Conquer the January 2021 CA Exam

Do you think you are ordinary? Yes, you are right; you are ordinary. Do you think you are phenomenal? Yes, you are right here, too; you are phenomenal. You become what you think about. 

Marcus Aurelius, the great Roman Emperor, said, "a man's life is what his thoughts make of it."

Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American essayist, said, "a man is what he thinks about all day long." 

So, it is incumbent upon you to allow only positive thoughts into your mind. Your mind is just like a fertile garden. You may enable here to grow wilderness, or you may cultivate in it some useful pursuits.

The famous British author wrote in his book, As a Man Thinketh, "Man's mind is like a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild."

The man here is in the driving seat of your mind. So, you should harness your thoughts towards focussed objects and goals. Goal setting is critical, and we shall discuss that in the next topic. 

Goal

A man who is successful once may tend to be in the cycle of infinite success. At the same time, a man who fails once may tend to be in the cycle of infinite failure. Do you know the reason? The reason is the lack of concrete goals.

A person without a goal is like a life in a deep forest without a GPS. If you are in a forest, you should know where you are in that woods. Otherwise, you are lost forever. So, never lose your way. People with goals know where they are heading to. 

Constructive Preparation

If you are reading this article means you are reaching near to your success. Follow every advicein this article. You are the winner.

Preliminary

1. Set your life goal. A person without a goal is similar to a ship without its captain. An aimless person is a disaster to himself/herself and the society as well.
2. Control your thoughts. Negative thoughts can break you down. Always be positive. When the co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs discarded by his associates, he started a new company 'Next' altogether. By that time, Apple lost its glory. He merged Next into Apple and became CEO of that company and revived the business. Would that be possible had he moved by vengeance or negative attitude? 
3. You should possess a tremendous passion and desire for the career chosen. You shall not choose to pursue a profession out of pressure from the parents or their well-wishers;
4. It would be best if you have a necessity. The necessity is the mother of all inventions. Plato, in his book Republic, said, "our need will be the real creator."
5. Your interest alone to aspire a career in a particular line will take you to the pinnacle of success;
6. Once you choose to pursue a profession, your acquaintances and experiences you acquire will decide whether you should take-up practice or service. Your intentions also add significant value to your choice; 
7. You should be very prompt in registration with the institutes to save a semester of six months.
8. It would be helpful if you also chose the right college or coaching centre; and 
9.  Choosing the right material for preparation is also very important. 

How to spend time during your preparation?

Follow the three-step below:

1. A focused daily study without any interruption gives you the best result. You may spend on coaching: 2 to 3 hours, preparation: 5 - 6 hours, and group discussion for one hour. Group discussion will help you refresh not only your memory but also your mind. 
2. Take rest properly (minimum 6 to 7 hours);
3. Take proper diet with regular exercise or walk.

The above three focused domains are possible only if you follow the below further tips

• Schedule your preparation;
• Prioritize the topics to score more marks;
• Prioritize the papers to score more marks to contribute to your aggregate;
• Minimize your time spending on journeys and local transportation;
• Watch only great movies those helpful to your career and to get inspiration;
• Allocate some time every week to read business daily, periodicals, and institute journals;
• Practical training will help you understand the theory very fast. Never neglect your practical training;
• Leave your tensions. Relax and focus on your preparation.

While preparing for your studies, remember the below points

1. Go through the structure (index) to have a scanty idea about the topics; 
2. The structure of the subject is like GPS to a particular unknown terrain;
3. Attend the classes regularly; and
4. Focus on your preparation without any interruption and any disturbance from social gatherings, social media, television, movies and celebrations. 

Problems and solutions

1. You should prepare well at least 4 to 5 times each type of exercise. Each time you solve present the solution as if you write your exam for examiner's scrutiny. 
2. It would be helpful if you observe an improvement each time you solve it. 
3. It would be best if you achieve proficiency in solving the problems effortlessly. 
4. The level of achieving great proficiency is significant, as the time given in the examination would not allow you to think at length, solve (working notes), and present (a solution). So, you should thoroughly practice the problems and its presentation;
5. While solving the problems, you must imbibe the habit of presenting in three parts as 
   1. The solution at the beginning;
   2. Assumptions to give after solution; and 
   3. Working notes.
6. It would be best if you also practiced estimating the length of each type of problem. The prior knowledge of this part will aid you in choosing the right problem during the examination. 
7. Choosing a quick solution during the examination is highly important.

