1. 

   CannotPassAgain
   

   offline

   Member

   Besides doing the MCQ's over and over again, it seems the consensus is that rewriting notes would be one of the best strategies in preparing for FAR.

   After getting through F1-F7 and doing all the MCQ's, and quickly forgetting what I had learned in the beginning of each chapter, I think I will begin on this gruesome journey of finally writing notes in order for me to ingrain the material into longterm memory.

   How do you guys go about writing notes though? I have some ideas and hope you guys can contribute:

   - Write down all the J/E's and maybe a blurb about what circumstances the J/E's could be used for
   - Maybe condense all the notes in the book which were highlighted as per the Becker instructor
   - Write down any handwritten notes copied from the live Becker instructor/Peter O./Tim G.
   - Take notes on MCQ's that you missed and include that into your notes
   - Take notes on MCQ's that you got right, but due to "luck"

   I understand Jeff's NINJA notes would do wonders for me in terms of saving time from having to summarize the book, but I cannot afford that right now.

   Could you guys offer any other advice? Is it time-effective to re-read the book and summarize everything on your own? If I opt to type the notes instead of handwriting them, will it be as effective?

   FAR - Feb 2012
   AUD - May 2012
   REG - TBD 2012
   BEC - TBD 2012
   
   Becker 2011+2012; NINJA 2011 review notes

   • Share this on Facebook
   • Tweet This!

   Posted 6 months ago #
2. 

   yankeeaccountant
   

   offline

   Member

   @cannotpassagain

   I actually am in the process of rewriting notes. I took the opportunity to rewrite notes on Audit (notes that I got from a fellow forum member -she wrote them herself). I intend to rewrite the notes on my problem areas from the Roger Cram study guide also. I do takes notes while doing mcq's but I have to say that rewriting notes in a "A to Z" fashion helped tie things together. I liked that it was comprehensive on all things Audit. I don't think I will rewrite my mcq's notes: first , because I don't have enough time, and second: because I think the notes progressing from one area to the next was really helpful to me. if things skipped around a bunch, I am not sure if it would hold as much water in my head! Although, I reread those notes . Hope that makes sense to you. Honestly, I am doing what I can to make Audit stick--this is my third time--and hoping it is the very last time!

   If you are using Becker, I have heard people saying they used the notes on each section and printed them and then took more detailed notes on the sides of each sheet. I used Becker and Yaeger cram for FAR. I also added the Wiley testbank...and used cpareviewforfree. Becker's note cards were a great tool also.

   Sounds like you have a decent outline of what you want to do. That is half the battle. JE's were never an issue for me, so I didn't have to practice them. But I do think you need to know them for installment sales, completed contract vs. percentage of completion, leases, and investments. I am not sure if rereading the book would be a good use of time if you are testing in November. I would probably only do that if I had a weaker area.

   Best of luck with FAR.

   Posted 6 months ago #
3. 

   CannotPassAgain
   

   offline

   Member

   Great advice! Bump this as I think others could benefit (and add more input :P)

   FAR - Feb 2012
   AUD - May 2012
   REG - TBD 2012
   BEC - TBD 2012
   
   Becker 2011+2012; NINJA 2011 review notes

   Posted 5 months ago #
4. 

   mandy8041
   

   offline

   Member

   When I finally decided to write notes for the first time for AUD (took 10/10/11) so no idea if it worked for BEC yet, I would read the Becker book and write down EVERYTHING that I did not know 100% already. It was very time consuming. When I got to more of a chart I would make a copy of the page the chart was on and tape in into my notes (for BEC if it was a calculation I would actually write it out in my own words). After I did the whole book, I re-read my notes a few times before doing any MC's. I did all MC's and was scoring in the 80-90 range (versus the 60-70 range I used to get when not writing the notes). Then I just re-read my notes one last time before entering the exam. This worked for me because I condensed each section from 100 pages down to 25 or so by just removing the fluff and duplicated concepts as well as the material I knew already.

   FAR- 75
   REG- 82
   BEC- 73, 79!! Its over. Am I dreaming?
   AUD- 74, 74, 88

   Posted 5 months ago #
5. 

   CannotPassAgain
   

   offline

   Member

   thanks @mandy! you've addressed all my concerns I had about taking notes. how much time did it take for you to take notes for each chapter? i know the chapters you took notes on in AUD are different from FAR, but it'll give me an idea of how much time I should expect to devote to rewriting the FAR book and whether or not i should switch up my study habits

   FAR - Feb 2012
   AUD - May 2012
   REG - TBD 2012
   BEC - TBD 2012
   
   Becker 2011+2012; NINJA 2011 review notes

   Posted 5 months ago #
6. 

   mandy8041
   

   offline

   Member

   It took me 3-4 hours each section to read the text and take notes

   FAR- 75
   REG- 82
   BEC- 73, 79!! Its over. Am I dreaming?
   AUD- 74, 74, 88

   Posted 5 months ago #
7. 

   CannotPassAgain
   

   offline

   Member

   thanks! if it only takes 3-4 hours, i can definitely keep pace with my schedule and get 2 done per week.

   although..i recall it taking us 4 hours as a class just to briefly go over the chapters when i attended the live becker classes. so if i have to read the entire book AND take notes..it should probably take longer

   FAR - Feb 2012
   AUD - May 2012
   REG - TBD 2012
   BEC - TBD 2012
   
   Becker 2011+2012; NINJA 2011 review notes

   Posted 5 months ago #
8. 

   CannotPassAgain
   

   offline

   Member

   wait...each SECTION (within a chapter) or each CHAPTER?

