A method, system, and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium of decoding a signal are provided. The method includes receiving signal to be decoded, where signal includes at least one symbol; decoding signal in stages, where each at least one symbol of signal is decoded into at least one bit per stage, wherein Log-Likelihood Ratio (LLR) and a path metric are determined for each possible path for each at least one bit at each stage; determining magnitudes of the LLRs; identifying K bits of the signal with smallest corresponding LLR magnitudes; identifying, for each of the K bits, L possible paths with largest path metrics at each decoder stage for a user-definable number of decoder stages; performing forward and backward traces, for each of the L possible paths, to determine candidate codewords; performing a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) on the candidate codewords; and stopping after a first candidate codeword passes the CRC.