[aspencookie]

I need to figure out a way to stay awake during the weekdays to study.

this is my schedule-

Work – 8am to 5pm or sometimes 6pm or 7pm
6pm or 7pm to 8pm — Get home and take care of pets (go for a walk etc) Arrive home back from the park
8pm to 9:15pm –Feed pets, eat dinner, rest, watch tv
Get ready to study
Study or TRY TO STUDY 9:15pm to 12am (this lasted a week)

usually now by 10:40pm im falling asleep
and then it starts all over again
Wake up at 6am most of the time 6:40am…
Get ready and make it to work at 8am

Start cycle all over again.

Every time I pick up the FAR book i fall asleep, i tried reading the other books but i dont have the attention span to do it.
I force myself to AT LEAST do something before sleeping, even if its one paragraph.

[Kodiak]

There's some common sense in this thread and some not so.

You can take the time to chill when you get home, take care of your pets, take that mental downtime.

My advice, try to shift to getting up earlier and studying in the morning, maybe try to get even 30-60 mins at night and then try to make up some hours on the weekend.

You've got to stay sane. I have pretty much the same schedule and I'd start studying around 9 if I got home around 7, sometimes it'd be 10 and I'd study for just an hour. Some nights I got home at 9 and didn't study at all until morning.

Be real with yourself, which it seems you are, and try to work with your schedule to maximize the benefit out of what study time you fit in.

[aspencookie]

Got off work at 6:20pm
Reached home at 7:07pm
Started for the park at 7:11pm
Got home from the park at 8:15pm
Fed dogs and sat down to complete homework 8:29 pm
Finished homework around 9:30 pm -9:45 pm (cant remember the exact time)
(I have class on Thursdays 7pm to 10pm and Saturday mornings 8am to 11am – so have homework to do)
So this all ended up with me having dinner at 9:30pm onwards i think
Finished dinner and rest around 10:15pm
Couldn't sleep and tosses and turned till 12:30am
Woke up at 5:00 am to let the dog out to pee and drink water
Went back to sleep and woke up at 7am
Left home for work at 7:54am (late)

but i did learn that studying as soon as i got home was easier than studying at 9pm but that makes my dinner late…

i guess cocaine it is!

justttttt kidddinggggggggggggggg!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Recked]

So you're working, applying for jobs, taking classes, and trying to do the CPA exam?
That's pretty hard core. Are you working in accounting now/tax season as well?

[Anonymous]

aspencookie, you last post is kinda amusing. Can you please do this everyday ? Keep exact times please, and feel free to add in details. Like, then I washed the dishes and it took me 3.5 mins etc. This will help us help you perfect your studying schedule.

on a serious note, it does seem like you are not wasting much time. The only way you can add in cpa study time is cutting back something that you are doing. May be you should study once you are done with your classes.

[Recked]

Study at work. On the reals. If you can check your FB or emails at work, you can hop on your review course and do 10 MCQs.
Time theft for the win!

[PDiddy2000]

Hats off to anyone that can go to college, work full time or more, take care of pets and study for the CPA at the same time. There's no way I could do it.

[aspencookie]

well after everybody tried to help me yesterday — as soon as I got off work I started thinking about all the posts (in traffic) – so I decided to track everything and move things around a bit.

So you're working, applying for jobs, taking classes, and trying to do the CPA exam?
That's pretty hard core. Are you working in accounting now/tax season as well?
—yes i am doing all this, no BS.
— yes i am an accountant without the CPA designation
— i am not involved in taxation – thank God
—————————————————————————————————-
aspencookie, you last post is kinda amusing. Can you please do this everyday ? Keep exact times please, and feel free to add in details. Like, then I washed the dishes and it took me 3.5 mins etc.
— i always remember exact times of everything in life
— its just how i have trained myself from the beginning
— i used to work on the markets so i had to keep track of every second and minute so its kinda embedded
—————————————————————————————————-
Study at work. On the reals. If you can check your FB or emails at work, you can hop on your review course and do 10 MCQs.
— i dont use or have FB or social media, i have one instagram where i post pictures of my dogs, or food. thats about it
— i already do my homework for classes at work sometimes cause i dont have any other time to do it… 🙁 watever is left, i do at home

———————————————————————–
also i have trained myself to be completely awake to open the back door between the hours of 2am to 5am, wait on the couch while my Great Dane craps and drinks water, close the door, and then literally go right back to sleep and still wake up kind of rested 3 hours later. This varies every night..so you have to be prepared to wake up between the hours of 2 am and 5am when that giant paw slaps you in the face

now you guys know why i need coke!

