how to do well in accounting

[run-bandit]

1) answered theory questions neville box unit 3
2) answered practical questions up to chapter 3 neville box
3) watched macrobertson high accounting video lecturers
4) discussed accounting theory with an accounting
5) answer commercial practice exams that are relevant to current study design (incl in books ie: A+ exams)
6) reanswer all incorrect accounting questions ever
7) read neville box textbook x ~ 40
read allowed checkpoints textbook theory + recitation
9) read cambridge textbook x ~ 15
10) tried to learn to how to overcome anxiety
11) balanced life (physically activity, socialising etc)


study score: 36

What did I do wrong  
What can I do so that I do better at my other subjects?
I know for sure that it is not just nerves, so please don't comment on this.
Any help will be appreciated.

[kenhung123]

I don't know anything about accounting but that's more than enough work for 40+....

[*ryan777*]

vce accounting is bs
everyone i know (including myself) seems to asymptote at like 38~39 ss despite hours upon hours of study

[kyzoo]

LOL

Firstly let me compliment you on your unique usage of bullet points in the thread title. Very innovative.

Secondly I must compliment you on your excessive workload, I did nowhere near that much for my 3/4 (all I did was go through textbook and Checkpoint once, then do 30 practice exams), and I'm not considering doing much more for my subjects this year.

And err, gimme me a minute to read your list before I say anything more.

[nbalakers24]

did you get VCAA past exams marked? know what you did wrong? etc etc

and if did do that, how did you go on them? was it similar to the actual exam?

[stonecold]

i don't know shit about accounting, but maybe you did a bit too much study and some of it was a little unrelated to the course or wasn't of much use in exams.

personally, i put a really big emphasis on practice/past exams and checkpoints for further.
at the end of the day, past exams are the best resourse you have.  if you can learn and memorize as many past VCAA exam questions as possible, it is going to give you the biggest advantage, as this is the kind of stuff that you know will appear on the exam.

i know you did the past exams, but maybe you let other things cloud your mind.  i think it is best to familiarize yourself with as many VCAA style questions as possible and memorize the answers/techniques used to answer the questions.

many people hate it, but sadly vce is basically learning what is set out in a study design and perfecting the same shit over and over again.

[vexx]

^ i agree with stonecold, i think you overprepared.
it's better to overprepare rather than underprepare, but perhaps consider your study technique?

first of all
-create notes, learn theory, make sure you know it all.
THEN, do all the third party practice exams
THEN, do the vcaa practice exams.
checkpoints is good too.

Also, after you get smething wrong go through that and revise it very well to ensure the mistake never happens again


but that's all you really need to do to get 40+. i think you can improve definitely this year if you try not to do.. so much.. you may have gotten confused with the different information rather then sticking to one source (one textbook)


i know someone who did accounting, did all of checkpoints, perhaps another practice exam and got 44+ (this was similar to both exams). they made sure they knew all the the theory up until they started the exams.
this is the same with most subjects.

don't worry about it too much, usually people improve automatically between year 11 and 12.

even if you did prepare right: i know two people who did legal, and they got straight A+'s in sacs all year with several 100%'s they studied for the exam very well, did everything right and both of them got a B+ in the exam ended up with mid-high 30's, they have no idea why they didn't do well, even though they were getting A+'s in practice exams.

these things just happen so dont fret.

[stonecold]

first of all
-create notes, learn theory, make sure you know it all.
THEN, do all the third party practice exams
THEN, do the vcaa practice exams.
checkpoints is good too.

yeah, that is pretty much the process you have to take.

Also, after you get smething wrong go through that and revise it very well to ensure the mistake never happens again

+++++++++++++++++++++

one of the best pieces of advice you will ever get

if you stuff something up, work out where you went wrong, learn the correct process/answer and then fuse it into your brain!

[slothpomba]

Theres a such thing as studying too much or ineffectively using your time. This might be a case of it. There are people out there who ace everything doing only 2-3 hours of work a day on average but thats because they're efficient and know what methods of study works for them.

All the work you've done is commendable, if not a bit misguided.

If you do a huge huge load of preparation and study it doesnt always equal top marks, especially if your going a bit overboard and spreading yourself thin.

Maybe if you learnt and cut out the stuff you didnt need it might of made it easier but sometimes it just comes down to good old fashion luck

[kenhung123]

I guess that is possible. Maybe you know too much and think too complicated such as over analysing stuff.

[kyzoo]

My hypothesis is that you overworked, to the point where you were continuously stressed, and your mind was fatigued for the exams. You should never work to the point of being tortured by stress; it should never be painful to get yourself to work some more, it should be engaging at all times.

