Accountancy exams can be daunting, especially with the amount of content you need to revise for and remember, so it’s best to be armed with a range of techniques that you can be confident in before entering into the assessment.
Acronyms provide an invaluable method of memorising useful information that will help you when it comes to the crucial time of putting pen to paper, as well as offering help throughout the revision process.
ASSET, in particular, is less of a content-based approach and more of a grounding technique to help you have a better outcome in your accounting exams by preparing you properly.
It is a surefire way to aid your learning skills and enable you to soak in as much information as possible in the ways that best suit you.
It acts as a great reminder of what it takes in order to improve your learning skills for those all important exams.
When you join my Accounting Exam Accelerator Programme you will cover all aspects of ASSET and how to effectively put it into practice, all the while gaining crucial advice to help you achieve the best results in your exams and beyond.
So what does ASSET stand for and how can you apply it?
Attention
Forming the basis of your brain’s information selection process, your attention is a crucial part of absorbing what you read or hear.
Improving your attention requires a conscious act of placing a value on the information you are met with, whether it’s a YouTube video, audio source or a written text, which will ultimately alert your attention so that it is more active.
If you find yourself bored by the content you are studying, by setting goals and objectives or turning a mundane task into an interesting one, your brain will automatically switch on.
Your brain needs to slow down in order to concentrate, making relaxation a key part of your exam process – my How To Deal With Stress When It Comes To Accountancy Exams blog gives helpful hints and tips on how to become calmer and increase your awareness.
Senses
By receiving information through a number of senses, you increase the activity and development of the neurons in your brain, which improves the retention and consolidation of information from your short term to long term memory.
Trying alternative methods of studying, such as engaging with a video on a topic rather than a written text, will help fully engage your brain.
Using several of your senses at one time when revision could also help reduce your sensitivity to unengaged senses, meaning you are less likely to be distracted by the environment around you.
My article Pass Your Accountancy Exams By Understanding Your Learning Style can help you understand more about what type of learner you are.
Solid Effort
The amount of effort you put into understanding and retaining information forms a basis of how easily it is passed from your short term memory to your long term memory.
When you place added effort into working hard, your brain cells also work harder in order to build and strengthen, with the amount of effort you place on your work determining how much effort your brain places on remembering it.
Consistently reflecting, reviewing and restudying topics and information helps you to build a knowledge base and should ultimately help you when it comes to your exams.
Emotion
Being in a positive mindset when studying is proven to increase the likelihood of retaining and recalling information.
My blog Change Your Mindset To Ace Your Accountancy Exams includes the benefits of positive affirmations and how they can be a great mood booster.
Being curious, interested, inspired or even just happy will help you when it comes to remembering information long-term.
Even when the content isn’t necessarily intriguing you, by putting positive emotions in place, such as anticipation of passing the exam, you create a stimulus and motivation to enable the brain to get to work.
Time
Repetition is important, and so too is the amount of time between repeating your work and reviewing what you have previously revised.
Research suggests that retention is dramatically improved if you review what you initially learnt within the following 24 hours.
Leaving a prolonged gap between your initial exposure and your review of a topic will significantly reduce your retention rate.