hi guys I am a french student and i pass my CFA 1 last year. The way i prepared was to read the secret sauce from Schweser a few times. Then i did the practices exams of Schweser. Also i watched the videos on the ethic material. The first time i read the secret sauce took a lot of time. I could read a paragraph or an equation, and think about it for 5- 10 minutes. When i started doing the practice exams, It was more to learn than to practice. I would read the questions, then read the answers and it was very efficient to increase my understanding of the concepts. After a while i was actually solving the questions myself. A few of my friends who took the exams read and summarize the 5 Schweser study notes before practicing. They used to say that there was so much information to memorize. I didn’t and i still don’t understand this. I never tried to memorize anything when i studied, I just tried to understand. I was able to pass only because this is a multiple choice questions test. In this format, i don’t feel the need to memorize the information. The questions and possible answers just remind me of what i read, and then i choose what make sense. If you asked me before the exam: “what do you know about the ethical/FRA/economic… material?” i could tell you almost nothing. But i did quite well on the exam. Did anyone had a similar studying experience? Or do i have a strange mind? Maybe i have the mind of an autistic person 
ps: When started studying for the CFA 2, there was too much that i could not understand in the secret sauce book. So i started watching the videos and this is a very cool way to learn. The work books with all the slides are nice to review the essential info.
I always encourage my candidates to understand the material, not merely to memorize it.
That said, some things (e.g. that under US GAAP interest expense is a nonoperating expense on the income statement, but interest paid is an operating cash flow on the cash flow statement) cannot be understood; they need to be memorized.
Yes it is true. That is the reason why i didn’t get +70% in FRA
But even understanding the differences of philosophies between US GAAP and IFRS helped me to developp some intuition about something that seems completly arbitrary.
I think understanding is large difference between average students and good/excellent students. Memorization gets you nowhere in comparison to understanding. Personally, I read things and look at information for a big picture. I also spend time trying to understand equations (derivation, implications, algebraic manipulation, etc.). A smaller portion of my time is dedicated to memorizing things that cannot be understood, as S2000 talked about.
I think you are a more efficient studier. I know many people who read, take notes, memorize, make flash cards, etc. and perform average or slightly above average on exams. I also know people who spend much less time studying, because they know how to learn– understand concepts and apply them to new situations.