And this reminds me of the Learn More, Study Less book I posted awhile ago
http://vcenotes.com/forum/index.php/topic,21921.0.html

According to book, you overkilled the "acquiring" step of learning. But your score indicates that you were lacking in "exploration of understanding." Check it out if you're interested.

Some other suggestions

~ Did you do your practice exams in one sitting and exam condition with no distractions?

The way you say "answer exams," it sounds as if you treated the exams as if they were textbook questions.

~ From the looks of it, you just did everything that you could, you didn't attempt to maximize the efficiency of your study. You didn't evaluate what was useful and what was not, and as such failed to omit useless tasks, leading to much wasted time. There's no way you can do that much for 4-6 subjects in Y12, and not everything that you can do will necessarily be useful or worth your time. Know that you can't do everything, and that you need to choose wisely.

~ From what I can tell, you didn't establish a specific procedure for dealing with the exam; neither did you identify your weakpoints. When you say "answer all incorrect accounting questions ever," that's great but you should go further. You should find common mistakes, and then develop methods to prevent the same mistake from happening twice.

~ "Discussed accounting theory with an accountant"...this is redundant. It's fine if it was a random, opportunistic thing, but if you specifically arranged to see an accountant for this, then that's just a waste of time.

~ For exam nerves, simple breathing exercises will do. You don't need confidence, you just need a blank, relaxed mind.

~ Now that I think about it, you rely on rote memorization FAR TOO MUCH. Recite Checkpoints theory? Reading textbooks 15+ times? Playing audio tapes to yourself regularly? Revising everything on a daily basis?

The trademark of good learning is understanding with minimal repetition. Instead of maximum exposure to maximum sources, you should develop as deep an understanding as possible using a single textbook and your teacher. This does NOT involve repetition. It involves conceiving analogies and metaphors, finding connections between the theory concepts and any other concept familiar to you, being able to explain the concepts to a 5-year old such that he/she understands, being able to derive formulas and concepts from first principles, questioning everything, and the list goes on.

Furthermore your study sessions should NEVER be exact repeats . Your understanding should expand EVERY SINGLE session, if not, then you are just wasting your time.

----

PS: I'm assuming that Methods is similar enough to Accounting for my suggestions to be valid.

PSS: You have shattered my beliefs regarding the amount of work that one can do for a single subject.  

PSSS: Seeing as though you seem to rely on rote memorization, you should definitely read Learn More, Study Less. It explains why rote memorization is ineffective.

PSSSS: I got carried away and spent half an hour on this at 2:30 in the morning >.<. And since I wrote this over such a long time, my feelings change from the start to the end. And my sleep habits are screwed.

[jay1993]

I didnt read much material for accounting yet still got 36. Kyzoo is probz correct. You Probably relied too heavily on rote memorization.

[red bull]

if it makes you feel any better, I spent the whole year studying Business and i ended up with a raw study score of 36. My daily routine would be:

* study BM afterschool from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm
* study other subjects from 8:30 to 10:00 pm
*study BM from 10:15pm to 12:00 am
* play on ps3 or watch TV till 1:30 am
* sleep in, constantly turned up late to classes
* in all my classes, i would study BM after jotting down the teachers notes

but from all of this, i realised that the reason why i did so poorly was because i tried to memorise everything without really understanding what was being said. Although i did really well on my SACS(only dropped 5 marks for whole year), i now understand that its almost impossible to memorise the whole years content, word for word. By the time the exam came round i only memorised about 3/4s of the years content. Ended up with A+ A+ C+.
  

[Akirus]

Let me tell you in one sentence where you went wrong.

You did a lot of work and asked us, "why didn't I get a better study score?"

Ponder this.

[stonecold]

if it makes you feel any better, I spent the whole year studying Business and i ended up with a raw study score of 36. My daily routine would be:

* study BM afterschool from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm
* study other subjects from 8:30 to 10:00 pm
*study BM from 10:15pm to 12:00 am
* play on ps3 or watch TV till 1:30 am
* sleep in, constantly turned up late to classes
* in all my classes, i would study BM after jotting down the teachers notes

but from all of this, i realised that the reason why i did so poorly was because i tried to memorise everything without really understanding what was being said. Although i did really well on my SACS(only dropped 5 marks for whole year), i now understand that its almost impossible to memorise the whole years content, word for word. By the time the exam came round i only memorised about 3/4s of the years content. Ended up with A+ A+ C+.
 

That just seems so excessive.  I could never handle it.
I did maybe an hour a week for Further at home, and just stepped it up in the month leading up to the exams. 
I also did jack shit in class for the majority of the year.

You just need to find a way to take in all the 'relevant' information, whilst trying to waste as little time as possible, especially this year where you will have 4-6 subjects.