Nowadays, we all have a busy life. Work, family, school, social life, and all other things try to get our attention 24/7. However, if you aspire to become a CPA, you may have to be more strategic with your time and try to come up with a study plan that allows you to have enough time to study before you sit for the exam. 

I was there before. I worked in a Big 4 accounting firm while studying for the CPA exam. While I struggled just like any other CPA candidates who worked full time. I successfully passed all the exam parts within 7 months. When I reflecting on my experience, I realized that:

The key is to have a study plan and schedule your day based on the plan, and then stick to the schedule day in and day out. 

First, come up with a study plan how you would like to study for the CPA exam. The CPA exam preparation requires many hours of studying and practicing. You would need to spend time watching lectures, reviewing course materials, doing as many practice questions as possible, and so on. All these can take months or even years. Successful planning starts with properly define a timeframe where you should study and get ready to sit for the exam. 

Depending on the exam part you study and the volume of materials, you should try to estimate how long you may need to study to get ready for the exam. That could be 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, etc. depending on your situation (e.g. whether you are tied up at work or whether you may have foreseeable family/social obligation(s) during that particular period of time). If you think you will need more time to study, feel free to assign yourself more time. Be honest to yourself and your situation is essential to setting yourself up for success.

Once you figure out the timeframe you will study, allocate some time to each day during the timeframe and dedicate yourself to studying. You should block study time in your calendar each day, which will depend on your daily schedule and your "prime time". For example, if you need to work from 9am to 5pm and you are an early bird and can wake up early, you can schedule time from 7am to 9am to listen to the lectures and/or do some practice questions before work. On the other hand, if you find yourself being more productive after work when you can care less about work, it may make sense for you to block a few hours during the evening on your calendar to study. 

Once you have a study schedule, please try your best to stick to it. Rome was not built in a day. However, you will accumulate knowledge and get better and better every single day if you study and practice consistently. Please try really hard to stick to your study plan even if you don't feel like doing so. 

Last but not least, please also try to schedule a day off on your calendar once a while to get time off and recharge yourself. Everyone deserves time off from time to time. When it's the right time to relax, try to be completely unplug and enjoy the time. You will find yourself come back even more motivated and more energetic. 

P.S. With a busy work/life schedule, I am sure the CPA exam review notes can help you get to know the key exam knowledge points more effectively and let you save tons of time from going back to forth to the textbooks for reference. I'm pleased and honored to say that the CPA exam review notes have helped hundreds of CPA candidates pass their exams and I look forward to helping you as well.

Best of luck, Future CPA!