[jimboace88]

For all of the people who have given me advice lately, especially the ones who have told me to write notes–thank you! I’m going to be finishing my F3 review tomorrow morning and while it is early on in the lectures to say definitively, the tips I’ve received on here have helped to substantially improve my multiple choice performance. Writing extensive notes is such a strong reinforcement tool–I wish my review course would have told me that!

FAR 07/27/11 - 87
AUD 10/01/11 - 85
BEC 11/15/11 - 87
REG 01/03/12 - 92

[superfreak]

Hey jimboace88, I was wondering if you could give me more details on how you were taking notes or what you were taking notes on? Or even if you can direct me to the link you were speaking of, that would be great! I always have trouble taking notes as it seems I'm just copying out of the text book. Any other tips on reviewing for FAR would also be great!

[Peanut]

@Jim. I think taking notes was the best decision I could have made. I failed REG twice and I believe it's because I didn't take “real” notes. I took half @$$ed notes from questions I got wrong, but no real meat. This third time around, I did two lectures a day, in slow motion, and took intense notes. That only took me 3 1/2 days to have very good notes. Now I'm going through the questions and I score so much higher than I ever had NOT taking notes. I think the note taking might be my key to success. Also, like Jeff says, re-writing the notes for the final review will definitely help drill the information!

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

[jimboace88]

@superfreak all I'm really doing is going through the Becker text and pretty much writing everything that I don't know inside out. It's very time-consuming (about 3-4 hours per chapter), but it's helping me a lot to get into the material at a level of depth that the lectures don't even begin to touch.

Things that I have found have been beneficial to write down and think through so far are formulas and IFRS differences. Almost all of my homework scores to this point have gone up in the range of 10% – 30% as a result of the note-taking.

I think it works a little bit differently for everyone, but I don't see anything wrong with just copying out of the book. It might be just the thing you need to trigger a photographic memory.

FAR 07/27/11 - 87
AUD 10/01/11 - 85
BEC 11/15/11 - 87
REG 01/03/12 - 92

[IwannaBaCPA]

I am studying Audit right now and I am following the NINJA framework which stresses writing your own notes. I am using the Becker flashcards and adding my own notes and additional cards. I seem to really be grasping the concepts…it is taking a long time to take careful notes, but it is worth it!

Good luck to everyone!

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

[jimboace88]

@IwannaBaCPA, do you find that the flashcards are helping you? When I was studying all of this the first time through, I made flashcards as Becker recommended. I guess it was kind of like a condensed version of writing notes, but it doesn't seem that the flashcards have been useful to me at all. Writing notes, on the other hand, has given me tangible results in terms of performance.

FAR 07/27/11 - 87
AUD 10/01/11 - 85
BEC 11/15/11 - 87
REG 01/03/12 - 92

[IwannaBaCPA]

I do think the flashcards are good for me. I like them better than notes as I can separate them as I go over them, making a pile of ones I need to practice more…I took pages and pages of notes for FAR and have to say the cards are much more convenient…I put a lot of info on each card, about the same as I would in notes…I think this is working well for Audit which has hardly any calculations…

Really notes of any kind are really a must for success! I have done notes of some sort for every section so far and have not failed yet (knock on wood)…

Good luck!

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

[Author]

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