[rknight21]

Ok I am curious to know how does some of my fellow text takers study and learn?? I just read a post where someone said they have a 2′ thick card notes for BEC and it had me thinking and made me nervous a little…. The thing is I almost never take notes. Literally!!! I have always rely soley on my memory. Admittedly for BEC I have a 3 page formula sheet which is really for reviewing minutes before my exam. Other than that I dont look at notes or formula sheets. I did that for AUD and passed. I am now 85% confident about BEC with a month to go and i havent taken any notes….. my thing is I have always had a good memory. some ppl find it scary…..

To prepare for my exams I intend on doing thousands of MCQ’s and rely solely on memory when necessary…. Are there anyone else that doesnt take notes and was still able to pass on the exams???

[Peanut]

@rknight21, it's actually pretty insane how different people are with their study techniques. Being a fellow stalker of another71.com I've seen people that have NEVER taken a single note, ever, studying and who have passed with flying colors. I have also seen a lot of people fail that way and who end up taking intense notes on every chapter, and have passed that way. You've passed AUD with your study method, so I think what ever you're doing is working for you. For me, I never took a single note, and failed every test, now this time around I'm taking intense notes, and LOTS of MCQs we shall see the difference!

AUD 81 (X4) Previous scores 59, 72, 72
REG 80 (X3) Previous scores 59, 60
FAR 75 (X2) Previous score 67
BEC 79 (X2) Previous score 58

[IwannaBaCPA]

Wow, I think that not doing notes is not the best idea, BUT everyone learns differently. I am a note taker and there is NO WAY I could have gotten through FAR or passed that beast without notes. I love the Becker Flashcards and add my own notes and additional cards. For Audit (I just took yesterday) I ended up with about 400 cards! Taking notes forces me to put things in my own words and kinda imprints the info in my brain…

Also keep in mind that each one of these tests is very different and just because you passed AUD without notes, does not mean that is the best plan for the other parts…

BEC: 79 - April 2011
FAR: 78 - May 2011
AUD: 81 - May 2012
REG: 79 - October 2012
Ethics: Passed - March 2013
I am finally DONE!

[rknight21]

@IwannabeaCPA you are correct every exam takes a lil tweaking for the study material and for FAR I believe I might have to take out a note pad but for BEC I truly havent had the need to. You did for AUD and I didnt. I guess we all just learn differently.. I purposedly force my self to learn it without notes because lets face it we wont have the notes in the exam. Its just never been my thing to take notes. When prof. say we can bring cheat sheets to a few of my school exams i have done, I almost always only have one lousy paper that i didnt even use while ppl were putting tons of notes on papers in fine fine fonts.

[rknight21]

anymore opinions??

[Minimorty]

You can chalk one up for the “have never taken any notes” category. I just cant get myself to write notes. I listen to the Becker Lectures, highlight what they tell me to highlight, star the passages I think will be emphasized on the exam, and then read it over once at the end. Badda bing, badda boom.

[ak311]

I am halfway through Becker's FAR materials, and haven't taken any notes other than highlighting/underlining when instructed. I took notes for Audit (which I failed) but ended up not hardly using them. With FAR there's so much material that I find taking organized notes difficult and time consuming. I usually end up feeling like I'm rewriting the text and not getting much acomplished. At first I felt like I could make better use of my time by doing more MCQ. But recently realized just how little I have been maintaining from the earlier chapters, and I'm planning to start using Becker flashcards for review every so often so I can better retain the information. I may start taking notes, I don't know.

Can someone explain exactly what your process is for taking notes and how you keep them organized? I may start taking notes on the 2nd half of the FAR material.

FAR - F (2011), 5/16
AUD - F(2011)
BEC -
REG -

2nd attempt at this thing. Time to get serious.

[nolifecpa]

the becker book is already in note format and becker even advises against taking notes because of this reason. i have never taken notes and failed all my exams. it is pretty redundent taking notes from the becker books, like mentioned above, its like copying the whole book again

i started using yaeger this year and took crazy notes for AUD. i only take notes on things i do not know or will easily forget. no need to take notes on things you already know and will not forget cuz your note stack can get lengthy real quick. i usually end up with about 60 – 70 pages of typed up notes in msft word

i was never a note taker in school, but i was never a good student either

REG-65,71,74,73,70,74,79
BEC-60's,60's,69,71,76*,78
FAR-67,66,65,79
AUD-54,60's,65,83*,69,80
*expired

DONE

[rknight21]

like you said ak311 I felt like taking notes was time consuming and i am simply rewriting something thats already written some where….

@minimorty good to see you passed FAR without taking notes.I knew it could be done…

[rknight21]

since i am using becker, cpareviewforfree and wiley what i have found myself doing is to print out the more difficult questions at work.. i did this for AUD and i had about 100pages of the more difficult questions.. those i looked at few days before the exam and then from those i took out the moooossst difficult ones (about 20pages) that i looked at minutes before my exam… I am doing the same for my BEc exam and i think i am up to 100 pages already… but as for taking notes… Negative!!! that would just be one more wall between the actually material and me learning it

[RedRage00]

Everyone is different. My boss passed BEC after only studying for 3 weeks and working full time. That's crazy to me lol. I am giving myself 5 weeks for BEC.

Texas CPA
Licensed, March 2012

[Anonymous]

I guess everyone is different. I always take notes, I am a visual learner. I have to draw something on my note to understand or emphasize things, like graph, arrows, circles, etc. And it did take a lot of time and works. But, at the end it was worth it.

[Anonymous]

I am not a note taker. I go through the Becker lectures and highlight/underline in the books what they say to, but otherwise the only studying I have done is to work the MCQ and do a couple of SIMS. Honestly, I haven't even gone back to read the ancillary material for any of the sections… My disclaimer though is that I have always been a good test taker and I have 6 years of experience (some in public, some in industry).

My approach is different this time for BEC though. #1. I have more time to study this section than I have for any of the others. #2. With a baby due in October, I'm feeling the added pressure to get through this the FIRST time so I don't have to try to test just a few weeks after having a baby.

So, for BEC I have already gone through all of the Becker lectures (though I didn't work the MCQ at that time). I purchased the NINJA notes and have read through once so far. Now, I am going back through the Becker book and taking my own notes (primarily the things they said to memorize and/or things I know I don't already know). I've also been working my way through the MCQ. I purchased the Becker notecards for all sections but am actually using them for this section. I plan on rewriting the NINJA notes and typing up the notes I'm taking while going back through the Becker book. I also plan on going back through the ancillary materials and probably consolidating the numerous formulas onto just a formula study sheet.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for not being a huge note taker..honestly, i got brainwashed here on another71 and wasted tons of time writing notes. I believe it works for others, but i bought into the idea thinking its a MUST for everyone to pass this exam…well note taking isn't for me.

I also learn by solving tons of MCQs and looking at a variety of scenarios.

Cheers to you, fellow MCQers.

[rknight21]

same here cpaer, tons of mcq is the way to go!!!

[mla1169]

I wish now looking back that I had gone with Roger, I took FAR first, back in October and looked up a few of his clips on Youtube. Of all the things I've seen and done between school and this exam since then, its those videos that I can still remember now. The combination of humor and visuals do it for me.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Author]

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