Many of you are approaching another round of finals. In order to give you more varied pointers on how to review before the exam, I decided to ask some people about their approaches to reviewing. Coincidently, my husband is studying for the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Level III exam right now, so I asked him. Here's how he thinks about reviewing material.
Let's assume that you've read through all the testable material. The goal in the review is to ensure that the information collected is converted into knowledge and insight. One way to do this is to consider three points:
- What is the key point? Information generally comes with extraneous detail and noise. Boil down the key ideas into crisp points.
- Why does it matter? Knowing the importance of the information is critical. First, it provides context and relevance for the information. Second, it gives your mind an anchor or reference point to hang the information, so that it can be easily retrieved later.
- What does it mean? Put differently, how will this information change behavior going forward? Consider how you or people you know are impacted by the information? If you were an impacted individual, how would you see the world differently? Thinking about information through the eyes of those affected provides powerful insight into the consequences (intended and unintended) of the change.
Do you have any tips to share? Comments are always welcome. And there are more tips to come, so check back soon.
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