Pulling up my Big-Girl Panties

I tend to want things right away. How can I do it fastest? That usually sets me up for failure. I am here to admit that I am being an adult and being realistic. For the CPA I was going to take all four sections of the CPA in 6 months. Each section requires 100 hours of study. For those of you who hate on math - that is 400 hours of study needed over six months. That boils down to 16 hours needed a week. That is not unheard of. I have studied more than this when I was in school. However, the biggest differences between now and then are 1) a little girl I like to hang out with 2) a relationship with Sweetie that is so much better than ever and I want to spend as much time as I can with him 3) a disease that feeds off stress 4) old enough to know over scheduling leads to failure which will only prolong the wonderful results that much longer.

I am instead doing the slower option. This means I will be testing one section per cycle. The way the test works now is there are two months of a "testing window" followed by a month without testing - when they grade the tests. You can take the four sections in any order and as many as you want in a testing window - as long as you do not repeat a section.

Here is the plan:
April 30th - CPA class begins, as scheduled before. I am taking the Financial Accounting and Reporting section - the hardest one. Why you ask? Because once you pass one section, you only have 18 months to pass the other three. If I take the hardest one and don't pass the 18 months do not start. Plus when I do pass it, and the 18 months begin, I do not have to worry about studying for the hardest portion. See how smart that is? The next available testing window for me is July-August. I plan to test the week of July 23rd (hope to get results in September). I say plan as I have to send in a form, and money of course, to ask to take the test (even though my application is approved and all). However, they only give you 90 days to test once the permission is given. Which means I cannot send in my paperwork until 4/23.

The old way had me studying, like I said, 16 hours a week. This way has me studying 7 and change and meeting the goal of 100 in the 13 weeks. That is doable. I can still work on my flylady, my walking, play with Bug and Sweetie, have dates, have lunch away from the office, and most importantly work on the floors. This also mean that I will not have overlapping classes as the old way would force me to do.

Now don't worry, I already altered my spreadsheet and changed my plans for the "easiest" section for over the holidays. This is not the easy way out, but more doable. I still need to get into a routine with studying and schedules. I just need to focus on passing this first section and not worry that it is going to take a year.

Here my schedule for the remaining three sections:
Audit - week of 10/22/07 - results in December
BEC - week of 1/21/08 - results in March
REG - week of 4/21/08 - results in June

The bottom line is that Bug is getting too big and fun to miss any more time that I need to and I want this test DONE before baby #2. Sweetie is awesome and was totally willing to pitch in with the house and Bug for me to do the fastest option. But that would mean I would miss a lot of Bug's next 6 months. Not to mention a vacation during that time would be difficult. And Sweetie and I are already planning our next adventure.

OK I will have to finish playing with my spreadsheets later. I have a Bug to get and dinner to fix - don't I sound all domestic? HA! Good mood - can't you tell?