[Recked]

studies have shown interrupted sleep can be detrimental to health and mental capacity overall.
a comparable story for you. We lost our pupper back in May 2016.
After about a year my “better half” got back in the market for a new doggo. Adopted a rescue summer of 2017, and then she decided she wanted to foster another rescue (both from NC).
We fostered and then eventually adopted out this wacko chihuahua. The adoption did not work out and the foster has become a foster failure and I now have 2 pseudo dogs, one at 14 lbs and one 12 lbs.

The chihuahua would routinely wake up around 2-3am needing to go out. Many sleepless nights were had.
My paperwork approval came back august 28th. The adoption was a week before the corp extended deadline, and the retrieval was roughly 1-1.5 weeks later, putting me about 3 weeks out from my personal extended deadline and right in the midst of FAR studying.
I know all about the frustration and losing sleep etc.

The chihuahua is now crate trained and sleeps through the night, but still wakes me up everyday by 630.
Perhaps your dane will eventually become accustomed to a normal sleep schedule. I might try feeding the dog later, so perhaps the deuce schedule will get postponed to a normal-ish time.
Then you too can have a 6am alarm clock to wake you up to start studying. Ooh the joys!!

[fxbinbin]

Like previously said, CPA is a particular thing where you get what you input, I learned how to learn throughout the process, you will learn which schedule is the best for you eventually. I watch TV while eating as well, but then I also noticed that entertaining (not relaxing) my brain (even to the minimum extent) before going into study is not good for efficiency – it's not a crime indeed, but TV and entertainments are truly distracting so I quit watching TV while eating when I was doing CPA exams. Being in a quiet environment is helpful to me. If you try to quit I promise you'll notice improvement in focusing and efficiency. But I admit I have the privilege of having a pet cat who is a super cool teenage boy and doesn't need much attention.
Suggestions are too personal, everybody has different lifestyles and ways of dealing with life. You'll just try different things and find the best way of learning while everything else is going on. I'd be curious to know how you progress in the exams though.

[noclady]

Wow, aspencookie, that sounds like a jam-packed schedule. It's similar to the schedule I was running last year when I was still in school, except without the studying for the CPA part. But I'm also married and have 2 kids and a doggie, and have volunteer responsibilities with my church. I remember last year thinking there was no way I could possibly fit anything else into my schedule. So I can appreciate your frustration about not being able to stay awake while studying. I can't imagine having to do homework/study for school exams on top of studying for one of the CPA exams. I wouldn't be able to handle that, so good for you.

Honestly, I don't have any suggestions, except maybe trying to replace the looking for jobs part with the studying. Unless it's absolutely critical to replace your current job with another, I'd just wait until after the exam was done. Good luck with all of this…it's all a balancing act.

[Anonymous]

Aside from what everyone else has said, try to listen to lectures on the way to and from work.

[Anonymous]

So ultimately you can't spare even half an hour a day for the exam? Be that as it may, I don't think you're going to find too many sympathizers here.

[aspencookie]

So ultimately you can't spare even half an hour a day for the exam? Be that as it may, I don't think you're going to find too many sympathizers here.
—as usual, not paying attention to what my post is about.
i am NOT looking for sympathy.

[Kodiak]

Okay so I didn't realize you were doing a bazillion things and trying to do the exam. Bottom line, just because you want to fit it all in doesn't mean you can. Something has to give, you choose which one.

I didn't start working on the cpa until after graduation just because I knew working, school and cpa was not gonna happen. I'd have failed at one of those three if I'd tried.

[Anonymous]

aspencookie, Where is the update for the day??

[Author]

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