Coffee Table Book (part 2)

Psychological preparation starts by thinking the CPA board examinations is doable and you are ready to do it. It involves one’s positive mental attitude and understanding on the things he has to do in preparing for the examinations despite how seemingly it is undoable. A good psychology prepares one to do the task in an enjoyable and relaxed way.

Psychological preparation involves one’s relationship with his family, special one, co-reviewees, reviewers, review center, and the whole review environment.

Physical preparation deals with the health and physical condition of the reviewee at the start of the review, during the review, and most importantly towards the ending phase of the review program. The strength of the physical body mirrors one’s intellectual and psychological stability. As the saying goes, “physically fit, mentally alert”.

Reviewees should therefore be cognizant of the food he eats, the liquid he drinks, the medicine he takes, the timing of his food intake, and the quality of body rest. His physical support program should withstand the fomenting psychological pressures that normally happen during the ending part of the review.

Spiritual preparation is needed regardless of the beliefs we espouse for only to accept and understand our human limitations. This intensifies one’s self-respect and self-esteem that are requisites in facing one of the most trying tests in your life.

Technical preparation speaks of the content needed to deliver and showcase during the board examinations. This is what is being tested, scored, measured, and is the sole basis of passing the board examinations and in getting the CPA license. Some of the general guidelines for technical preparation are as follows:

• Topic mapping. See to it that all the topics covered in the CPA board examinations are listed and are arranged for an organized review. The topic mappings are included in Paper 3 of this material.
• Scheduling. Develop your own review schedule on top of the regular class schedule that we provide. Your review schedule should be precise, organized, measurable, and controllable. A “Weekly Scheduler” is found in Paper 4 of this material for your reference and use.
• Choosing the topic to review. You may approach your review by organizing topics in many ways; first, you may start from those you know to the least you know; or, second, you may start from those that you least know and end up to the topics that you know well; or third, you may simply follow your reviewer’s topical schedule. You may even develop other models. Regardless of the topical sequence you follow, see to it that when you attend the regular review classes, you have prepared for the topic on hand by reading the lecture notes, understanding the processes and concepts of the illustrative and straight problems, and solving the multiple choice questions.
• Tips on reading. There is no substitute in reading, and we mean proper and effective reading.

Reading and review materials. The instructional materials you would read and use in the review would have a direct and indelible impact in your review preparation. Carefully organized, concisely written, comprehensively crafted, and technically updated materials are important features of valuable reading papers. To this end, CERTS CPA Review provides comprehensive, authoritative, concise, and direct-to-the-point review materials. These include lecture notes, straight problems, multiple choice, and assessments to underpin important principles, concepts, and applications necessary for the board examinations.

Physical environment. The reading table, reading lamp, chair and other physical furniture, learning equipment, internet connection are crucial to one’s effective reading activity.

Mobile phones should be put off or programmed on a silent mode while reviewing. A phone call, even how seemingly irrelevant, would have great impact in reconditioning, not even maintaining, one’s focus in the review. An SMS message would unnecessarily disturb one’s attention while negating the value of an optimal learning process.

If these unnecessary disturbances are repeated for so many times in a day, and so many days in a week, and in a month, it would lead to a non-controllable, hugely catastrophic proportion that would imperil your review plan and accomplishments.

Celebrations such as birthdays, anniversaries, marriage ceremonies, and similar events should be identified in advance and are determined whether to be affecting or not affecting your review calendar. If included in the review calendar, the lost and salient hours should be quantified. If such is not considered in your review calendar, the same should not affect your regular review calendar.

Meeting and interacting with people are some of the most interesting if not colorful activities in human lives. However, unprogrammed meetings, and we mean those not included in your review calendar, even how interesting and seemingly rewarding reduce the limited review hours that you have eagerly planned and scheduled to optimize your strangulating review time. Unscheduled meetings and invitations should be politely turned down and should not disturb your unwavering dedication to dedicate your time for the CPA board examinations.

Traditions and cultural activities are important to societies and to our community. These activities however are already institutionalized and would not significantly change if you do not attend to it during your review.

On the other hand, becoming a Certified Public Accountant would most likely make you a better and more equipped citizen with more credible accomplishments and qualifications making you a more relevant member of society to later on enjoy and serve, with enhanced meanings, all its related traditional and cultural activities.

This should neither be mixed nor interchanged to intelligent synergy with fellow reviewees during your scheduled day-off or break time. There are unchecked circumstances where reviewees unknowingly make extended chat or friendly talks with acquaintances creating refreshing laughs and respite, however sometimes unnecessarily making elongated interactions detrimental to your scheduled review. Unnecessary talks with fellow reviewees should be avoided. It does not only waste your time but that of the person you are dealing with.

Scheduling is a critical element of a successful review. There are two phases of scheduling activity, namely: the calendaring phase and the respecting phase.

Calendaring review activities include identifying activities to be done, justifying their occurrence, and prioritizing the activities according to how they would significantly help in you review preparation. The important elements of calendaring activities would be the calendar, the activities, and prioritization of those activities.

Once activities are calendared, the dates should be followed and the activities must be actualized. This is the more enduring part of the scheduling process. And it is in this part of the review preparation that a reviewee unknowingly allows the disintegration of his review program leading to mediocre review performance.

Respecting the review schedule is extremely critical for a successful review. It dares to negate a reviewee’s passion for results, shake his attitudes, and muddle his work ethics. On the other hand, if the review calendar is accorded its true meaning and respect, the review preparation would be easy, results would be more certain, and dedication becomes an attitude yielding to the dreamed-of CPA license.