Many people in the process of becoming a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) are already full-time professionals. With a busy schedule full of responsibilities, how can you manage your time while preparing for the CIA Exam?
Summary
Effective time management for the CIA Exam can be accomplished with the right organization and support. The article suggests using tools like Becker's CIA Exam Review, which can provide a customized study planner and mobile-accessible materials to help you make the most of your study time.
6 tips to manage time and maintain focus during CIA Exam prep
#1: Plan and stick to your schedule
To manage your time without burning out or falling behind, planning is essential. Sit down with your calendar and block out the time you know that you’ll be at work, the time you know you need to dedicate to family or friends (yes, these are important to prioritize!), and the time you have available for CIA Exam prep.
The key is to create a realistic and sustainable schedule that you can maintain for the multi-month process of passing the CIA Exam. Maybe you dedicate one hour each morning to study, review material during your lunch break at work, study for an hour before bed, block out half-days on the weekends for intensive study sessions, or some combination of these.
It's also important to factor in your CIA Exam test date. The hours you need to study per week will be influenced by how many weeks you have to prepare; on the other hand, if you know that you can only dedicate a few hours per week to study, you’ll likely want to give yourself at least three to six months to fully prepare.
#2: Have a study plan
When you sit down to study, don’t waste precious minutes figuring out where you left off and what you need to study next. Have a study plan that you can trust to guide you to being prepared on exam day. You want material that’s aligned with the exam syllabus and a layout that seamlessly guides you through the material.
Becker—The IIA CIA® Exam Review includes a customized study planner that does just that: based on your availability and test date, the study planner designs a custom blueprint for your study journey, telling you exactly what you need to study, when to be ready on exam day. This way, you can jump into a study session knowing exactly where you are, what’s next, and what you still need to review before exam day, without wasting time figuring out what to study and how.
#3: Communicate your schedule and priorities
While you’re prepping for the CIA Exam and your time is more limited, communicate clearly and often with your people, both at work and outside it. Your life in all areas will be affected by this new priority, so it’s important to keep everyone informed so they can both support you and understand when your focus is on exam prep.
Some companies even support their employees’ credentialling economically or by allowing them to dedicate a certain number of hours to exam prep. Likewise, once you’re a CIA, more job opportunities and responsibilities within your organization will likely open up for you; so it benefits you to keep your employer abreast of your progress.
#4: Get enough sleep
Don’t fall into the temptation of late-night cram sessions and waking up early carry on with study and work. While this may work for you for a short stint, it’s not sustainable long-term over the many months of CIA Exam study and will likely lead to burnout and exhaustion. Instead, prioritize your sleep and well-being to improve performance to be more efficient with the time you do have.
#5: Use down time to your advantage
You may have more time than you think, and making use of this time for CIA Exam prep can be a great trick to relieve the stress from your schedule. If you spend time waiting for your child's practice to end, have a commute to work, or you spend a few hours cleaning on the weekends, for example, you can leverage this time for study. Especially if you have a mobile-accessible CIA Exam Review like Becker’s, you can listen to lectures, do practice questions, and study all from the convenience of your phone.
#6: Be efficient and effective with your study
It’s vital to make the most of the time you’re able to dedicate to CIA Exam prep. Make sure that you have the resources to efficiently and effectively study.
For example, if you have a question, it’s important to find an accurate answer quickly, so you can understand the concept and move on to the next without delay. Ensuring that you have the resources to find answers quickly is vital to your ability to progress in your study.
Likewise, if you don’t already know, find out how you learn best: be it watching a lecture, studying a textbook, drilling with flashcards, doing practice questions, or any combination of these. Once you know how you learn, you can optimize your study sessions with these tools to maximize the amount of information you retain within that amount of time.
Get started with Becker
Yes, you can successfully prepare for the CIA Exam while managing a tight schedule—and Becker is here to help you do it.
From CIA Exam-aligned content that lets you study with confidence to NewtTM AI study assistant that provides instant answers throughout your review to flexible study tools that fit your learning style, Becker—The IIA CIA Exam Review helps you manage your time and makes your study time count.
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