For regulation I had this really nice time table setup with a schedule that would allow for some flexibility since summer is coming and I would like to spend some time with my family. However, recently there have been some stressful things that came up and my study habits have been non-existent. Life happens and all of our planning just gets thrown out the window.
So now I am re-creating my regulation study plan with fewer days off in between study days off, it will make it more difficult but it is still do-able. My schedule is a 5 week schedule and includes 82 hours of studying for regulation. I don’t think that I will need to do more than that since I have 11 years of experience in taxation which should help me in the simulations.
June 13 – 20 Ethics, Property Transactions, Individual Tax (Strong area’s to begin with)
June 21 – 27 Corp, Partnership, S-Corp, Estate & Gift, Fiduciary tax (Stong area)
June 28 – July 4 Business Law – Agency & Contracts (Weak area)
July 5 – 11 Articles & Bankruptcy (Weak)
July 12 – 17 Bankruptcy, federal security regulations, business structure (Weak area)
I try to start off my study routine with areas that I feel confident in; they set the tone for my efforts and get me vested into my study plan, they also keep me motivated initially since I get more questions right and feel more successful. Once I get to the hard stuff I feel a sense of commitment since I have already came so far and have invested so much time.
5 weeks is a pretty good time frame for studying for the exams. I have found that if I stretch out my study plan over a longer period I tend to forget a large amount of what I went over initially. That brings me to review. Every Sunday I review my notes and go over my flashcards from the prior weeks, initially this only takes me an hour or two, by the end of my 5 weeks I am looking around 3-5 hours of review. My memory is the type that if I don’t use it, I lose it. Keeping the information on the forefront has been really helpful for me. FYI my 82 hours of study time do not include my Sunday review hours.
I plan to post my study notes for each of these weeks on my website, keep your eyes open for those when they come out!
http://mycpaexamjournal.blogspot.com/
“You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.”
Hi Jennifer,
It sounds as if you fell victim to...well...to life. :-)
Like Bob Monette says in this motivating video - http://www.cpaexam.com/demo.asp - there is no best time to take the exam. You have to set a time frame (as you have) and sacrifice everything else in your life in order to stick to the plan.
Draw a line and go for it 1,000,000 percent!
If you stray from the plan, you'll end up replanning, and replanning, and replanning...
Good luck and keep us informed!
Posted by: ChrisAustinCPA | 06/22/2011 at 09:24 AM