How to Use Daily Practice and Spaced Repetition to Pass Accountancy Exams

Every accountancy student knows the feeling. You studied a chapter thoroughly in week two, and by week eight it has almost disappeared. That is not a personal failing. It is how memory works, and it is the main reason students who "covered the whole syllabus" still fail. The good news is that two well-researched learning techniques, spaced repetition and retrieval practice, deal with this problem directly, and they fit easily into a busy study schedule. This guide explains how they work and how to build them into your preparation for any accountancy exam.

Why You Forget What You Studied

In the 1880s the psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus measured how quickly he forgot material he had learned, and found that memory fades fast at first and then more slowly, a pattern now called the forgetting curve. Later research has confirmed the broad pattern many times. The practical point is simple: if you learn something once and never return to it, most of it will be gone within weeks.

The same research points to the fix. Each time you successfully recall something, it fades more slowly afterwards. So the goal is not to study a topic once, thoroughly. It is to come back to it several times, at increasing intervals, and actually recall it each time.

The Two Techniques

Retrieval practice: testing yourself

Retrieval practice means pulling information out of your memory, for example by answering questions, rather than putting it in again by rereading. Studies in educational psychology have repeatedly found that testing yourself leads to better long-term retention than spending the same time rereading. It also feels harder, which is why students avoid it. That feeling of effort is part of what makes it work.

For accountancy exams, this is good news, because the natural form of retrieval practice is the one you need anyway: answering exam-style questions.

Spaced repetition: returning at intervals

Spaced repetition means reviewing material at increasing intervals instead of all at once. Research on the spacing effect has found that the same total study time produces better long-term memory when it is spread out than when it is crammed together. Cramming can work for a test tomorrow. It works poorly for an exam months away, and very poorly for a qualification where later papers assume you remember earlier ones.

A Simple Schedule That Works

You do not need complicated software. A workable pattern for each topic is:

• Day 0: study the topic, then answer 10 to 20 questions on it straight away.
• Day 1 or 2: a short set of questions on it again, without rereading first.
• About a week later: another short set, mixed with other topics.
• About a month later: another set, in a mixed test.

If you get most of the questions right, stretch the next gap. If you struggle, shorten it and review the notes for that topic before the next set. The exact intervals matter less than the habit of coming back.

Why Daily Practice Beats Weekend Marathons

A daily routine is the easiest way to build spacing into your week without planning every review. Ten to twenty questions a day, drawn from topics you studied at different times, gives you spaced retrieval automatically. It also has practical benefits for working students:

• It fits around work. A daily set takes 10 to 20 minutes. You can do it on a commute or before work.
• It shows you your weak spots early. A topic you keep getting wrong in daily sets is a topic to revisit now, not in the final week.
• It builds a habit. Consistency beats intensity. A student who practises every day for three months usually outperforms one who studies in occasional long bursts.

Our daily challenge was built for exactly this: 10 questions a day, the same for everyone, with a streak to keep you going. There are versions for each exam body we cover, including ACCA, ICAI, CIMA, ICAEW and US CMA.

Mixing Topics: Interleaving

A related technique is interleaving: mixing different topics in one practice session instead of doing all questions on one topic together. Research suggests it helps learners tell similar problems apart, which is exactly what exams demand. In an exam, questions do not arrive labelled with the chapter they come from. You have to recognise that a question is about relevant costing rather than marginal costing, or about IAS 37 rather than IAS 10.

Use topic-by-topic practice when you first learn something, then move to mixed sets as soon as you have covered a few topics.

Make Your Mistakes Work for You

Spaced practice is most powerful when you learn from errors. Keep a simple error log with three columns: the topic, what you got wrong, and why. The "why" usually falls into one of three groups:

• Did not know the rule. Go back to the notes and then test yourself again within two days.
• Misread the question. Practise reading the requirement first.
• Calculation slip. Slow down at the step where the slip happened, and do a few similar calculations.

Review the log once a week. Topics that keep appearing are your priority list.

Putting It Into a Study Plan

A balanced week for a student working towards one exam might look like this:

• Every day: one short mixed set (the daily challenge or 10 to 20 questions from a question bank).
• Four or five days a week: study a new topic, then do a topic set straight after.
• Once a week: a longer mixed test across all the topics so far, plus a review of your error log.
• Final weeks: full timed mocks, with the daily set continuing as a warm-up.

For question banks to drive this routine, start with the practice hub, or go straight to a paper: for example ACCA FR, ICAP CAF-1, CA Inter Advanced Accounting, CIMA BA2, ICAEW Accounting Fundamentals or US CMA Part 1. When you are ready for full exam simulations without limits, Pro adds unlimited timed tests.

Common Mistakes

• Rereading instead of testing. It feels productive but builds far less lasting memory.
• Only practising the current chapter. Without returning to earlier topics, they fade before the exam.
• Skipping days, then cramming. A short daily set is worth more than an occasional long session.
• Ignoring wrong answers. The error log is where most of the improvement comes from.

FAQs

What is spaced repetition?
Reviewing material at increasing intervals over time, instead of all at once, so it stays in long-term memory.

How many practice questions should I do a day?
Ten to twenty mixed questions a day is a good base for most students, alongside your main study. Increase it in the final weeks.

Does spaced repetition work for calculation-heavy papers?
Yes. Revisiting calculation questions at intervals keeps both the method and the speed fresh.

Is rereading notes a waste of time?
Not entirely, but it is much less effective than testing yourself. Use notes to fix what your practice shows you got wrong.