August 19, 2016

I'm going to aim for this:

so the day 2 exam for the CFE is 5 hours long = 4 hours of real work and 1 hour of planning time

and the day 3 exam for the CFE is 3 exams each 60-90 minutes long = about an hour of work and a few minute for planning <-- BASICALLY.

That being said I will want to dedicate approximately 3.5 times as much time I have in the next 24 hours for the day 2 case I need to hand in, in comparison to the day 3 case I need to hand in...

so if you could divide the day into 4.5 parts and then allocate 3.5 parts to day 2 studying and 1 part for day 3, what would you get?

You'd get:

24 hours *3.5/4.5 = 18.6667 hours for the day 2 portion
24 hours *1/4.5 = 5.3333 hours for the day 3 portion

That being said I will work on the day 3 case first. And I will finish before 5:20 AM and I will not go beyond 5:20 AM.

Then I will work on the day 2 portion. And I will finish before 12:00 AM the following day and I will not go beyond 12:00 AM the following day...

Seems intense right? THAT'S BECAUSE I AM!

Okay, let's start cuz that's what winners do baby ;)

P.S. I've been using BOTH sticky tack and a small portable shelf manage my work space. I can't say it's WAY better than a small expensive drawer for organizing all the different documents they (i.e. CPA) gives us. However, my method is super cheap! Yet practical! The only downside is that sometimes when you leave cases on your wall for a while, they tend to rip off a bit. But if you use sticky tack AND a small shelf, the small shelf mitigates the number of papers you have to sticky tack against a wall. :) Okay, I'm satisfied with that. Peace, ttyl blogger!


It's 3:20... I've only finished 1/4 issues I need to do and there's only 2 hours to go until I should be done my day 3 case... NOW normally, I would have taken a break. For example, go watch TV while I eat. Instead I'm just letting you know: I'VE GROWN! :) I'm forgoing the break for more time to do my exam.

Oh man, I got some super sweet techniques with the sharpkeys program. I have literally learned to open and close the pdf viewer within 1 second as opposed to the: let's think about clicking over here, then there. Okay it's not a huge time saver, but it DEFINITELY a time saver. I just use keyboard short-cuts and then I lined them up using the F1, F2 keys and it's literally bam, bam, bam, bam, bam! <-- in that fashion lol I have given you the gist of the idea, you'll have to figure it out on ur own :P

I also figured out how to make any of my quotes look readable!!! I used to have to do this time wasting backspace, space, forward key thing. Now it's all done in a second bam, bam, bam! <-- in that fashion with my F12, F11, F10 keys... This isn't cheating btw, it's innovative thinking! I'm basically just using keyboard shortcuts in a cool way. Saves time. Me like. Also makes my work look better <-- which tells the reader of my work: okay this guy is not messy, so I can trust his work. Know what I mean? anyways...

What else Oh man... I learned a lot:

- not to spend time planning. I found it to be a waste of time for the day 3 cases. All my planning is when I write the memo. And I'm allllllways tight on time. I will plan while I read. You know what I mean? I will also think as I read. I do that anyways!!! I know some gold medalists emphasize planning, but what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for the next.

- oh the granola bar is kinda of chewy... Last thing I want to do is spend 30 seconds chewing a freaking granola bar. I'd rather eat a muffin. It also sticks in your teeth!!! GUH!!!! "Ain't nobody got time fo dat!"

other tips for myself:

- don't let my mind wander.
- focus on literally copying out case facts; similar to a typing test <-- you can't copy and paste these because they're on a physical paper! While it doesn't add value to literally copy out case facts, if you couple a case fact with an implication it suddenly adds value.  Try going to keyhero.com My Avg. Speed was 77.32 WPM and Avg. accuracy was 92.09%. I generally type anywhere from 70 to 90 WPM and honestly... I think that's slow for what's needed for the CFE! JHEEEEZ!
- speak my mind as i go through the case, otherwise I waste time. For example if you see a connection talk about it. Obviously within the format that is expected for example if you're supposed to identify an issue, you can say: There is an issue associated with BLAH. that kind of thing... I just find that I get carried away with looking at all the text surrounding an issue, it's very easy to get caught just reading, because there is so much to analyze!!!

Alright, back to work peace out. Next time I won't be taking a break here... Which is basically what I did.. Damnit!!!

I'm not joking around when I say what motivates me and what I share regarding what makes a winner a winner. I can definitely see myself passing my pain threshold... I would much rather be playing a video game or watching tv. But truly: no pain, no gain. And IF YOU WANT TO COMPETE AT A HIGH LEVEL, YOU NEED TO DO HIGH LEVEL TRAINING. OTHERWISE YOU'RE NOT COMPETENT, YOU SIMPLY HAVE CONFIDENCE WITHOUT COMPETENCE. 




Key factor in increasing your speed: Do the easier stuff first! By getting stuck on a required case element, you are effectively bottlecapping your productiveness. Seriously though... As I've said before, success breeds success. And by accomplishing a few of the easier Required's, you are increasing your chances of passing! You also rule out what the other required's are not referring to. 

I also wanted to mention that I'm grateful to my parents who worked incredibly hard to give me an easy life. Growing up I didn't NEED a job. I just focused on my passions, which was awesome. The point is: I need to work hard NOW, to follow in my parents footsteps and give my kids an opportunity to just focus on their passions. 

Here are 4 key life lessons from a recent talk that Jacob Barnett gave :

-  Keep an open mind
- Don't work alone
- Ask lots of questions
- Learn, then rebel


It's 2:13 PM - still not entirely done the day 3 case, but it will have to wait. Day 2 case is a mock CFE so it needs to take precedence! Time to clean up! for now....

8:39 PM - I used the day to sleep, eat, go out and buy a new 10 drawer shelf... Yahoo! I was feeling sick. Okay... I need to use every second to focus on completing the new day 2 case because it's Mock case.

"NOTE FROM FUTURE SELF: I DID THE DAY 2 CASE 1 DAY EARLIER THAN I WAS SUPPOSED TO........ and I didn't feel like I did a great job, so maybe they'll let me adjust it! Let's find out."

This is a mock CFE day 2... So you need to get good at time management. A perfect opportunity to test yourself for the REAL cfe. *talking to myself here* So what I need to do is:

- Read up on all the materials given. Read them as many times as you can.
- Stop preparing by 9:30 PM
- You'll have 5 hours to write the darn thing. So that means you will stop at 2:30 AM.

Then I still have a bit of day 3 stuff to do. That will give me 1 hour and 25 minutes to do a comparative analysis needed as well as some "review" stuff. It's in quotations because it's not review in the general sense but in the providing moderate assurance sense. I think I should finish off the day 3 stuff first and then work on the day 2 stuff with real time restrictions.

9:05 PM - executing the plan I just talked about in the last paragraph ^^^
 

2:15 AM - just finishing the rest of my day 2 case before I hand it in. There's a lot missing but then again, i'm comparing it to a solution that wasn't written in the time constraints... HOWEVER...

That doesn't mean sh!t... No one is going to give you your goals on a silver platter. You need to be vicious till the very end. Time to show your fangs and dive in as far as you can. I'm a beast in the mind, body and soul! 

I was able to finish the MOCK CFE case... however I only attacked one and a half of the assessment opportunities for my area of focus (i.e. assurance)!!! Man, financial reporting was so long!!!

I'm seriously feeling like... I NEED TO FIND THE MAGIC PILL! THE MAGIC PILL THAT WILL SPEED UP MY exam writing process. <=== lol @ magic pill. Highly highly doubt there is one.

It's only August 20th. I have at least 30 days to master the cases that I've been given.

My motto: anything is possible under certain conditions.