Theory

1. The selection of the notes is critical. Avoid studying from more than one source. However, you may keep the reference books;
2. The notes you have selected should read at least three to four times thoroughly. The first time when you read the notes, know the meaning of the terms you are unfamiliar with. You can write the meanings on the top or bottom of the pages, where you find strange words;
3. Even if you do not understand anything during the first round of reading do not disappoint. You can connect the dots by further reading the other topics/subjects or after second or third reading;
4. At this stage itself, you should practice writing a presentation of answers, which means short answers. The time permitted for a short answer is significantly less. You should be able to give the crux of the topic. You should practice the quality and quantity required to reproduce in the examination depending on the question and the number of marks it carries;
5. Lack of reproduction/presentation skills in the examination will trouble you with superfluous/redundant inputs, which leads to the loss of your time. The examiner may lose his/her attention while delving your explanation in the depths of your content; and
6. Brevity is the soul of wit. The lengthy and aimless solution is an indication of poor preparation which indicates your poor presentation/reproduction skills. So, rigorously practice presenting your knowledge in a very appropriate manner.

Important topics

1. Though many suggest not to bifurcate the topics into important and unimportant, it is essential to do this job to save your time. Take the help of scanners, past question papers, and suggested/guideline answers to analyze topics into important and others;
2. You may leave the topics you feel difficult or bored in choice. But making a choice always associates with risk. Remember, that risk is worthier if you are attending the exam for the first time. 
3. Take the help of faculty or seniors to get adequate clarification on important topics.

The pattern of question paper

Understand the pattern of the question paper thoroughly. You may know this from past question papers, suggested/guideline answers, or model papers in case of the new syllabus. Check for the compulsory questions in each part. Be cautious during the examination, where the Institute may change the pattern of compulsory questions some times.

During the examinations

1. Reach the examination hall well in advance and relax;
2. Know about the hall in which you are writing the exams;
3. Due to the anxiety, many students do their last-minute reference. But according to experts, it does not make much of a difference. In my view, there is no loss in giving a last-minute reference. But, do it coolly.
4. In the examination hall, complete the formalities, write your roll number, and examination particulars. Do that before you receive the question paper;
5. Once, you receive the question paper, confirm the question paper is the same as the pattern that you know;
6. Believe, your subconscious mind will help you to fetch in the examination hall whatever you already read. 
7. Do not lose your confidence against the tough or new questions. Remember, you are not the only one who does not know the answers to such tough or new questions;
8. Making a choice is very important than your whole preparation;
9. Solving the problem is not very important, but rightly solving in a short time with a good presentation is very important;
10. Avoid choosing the problems with lengthy solutions even if you know the solution very well. It may consume your whole lot of time. For example transportation problem in operations research;
11. Never bluff or argue in your presentation; be professional;
12. Never plead the examiner;
13. Avoid striking offs, unwarranted page breaks, and too much line spacings;
14. Know the common instructions of writing the answer sheet beforehand, i.e. much before the examination;
15. Every step in the problem or every line, in theory, contains some marks. Every mark is very crucial. So, the problems you know little at last. But don't leave them altogether. Make an effort to solve.
16. Solve the best-known answers first, and least-known answers last.
17. Do not come out of the examination hall before the scheduled time;
18. Do not discuss or argue about the problems that you solved or answers that you wrote after coming out of the examination hall until you complete your last exam. Finding mistakes in the exam you wrote, may motivate negatively on the next examinations. So avoid discussions or arguments.

RESULTS!!!

Howsoever you perform, or whatsoever you wrote, or whosoever examine and value or wherever you wrote, the result is the final judgment of your efforts. That certifies your efforts in preparation as well as presentation in the examination hall.

• Do not disappoint much about the unfavorable result;
• In case of a negative result, make an unbiased/fair assessment, your preparation, and presentation, to know the reasons for failure. Take constructive steps to overcome the lacuna;
• Never hide your failures before your parents, friends, faculty, or other well-wishers. Such tendency will categorize you as an untrustworthy person and may lose moral support;
• Never give up.