Understand the double entry, then stop thinking about it
Every transaction has two sides and the accounting equation always balances. Once that clicks, most of the rules stop being rules and become consequences — you can *derive* which account is debited rather than recall it.
But then it needs to become automatic. If you're consciously reasoning about which side to debit halfway through a complex question, that reasoning is consuming working memory you need for the actual adjustment. Drill it past the point of boredom; that is what drilling is *for*.
Practise the full question, not the fragments
- Work complete problems, start to finish. Partial practice hides exactly where you fall apart, which is usually the joins.
- Under time. Accounting exams are frequently a race, and a method you can execute slowly is not a method you have.
- Then check the answer — after. Reading a worked solution before attempting it is the biggest trap in every procedural subject.
- Redo the ones you got wrong, days later. Not immediately, or you're just copying what you read.
The judgment layer is what separates the grades
Mechanics get you a pass. What separates the top is judgment: which standard applies, how a policy choice changes the numbers, what the accounts actually *tell* you about the business. That is reasoning, not procedure, and it is trained by asking 'why is it treated this way?' rather than 'how is it treated?'