Enhancing Your Chances of CFA® Exam Success
Congratulations on taking the first step towards achieving your goal of becoming a Certified Financial Analyst® (CFA)! Before diving into the challenging journey of preparing for the CFA exam, discover your preferred learning style, so you can optimize the study experience and maximize your chances of success on the exam. In the United States, the academic community identifies four main learning styles: Visual, Auditory, Reading/writing, and Kinesthetic.
What Makes the 4 Learning Styles Unique?: A Closer Look
When it comes to learning, not everyone learns the same way. Each style requires a different approach to teaching and learning. For example, if you are a visual learner, using diagrams, graphs, and videos to explain concepts may be more effective for you than reading long passages of text. Similarly, if you are a kinesthetic learner, engaging in practice exercises or simulations may help you to better understand and retain information.
In the following sections, we will explore the key differences between these four learning styles and how they can impact the way we learn and process information.
1. Visual Learning Style: Learning Through Sight
Individuals who are visual learners require visual aids to comprehend and retain information. They learn best when they envision relationships and ideas. For example, maps, diagrams, pictures, and charts can work well for visual learners. Other methods that work for visual learners are videos, webinars, or seeing in-person demonstrations. Visual learners are often attracted to vivid spoken language and colorful imagery. A large number of individuals are inclined towards visual learning, and this approach is frequently taken into account by educational institutions.
As someone preparing for the CFA exam and who learns best through visual aids, you have a preference for designs, patterns, shapes, and diagrams that effectively communicate information. You are drawn to vivid imagery, colors, and narratives that simplify and deconstruct intricate ideas. Your learning process involves visually processing information, and you often find yourself closing your eyes to retain the material better. When using UWorld CFA prep, we recommend focusing on our vivid illustrations for each explanation, our ReadyDecks (pre-filled flashcards), our SimpleSheets (for easy access to formulas), and digital highlighting throughout our question banks (QBanks).
2. Auditory Learning Style: Learning Through Hearing
Auditory learners retain information best through their sense of hearing. They favor listening to facts rather than seeing them or reading them in a textbook. This learner best understands concepts when explained out loud in an interesting, engaging manner. Some auditory learners speak and read slowly, while others find sitting still for long periods challenging. When studying, auditory learners like to focus on audiobooks for learning more complex concepts. They may also retain information better if they talk with someone else about the material.
As an auditory learner, you learn best from lectures, group discussions, or studying with a friend to discuss complex concepts. You sometimes find yourself talking out loud while attempting to grasp challenging ideas. Oh, and you greatly benefit from using mnemonics as a memory tool.
When using our UWorld CFA QBanks and flashcards, we recommend you read the questions and answers aloud to increase reading comprehension, sharpen your skills, and challenge your use of intonation. We recommend you focus on our “things to remember” after each question and provide hints for further comprehension.
3. Kinesthetic Learning Style: Learning through Movement and Touch
As a kinesthetic learner, you learn by touching and doing. You understand and remember things through physical movement. You are a hands-on learner who prefers to touch, move, build, or draw what you learn, and you tend to learn better when some type of physical activity is involved. Utilizing the UWorld CFA prep platform can provide significant benefits to kinesthetic learners due to our platform's active-learning approach, which aligns with their learning philosophy. Students learn more when actively participating and engaging in the learning process instead of passively taking in the information.
Active learning stimulates the activation of cognitive and sensory networks in the brain, which aids in the processing and storing of new information. When actively engaging with content, the brain is given more time to connect new and old data and correct earlier misunderstandings.
Kinesthetic learners will benefit from our robust QBanks by leveraging their comprehensive explanations that explain the correct answer and why the other answers are incorrect. Another great tool is our smart flashcards with spaced repetition, an interface that will repeat complex concepts at definitive intervals for optimized memory retention. Your superior retention and recall on test day will give you a competitive edge and optimize your chances of passing the CFA exam the first time.
4. Reading and Writing Learning Style: Learning through Written Language
People who learn best through reading and writing are comfortable with, and passionate about, the written word. They prefer to learn information by reading and can condense and rephrase written information well. This traditional learning style is favored in many upper-level academic institutions. As a reading and writing learner, you learn best when interacting with text and consuming information displayed as words. You’re a fantastic note-taker, have a collection of highlighters, and are addicted to Wikipedia. You enjoy challenging yourself by regularly taking quizzes, as you find that this is an effective way to measure your knowledge and track your progress. The UWorld CFA prep meets the needs of your learning style with award-winning rationales for all answer options and step-by-step problem-solving guidance. We also recommend using our SmartCard flashcards, digital MyNotebook, and multi-color highlighting tools to complement your learning style.
UWorld CFA Prep Works for All Learning Styles
Are you ready to start studying for the CFA Level 1 exam? UWorld Finance offers excellent exam preparation tools for just about any learning style. We designed our CFA exam learning tools with active learning in mind. Active learning is a scientifically proven study method that helps test-takers master high-stakes exam concepts and boosts memory retention. This active-learning approach puts candidates in the driver’s seat of their learning experience.
For more on the merits of active learning, check out the benefits of active learning for CFA candidates.
