[Nessie]

Greetings fellow NINJAs, I have one exam left and going to book it for the end of November. I took and passed 3 exams while still in school. Now I am working at a Big 4 and am having a lot of trouble studying for this last exam. Weekdays are basically shot because I leave the house at 8am and get home at 8pm. I do workout before work so I don’t end up miserable and gaining a ton of weight while sitting all day.

I try to study for 3-5 hours on Saturday and Sunday, but find I really need to do housework, organize my life, clothes for work, etc. I have quasi-completed 5/6 chapters for BEC which I started in mid-August. I am not retaining anything and the few hours I study on weekends are not enough.

Any tips from those who have been successful studying while in school, then while working? Gotta get this last one done! Thanks in advance.

REG Aug 20/15: 88
AUD: Feb 29/16: 80
FAR: Jun 10/16: 80
BEC?

Becker self-study, Becker Final Review & NINJA MCQS

[Anonymous]

Dedicate at least one day of the weekend studying, and make that be 6-8 hours. On that day, you can do laundry while you study (if you have machines at home), since it takes an hour for the machines to run between each load before you have to do anything. Other than that, save housework for the other day. Your housework (presuming you don't have kids making additional mess) shouldn't take more than a day (really more than a half a day) with just adults in the house (probably just 1 or 2). So, say Saturday is the study day; that means you've got M-F work, Sat study, Sun half-day cleaning house and half-day free for whatever you choose (could be more studying or could be just chilling).

If you can hit 8 hours of solid study every Saturday, that's going to be another 60+ hours between now and your exam. But, you'll probably need more than that, so you'll need to either find a way to get some studying in during the week or study some on Sunday, too. I imagine lunch breaks are spent with coworkers usually, so probably not easy to study then; could you study for an hour between exercise and work?

[Anonymous]

I was in the same position as you except I only took one exam while in school. I took FAR right before I graduated and complete the other 3 while working full time. I would work about 9am-6pm though and during fieldwork I would work about 8am-9pm. How did I study during fieldwork? I would usually study about an hour and a half before work and then another hour and a half after work. I would definitely say you have to give up some days of working out. I would normally workout 5 days a week but during times when I worked long hours, I would cut down to working out 2-3 days a week.

You have to study during the weekends, that is your prime time to study. On the weekends, I would study from 9am-12 and then again from 4pm-10pm. During that 4 hours window of not studying, that is when I would workout and do whatever else I needed to do such as laundry, etc…

[DISLCPA]

I work M-F from 8am till 3:30pm. I am a mother of 2 and a wife of a husband that just doesn't understand how much I need to study. Luckily for me my work load is lite and my boss doesn't care that I study. I have 2 full weeks left until I retake BEC (I am not moving on until I pass the section I am working on) I haven't been able to study on the weekends but I do get in around 2.5 to 3 hours at work. I told my husband that the next 2 weekends I will be putting in some time.

BEC(8/12/16)
AUD
FAR
REG

[Anonymous]

If you get up at 5am and switch to working out after work you can have a solid 2.5 hours of studying each morning. Early morning is when I retain the most information and am able to focus the best, if you're also a morning person that would probably work well for you too.

[Accountant183748]

Sorry, I know it's hard especially if you work so many hours, but you are going to have to make some compromises.

Do you take a lunch break by chance? If so, you could try following the ELL plan and studying for one hour before work, one hour during lunch and one hour after work. If you take Friday evening off, it would be 14 hours during the week and like Lilla suggested study for one day (6hrs) which is about twenty hours a week – should be plenty of time.

If you don't take lunch you could do one hour in the morning and one hour at night, which is about 10 hours a week, plus 8hours one weekend day and that's 18 hours a week.

You could also try getting up earlier (I know it sucks) and study for two hours in the morning before work. So if you leave at 8, get up at 430/5, workout, take a shower, eat something quick (like a shake), study for two hours, get ready for work. Then when you get home around 8pm you will have about an hour and go to bed around 9pm depending on how much sleep you need, but 7.5 is okay for most people. I did this, and the only thing I caution is to not sleep in too much on the weekends otherwise Monday is hell again! So on Sats and Sun get up at 6am the latest. If you split the weekend studying between two days (6am – 10am) each day you would have about 20 hours a week and still have a lot of time on the weekends. Yes, it sucks, but it will be worth it. NOTE: I did this in the summer when the sun was already up by 6am so it might be a little harder in the winter, but you can do it if you set your mind to it! If you are a night owl, try studying for 2 hours after work.

I hope you find something that works for you!

PS if you could try to look at your workout as your “me” time that would really help. I know it's hard because studying and working so many hours we don't get time to ourselves. So look at your workout as “me” time. Also, someone else suggested that when doing chores you turn up the music really loud and basically pretend you are having a party and that is your “me” time as well. I did that too and it actually does help. It sucks but we have to do it. Unfortunately, only studying on the weekends is not enough.

[Author]

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