@cpadeep
This topic may be will help you to accelerate your study
I've got this topic by email from nate@superfastcpa.com
Topic : How to demolish new material fast
This is an interesting topic because almost all CPA candidates study they same way when they start out, and a lot of it is a waste of time.
For example… your study routine is probably something like this:
You sit down to study, and turn on the video lecture for the lesson you're on. Then after about 10 minutes, you realize you've zoned out and weren't paying attention, so you start it over. Then, as you actually pay attention, it's not really making sense, so you open the text and try to kind of skim the chapter.
That doesn't really make sense either so you decide to look through some questions, and those look like a foreign language and so your brain just kind of shuts off.
So… it's been almost an hour and you haven't got anything done, so you decide to start fresh with the video lecture and really pay attention this time.
And then this sort of loop repeats itself over and over and you never really feel like you're nailing any of the lessons.
Does that sound familiar?
That was my exact experience my first time studying for FAR, and it was very frustrating and the whole 3 months I always just felt like I was spinning my wheels instead of really nailing everything.
The Best Ways to Study
The first idea is the difference between active study methods, and passive study methods.
Passive study methods are what most people spend 90% of their time on. These include:
Watching video lectures
Skimming the chapter
Reading the chapter
Highlighting the chapter
Active study methods force new information into your brain. These include:
Doing practice questions
Doing practice simulations
Writing explanations on flashcards
Explaining a concept back to yourself out loud
Passive study methods have their place, but most people start with them, and spend most of their study time on them.
This is a huge mistake, especially with the CPA material… the information is so dense and technical that it's the same thing as hearing a foreign language that you don't know… your brain doesn't know what to do with it.
You need to give your brain a place to put the new information, and you do that with context.
The fastest way to get context of what you're trying to learn, is by going through the practice questions for a lesson FIRST.
Yes, before you watch the video lecture or before you try to read the chapter.
To get even more info on this, read the part about using MCQs to study here…
That explains it pretty well.
The bottom line is, you spend most of your time going through questions and forcing the rules and concepts into your brain, instead of just sitting back and zoning out to video lectures and fooling yourself that you've been studying.
The Exact Study Formula To Follow:
For a new lesson, go through the questions first
Again, refer to this page for the exact process…
For a lot of lessons, you can learn what you need to know by just going through the questions. This saves you an hour or more for most topics. That adds up fast
For tougher concepts that you're just not getting, still struggle through the questions, and THEN go back and watch the video lecture. You'll know what you're trying to learn, and the lecture will actually make sense the first time once you've done this
Journey started 15-08-2015
BEC 01-10-2015
FAR 29-11-2015
AUD 03-01-2016
REG 29-02-2016
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