Your unfair advantage in finance and accounting exams
Finance and accounting exams stack formulas, standards and regulations on top of each other, often across multiple levels or sections sat months apart. Each level assumes you still have the one before it.
The advantage isn't a shortcut. It's a study method: pulling answers from memory and reviewing them just before they fade, instead of rereading, highlighting and cramming.
10 programs · 10,189 cards · organised by public exam outlines
What your memory has to carry for finance and accounting exams
Different exams, the same problem: a lot to hold, for a long time, recalled on demand.
Formulas you must produce
Duration, option payoffs, ratio definitions and valuation models, written from memory.
Standards and rules
Accounting treatments, ethics standards, tax rules and securities regulations, with their exceptions.
A long exam season
Several levels or sections spread over months, where early topics must survive until the last sitting.
Why the old way fails for finance and accounting exams
Rereading, highlighting and cramming are the most common ways to study, and they feel productive. The research says they're the weakest.
Rereading
Rereading a curriculum reading makes a formula familiar. Being able to rebuild it from scratch in the exam is a different skill.
Retrieve it
Tested students recalled 61% of a passage a week later; students who reread it four times recalled 40%.
Roediger & Karpicke (2006), Psychological Science
Highlighting
Highlighting a standard marks it as important; it does not rehearse producing it when a question disguises it.
Test yourself
A review of ten techniques rated highlighting and rereading low utility, and practice testing high.
Dunlosky et al. (2013), Psychological Science in the Public Interest
Cramming
Cramming each section before its sitting works for that sitting. The next level assumes you kept it.
Space it
Word pairs reviewed across four days were recalled 54% of the time; the stack crammed the day before the test, 34%.
Kornell (2009), Applied Cognitive Psychology
The numbers behind the method
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results. Each one is shown with the conditions it was measured under.
assessments of spaced vs massed practice, reviewed together
The best gap between reviews grows with how long you need to keep something, and a multi-level exam season is long.
A quantitative review of 839 assessments in 317 experiments (184 articles) on verbal recall. Spaced learning beat massed, and the gap between sessions that produced the best retention grew as the retention interval grew.
Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
recalled a week later: tested vs reread
Retrieving beat rereading a week later. Exam day is much further off than that.
Undergraduates studied a prose passage. Those who read it once and recalled it three times remembered 61% of it one week later; those who read it four times remembered 40%. At five minutes the rereaders were ahead (83% vs 71%). Experiment 2, 180 students, no feedback.
Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
recalled on day 5: one stack reviewed daily vs stacks crammed
Daily rotation of everything beat cramming each topic on its own day.
25 students learned GRE-type word pairs over four daily sessions with the same number of study trials. One large stack reviewed every day: 54% recalled on day 5. Small stacks each crammed on a single day: 21%. The stack crammed the day before the test: 34%. Experiment 2.
Kornell, N. (2009). Optimising learning using flashcards: Spacing is more effective than cramming. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23(9), 1297–1317.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
See the research
Three short loops. Two chart published results exactly as reported; the forgetting curve is an illustrative model and is labelled as one.
The forgetting curve, with and without reviews
An illustrative model, not measured data: after one exposure, memory decays quickly toward zero over 30 days. With reviews on days 1, 3, 7 and 14, each review restores it and it decays more slowly each time, staying high at day 30.
Ebbinghaus, H. (1885). Über das Gedächtnis. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig.
Illustrative model, not measured data.
Testing yourself beats rereading, a week later
Bar charts from Roediger & Karpicke (2006), Experiment 2. Five minutes after studying, students who read a passage four times recalled 83%, read three times and tested once 78%, read once and tested three times 71%. One week later the order reversed: 40%, 56% and 61%.
Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
Spacing beats cramming
From Kornell (2009), Experiment 2: over four days, one stack of 20 word pairs reviewed every day versus four stacks of five each crammed on one day. On day 5, spaced pairs were recalled 54% of the time, massed 21%, and the stack crammed the day before 34%. Across three experiments spacing beat massing for 90% of participants, yet after the first session 72% believed massing worked better.
Kornell, N. (2009). Optimising learning using flashcards: Spacing is more effective than cramming. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23(9), 1297–1317.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
Finance & accounting programs
Ready-made decks, organised by each exam's public outline. Open any program to try its free sample cards.
