[Anonymous]

So, my sister is about to begin studying for her MCAT, she told me to give her some tips about how to structure her study those tips transformed into this long block of text. So be warned. This more about to the foundation of creating a study plan than any specifics tips. I hope it helps anyone embarking on this dark journey lol.

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Developing a Study Plan:

In order to pass intensive exams, you must structure plan to cover three areas affectively:

A. Theory & Concepts (Study Guide & Notes)

B. Applied Theory & Concepts (Practice Exams)

C. Rentention of Applied Theory & Concepts (Memory Tools)

So to illustrate this, I will use the CPA Exam as an example.

The CPA Exam has a list of concepts and theory that is tested on the exam. Developing an understanding of this information is streamlined by using some type of Study Guide. The first phase of your study plan should concentrate on developing a strong understanding of all Concepts & Theories that will be covered on the exam.

The second phase will consist of translating this understanding of the theory & concepts into an applied form. This is the most important aspect of any study plan, and also the place where so many fall short of the mark. It is not enough to have a strong grasp of the theory and concepts if you have not trained yourself to apply that information in a SPECIFIC manner.

Helpful Analogy: You can read a book on how to fish, be mentored by the greatest fishermen in the world, but how can you become a great fishermen, if you don’t actually go out and fish?

Yet, even though such a analogy seems like common sense, many test takers, think they can do this with an exam. You must gain the EXPERIENCE in order to perform well on any exam. You must gain experience applying the theory and concepts covered in the specific manner that the exam presents said theory and concepts in order to perform well. This is what differentiates the students that receive strong scores and the ones that perform poorly. A strong understanding alone is not enough.

I have also found that using an objective measure of your performance can be very helpful in assessing your progress throughout one’s study plan. For the cpa exam, this can be your scores on taking multiple questions over and over, whatever it is, it should be based on how you will be graded on the actual exam.

The last aspect of phase two, is that you need to constantly assess, re-assess, and attack your weaknesses. There will always be concepts that are harder for you to understand than others. FOCUS on these concepts. Pay attention to these concepts, keep doing them over and over until they stick, and then do them some because why not?

The final phase is not as critical as the first two phases, but very important nonetheless. You must have a method to retain the applied theory and concepts you have learned. This is important, due to the nature of memory itself. You must have some method maintaining your understanding of the applied theory and concepts. This is up to the preference of the student themselves. I personally used flash card for concepts, and a simple list for formulas. It is important to continuously revisit these concepts up until taking the exam. Revisit the concepts you have most difficulty with more frequently, easily mastered concepts can be revisted less frequently.

You should also master a in-exam strategy, this is the strategy I used:

(Based loosely on a strategy suggested in the Wiley Exam Study Guides)

For Multiple Choice Questions:

1) Read the question twice before attempting to identify answer

2) Ask yourself, What is the topic this question is covering?

3) Ask yourself, What is the solution to this question?

4) Read the answer choices TWICE!

5) Do you see the solution you identified in your mind? If not, CHOOSE THE BEST ALTERNATIVE

6) Move on to next question, never change a answer after it has been selected

Take some time to research methods used by students that did very well on their exams. Whichever method you end up choosing, practice applying this method during phase 2 of your study plan. I would tell anyone that whatever method used, rely on your sub-concious, it can harness much more information than you could conciously ever hope to retain. Stick to your study plan, and trust that you sub-concious will provide you with the information as you require it. This personally helped me avoid alot of anxiety, when I stopped trying consciously remember information, and just trusting the intial solutions that came into mind’s eye (made up that term).

Day to Day of Studying Aspects:

Make a agenda list of all the study tasks you need to cover all the way up to the exam date. Try to break it down into the smallest manageable pieces. Most study guides usually do this for you.

The most effective method of studying for me was based on treating my study time as a second job, I had designated hours, designated study locations, and my phone was OFF during these hours. Just like I would do if I was at work.

Force yourself by scheduling time to have fun, enough said….

If you are in a relatonship, have a sit-down with your significant other get them on board for what you are about to embark on. If they aren’t on board get another significant other O_O or maybe hold off on taking the exam until your external sources of potential stressors are low/manageable.

Good Luck and remember Never give up! Never Surrender!