Studying is defined as applying oneself to learning. The purpose of studying accounting is to obtain the textbook and technical knowledge of accounting plus the experience necessary to succeed in the accounting profession.

Research has shown that the greater your involvement in studying, the more you retain. Retention means how long you are able to remember the concepts and practices. The four groups of study activities are shown from the lowest percentage of retention (about 10%) to the highest level of retention (about 98%):

• Hearing
• Seeing
• Saying
• Doing

Let's also look at why you are studying manual accounting when you hear so much about the use of the computer to complete accounting tasks in business. It is true that computers have become an integral part of accounting. However, you must first know the basics of accounting, the language of the profession, and the flow of the accounting cycle before you can effectively enlist the aid of a computer. A computer is only a tool to perform routine accounting tasks and print the results more quickly and attractively.

Now, let's begin our journey learning manual accounting. To do so, we shall work our way through the hierarchy of retention.

Hearing alone will only take you to the lowest level of retention. This means that if the only activity you enlist in your learning process is listening, you will retain very little. However, this does not mean that listening is not important as a learning tool. There are several things you can do in the area of listening.

• Attend class equipped with paper and pencil to take notes. Use a tape recorder if this fits your needs and the instructor agrees. Also, take your textbook to class to refer to as the presentation progresses.
• Be prepared to listen to questions asked and answers given, as well as classroom discussion.

The second level of retention adds seeing to hearing to increase the amount you remember. Two re- sources are critical to this level: your instructor and your textbook.

• First, observe your instructor carefully. Take note when he or she makes references to textbook examples, shows illustrations on handouts, distributes material on transparencies or overhead projections, or shows examples drawn in chalkboard presentations.
• Second, know your textbook and what it contains, how it is structured, and where you can find various tools.

So far, we have looked at only half of the retention hierarchy. Hearing allows you to retain the least. Hearing and seeing together increase your chances for retention. However, if you add saying or verbal participation at the third level, you will significantly increase what you remember. There are several ways in which you can strengthen your learning by hearing the sound of your own voice speaking about the subject.

• Ask questions. Sometimes you may feel confused and feel unable to formulate a question. Don't let that stop you. Try to avoid the sweeping negative statement, "I just don't get this." Narrow your question to the place your understanding went off the track.
• Volunteer answers. Be an active and enthusiastic learner!
• Participate in classroom discussions. You may be surprised how your own life experiences have prepared you for this course in accounting. You have owned things, owed money, bought items, sold things, incurred expenses, and earned an income. You may have filled out a W-4 form when you went to work for an employer, and received a W-2 form from the employer at the end of a calendar year. You may have had a checking account. Each of the activities mentioned are ones that you will experience in accounting. Your experience is valuable-share it in class. Use your personal experiences to visualize accounting tasks. See how each task fits into the accounting cycle. The discussion questions at the end of each chapter provide material to spark conversations and support discussions.
• Study with a Partner or group. It will serve not only as a way to get acquainted, but it will also provide you with support. The give and take of studying as a team will help both of you learn. You both win because your voice is a powerful tool for teaching others as well as strengthening your own learning.
• Finally, outside of class, talk to yourself. Yes, talk to yourself! For example, study glossary terms aloud, reread your notes aloud, talk your way through an accounting transaction. Let your brain hear you. You will decrease your journalizing and posting errors considerably with this technique. Don't be bashful. It will be much easier for you to speak up in class as the terminology becomes more familiar.

Let's add the last retention builder to the hierarchy--doing. So far, we have investigated

• hearing only
• hearing plus seeing
• hearing plus seeing plus saying
  
  and now,
• hearing plus seeing plus saying plus doing.

You may have heard it said that accounting is best learned through the end of a pencil. In other words, you can read and listen all you wish, but until you actually do it, it does not become yours. An analogy might be one of studying to become a surgeon or an auto mechanic by only reading and hearing about your profession-until you try it, you do not have a working knowledge of the subject. Therefore, let me suggest that you thoughtfully and conscientiously complete all assignments your instructor makes whether they are questions, exercises, or problems.

Accounting is like a pyramid. What you learn in each new chapter builds on knowledge from previous chapters. If the base of the pyramid is not firmly in place, your accounting skills will be weak.

