It seems like the structure of Excel really helped you put it together.
Kevin: It did. Yeah, it was very beneficial for me 100%.
Nate: Yeah. And I, I think like on paper, it’s easy for it to, if you’re just jotting down numbers, like just numbers and it’s on paper, you can kind of keep track of what you’re doing in the moment, but it just will not mean anything later on.
It doesn’t force you to set up problems in kind of the same structure. And I think there’s a lot to learn from that, like, setting up problems intentionally, like line by line, just the structure of Excel, I think helps a lot.
Kevin: Absolutely.
Nate: Or a [00:24:00] spreadsheet, whatever.
Logan: Yeah.
Kevin: For sure.
Logan: Yeah.
Kevin: I would use it on the, on exam day too, of course, like to set up questions.
Logan: Yeah.
Kevin: Just to run simple calculations, I would use it. The calculator is fine, but I just thought Excel was much easier.
Logan: I found the calculator in the review courses and on the exam, which is really helpful. I thought it was garbage. I did not think it was a good calculator.
Kevin: It’s not a good calculator that’s why I used Excel.
Logan: Yeah. Yeah. I preferred using the spreadsheet or even they would give me a physical calculator at the testing center. So I thought that was better.
Kevin: Absolutely. I got physical. Yeah, they gave me a physical calculator too.
Nate: I actually don’t remember. I took, I took the exams like 10 years ago, maybe even longer, 10 or 11.
I can’t remember if they let me have a calculator or not, but yeah, using a mouse to like click buttons on a calculator is ridiculous.
Kevin: Oh, no, no.
Nate: A lot of people don’t think about this.
They don’t think about their study process specifically. They just kind of [00:25:00] think, I’ve just got to put in more time. Eventually this will all make sense. And I think that can happen eventually, you know, just using time as your only tool, but like you said, don’t be afraid to look into just other ways of doing this.
If what you’re trying to do is not working, reevaluate how you’re spending time, what you’re doing when you study. Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah, definitely.
Nate: Okay.
Logan: We’ve talked to somebody recently. And so, you know, people who are listening right now, they might remember hearing this whenever we released the other one, too.
They were saying it’s crazy to fail an exam and then just keep doing the same thing just doing the same process failing over and over again
Kevin: oh, yeah.
Logan: You always have to be looking for what you can improve and whatever works. Whatever gets you to passing these exams is, is worth it, you know.
Kevin: Yeah, without a doubt.
Nate: I appreciate you doing the call, Kevin. That was, that’ll be a helpful episode.
Like, like Logan was saying, every time we do a new interview, someone will [00:26:00] mention some random thing from like an episode a year or two ago. And it’s surprising to me, like how many people listen to literally every single one of these. Cause there’s a lot. There’s like over 120.
Kevin: Oh, you realize there that many?
Nate: Yeah. So, so yeah.
Kevin: You’ve been doing it for, for a while now.
Nate: Yeah. It’s been close to three years, I think.
Kevin: Oh, great.
Logan: The podcast anyway. He’s been doing Superfast since a decade.
Nate: Yeah,
Kevin: Superfast for 10 years or so, right?
Nate: Yeah, I, it’s around there. It’s either 9, 10, 11 years. I’m not really sure, but it’s been a long time. Yeah.
Kevin: That’s great.
Yeah. Well, the product helped me pass and I can’t, couldn’t be more thankful for that. Like, they really helped me.
Nate: Yeah, that’s awesome to hear. That’s the best compliment we can get. So yeah, I’m glad you found us.
Kevin: I’m glad I did too. I probably wouldn’t have been able to pass without SuperfastCPA.
Nate: Yeah, that’s awesome to hear. I appreciate that.
Kevin: Absolutely.
Logan: [00:27:00] All right. That was the interview with Kevin. Again, I thought it was a great interview. I love that he was able to change some small things and start passing these exams and also able to still have a family life with his new baby, go to some concerts and still have some of the important things in his life.
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