Want to PASS? Take Notes
Studying for the CPA Exam is time consuming and it seems like it’s all one can do to just get through the material once and do the requisite MCQs prior to sitting for their exam. However, if you slow down and take notes while studying (in lieu of highlighting), I think it will pay big dividends.
When I highlight something, I rarely come back to it. For one, it requires flipping back through the book material, which I am not likely to do. Once I’m done with a section, I’m doing MCQs over the material and moving on to the next chapter. What I have found is that I am likely to forget what I learned, save for some nuggets that I pick up or remember/reinforce via multiple choice questions.
For Regulation, this go-around I ditched the Excel method of taking notes and went old schoool with a legal pad. I wrote down every little blurb and nuance that I thought I would forget 4 weeks from now when I was doing a final review. I did this for tax only (Yaeger has a great Law and Ethics handout that they give you…taking notes isn’t necessary for this part). Before I knew it, I had over fifty pages of notes.
A week prior to my exam, I re-wrote my notes and condensed them using sheets of graph paper with 2 columns on each page. I separated them by section (Indiv, Corp/S Corp/, Gift/Estate, Partnerships) and stapled each section together. They served as an excellent cram tool as well.
I took them with me to the testing center and read them one last time prior to walking in the door…it was very effective for short term memory purposes. Using Yaeger’s HomeStudy and taking notes in this manner was instrumental in scoring high on REG. I highly recommend it. This was the first time I had taken notes this way and will be doing it again for FAR.
If you’re trying to conquer a section that has thus far been a thorn in your side (BEC anyone?) or are taking a section for the first time, give this method a try. It’s a throw-back to college days, but I’m convinced that it works better than highlighting alone.
