Meet our students in this series as we put them in the spotlight and they share their success stories. These are real people, with real dreams. Read on to see how James Buquicchio was able to make his contractor dreams come true with the help of 1 Exam Prep and our test prep coach, Fay. James took Fay’s business and finance class and passed, and is now a licensed roofing contractor in the state of Florida. Responses have been edited for clarity.

 1 Exam Prep: When did you take Fay’s class?

Student: I want to say I probably took these at the end of [2020]. One of the things I liked about the class is that you do it at your own pace. You put in as much time as you can put into it. I can tell you that obviously the more time that you dedicate to it, the more you understand her plan. And the better chances you have, of course, of passing the test—which I ultimately did. 

 1 Exam Prep: How did you like Fay’s teaching style?

Student: I'm a very straightforward person and Fay's extremely straightforward too which I appreciate. She allows everybody to participate. And I really appreciate her direct way of teaching each student. While also making sure everybody in the class learns as well. 

1 Exam Prep: Did you enjoy the virtual class setting? 

Student: I haven't been to school in over 30 years, so I didn't really know what to expect. Once I got the hang of it, it was fine to do the class virtually. One thing I really liked about it was I was able to do it from my home. Sometimes I was even able to do it from my truck while my guys were working.

 1 Exam Prep: Were Fay’s test taking strategies helpful? 

Student: I signed up and bought my books and everything from another company. But it was nothing like Fay’s class. My books came tabbed, but I ended up ripping all those tabs out of the book and doing it exactly the way Faye does it. And again she's so direct with everything. She was basically like, “James get rid of those tabs. I'll give you the tabs, I'm gonna send them to you. Put the tabs in the way I tell you and just listen to what I say.” Once Fay started teaching, it didn't take me very long to realize that ultimately, even though I spent all this money, I needed to pull the old tabs out and put in Fay’s tabs. Pretty funny actually. 

1 Exam Prep: How valuable was Fay’s class?

Student: So this has been a really long journey for me. Probably two to two and a half years. Like I told you earlier, I signed up with another company. I bought all these books and had them all tabbed and thought I was just going to be able to breeze right through it all. 

And it turned out that it was completely the opposite. I don't quite remember how I found Fay; I just know that I'm glad that I did because she changed my whole outlook on how to pass this test. At the end of the day, that's what her job is. 

Unfortunately in the beginning I didn't buy in, because it can be daunting especially for somebody who hasn't been in school for quite a while. So I also [listened to] a lot of things that my friends and family said. “Oh James, you’re one of the smartest guys I know. You're gonna zip through this.” So I kind of took what Fay did. I kind of did my own little thing and what happened? I failed the test.

Then I thought, “Okay, I got it now. I took the test once. I'm gonna, you know, do a little studying. Listen to Faye a bit”… and I failed the test again.  

So I failed it twice and then I said, “okay, this is the real deal and this is a hard test. It's a really hard test.” People tell me 70% of the people fail this test when they take it. So I said, “okay, who is the smartest person? Well, it's Fay.” I mean, she's got a plan. She's got a procedure. She's got all these things that she's been doing for a long time. Listen to Fay. She's just the smartest person in the room. 

And so, after trial and error and realizing that the best thing to do is to just do what Fay tells you to do, that's what I did. And lo and behold, putting the time in, listening to her, listening to her procedures and the way to go about passing the test, voilà, I passed.  

What I could tell you about Fay is that she is extremely knowledgeable. She knows exactly what to do. She knows exactly what she's talking about. Because she's really smart. She's been doing this a long time and she has a plan and she puts it in motion. If you do that, I promise you, you'll pass the test. 

Ready to start your journey towards becoming a licensed contractor? To enroll in a course, purchase exam prep materials, or learn more, visit us at www.1ExamPrep.com or give us a call at (877) 775-9400.