When you are preparing for the CPA exam, good study and self-care habits are essential for your well-being. This exam is said to be one of the most difficult exams a professional can take. Moreover, needing to study for the exam while working a full-time job makes it even harder. Here are seven tips to preserve your mental health while working and preparing for the CPA exam.
Compile a Study Plan
Just like studying for any exam, creating a plan for the CPA test will help you have consistency and stability. You could create a specific schedule that you will use to map out the times you want to study or set timeframes that you want to cover specific subjects.
Some people prefer to have their plans written out on physical paper because it helps them remember them. Others find it easier to type them up onto a spreadsheet, but in any case, compiling a study plan will guide you to cover all the right points.
Get Support from Relatives and Friends
When studying for the CPA exam, you should not consider yourself alone. Since the exam is so difficult, it is good for your mental health to lean on the support of your family or other people who are close to you. Your friends and family will likely lend you their support while you undergo such a hard task. Having them take you out to dinner some nights will help ease the pressure off of you.
However, if people close to you are disenchanted that you are spending so much time alone studying, you should promise them that you will return after your exam is complete.
Break Up Your Studying
While you are studying or working on CPA review courses, breaking them up into small pieces will make them easier to complete. For example, if your plan or course has many different phases, focus on one at a time instead of taking all of it at once.
Moreover, research has shown that learning specific subjects then taking breaks to do other activities makes your studying process more efficient. Rather than trying to learn everything simultaneously, you should make it into phases and take breaks during transitions.
Apply Background Knowledge
If you are studying for the CPA exam, chances are you are already working in a setting that provides you with much knowledge that you can put forward to the exam. Applying old knowledge can make the studying process much easier because you have to work to learn less new information.
Additionally, background knowledge will help you do better on the CPA exam because your experiences are less easily forgotten than the information you read in a book.
Use Good Studying Software
The presence of the internet and many other digital technologies has made it much easier to study for exams. Before they existed, the best way to study was to laboriously write things down on paper and notecards.
Nowadays, you have a lot of websites that provide free and easy-to-use software that you can use to effectively study for the CPA exam. Some websites allow you to make digital notecards to remember definitions and terms, and others test you on your existing knowledge, so you can remember everything you have learned.
Make Extra Time to Study
If you are already into a full-time job while you are studying for the CPA exam, it might be hard to find time to learn. Getting enough sleep is extremely important for mental and physical health, so staying up late every night is counterproductive. Going to sleep early and waking up early to study is a better solution, so you can study in the morning before work.
Additionally, if you use public transportation to commute to work, that is a perfect time and space to be productive.
Reward Yourself
When you complete increments of studying or the exam itself, you should reward yourself with an enjoyable activity. This will train you to work toward your goals in pursuit of that reward, so you can be more productive.
Once you have reached your goal, you should reward yourself with dinner with friends or a short vacation.
Preparing for CPA can be a very difficult process. With these tips, you can preserve your morale and mental health while you go through it.
