[Hilletjie]

Been working now for roughly 8 years in accounting for O&G companies and decided now to persue the CPA. A little overwhelmed as I have two kids. Anyone here have kids and a full time job while trying to study? From reading I know you need atleast 15+ hours a week to study.

Have CPAexcel but also wanting to know if anyone recommends any good audio material I can use while driving to/from work. Thanks in advance!

[jennijill]

I recommend Ninja's audio! I've used NINJA completely for two sections and WIley for another section but NINJA audio has been fantastic for all sections! Is your work flexible with what hours you work? For instance, I work four ten-hour days so that I can allot a full day on Friday for studying.

[Anonymous]

The Ninja audio is awesome – I listen to it on my commute for about 4 weeks leading up to the exam, which means I get through the audio about 4 times. While it doesn't necessarily teach me anything new, it's really helpful for keeping all of the concepts fresh in my head, particularly the ones that I studied at the beginning and have already forgotten. I'm also using CPAexcel as my main review course, and sometimes Jeff will present something differently in the Ninja audio that really helps the concept to stick. (I don't have kids yet, but I do have a full-time job, and yes it does take about 15-20 hours a week for me to study.)

[Anonymous]

Hey @Hilletjie,

I don't have any advice about the audio material as my commute to work is only about 10 min, but I do have 2 small children (3 & 1) and a full time job, so I can tell you what works for me.

I started studying for FAR in Q3 of 2017 when my youngest was only 4 months old and my wife had just gone back to work full time after maternity leave. Obviously, not the ideal time in life to start studying for the longest, hardest CPA section, but it gave me a crash course in time management and being able to effectively study for this test. I ended up passing FAR in Q4 of 2017 on my first try with a 76, but I learned what I needed to do to pass these tests and maintain a somewhat normal life as a father. By the time I started studying for BEC in Q1 of 2018 and REG in Q2, my wife and I had gotten into a good routine and I passed BEC with an 89 and REG with a 90 because I was better equipped to manage my time and to effectively study. Here is my typical day/week with some pointers thrown in:

Pick a day of the week to sit down with your wife/husband/significant other and plan out meals. If possible do all your grocery shopping and meal prep for the week on that day too. For us it's Sundays. We make extensive use of the crock pot at my house. My wife and I both work full time so on Sundays we will make 3-4 crock pot meals and freeze them for the week. Throw them in the crock pot before leaving for work (make sure you turn the crock pot on) and you have a nice, hot meal waiting for you when you come home that isn't fast food. There are a ton of websites on the internet than can give you crock pot meal ideas for just this situation and not having to worry about dinner right when you walk in the door can save you a ton of time and headaches.

After dinner and feeding the kids, it's bath time, then bed time. We try to have both kids sleeping by 8pm, but as any parent of a 3 year old knows this doesn't always work out. We do the best we can and then any time between 8pm and 9pm that both kids are sleeping me and the wife hang out. Might just be talking about our day, scheduling stuff that is coming up, or just plain hanging out – but you want to give your wife/husband/significant other a little set time each day so they don't start to resent you for using up so much time on this test. Getting your wife/husband/significant other on board with your study plan is probably the best advice I can give you. Come 9pm my butt is in that chair at the kitchen table studying and my wife knows if one of the kids wakes up, or something around the house needs to be done after 9pm on a weekday she has to pick up that slack.

I use Becker, follow the study plan and do one section per week. I don't know how CPAexcel works, but Becker gives you a set number of modules (mini-topics) to do in a week per section. I do at least one module a night sometimes two if there are a lot of modules that week. I always make sure I am studying by 9pm, but I have figured out for myself that any studying past 11pm is usually not efficient. I am usually too tired/sleepy at this point that I am usually just trying to get through the material instead of learning it. So I don't usually study much past 11pm unless I am just finishing a module up. I listen to the lectures at 1.25x speed to make things go a little quicker, which helps. Any material that isn't finished by 11pm on Friday night gets finished on Saturday. I might go to the library or a coffee shop for a few hours and finish whatever I didn't get to during the work week. Then I give myself the rest of Saturday and all day Sunday off to hang out with my kids and get ready for the next week.
2 hours a night during the weekdays and any leftover material finished on a Saturday gives me about 13-15 study hours per week with Sundays off. I will do a few hours on Sunday sometimes, but it is rare.

It's hard to start and staring down the barrel of all that material can be overwhelming at first. Sooner or later you will get into a routine and things will become much easier, but try and keep to a rigid study schedule every night during the week and the weekends can be freed up for family time.

[Anonymous]

I know I basically wrote a novel in the post above, but I forgot to add something. The final 2 weeks before the exam.

The last 2 weeks leading up to each exam things are different. All bets are off. I study as much as possible all day, every day. Usually this means my wife will take the kids to spend the night at her mom's house for both weekends before my test. I don't help with anything around the house or the kids. I go to the library after work and when my wife tells me the kids are asleep I come home and study more until 11pm during the week. Saturdays and Sundays are all day studying at the library. I schedule all my tests for Mondays so I can roll into the tests full of all the info I just crammed in over the weekend. After the test is over I take my wife to a really nice dinner to thank her and get her a day at the spa or a massage or something for the weekend. I take the kids all by myself that weekend to give her a well deserved break and to reconnect with them after missing the past 2 weeks.

I then take off 4-5 weeks from studying, wait for the scores to come out, then start back over again. This method has helped me pass 3 tests all on my first try, and if I'm lucky I will be done AUD at the end of August and will never have to study like this ever again. Hope this helps.

[CS]

I have a 2 year old and a 2 month old, so the majority of my study/life balance was with my 2 year old, with my last one (REG) involving both. Obviously a schedule is needed, my main goal was to get in 1.5 – 2 hours hour before getting my daughter ready so I would start studying around 3 am (some days my brain needed time to warm up so I wouldn't count the first 20 min.). I used NINJA Audio every day to and from work (about 1.5 hour driving each way), and it helps to use the corresponding topics with what you're studying. I got into work about an hour early and added another hour of study time in. Weekends I would try to get in 1 or 2 hours on Saturday/Sunday but like many couples nowadays our work leaves us only the weekend to get anything done, so some weekends I barely got anything in. Like Zach, my last 2 weeks before the exam were always at a max, so while I was present at home, I increased my studying a couple of hours, mostly on the weekend.

I don't think I studied crazy hours, but I spread it out, so pretty much one test at the end of each quarter. Some might say that's risky given the 18-month limit, but I figured I would try to almost burn myself out on these rather than risk having to study again, and fortunately was able to go 4/4.

As long as you stick to a schedule, you're good to go, best of luck.

Oh, and I used Wiley for FAR, and even though I passed, I thought it was way too much, so moved onto Roger for the next 3. Although higher scores don't correlate to necessarily doing better as it depends on the material and FAR is certainly a beast, I found the longer I reviewed the better I did i.e. my ‘review period' after my initial run through of the material was complete. I had a 3 or 4 day review for FAR, whereas the others I had 2 weeks (maybe 3 for REG – rushed through the material). I always find I understand concepts and details much better on review, so don't bog yourself down on small details or concepts the first time through.

[Author]

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