Study plans derailed: Crawling back on track after a collision with life 

I am two and a half weeks into my study schedule. As usual, things have not gone as planned. The best laid intentions have been laid to waste as there has been some serious upheaval at the office. There has been a restructuring, which means that over 20 jobs were lost. There are heavy emotions all around the office; the group that was eliminated worked closely with my group. Furthermore, the restructuring will put additional demands on my position in the very near future, and grappling with this situation has taken precedent to my studies.

I have been able to carve out an hour or so three days a week to study, not the anticipated five. I have made my way through book one of the AFP Learning System, and I feel like I have a fairly good grasp on the material. I have started in on module 2, and am thankful it is short module, since I am a bit behind. The most beneficial study tool I have utilized thus far is homemade flashcards. They are as effective today as they were when I was learning multiplication in third grade. There is a certain connection that my brain forms when I write something down and associate it with the answer on the back. The repetition of the flashcards definitely helps to solidify that connection. The making of the flashcards is what makes it so effective for me; I would not have the same results with someone else’s flashcards. 

I have not been utilizing the online tools as much as I had anticipated. The reason?  I simply have a time crunch. I have just entered another class in my MBA program that focuses on case studies in corporate finance and it is a grueling course. It is an incredibly interesting course with real finance decisions faced by companies, but I have not had much time to do much else but study for school and work. I am making a resolution to get online once a week to review using the online tools going forward.

One online tool that I have used is the post-test for the first module. I passed the test, but not with a margin that I am incredibly comfortable with. I plan on re-assessing my knowledge periodically throughout my studies. I hope this will help me be more confident and increase my margin of passing. The post test took me about 25 minutes to complete. I found it to be a useful tool that I will be revisiting; it gave clear indication on areas that I needed to review more and areas in which I show mastery.

A positive is that an add-to-staff was granted for my workgroup of four. I am hoping this will alleviate some of the time crunch I am feeling at the office giving me more time to study. At the very least, it is calming my fears about my co-worker’s upcoming pregnancy leave! 

I know that I can pass this test, but I really need to focus in during the small amount of time I have to study.  I need to continue to utilize flashcards and my module book. I need to use the online tools that are available to me. I have all of the resources available to me; I just need to use them more. With the holidays fast approaching, time management will be the key factor to a successful study plan.