Previously, we walked you through the “N” in NINJA, so now we move on to the “I”.
Intense Notes.
As in, you need to take notes intensely.
As you are Nailing the Concepts by reading the NINJA Book and/or watching the Sparring Session videos, reading the NINJA Notes, and listening to the NINJA Audio, take Intense Notes. The goal is to never have to go back and re-read the book because you’ve written down the key concepts covered.
This will seem at first to take a lot of time, but it is a huge time-saver in the end. If you think this takes a lot of time, try having to go back and read your book again for the 10th time to find a concept. Trust me, this works.
As for HOW to take notes, fear not. NINJA’s got you covered.
First things first, throw away your highlighter!
Don’t just take my word for it; here’s what Harvard has to say about it:
Highlighting can seem like an active reading strategy, but it can actually distract from the business of learning and dilute your comprehension. Those bright yellow lines you put on a printed page one day can seem strangely cryptic the next, unless you have a method for remembering why they were important to you at another moment in time. Pen or pencil will allow you to do more to a text you have to wrestle with.
Secondly, I recommend using the Cornell Method for note-taking, which is a method used by universities and other learning centers.
The basic idea is that the left side of your page will contain keywords, key concepts, or questions while the right side of your page will contain general notes that correspond to the keywords and concepts on the left. The bottom of the page is reserved for you to write a summary of what is contained on that page.
We have created a handy version for this style of note-taking in the NINJA Study Framework, which you likely have already downloaded.
If not, just go here.
Will NINJA Work For You?
At this point, you are likely wondering whether NINJA will be effective for YOU personally?
NINJA CPA Review is a complete course that has also been the #1 CPA Review supplement for over a decade.
Based on this, there are two paths forward, please choose the path that best suits where you are in your CPA Exam journey.
NINJA Only
The NINJA Only path is for candidates who would like to use NINJA as their primary review course.
NINJA As A Supplement
The NINJA As A Supplement is for candidates who already have a primary course (Becker, Wiley, Roger, Surgent, etc) that hasn’t gotten the job done i.e. you’ve recently failed a section OR you want give yourself that little extra boost to avoid failing.