A reflection of my IAAP Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC) Journey :

A reflection of my CPACC journey - After months of hard work and dedication, I am proud to say that I have finally achieved IAAP CPACC (Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies) certification. It was a long and difficult journey, but I am so proud of my accomplishment. All of the late nights studying and the hard work that I put in has paid off, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to have achieved this.

My simple and result driven study approach -

1. Utilizing Deque University's full study material for CPACC certification. I purchased the material and used it extensively.
2. I read through the whole Body of Knowledge (BoK), outline, and sample questions provided by Accessibility Association as well.
3. I created approximately 400 flash cards and used them extensively.
4. Finally I went through the linked materials available through the Deque course as well as the Body of Knowledge (BoK) to have a good understanding.

The Exam - The exam questions are more conceptual. You can not simply memorize stuff and pass this exam. Better to have a good understanding and try to study with an interconnection between different topics . Reading different research paper and publications will help. 

UD/ UDL - Try to understand the Universal design of learning with practical examples and a deep understanding. Those questions will be simple and tricky at the same time. While studying universal design of learning try to make a connection  with brain network. 

Management strategy- For accessibility laws and management strategy , you need to study the management strategy with a good understanding. There will be multiple tricky questions related to management strategy. So put yourself as a management personnel who is responsible for procuring ICT and who is responsible for creating an organizational culture of accessibility to have a better chance to score high in this section.

Laws - Try to remember the laws by using a flow chart. It will help you to understand and memorize the information later. 

                                 

Sample tree diagram for accessibility laws

Disabilities - Try to study in a contrast and compare format for different disabilities. For example which assistive technology is common among different disabilities ? How screen reader been originally for people of vision impairment but now been used heavily by students with cognitive disability as well ? 

sample flow chart for different accessibilities

Flash Cards - Create and go through your flash cards daily to have a good control over the entire knowledge. Perfection will come from repetitive study. 

Wrapping up - Overall, I would say that this was one of the most challenging exams I have ever had to study for. This was mainly due to the sheer amount of information that I had to learn. Despite the difficulty of the preparation, I believe that passing the exam and having the foundational knowledge was worth the effort.