CPRA study plan

Map every pre-award research administration task area (funding opportunity identification, eligibility review, proposal intake, budget review, routing and approval, submission) into a personal outline with sub-tasks listed under each

Define the working vocabulary of sponsored research administration by writing plain-language definitions for at least 30 core terms and flagging any term you cannot define confidently

Draft a one-page process flow showing how a proposal moves from investigator idea to institutional submission, noting where compliance checks occur

Inventory the internal documents you must master (institutional policies, sponsor guidelines, routing forms) and list where each is located

Distinguish the roles of principal investigator, departmental research administrator, central office, and sponsor by writing a responsibility matrix

Compare at least three sponsor types (federal, foundation, industry) on eligibility, budget rules, and submission mechanics

Practice reading a funding opportunity announcement to extract eligibility, deadline, cost-sharing, and page-limit requirements

Identify common pre-award errors and write a pre-submission checklist that would catch each one

Build a budget from a stated scenario, calculating personnel, fringe, indirect costs, and cost-sharing lines

Explain the difference between direct and indirect costs and identify which categories a sponsor typically restricts

Review the CPRA candidate handbook to confirm domain names and weights, and revise your study weighting accordingly

Write out the compliance touchpoints in proposal review: conflict of interest, human subjects, animal use, and responsible conduct of research

Outline the full CPRA body of knowledge into a topic tree with your own confidence rating for each branch

Convert every low-confidence branch into a study question you must be able to answer

Summarize award negotiation and acceptance concepts, including terms and conditions review

Draft a comparison of fixed-price, cost-reimbursable, and cooperative agreement mechanisms

Explain post-award financial management concepts: allowable costs, allocability, reasonableness, and documentation standards

Describe the purpose and mechanics of effort reporting and time-and-effort certification

Trace the lifecycle of a subaward from risk assessment through monitoring and closeout

Identify prior-approval triggers that require sponsor consent during an award

Summarize reporting obligations across financial, technical, and invention reporting, noting typical cadence

Outline audit and monitoring concepts, including what records must be retained and for how long

Describe closeout steps and common reasons closeout is delayed

Explain the roles of key compliance frameworks governing sponsored programs at a conceptual level without citing specific regulatory text you cannot verify

Answer 60 mixed practice questions under timed conditions and log every miss by domain and topic

Re-study the three weakest topics identified by the practice log and write corrected explanations for each miss

Rehearse explaining pre-award and post-award handoffs aloud as if briefing a new colleague

Recheck the two heaviest-weighted domains and confirm your review time matches the published weights

Take two full-length timed practice exams and compare scores to identify remaining gaps

Condense all notes into a single review sheet of no more than four pages

Recite from memory the core definitions, prior-approval triggers, and reporting cadences

Finalize exam-day logistics: scheduling, identification requirements, and a rest plan for the 48 hours before testing