my exam is in a week and i'm having a hard time understanding the statement of cash flows.  specifically, what items to subtract or add. i know that CA has an indirect effect and CL have a direct effect.  other than that, i'm completely lost.  any suggestions on how i can tackle this subject? thanks.

Just follow the cash.

If you spend money to pay for an asset, then you spend money, so substract from NI in the operations section.

If you receive cash for selling a building, etc. then you got money so add. and opposite if you buy a property.

If you sell you stock on the market, then you got cash. so then you add to the financing section.

this is my understanding of both the direct and indirect method.  for the indirect method, we are reconciling the cash flows with net income so if we're receiving cash we would subtract it and if we're paying out cash, we add it. 

And for the the direct method, we would do the opposite since we're not reconciling from net income.  so if we were getting cash, we would add it and subtract it if we were paying out.  is this correct??