CFA Level I
10 decks · 992 cards
CPA
4 decks · 1,171 cards
CFP — Certified Financial Planner
8 decks · 1,075 cards
CFA Level II
10 decks · 994 cards
CFA Level III
8 decks · 1,647 cards
FRM Part I
4 decks · 763 cards
Enrolled Agent (IRS SEE)
3 decks · 901 cards
CMA — Certified Management Accountant
12 decks · 1,055 cards
FINRA SIE
4 decks · 790 cards
Series 7 — General Securities Representative
10 decks · 801 cards
| Exam | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|
| CFA Level I180 multiple-choice items · About 4.5 hours of testing (plus optional break) | 180 multiple-choice items | About 4.5 hours of testing (plus optional break) |
| CPA ExamVaries by section — multiple-choice testlets plus task-based simulations · 4 hours per section (16 hours total) | Varies by section — multiple-choice testlets plus task-based simulations | 4 hours per section (16 hours total) |
| CFP Exam170 multiple-choice items · Two 3-hour sessions in one day | 170 multiple-choice items | Two 3-hour sessions in one day |
| CFA Level II88 multiple-choice items across 22 item sets (vignettes); 20 item sets are scored and 2 are trial sets · About 4 hours 24 minutes of testing, split into two 2-hour-12-minute sessions (plus optional break) | 88 multiple-choice items across 22 item sets (vignettes); 20 item sets are scored and 2 are trial sets | About 4 hours 24 minutes of testing, split into two 2-hour-12-minute sessions (plus optional break) |
| CFA Level III11 item sets and 11 essay sets (20 scored, 2 unscored) · About 4 hours 24 minutes of testing, split into two 2-hour-12-minute sessions (plus optional break) | 11 item sets and 11 essay sets (20 scored, 2 unscored) | About 4 hours 24 minutes of testing, split into two 2-hour-12-minute sessions (plus optional break) |
| FRM Part I100 multiple-choice items · 4 hours | 100 multiple-choice items | 4 hours |
| Enrolled Agent (SEE)100 questions per part (85 scored) · 3.5 hours per part | 100 questions per part (85 scored) | 3.5 hours per part |
| CMA100 multiple-choice items and two case-based questions per part · 4 hours per part | 100 multiple-choice items and two case-based questions per part | 4 hours per part |
| FINRA SIE75 scored items (plus 10 unscored pretest) · 1 hour 45 minutes | 75 scored items (plus 10 unscored pretest) | 1 hour 45 minutes |
| Series 7125 scored questions (plus 10 unscored pretest) · 225 minutes (3 hours 45 minutes) | 125 scored questions (plus 10 unscored pretest) | 225 minutes (3 hours 45 minutes) |
How NoReread puts it to work
1. Cards from public exam outlines
Each program is organised by its exam's publicly available outline, so the decks follow the structure you will be tested on.
2. Recall first, then flip
Every card asks before it tells. That moment of pulling the answer from memory is the retrieval practice the research measures.
3. Reviews scheduled before you forget
An SM-2 schedule brings each card back just as it starts to fade: sooner if you missed it, later if you knew it.
Cards ask for a formula, a treatment or a rule, and you answer before you flip. The schedule keeps topics from your first sitting in rotation while you work on the next.
What are the four main categories of alternative investments?
Private capital (private equity and private debt), real assets (real estate, infrastructure, natural resources/commodities), hedge funds, and digital assets.
Learn first, then retain.
Flashcards are a memory tool. Learn the material first, then use NoReread to retain it and refresh what you already know. It doesn't replace studying the subject.
Cards are created from publicly available sources and may contain errors. Check anything you rely on against your official materials.
Straight answers
Is NoReread enough to prepare for finance and accounting exams?
No, and we won't pretend otherwise. Flashcards are a memory tool. Learn the material first, then use NoReread to retain it and refresh what you already know. It doesn't replace studying the subject.
What does “unfair advantage” mean here?
The advantage is the study method: retrieval practice and spaced review, instead of rereading, highlighting and cramming. It is not a promise of a pass or a score. The numbers on this page are published findings about the method from the studies cited, not NoReread results.
Does NoReread include practice exams or mock scores?
No. Use your prep provider's question banks and mocks for that. NoReread keeps the formulas and rules you have learned available.
Are tax and regulatory cards up to date?
The cards are created from publicly available sources and may lag behind rule changes. Check anything you rely on against the current official materials for your exam window.
Can I rely on the cards being accurate?
Cards are created from publicly available sources and may contain errors. Check anything you rely on against your official materials. We're not experts in every field we cover, and NoReread does not guarantee exam results.
Is NoReread affiliated with the organizations behind these exams?
No. NoReread is not affiliated with or endorsed by the organizations whose exams and outlines it references, and exam names are trademarks of their respective owners.
How can I try it?
Every program page shows 6 free sample cards per deck. The All-Access annual plan starts with 7 days free, then $119.99/year, or you can buy a single program for life from $7.99.
Exam names are trademarks of their respective owners. Content disclaimer · All the research
Study finance and accounting exams the way memory works
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