[Anonymous]

I tried studying 8+hrs a day all last week and I tell you, its tough! I get distracted, my brain begins to hurt halfway the day, at times i feel like I’m getting dizzy. I do take short breaks (prefer every 2 hrs), and i notice I wake up with a headache in the morning

…. but my question is: how many hrs do u actually study a day for those unemployed & how do u do it? Thank you.

[italianCPA]

I start in the morning, at around 10, and I finish sometimes late at night.

I take a 10-minute break (usually spent either online onthis forum, or on the phone, or I get an espresso) every topic and of course a couple of hours break when I get home for dinner (spent eating, watching TV, chilling with my wife).

Sometimes I do get a headache, but I think it's related to lack of sleep (if I don't sleep at least 5/6 hours per night). Espresso and Aleve are usually a good cure (hey, I'm from Italy, I'm used to drink 5/6 espresso a day, easily).

The biggest problem are my eyes hurting and raising a white flag by the end of the afternoon…. in that case it's better to rest.

FAR - 7/26/10 - 95
AUD - 8/10/10 - 88
BEC - 8/31/10 - 88
REG - 10/15/10 - 95

[whitesoxfancpa]

I am employed, but I have taken a day off here and there to study, as well as Memorial Day, and let me tell you, it's awful. I studied Memorial Day from about 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and by around 4 p.m. my brain was mush. I became antsy and the time was not quality time.

Weekends, the same thing happens, but I try to fight through it.

My advice is if you're unemployed, don't feel that you HAVE to study all day. Don't feel like it's bad to stop at 2 p.m. and turn on some crappy daytime TV or watch King of Queens re-runs or something. If you start thinking that way, you'll burn yourself out, become antsy, and your study time will be highly unproductive.

At least that's how it works for me.

AUD 96 FAR 95 REG 94 BEC 88

[Anonymous]

u study less that those

working i think bcos of the illusion of time

[Anonymous]

Just some advice don't study too much starting off. Right when I started studying the CPA is all I thought about for 2 weeks and completely burned myself out..bad. I guess would always get up and be at the library at 8-12 when I started then couldn't focus anymore. It seemed like I retained quite a bit more information in the morning. I don't know how good my advice is though since I'm not that serious about this test anymore I guess.

[Anonymous]

CAcpahopeful2010

You may fry your brain. A few times I did an insane amount of studying – but I was worthless for 2 days afterward. Be the turtle not the hare!

Calculate the number of weeks until your test. Subtract your final review time.

This gives you the number of weeks available to study. I would think if you studied 5 hrs per day next week you would be pleased with your progress. Break it out – morning for new material and afternoon for review and homework.

[Anonymous]

I passed first three parts while being unemployed after college. I was studying 3-4 hours a day for 3 weeks (week of Becker live class plus two 5-day weeks for self-studying, with about 8-12 hours one day before exam. It worked pretty well.

[Anonymous]

i study full time after college= now for about 5 hours a day on a good day. plus 5 hours with major breaks and distractions so i don't know where that's going to take me– have FAR is less than 3 weeks. And I'm still on F4.

[Author]

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