Daniela resides in the great state of Pennsylvania. She begins her CPA Exam journey with the perspective of a Masters in Accountancy. Daniela has passed FAR and AUD so far with Roger CPA Review, and is gearing up for her third exam, REG. Follow her journey with us!
July is almost over and I am still studying for the Regulation exam. Since I have more time to study this time around, I have been focusing on writing more detailed (and more legible) notes. However, sometimes I get a little carried away and end up rewriting the book word for word! I try to make my note writing as efficient and effective as I possibly can.
As a side note, I prefer to write out notes rather than write in or highlight in my book, so when Roger says to yellow something in I just rewrite it completely. I realize that writing notes in my book would be more efficient but I do not believe that it would be more effective (for me). It can be tough to decide what notes to write because there is so much information in the book and in the videos. I do not recommend writing everything because it would take a year to write out and the cost (your time and your hand) outweighs the benefit. I try to tell myself that I dont need to know everything. I just need to know as much as I can.
While watching the videos, I try to write everything that Roger writes. Sometimes I will pause the video in order to write down important comments that Roger makes. After watching the video, I will reread that section of the book and take additional notes to the ones that I took during the video. I rewrite the charts in the book using an entire sheet of paper to make the chart as large as possible. These charts are an amazing learning tool and are easier for me to remember on exam day if I recreate them. I passed AUD largely in part to Rogers easy to follow charts. The charts in REG, like the Regulation D chart, have already helped me understand topics that I have never seen before. Lastly, I always rewrite the mnemonics really big and bold for future review.
Of course no method is perfect and we all learn in different ways. What is your note taking process?