   FAR - Feb 2012
   AUD - May 2012
   REG - TBD 2012
   BEC - TBD 2012
   
   Becker 2011+2012; NINJA 2011 review notes

   Posted 5 months ago #
9. 

   kandisjoy
   

   offline

   Member

   I didn't re-write all of my notes. I took practice exams, and then re-wrote any notes related to the questions that I got incorrect or was unsure of (even if I got them correct). This method worked really well for me.

   FAR: 71, 77
   BEC: 70, 82
   AUD: 62, 78
   REG: 71, 68, 85
   
   CA Licensed 11/2011

   Posted 5 months ago #
10. 

    mandy8041
    

    offline

    Member

    It took me 3-4 hours to read each section (1 of 7 for FAR). For some reason, when I was reading the text, it was so much faster than watching the lectures. I felt like the lectures dragged on and on and when I was reading and taking notes, i was able to skip a lot of the already known and repeated material.

    FAR- 75
    REG- 82
    BEC- 73, 79!! Its over. Am I dreaming?
    AUD- 74, 74, 88

    Posted 5 months ago #
11. 

    CPA Genie
    

    offline

    Member

    @yankeeaccountant

    I have a quick question for you regarding Roger's Cram course for AUD. Does it come with many practice questions? How many for MC and SIM? What else comes with the Cram course besides the online lectures?

    AUD - Feb 25, 2012 => Really!! I got 82!! I still can't believe it. I am done!
    BEC - Passed
    REG - Passed
    FAR - Passed
    Ethics - Passed with 90% with 2 attempts
    
    I feel like a genie in a bottle, and I can't wait to finish CPA exam so I can get out of the bottle!

    Posted 5 months ago #
12. 

    See Pee A
    

    offline

    Member

    @cannotpassagain: Rather than rewrite notes, I would try writing new notes in a very condensed format. This forces you to really understand the material since you're not just rewriting, but rewording and summarizing. It also helps in the study process because you can read over the condensed notes multiple times in just a few hours. I write very small, but had my goal to fit my notes on a single side of a sheet of paper per chapter. FAR was actually the shortest since it had more formulas, but REG and AUD were longer. (I tried this first with FAR so I didn't do it for BEC). It helped with the volume of material in the exams and forced me to understand the material enough to actually write it out rather than just copying from my notes.

    Just a thought, look below and it's worked for me so far (crossing my fingers for AUD). Good luck!

    BEC 86 (08/30/11)
    FAR 84 (10/13/11)
    REG 88 (11/08/11)
    AUD 86 (11/29/11)
    
    Exam prep - Becker self-study

    Posted 5 months ago #
13. 

    CannotPassAgain
    

    offline

    Member

    @see pee - I appreciate the advice. After reading everyone's posts, I think I'm just going to compile notes from the Becker Final Review - the notes are already condensed and I'm going to rewrite the whole thing myself, in a even more condensed format.

    Then I'm just going to tackle the MCQ's and go back on the ones I find very difficult -- mainly leases, bonds, installment sales, etc.

    I'm crossing my fingers for your last section! I'm sure you got this wrapped up right before the holidays. What a great xmas present that would be!

    FAR - Feb 2012
    AUD - May 2012
    REG - TBD 2012
    BEC - TBD 2012
    
    Becker 2011+2012; NINJA 2011 review notes

    Posted 5 months ago #
14. 

    pacific1
    

    offline

    Member

    Do you all think typing your notes is as effective as writing? I am much faster at typing and this way I could take my notes on my flash drive and read over them during the work day without people noticing what I am doing.

    FAR - 5/31

    Posted 5 months ago #
15. 

    CannotPassAgain
    

    offline

    Member

    I'm wondering about this, too.

    The whole point of writing the notes is so that you're 1) reading the material, 2) processing the information, and 3) putting it into your own words. This helps to reinforce the material into your head.

    I tried typing up some notes yesterday from my book -- I felt like I was just typing the material and not really picking up on anything. So, in order for typing notes to be effective, you'd have to really take the time to first read the book, and then put it into your own words before you type it into the computer. Takes too long in my opinion.

    I'm just gonna review the NINJA notes to get an overall refresher on the book, and then tackle all the MCQ's and take notes from that.

    FAR - Feb 2012
    AUD - May 2012
    REG - TBD 2012
    BEC - TBD 2012
    
    Becker 2011+2012; NINJA 2011 review notes

    Posted 5 months ago #
16. 

    Hell Froze
    

    offline

    Member

    It seems you know how to pick out the right answer....but have you tried to understand why the other answers are wrong? This might help you in looking at the material in a different way. The responses to the MCQ's in the book will help in this and sometime the explanations contain a little more info then you would expect.

    Good Luck on the journey

    Posted 5 months ago #
17. 

    katiekanton
    

    offline

    Member

    One thing about typing notes...

    I am a very visual learner. I can sit in a test and read a question and recall what the page I wrote those notes on looks like. It's not like a photographic memory as far as accuracy and lack of effort, but it's more like "If I read this page five times, I'll remember what it looks like." I've noticed that this effect is MUCH more pronounced with HANDWRITTEN notes. My mind remembers the variations in words and letters. Using typewritten notes, all the letters look the same. There's less differentiation for your mind to hook onto.

    Having said that, for me, the sheer volume of information for this exam, combined with needing the flexibility to rearrange paragraphs and copy and paste, means I type my notes. Just something to weigh if you're the same kind of learner.

    AUD - 88 - using Bisk, and btw, Bob Monette ROCKS
    FAR - 90
    REG - 85
    BEC -
    Ethics - 100

    Posted 5 months ago #

RSS feed for this topic