CPA Study Tips: 3 Strategies for Better Retention

If you're studying for the CPA exams or you will be within the next year

here are three high leverage tips that will make your study process easier, save you a lot of time

and the third tip alone can add 10 to 20 points to your score on test day

I'm Nate with SuperfastCPA and we help busy CPA candidates pass their exams

So on to tip number one. You want to base your study process on the fact that you are studying to pass

You are not trying to master every little detail of every topic

There is simply not time, nor is it realistic, to become an absolute expert at every single topic that you'll see on the exam

All you need to be able to do is answer the questions that you're going to see on test day

Now the best way to do this is to spend 80% of your study time working through questions

and practice simulations instead of what most people do, which is spend most of their time

watching and re-watching video lectures. Now of course video lectures have their place and we have an entire free training

on how this all fits together and I'll tell you more about that in a minute, but let's move on to tip number two and that is to always be reviewing

Now this was basically the difference in my own study process. I spent three months studying the normal way and failed one section

and after I implemented this idea, I passed all four sections in the next three months

So the idea here is simple. It's very hard every single day to set aside four to five hours to study all at once

especially if you're working full time. So the idea here is to shorten your main study session into something manageable

and then you use all the little gaps in your day to pack in additional study time

For example, whenever you're in your car, you're listening to audio notes

Whenever you're walking across the office or at the end of your lunch break

or you're standing in line somewhere, you're using study tools on your phone to review

Now this has two main benefits. You're obviously fitting in a lot more study time this way

and then when you use effective study tools for this, you're hitting concepts over and over as the weeks go by so that your retention

and understanding of the material increases instead of slowly forgetting what you've already studied

Tip number three is to set your test on a Monday. Then what you'll do is a mega 48-hour cram session on the Saturday and Sunday before your exam

Now this is a strategy move that can literally make a 10 to 20 point difference on your score

and test day. Again, at this point, you've covered between 100 to 200 plus topics

depending on the section, over something like a six to eight week study period

So you will be rusty on some things. So you spend this 48-hour period doing practice testlets primarily

meaning sets of somewhere around 30 questions, which mimic the testlets that you'll see on test day

Repeat coverage of all topics is the name of the game for getting passing scores

This is not the time to go back and try to master a few of the hardest topics

Also, one of the main strategies that we teach our members is to make flashcards along the way

for topics that you personally struggle with. So that when you get to this 48-hour period before an exam

these flashcards will contain the things that you've personally struggled with. So going through your own flashcard decks in these last 48 hours

is an extremely high leverage activity and can significantly boost your score on test day

Now, again, that's one of the things that we cover, how that all fits together in the study process in the free training I mentioned

So those are the three tips. Again, number one, study to pass instead of trying to master every little detail

Tip number two is to always be reviewing. Tip number three is to set your test on a Monday

so that you can cram like crazy on the Saturday and Sunday before

Now, the thing we specialize in at SuperfastCPA is helping candidates create

an almost surgical study process. When you know exactly what to do each day when you sit down to study

and you know exactly how to break down and move through each lesson

whether it's an easy topic or a difficult topic, your study process is much more effective

It's easier to stay on track with your study schedule and the entire process is much less stressful

We have a free training, like I mentioned, that we will walk you through the SuperfastCPA study process on

and you can do this with your current study materials. In other words, it doesn't matter what review course you're using or decide to use

These strategies apply and will work with any review material. You can register for an upcoming session by clicking this video or the link on this video

or by going directly to superfastcpa.com training. So once you go to that page, this is what you'll see

That's the registration page. You simply go down, click the button to register

then you just pick a time that works for you. Put in your name and your email address

click the button, and you will be taken to the thank you page. Now on the thank you page, you'll see the countdown when your event starts

You'll also want to open this action guide because that gives you a little exercise to do that will get you prepared for the training

You can also text PASSNOW, one word, to 44222 and a registration link will be sent directly to your phone

Here's a few of the things you'll learn on this free training. We will cover what the perfect study session looks like

exactly the components and how it's broken down. We'll also cover when to study each day for maximum results

We will show you how to cut your main study sessions in half and get better results at the same time

We'll go over the active versus passive study methods and when to use them

We'll cover the two secret sauces for passing scores and we'll cover how to get good at answering multiple choice questions

and how multiple choice questions are actually the key to the whole exam

and how to do that. And we'll cover a lot more. Now, I don't like to use the word shortcut when it comes to the CPA exams

but the fact is you can save yourself so much time and frustration

and make this whole process a lot easier for yourself by being strategic in your overall approach

and by using smarter study methods. And that is what you'll learn how to do in this free training

Each session has limited spots, so grab yours now at superfastcpa.com training

or again by texting PASSNOW to 44222. You will find this training extremely helpful

and it can literally save you months of time and help you pass your exams faster

So register now and I hope to see you on the training