[ahugemistake]

I know how much Jeff stresses to take notes and retake notes, but I am definitely guilty of not taking any notes at all through this entire process. I feel like it will slow me down. I read the book and underline important things as I go but dont rewrite them. I take the exams and learn from the wrong answers and move on. Anyone else struggling with this, how did you get yourself into the note taking habit?

FAR - 78*
AUD - 66, 79
REG - 73, 76
BEC - 79

[lude4life13]

I have never taken notes, not in school, not for the CPA. It is just not how I learn. So far I am 3 for 3 while working full time, all scores in the 80's. Do what is best for you, not what people tell you to do! The closest thing I get to taking notes is the scratch paper I go through while practicing problems.

[JamesBJames]

I don't write down notes or highlight stuff or make flashcards, but I do re-type anything I think is important. Usually it's verbatim from the book. I had about 45,000 words each in FAR.doc and AUD.doc.

Do what works for you. If you try one way and don't get the score you were hoping to get, try something different.

FAR: May 1st, 2014 - 91
AUD: May 29th, 2014 - 97!
BEC: July 16th, 2014 - 91
REG: August 29th, 2014 - 88

Licensed December 2015

Feel free to add me on LinkedIn by clicking my username!

[ShmeePA]

I am the exact opposite. I absolutely HATE to read and don't mind taking notes. NINJA Notes are God's gift to this earth!

BEC-84
FAR-86
AUD-87
REG-79

[Anonymous]

I HATE taking notes. I tried to take notes for FAR and it took me a long time to write them out. And when I tried to read them, I still had to refer to the book to get a better understanding. It was a mess.

But for REG, I only took notes on AMT because that was a very difficult concept. But that was it. I just reread my textbook. It was much more efficient and effective. Some people can pass without taking notes, while others can't pass without taking notes. It depends on how you learn.

[NicoleL]

I take the notes/highlights in the Becker book that they tell me to write down. That is the extent of my note-taking as I hate writing notes. I find it's a waste of time for me. I'm a rereader…I will go through and read the book probably 4 times. I also really like the Becker flashcards…which are kinda like notes written by someone else.

FAR - 93 (YAY!!!!)
REG - 93 (Double YAY!)
BEC - 87 (Whew!)
AUD - 96 (DONE!!!!!)

[HowLuckyWeAre]

Taking a quick break from FAR studying … a Friday night. THE SACRIFICE IS REAL.

Does anyone have any writing tips / pen recommendations / other tips because I'm less than a week into this deal and my hand is falling apart. Real talk. I get real intense when taking down notes and I tend to both squeeze the pen and press down real hard and my fingers are killing me, man.

Right now I'm using Papermate InkJoy pens because I like the way they write and they're relatively inexpensive, but the barrel of the pen is solid plastic shaped a bit like triangle and I'm probably going to have to make a switch. Any recommendations? Or should I just tough it out and hope my office-soft hands toughen up? I haven't taken notes this regularly since college (graduated Dec 2011) and I just can't physically hack it right now.

FAR - 78
AUD - 85
BEC - 70, 83! Ninja note bump of 13 points!
REG - 65, 70, 2016 Q1 retake before FAR expires 02/29/16

CPAexcel + Ninja Notes + Ninja MCQ = Success

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. And boy, I am HANGRY!

[teeteenounouche]

HowLuckyWeAre, my favorite are paper mate profile pens. Very smooth writing and the grip is nice.

Florida:
AUD: 73, 81! Thank you Lord!
BEC: 73, 77! Thank you Lord! and WTB
REG: 71, 82! Thank you Lord! and A71
FAR: 72, 78! Thank you God and my Mommy in Heaven!

CPA Excel, Ninja Notes & Audio, Wiley Test Bank, CPAreviewforfree

[jopa16]

I took notes all the way through FAR. But I didn't even bother reading them after I wrote them for FAR because, out of context, I realized they don't make any sense, so I've stopped writing them altogether.

REG 2/26/14 - 90
BEC 4/08/14 - 92
FAR 5/31/14 - 90
AUD 7/09/14 -

[jle1028]

+1 to the group that doesn't take notes. Mind you, studying for me for all of the exams except FAR was a sprint as opposed to a marathon. Using Roger, I read the textbooks, I watched the videos, and I did all of the Wiley book questions once. I retained enough information to pass on the first go around. FAR was only not a sprint because of the sheer volume of material that needed to be covered. Where I was able to go through REG, AUD, and BEC in two to three weeks each, FAR took about four to five because getting through all of the videos and MCQs was time consuming. One bit of advice Roger gave when it came to MCQs did help tremendously, though: do a question, then check its answer and explanation. Read the full explanation regardless of whether you got it correct. Don't do a block of thirty and then check all of the answers en masse. For me, I was able to retain that information, especially with Wiley since many sets of questions in Wiley would harp on the same concept a few times.

In short, though, what works for me doesn't work for everyone. And what works for everyone else may not work for me. YMMV. 🙂

REG -- 77 (11/12)
AUD -- 77 (2/13)
BEC -- 89 (4/13)
FAR -- 91 (10/13)

Roger CPA, Wiley

[nicole2035]

it all depends on how you learn. If you don't take notes, forget info, and when reviewing see your scores tank…you need a new method

i agree, handwriting notes is a waste of time in the beginning. Type them in the beginning, the reason i suggest this is because a lot of what you're doing when first going through the chapter is learning. What we read and make sense in our head isn't always going to be right, that's why you do MC etc to clarify what you think you know.

So, imagine you read the material, spent 2 days writing notes, only to find out you misunderstood a good portion. You'll see how the MCs are questioning the material, and find out only 1/4 of the chapter you need to truly know. You spent two days ‘hammering' in wrong and useless information.

Re-writing notes is good during the review phase only, because it helps you retain info. Other than that, listen to audio, key points. Take notes based of MC to expand notes, anything you don't get read the chapters.

[M.O.D.]

There is is better system than just taking notes:

Write out what you know, from memory.

Then compare what you wrote with your review book. If it matches, you're guaranteed a pass.

Old school Berkeley exam: write out something you know, anything.

It is not that hard, because you can always start with something (even A71 posts), then keep adding a little every day.

BA Mathematics, UC Berkeley
Certificates in CPA and EA preparation, College of San Mateo
CMA I 420, II 470
FAR 91, AUD Feb 2015 (Gleim self-study)

[Author]

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