CAE Study Tips: Attend the Immersion Course and Read
Probably the single best thing I did to prepare for the CAE was attend the ASAE CAE immersion course that I mentioned in a previous post. This course is not only full of information on all the domains tested in the exam, but it’s also chocked full of study tip, test taking tips, and other people who are dedicated to taking the exam who might make great study groups. The study guide alone is priceless. This course taught me how much I didn’t know and pointed me in the right direction to learn.
If you can’t attend this course, there are also some on-line study courses as well. A Google search will bring most of them up. I really can’t personally recommend them because I didn’t take them, but I have heard good things.
Before you attend this course, you will want to read the following books (you will also want to read them all again after the course):
- Professional Practices in Association Management
- Principles of Association Management
- Association Law Handbook
The ASAE website also says to read Core Competencies in Association Professional Development, but I didn’t. I did read these books in addition to the three above, but only after the immersion course:
- Building a Knowledge-Based Culture (I really didn’t find this one very helpful, although it was interesting)
- Membership Marketing
- How to Read Non Profit Financial Statements (I highly recommend this one in addition to the core three books in the first list)
There is a whole lot of stuff out there to read for this class. But if you give yourself time, concentrate on the core books and maybe give the other ones I listed a read, you should do well.
These books are pretty expensive so I borrowed half of them from my association’s library. If you don’t have access to a library that has these books, another option is to convince your association to purchase them for the office. Not only will they help you study, they are also great reference books for any association office.
Tags: CAE
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