Richard Clarke Academy

how a 3yr old can help you pass your ACCA exams!

The past few years has seen an abundance of research come out on how the brain works, how we can study more effectively and how to boost your memory.

All the accepted methods from yesteryear are being questioned, and more often than not proven to be wrong!

Let me give you a little example, how many of you are currently reading this out aloud? How many of you are running your finger along the line you are reading? - My guess is nobody! Now let me ask you another question - did you do this when you were young? My guess is - “Yes I did!”

One final question - why did you stop? My guess is you were told to.

Well here’s the rub - did you know that there’s a small part of your brain, located just above your left ear which is only activated when you speak out aloud? Did you know that all research suggests that voicing your thoughts helps your understanding and retention of them?

I bet the parents amongst you are like me. We see a rabbit - and we say to our 2 year olds “Look, what is that?” You know that they know it’s a rabbit but you still want them to SAY the word! Deep down you know that by vocalising the word, it will help them learn it quicker. Unfortunately for most of us that’s a skill we’ve now lost and we’ve adapted. The key here though - is to illustrate how often accepted techniques are fundamentally wrong and that there are far more efficient means of teaching out there.

I have been studying this neurological science for 10 years and it is fascinating. I teach accountancy for a living and I have adapted my methods immensely in line with latest research. The results, the feedback from the students, has been fantastic.

Often the techniques are blindingly simple. For example how many of you know your mother’s maiden name? Did you know that elderly people remember their old school friends names better than those they have met more recently? Why?

The answer is so simple. Re-caps. For the brain to move things into the longer term memory then recaps of material must be done. Research is ongoing as to when best to do these recaps but the picture is pretty clear now. The more often you use or see something the better you remember it. Obvious I know. Yet how many schools, universities, colleges etc actually build these into their courses?

Then there’s the recency and primacy effect. The last and first parts of lectures are remembered best. What is the ideal time for a lecture? What sort of material is best looked at in the morning? How important are goals? How rigidly should these be stuck to? What is the best study technique known to mankind?...

All these answers and much more besides are out there - for those willing to listen to scientific research. That is our gap in the market and we hope to plug it!

Incidentally - the finger under the line when reading - that can increase your speed reading by up to 30%. Also, remember the vocalising technique in helping us remember and understand things? Well here’s a little trick - want somebody to stick to an agreement? Get them to actually SAY “yes, I agree”. This simple technique has been proven to increase the effectiveness of such agreements by over 60%!

So, if you run a restaurant - and you want people to phone if they cant make it that night. Simply ask the customer - “will you call to tell me if you cant make it?”, rather than simply saying “please call if you can’t make it”. The former will force the customer to vocalise his agreement and the chances of him sticking to his end of the bargain are now far higher!

Best wishes and hope to see you soon (say “yes, ok Richard!”)

Richard

www.richardclarkeacademy.com

How to Answer mcq (when you dont have a clue!)

Multiple choice exam tips
Here’s a few tips on getting the correct answer on an MCQ when you really have no idea! I repeat this is to be used only when you have no idea!!!!! These tips below are proven to statistically give better results than leaving things to pure chance alone. 



1. All of the Above = go for it!
The idea is that often the question asks for the most completely correct answer. As this is a very inclusive statement, this is more often correct than chance should suggest.



2. Do not go for absolutes such as "never," "always," "is," "are," "guarantees," "ensures." Such statements are highly restrictive and very difficult to defend. They are rarely (though they may sometimes be!) correct options. 



3. For the reason above go for options containing phrases "may sometimes be," or "can occasionally result in." 


4. Do not go for "jargon-filled” options. These are frequently used as decoys. 



5. Go for the longest option! Often to make the answer completely correct and extra clause will be added by the examiner.

6. Go for the middle answer. If the options are 5, 12, 9, 3 - go for 5 or 9. This is because it is only human for the examiner to give options below and above the correct answer rather than all of them below or all of them above.

7. Go for the one of the options that look like each other. For example, if the options are 12f, 35f, 16f and 12a. Go for 12a or 12f. This is the examiner trying to be clever but actually helping us! It works very often.

Finally, If you have absolutely no idea what the answer is, can't use any of the above techniques, and there is no scoring penalty for guessing, choose option C. Studies indicate that these are correct slightly more often than would be predicted by chance alone. This is due again to the same reasons as the number 6.

Please remember these are only to help you guess! They are better than chance alone but no more than that! 



Try this in F1 to F3 ACCA exams or come see me in Malta!

Launch event

A couple of nights ago I held a launch event for our new ACCA teaching academy in Malta - and as part of the short presentation I gave - I included a brief overview of the importance of the Ebbinghaus curve of forgetting and how it has influenced the way the academy will teach the ACCA papers.
Let me remind you of this groundbreaking piece of research from many years ago:

When we learn something new, unless we use special memorising techniques, we will forget over 80% of it within 24 hours!! Even if you found the topic interesting!

What the research proved though was that this rate of forgetting can be prevented by doing simple short recaps - on average you need to do this 5 or 6 times to lodge it into your longer term memory.

The ideal time to do these recaps is 10 minutes after the first studying, then 1 week, then 1 month, then 3 months and finally 6 months.

This is vital and not as scary or work intensive as it may seem. So keep your knowledge simple and revisit it often. Do not just read it once and then re-read it 2 months later! Either that or come to my academy where the recaps are built in!

Anyway, if any of you reading this came to the champagne reception, you know what a great night it was and I want to say a big thank you once again for giving up your valuable time.

Best wishes
Richard

http://www.richardclarkeacademy.com/beta/course_f1.html

ACCA & Euro 08!

Watching the Euro 08 football on TV last night - despite England not being involved but don't get me started!

Anyway, it got me thinking about different nationalities and languages - and the problems faced by a non English native speaker in the ACCA exams.

Having taught all around the world, I know this is a huge concern for many - and lots see language being a real debilitating factor in what are already difficult exams. Well, as a marker, in addition to knowing the examiners and examination team at the ACCA very well, I have some good news.

Firstly, there are no marks taken away for spelling and grammatical errors at all. You just need to make your answers understandable - no more.

As proof - in many sittings over half of the prize-winning students do not have English as their first language.

So keep things very simple. Many think that business people use very difficult words and jargon. Even English speakers fall into this trap. Trust me, both in the business world and especially in exams, simple, easy to read English is far more preferrable and far more convincing!

Simple, easy to read and easy to understand - no more worrying about spelling or grammar - and concentrate on what you are trying to say not how to say it - is the formula for success. Now if only the England football team could also find a recipe for success.......!

The beginning

My new ACCA academy opens up in the beautiful island of Malta in August.

This is no ordinary college. No BPP/Kaplan. Not a faceless, bland, one size fits all organisation. This is modern teaching and learning. All based on latest research.

One of the aims of this blog is to expand on the latest learning research and keep everyone up to date.

Here's just a taster - want to know the most effective method of studying - proven time and time again under scientific conditions?

Well - as you might have guessed, it is not reading a chapter of a text book and then re-reading it.

It is reading the chapter - and then writing down everything you can remember about it. You will learn far more deeply and retain the information longer this way. It will also help you pass your ACCA accounting exams! Why? Two reasons:

1) It practices recall - something you have to do in the exam
2) It lets you know immediately what you do not know

Again research has shown that many who fail exams do so because they are poor at realising where they are weak.

So go ahead, write down everything you can remember about this blog - and let me know if you have any study tips in the meantime!

Best wishes

Richard
www.richardclarkeacademy.com