@Peanut, a friend from college shared this with me and I decided to give it a shot since it didn't cost me a cent. I think it's great for people who have a million things to get done in a limited time. I'm one of those and this is great at eliminating mental distractions. Especially when you write down the one tangent thought that keeps pestering you as you try to work.
@CPAer, my job is highly task-based so this technique is excellent for me. I use it constantly and am much more efficient and accurate when using it.
You'd be surprised how much you get done in 25 minutes when you elimitate the mental distractions. A dumb thought like “I need to call…” can throw your mojo off, and if you use the technique, you make a tick mark, write it down and the thought doesn't bug you again because you've acknowledged it.
As for the CPA studies, the only adjustment I made was when I was listening to my lectures. Each lecture was broken up into 4 45-minute mp3s for a total of 3 hours. When listening to the lectures, I'd give my full undivided attention for the 45 minutes and take a 10-15 minute break before hitting the next 45-minute segment. OTherwise, when I was re-reading and doing MCQs, I stuck with the 25 minutes. At times, depending on my mood, I would set 20-30 questions for the 25minute slot.
I feel like I got a lot more quality study in this way (focus shifted to quality of study rather than total hours spent studying) and I was still able to keep at least some of my social life alive and well during the last 6 months – although I did cut back.
FAR 88 (07/15/11)
BEC 83 (08/31/11)
AUD 81 (10/15/11)
REG 83 (11/26/11)
Used NIU Correspondence CPA Review
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