Study Recommendations and Background
Today, I took the big giant Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies Exam that I have been preparing for. The International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) recommends studying a minimum of 2 hours everyday for two months, but my schedule was a bit more intense and abbreviated. I studied 4-8 hours a day for 4 weeks, with some breaks on weekends.
I do have a web development background spanning back over 25 years and I studied General Psychology for a couple years in Community College, so some of the content was a review for me. However, there was plenty of brand new material, especially when it came to Declarations vs. Conventions vs. Treaty and all of the legislation for different countries. So much info, but great info to know!
Overall Impressions
The process was very nerve-wracking and intense. I have never taken a proctored exam, or especially an online proctored exam, and it required me to download software to track my eye movements, and an external camera connected also to show the live feed profile of me sitting at a desk with my arms visible at all times. This made me super nervous, but it was too late to take it in person for this time frame, so I embraced it and hope it pays off!
Preparation Steps
The preparation for taking the exam was very grueling. I never studied this intensely for so many hours. Basically, I did all of these things to study:
- I read all the material on IAAP website
- Watched all the recommended videos
- Made copious amounts of handwritten notes
- Used digital flashcards on my phone
- Took multiple online practice tests
- Used an online jeopardy game
- Took a CPACC prep course from Deque
- Took another CPACC prep course from Princeton offered through the IAPP
- Made this website to share some of my favorite things I’ve learned.
- I also made my personal website Suzette Franck’s Crafts and this site more accessible and simpler to use.
Challenges in Real World Implementation
I have found the biggest challenge ongoingly in web accessibility to be that when using 3rd party plugin and documents must also be written with accessibility in mind, and they frequently are not, so there is always a new opportunity to educate and share the a11y love!