[Renz Benton]

The BIG elephant in the room. How to remember it all….

We all went to college. None of us are here unless we can at a minimum take any one section of any particular exam and straight up master it in it’s entirety within 1 to 4 hours.

The challenge is the massive amount of material. You study a section and come to an understanding that if tested alone the next day you could ace on a test. So you move on to the next section…and the next ….and the next and by the time you make it through all the material you forget the material you studied first.

NONE of the exam prep companies have addressed this. They are some how obligated to take you to the ends of the earth on every topic but none of them lay out a plan that makes it so you recall it ALL. They establish timelines for you to get through everything but don’t offer any way to quickly get back to understanding a topic one…two…or three weeks later.

I believe some smart person has a system that allows you to learn and understand a section then move on to the next and simultaneously recall and review the old material so you don’t spend a ton of time re-reading and re-learning material.

How do you learn something…then move on to the next topic…and then come back to the old material…all at the same time? Is it flash cards? or do you re-take MCQ’s? If so what is the time table? Spend three days mastering a few sections then one reviewing the old material?

How do you keep it all fresh all the time?

[oisbuddy]

Rewrite entire book in bullet point format (just important, non-common sense stuff), including difficult questions. My memory sucks so I had to do this. Before exam, I read notes and thats it.

[Anonymous]

Pound it into your head by being as miserable as possible. Reading, lecture, MCQ's, Sims, taking notes and pray to God you get tested on material you are stronger in. Otherwise, grab your ankles and take it like all the other candidates for 4 hours and pray for a pass. Yea, that sounds about right unless you are a savant or cheating the system!

Goodluck. Lol.

[jeff]

It's the N.I.N.J.A. study framework – it works.

It keeps the materials fresh in your head.

https://www.another71.com/pass-the-cpa-exam/

[Aggie10328]

I pummeled my brain with all of the information thru MCQ's and reading the notes/book over and over again. My strategy was to do this until my brain hurt, and then hope and pray that I remembered enough on exam day.

[seju52179]

MCQs and study and make notes on questions that you got it wrong. repeat until the day of the exam.
On exam morning, just go over the notes.

[Trele6]

Every time I went to a new chapter/section I always included previous chapters in my mini MCQ tests so it would stay fresh. I'd try to knock out probably 10 mini MCQ tests of 30 questions at the end of each chapter.

First go at the CPA! Only using Becker
Reg / Nov 2015 - 87
Far / Apr 2016 - 79
Bec / May 2016 - 80
Aud / Aug 2016

[Gimme_a_75]

My method corresponds with Trele6's method. I continually included questions from prior sections. If I struggled with something, I would take time to review it right then. I'm not a note taker and never have been. For FAR (the only test I have taken so far), I did not write down a single thing – formula, mnemonic, etc. To me writing is like typing, it's passive. I can write or type pages of notes and retain nothing. I'm more visual so show me and let me work it out on my own. If I struggled with the review MCQs, I would review video lectures or YouTube explanations. I also took a few hours every Saturday morning to create three or four 30 question MC quizzes on previously studied material before starting on the next topic in my studies.

[YXH425]

For me, the only way to remember material is through MCQs. When you are working on newer sections, include some material from old sections you studied by customizing the MCQs. Also when you are doing MCQs you would realize what are the most important things to remember. YOU DON'T HAVE TO REMEMBER EVERYTHING. Focus on those that are heavily tested.

[cmcook]

I agree that including mcq's from previous chapters regularly helps. In the review phase, it would usually come together.

The only exam that I took a single, solitary note and made flash cards (tons of them!) was for REG – and it was the only one I didn't pass on the first try. So I have learned – notes and flash cards only add to my confusion. I am not sure how… but that must be how my brain works.

With FAR, I re-read whole chapters of the book I was confused on 2 days before the exam. Really helped.

[Anonymous]

I agree with all those who say that you have to keep doing MCQ from previous chapters. I usually do progress tests in Becker every week, and I have even left some SIMS from prior chapters undone so I can go back to them as I study new material…. I do take notes and make flashcards because I think it helps me learn and memorize when I write. I find them all useful in review phase.

[Defo]

I have only studied for FAR, but I agree that there is room in the market for a software that provides a more adaptive learning process. I use Wiley, so maybe ninja or the others already do a better job of this?

I don't think you're going to find a golden method to retain the information though. Repetition is key on any topics you aren't retaining. Flashcards, taking notes, retaking notes and endless MCQ are all methods to accomplish the same thing. They all work.

I'll echo most of the others that reviewing old mcq as I went along was my favorite method of keeping the old material fresh. It felt the most productive, and provides instant feedback/reward to make sure I still understood the topics.

[arsenal227]

All comes down to learning style. While I usually do better by practicing something, reading the textbooks over and over again seemed to drill the subject matter into my head. I read it so often that I knew what I was going to read before reading it. At night when trying to fall asleep, I would close my eyes and recite definitions, formulas, miscellaneous tax regulations, etc. until I passed out. I surprised myself doing that because I found I knew more than I thought. And if I couldn't finish a formula in my head for example, I knew what to go back to the next day. Goodluck.

[BBHYX]

Know what works for one person might not work for you. I think this is the man reason that review courses do not address this — there is no one right answer. I have heard many people say to keep doing old MCQs as you add in a new chapter — however, that doesn't work for me because I memorize MCQs pretty quickly, even if its accidental.

For me, the first time I go through the material, I focus on understanding. I don't memorize anything. Just making sure I fully understand the chapter, take notes, do the MCQS and referring back to notes when needed, then move on. In my review, I start over again from the first chapter and spend 1 day on each chapter for review: 1) memorize what I need to memorize, 2) do like 100 MCQs with becker progress tests from that chapter. Next day, I review the next chapter. By doing review in quick succession like this, I find that all the info is somehow in my head for exam day! It can be a little scary when you realize its like a week before your exam and you haven't memorized any of the material but it all comes together in review for me.

My biggest piece of advice is study the way you did in college. If you did decently well in college, you probably have figured out a style that works for you.

[Trele6]

I concur also as others have mentioned. I never took notes or wrote anything down. I watched the lectures, underlined the things they said, read the chapters and did MCQ's and a few SIMS. The SIMs for me were to just learn what to see visually thrown at me, not material per se. I wanted to learn how they worked and that is all I really practiced on them, usually just jumping to the answers after trying a few.

To me writing it over and over provided no benefit other than making my hands cramp. I'm all visual, so if I can see it done or explained I can retain it usually.

First go at the CPA! Only using Becker
Reg / Nov 2015 - 87
Far / Apr 2016 - 79
Bec / May 2016 - 80
Aud / Aug 2016

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