To summarize, in looking at "How to Study Accounting," you have seen that you need to put into force all levels of action to give yourself the highest level of retention-hearing plus seeing plus saying plus doing. You have also seen how important it is that you know your textbook-how it is structured and where to find the things you need.

Fifteen Tips for Studying Accounting
Br. Tom Conway, OFM

1. The sequence is intentional.

Keep in mind that the accounting course that you are taking is one in a sequence of courses. It has been placed where it is because that course’s material is derived from material from one or more earlier courses. Make sure that you have access to textbooks of your earlier courses. (If you’re a little bit inclined to take courses out of order, forget it!)

2. The material within a given course is often sequential.

This is especially true of Accounting I (ACCT-200). That is, the material covered early in the course is necessary to do problems covered later in the course. If you don’t understand the first few chapters of the textbook, you need to go back and study those chapters before going on to later ones.

3. Determine the scope of the course.

It’s not unusual for particular chapters or particular sections of chapters to be deleted from the scope of a course.

4. Practice, practice, practice.

There is tremendous value in going over as many problems as you can.

5. You’re trying to learn as many points as you can.

If you get stuck on a particular point, don’t spend a long time trying to look it up or figure it out. Make a note of it and ask a friend or the professor about it later.

6. Novels are meant to be read from beginning to end. Accounting textbooks are not.

Skim the text, use the index, jump around, read the questions at the end of the chapter, look at tables and charts, cross-reference things, and notice the section headings. You’re dealing with technical language: it’s not unusual to have to read a given paragraph several times before you understand it.

7. We’re not in Kansas anymore.

In a history class, if you know 90% of the information about each presidency, war, historical movement, etc., then you’ll probably be fine. In accounting, you often have to know how to finish the problem. This is especially true for multiple-choice exams. For this reason, it’s often better to completely understand some problems (and not know how to do other problems) than to have a somewhat vague notion of how to approach every type of problem. Also, having a strong understanding of one type of problem will sometimes give you a clue as to how to approach a seemingly unrelated problem that you never studied.

8. Sorry to disappoint you, but accounting isn’t exactly like math.

In math, the rules tend to be absolute. In accounting, many of the rules have exceptions and often the "final answer" (for example, a recommendation to a company) depends a great deal on the context of the problem.

9. But wait, currency doesn’t come in negative denominations.

Get in the habit of asking yourself if your final answer makes sense in the context of the problem.

10. Find a partner.

Spend part of your study time by yourself and part of your study time with someone else. A portion of the study time by yourself can be used to identify what things you understand and what things you don’t. You and your study partner can trade notes on this and teach each other. Studies have shown that by teaching others you ensure that you will recall the information later. The most important rule about working with someone else: keep to the task! Work hard to keep to the subject at hand. Interrupt your partner when he/she starts talking about unrelated topics.

11. Learn the vocabulary.

There is no quicker tip-off to the professor that you don’t know what you’re doing than using terminology inappropriately. (For example, the clueless student will typically sprinkle the term "money" liberally throughout an essay while accounting textbooks seldom use the term.) Most accounting textbooks have at least one glossary. Also, most textbooks put the key terms in boldface type. Do enough reading of the textbooks to understand how the author uses each important term.

12. Don’t be fatalistic.

Yes, accounting is difficult. Yes, accounting is hard work. Yes, it takes time. No, it’s not impossible. Most good students report having some breakthrough moments: times when suddenly a range of topics suddenly make sense. You might be closer than you think to having one of those breakthroughs.

13. Develop a sense of curiosity.

There are many rules in accounting which seem at first to be either contradictory or counterintuitive or both. Try to figure out why the rule exists and talk to other people about it. The really good students treat accounting as one big puzzle-game which they expect to win!

14. Take some satisfaction in the fact that you’re doing something difficult.

Even though accounting is a very marketable skill, that’s not the best reason to study it. The best reason to study accounting is that it helps develop your ability to do analytic thinking.

15. Bad things happen.

If nothing else motivates you to study, remind yourself that it’s very possible to get a "D" or an "F" in an accounting course. This worst-case scenario plays itself out for some students every semester. Use this fact as motivation when you are debating whether to study accounting or to go out for pizza.

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