I was doing great on my new, expanded study hours, until I switched my work hours around this week! I am now working 3 full days a week instead of 5 part-days. It works out to the same amount of work per week, but I get to save on gas.

My sleep patterns were not prepared for me waking up early though, and losing out on sleep absolutely destroys my ability to sit down and study, although I have some free time in the evenings I could be filling.

These three days have made me realize I should pay more attention to how much I sleep, even if I don’t have to get up for work. It could explain why some days I can sit down and focus on CPA review for 3 hours, and other days I can’t get past 15 minutes!

The first part of my studying process involves answering a whole lot of multiple choice questions, pre-studying, to get a feel for which areas I need to work on the most. This is super frustrating, because I am struggling to remember all topics, so I would rather just get on with the actual studying part.

However, I think there is some benefit to this exercise. At the very least, I’m getting a quick and dirty overview of the questions that will be asked, and I can get a feel for how much of the information I’m familiar with, even if I don’t remember the specifics of how to solve the problems. Also, sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised with how well I do remember some topics.

In the meantime, I am trying to come up with ways to motivate myself to study each day. I have a study goal, although so far I haven’t been sticking to it (too many excuses).

I am also still trying to figure out the best time and place to study in my house. I originally planned to study after work, but I often find I’m too tired to focus. I think I am going to try setting my study time after I have had a chance to fit some exercise in.

Finally, I am trying to motivate myself by “paying” myself per hour. For every hour I study, I put a bit of money aside to save towards buying a netbook. This is the best motivational tactic I can come up with, and it’s working pretty well!

So, my non-accounting-related life has been pretty fun and interesting lately. I think I am finally ready to sit down and begin studying for the CPA Exam. Or at least, begin to figure out where to begin studying.

Study Stratgy

I have been reading the intro chapters to my old (free) books for now. I realized when I took GMAT that reading everything the study books have to say is important. For example, this one pointed out that it is better to spend a higher percentage of time on practice questions in a simulated exam situation than on the actual studying. This is something I had learned when I took GMAT but had forgotten.

So, my very loose plan at this point is to set a study schedule that involves a few weeks of studying all of the material, and then more weeks of doing practice questions, taking practice tests, and practicing using the software that I’ll need to be familiar with for the exam.

Which parts to take first?

I am still waiting to hear back about being able to sign up for the exam. I think I applied to sign up for the  Financial Accounting and Reporting (4 hours) section and the Regulation (3 hours) sections first.

I did change my mind a lot at the last minute, and then I went on vacation to Italy, so my memory is a little fuzzy, but I’m pretty sure I stuck with those.

I decided to take FAR first, even though it is what we covered the most of in classes, because it just seems like the sheer volume of information will make it my biggest challenge. I do much better on tests where logic can be applied, rather than just memorized facts.

I decided to take Regulation second because… well… it involves taxes. And my weak spot of hating to memorize pops up there again.

I know Auditing and Attestation (4.5 hours) will require the most studying, judging by the length of the exam, but audit class just made a lot more sense to me than financial accounting or tax classes did, so I’m hoping that feeling will carry over into the CPA exam.

So, for now, I’m familiarizing myself with the test in general, then I’ll set up a more detailed schedule to study for FAR. Hopefully I’ll be able to sign up soon so I’ll know what my timeline is going to look like!