Typing or Writing your notes – The Ugly Truth

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  • #174379
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Which is better?

    While restudying after failing a section, should you re type your notes or re write your notes? Obviously re typing is quicker and less painful, but re writing is much slower so you can process it more…. did I just answer my question?

    thoughts?…..

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)
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  • #380207
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I type everything up in excel so I can track and do a look up of the Question #s that I keep missing. Next to the question # I'd write why I missed it and other notes I need to add. Doing it this way, I can see which ones I always miss and highlight the ones that are important. So far, I love my method, my Becker scores jumped from 80's to 90's from doing this.

    #380208
    Keely
    Member

    Writing notes is MUCH more effective for retaining information than typing. You can zone out while typing, I do it all the time. Hard to zone out when writing.

    BEC: (4/2012) 88
    AUD: (5/2012) 91
    REG: (8/2012) 82
    FAR: (1/2013) 78 🙂

    VA CPA #42010

    #380209

    I personally type out my notes while I'm going over the sections. This way I can trim down what the textbook has and put it it my own words and emphasize what is important in a way that sticks out better to me. Then when I'm doing the final review, I'll print them out and write out more notes beside them, if I make a connection I previously didn't catch, I'll write it out. I do like having things visualized so I can have a mental snapshot so that's what I try to do when I write over my typed notes.

    B-85 OCT 2012
    A-84 NOV 2012
    R-90 JAN 2013
    F-89 AUG 2012
    Ethics-92 (3rd try)

    I am DONE BABY!!!
    Used Roger 2012 + Wiley + NINJA Notes

    #380210
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I think writing is better, unfortunately it probably takes 10x longer.

    #380211
    Marivy22
    Participant

    I typed them once and re-read them every night the week before the exams.

    Done 😉
    Class of 2012!!!!
    Lots of prayers and hard work....

    #380212
    kgirl
    Member

    Writing them out works better for me b/c I type very fast and my brain can't always keep up with my typing. 🙂

    When I'm working my flashcards and struggling with a concept, I write it out 5-10 times to help reinforce the concept. It seems to work well.

    #380213
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I REALLY want to pass FAR the first attempt, so I'm typing notes on a Window's notepad, reduced in size so it can fit at the bottom of the screen. I then transfer the notepad txt file to my Kindle, which goes everywhere, including the gym, so I have my notes to read. Then for each FAR lesson, I write notes from the Kindle to a paper notebook. The paper notebook is then used for answering test bank questions and also for writing more notes that come up and I still go over the Kindle notes. I'm doing the same, but to a lesser extent with AUD and BEC. They are more passable from practicing problems.

    So, in sum, I'm writing twice, reading multiple times and trying to associate FAR chunks to other memorable actions, places and things. Kind of like when you hear a song and think of a place.

    #380214
    Tootsie
    Member

    Writing is better imo but I type my notes and then write down stuff that won't stick. I also read my typed notes over and over again to retain everything.

    FAR - 76
    AUD - 88!!! DONE!!!!!!!!
    BEC - 76
    REG - 77

    never, never, never give up

    #380215
    jenuno01
    Member

    @Tootsie which exams do you have left?

    Class of 2012

    #380216
    Tootsie
    Member

    @jenuno01, I just took AUD for a fourth time last Monday. I have not passed any exams yet. Been at this for about a year and finally know what I'm doing now. I really had to stop messing around, start taking notes for every chapter, and really understand the concepts. I had to look up terms, write things over and over, do practice questions over and over, understand why the incorrect answers were incorrect, and so on. I feel like I did better this time around. My AUD scores (in order) were 54, 72, and 59. I don't think I deserved that 72 because I didn't understand the material that well. My BEC scores were 73 and 68. Going down 5 points in BEC and 13 points in AUD was a huge wake-up call for me. I had to get my butt in gear and study smarter and I did. 🙂

    I will be surprised if I didn't pass AUD this time. It's funny, I was so much more relaxed at the exam and even took a little break during it. I was more confident and felt like the questions overall were pretty reasonable and similar to Becker questions. Hopefully I can say in 2 weeks that I have passed my first section and I can move on to studying for BEC.

    FAR - 76
    AUD - 88!!! DONE!!!!!!!!
    BEC - 76
    REG - 77

    never, never, never give up

    #380217
    Whatdidyou
    Member

    Neither. I don't get it.

    For me, typing/writing notes is a waste of ALOT of time. Time is much better spent reading, watching (lectures), or doing (MCQs).

    REG - Passed!!
    BEC - Passed
    FAR - Passed
    AUD - Passed

    Study Materials: Becker basic course

    #380218
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Everyone is different.

    You will need to find the best method that suits you, and it appears that writing them out might be a better fit.

    What I do is I write them in the notes, then re-type them on Word file, so that it is easily accessible everywhere.

    Essentially, I'm doing both – but i process better when i'm writing instead of typing.

    Don't write heavy notes – just write a few keywords will be much easier for you to re-read them and process.

    Hope this helps!

    #380219
    kv_
    Member

    I have to write the notes out by hand. It takes longer but it forces me to think about, organize, and then re-state guidelines.

    #380220
    Faintear
    Member

    I'm kinda following Jeff's study plan with rewriting notes. The first time, I read and type up my notes. I rewrite the notes later by actually writing them down. It took me about a week and a half to write all my FAR notes and a week to rewrite my AUD notes. Typing up the notes seems kinda mindless at times and actually writing them makes it stick a little better. Atleast for me.

    #380221
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I type and retype notes no matter what (even if its areas I'm comfortable in) and if it's an area I'm NOT comfortable in (AKA all of REG) they get a hand-written round as well. It was BRUTAL but I passed REG with an 82 having little to no background in the material before Becker.

    Thinking I'm about to start the hand-written process for the heavily tested chapters of FAR, and I'm procrastinating like hell…Just gotta open up that huge word document and start writing that sucker out, how hard can it be right…

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