Calvin Choi CPA, CIA, EA
Accounting / Account Analyst
Effective Concentration
Brain Power
Intro | Effective Planning
As a CPA Examination candidate, you are required to be thoroughly familiar with the entire examination journey – from the time you apply to take the examination until you pass all four sections.
Below I list the steps necessary in getting your brain warmed up to take in as much material possible, in productive & efficient manner.
This is how I took all my CPA notes, & they definitely helped me to maintain the material and more importantly, pass the exams!
I would recommend to follow the steps below & make your own notes, but I’ll also upload my notes here for easy reference.
Preview
Step 01 | Preview for Big Picture
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Step 1 Preview for a minute or so, skimming or Macroreading through the manageable chunk you have chosen, to pick up the gist of what it’s about.
Then, demonstrate to yourself how it’s possible to pick up the gist of a section through previewing by verbalising a brief summary of your section for 30 seconds or more. Do this either out loud to yourself or to someone you know.
Macroreading is scanning the text with a relaxed eye focus at a rate around twice as fast as a comfortable reading rate, to gain an overview.
Outline
Step 02 | Outline using Key Headings
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Make an outline for your notes or memory map, dividing your page into segments, each with a heading, and leaving space to add the detail later. Keep your headings short; key words or short phrases only.
It’s fun to see what you can do from memory, but you can also add headings open-book
Read
Step 03 | Read for Understanding
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Read your manageable chunk for good understanding, to acquire and absorb the information. For any important keyword or key idea that sums up what the sentence or paragraph is about place a tick in the margin next to the line you are reading, or highlight the key word
Re-Read
Step 04 | Re-Read Little Faster
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Reread to check you’ve got everything truly important. Notice anything ticked or highlighted, then confirm – is it truly important? If yes, double or triple tick. If no, that’s fine. Move on.
Postview
Step 05 | Postview
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Spend around 30 to 60 seconds performing a postview, scanning only those lines you have ticked or highlighted as important. You are reading only the important parts of the manageable chunk of information. This is your final ‘cram’ before starting to make your notes from immediate recall.
Notes
Step 06 | Start Note Taking
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As soon as you have finished the postview, cover your reading material and add to your notes whatever you can immediately recall. Use the headings in your outline as memory triggers for the detail you are adding. Using the outline already created to trigger your memory, add to your notes first from memory.
Add Notes
Step 07 | Add Notes
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When your notes are complete with as much as you can retrieve from memory, only then open your reading material again. Go through your text and cross-reference, that is, check whatever you ticked or highlighted is included in your notes. If not, add it in, using another colour. Check everything you ticked or highlighted as important is included in your notes from memory.
Retell
Step 08 | Retell
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After your ten-minute break (no longer), verbalise what you can remember out loud to yourself or to someone you know. A conversation is an easy way to self-test, because it allows you to find out what gaps there are in your memory of what you’ve just studied. You find out what you don’t know.