AACE CST study plan

Map all five exam domains against a personal confidence rating and write a one-line gap statement for every area rated below competent.

Describe the project controls lifecycle (scope, cost, schedule, risk, change) and state precisely where the schedule sits and what it consumes from each discipline.

Decompose a sample scope statement into a three-level WBS containing at least 20 work packages with unique codes.

Distinguish planning from scheduling by listing five inputs that must exist before any activity list is built.

Convert every WBS work package into an activity list of 30-40 activities with unique IDs and deliverable-based completion criteria.

Assign logical relationships (FS, SS, FF, SF) with lags and justify each lag in a single clause.

Apply three-point (PERT) estimating to ten activities and compare the result against analogous and parametric estimates.

Specify the calendar and resource requirement attached to each activity before any network is drawn.

Perform a full forward and backward pass by hand on a 20-activity network and compute total float and free float for every activity.

Identify the critical path and predict the schedule effect of adding three days to a chosen near-critical activity.

Translate the network into a time-scaled bar chart with the driving path highlighted.

Test three constraint types (start-no-earlier-than, finish-no-later-than, mandatory) and record each one's effect on float.

Baseline the developed schedule and document the approval, versioning, and change-control path it will follow.

Load resources onto the schedule, identify overallocation, and apply leveling with written priority rules.

Define progress-measurement rules per activity type (weighted steps, 0/100, 50/50, percent complete).

Establish the update cycle: data-date conventions, cut-off rules, and who submits what by when.

Update a 30-activity schedule to a new data date using actual starts, actual finishes, and remaining durations.

Detect out-of-sequence progress, log each instance, and justify the treatment chosen.

Recompute float after the update and flag every activity whose float eroded by five days or more.

Route a scope change through the change-control loop and re-baseline only where the change is formally approved.

Compute BCWS, BCWP, ACWP, SV, CV, SPI, and CPI for a sample project and interpret each metric in one sentence.

Perform a time-impact analysis for two delay events and quantify the schedule extension each supports.

Build a float-trend and critical-path-length trend across four successive updates.

Write a plain-language schedule-variance narrative suitable for a non-technical stakeholder.

Design a one-page dashboard combining schedule, cost, and risk indicators with explicit RAG thresholds.

Forecast the completion date three ways (SPI-based, remaining critical-path duration, productivity trend) and reconcile the differences.

Compare lump-sum, time-and-materials, and cost-plus contract types and state how each shapes schedule reporting and change entitlement.

Revisit how schedule reserve, contingency, and management reserve are held and drawn down.

Sit two full timed practice exams and score them by domain rather than as a single total.

Re-teach the three weakest subtopics in writing from memory, then verify against source material and correct the notes.

Rebuild a one-page formula and terminology sheet without reference material.

Recite the end-to-end schedule cycle, from scope statement to forecast report, in ten ordered steps.