How CA Final/Inter May 20 students can increase effective hours?

CA Rohit kapoor , Last updated: 02 March 2020
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2 months are left for CA Final and Inter exams but still when I ask CA Students appearing in May 20 about the effective hours of study. The most common answer that I get is 5-6 hours which means they are utilizing only 25% time of the day in studies.

The question is, "Are 5-6 hours sufficient?" I know it is not about the number of hours one studies but still, these are CA Exams and you need to put in 200% efforts to get through. I am writing this small write up to suggest a study plan which might help all CA Aspirants.

I as a student always preferred to wake up early rather than studying late at night as the mind is fresh in the morning. But if you prefer to study late at night then you can alter this study schedule according to you.

So Let's Begin!!!

You have to divide your day into 4 parts and your day must start at 5:00 am in the morning. You have to give 4 sittings of 3 hours each. This will make it 12 hours of studies which is exactly double of what most of you are doing at the moment.

Since the mind is more active in the morning, I would suggest you pick up the subject which scares you the most. It might be a theory or practical subject. So, I would suggest to complete the topics of the subject that scare you the most in the first slot of the day.

Wake up at 5:00 am and study one subject that scares you the most till 8:00 am with no distraction around you. Keep your mobile phones away and unsubscribe most of the channels on Youtube since most of us use laptops while studying and unnecessary pop-ups of video uploads distract us. No one can motivate you besides you yourself.

I am giving a tabular presentation of the activities that you have to do during the entire day and can be used by all CA aspirants whether Final or inter giving one or both groups:

How CA Final/Inter May 20 students can increase effective hours

Time Slot	Activity
5:00 am to 8:OO am	Read the Subject that scares you the most. It could be ISCA/Audit/AMA or any other
8:00 am to 8:45 am	Power Nap. Sleeping is very Important in between as it boosts your memory. Continuous study for long hours in the library or even at home is not recommended.
8:45 am to 9:30 am	Break Fast and other nonproductive activities
9:30 am to 12:30 pm	Switch to theory subject as you are still fresh after sleep and bathing. Make it a point that you are switching between subjects as reading one subject the entire day is very monotonous and not at all recommended. You must be reading at least two subjects daily and the maximum should be three a day.
12:30 pm to 2:00 pm	Leisure time. You might sleep or else if you don't like to sleep during this time you may check out my telegram channel where we are putting a lot of MCQs for daily practice as well as descriptive questions from ICAI material. You can write and send me those answers. This is a good way of utilizing even your leisure time. Subscribe the channel on telegram "professionalsansaarofficial" or else WhatsApp me at 9899218725 if you face any issue in subscribing. By 2:00 pm you must be done with your lunch and power nap or anything else which you like to do in free time
2:00 pm to 5:00 pm	In this slot, I would suggest to pick up a practical subject and solve the problems by writing so that you don't get bored and at the same time you will be doing writing practice.
5:00 pm to 6:30 pm	Free time. You may take a small nap, go out for walking, talk to someone, listen to music or any thing that you wish to do. It's 5:00 PM and you have already studied for 9 hours with a lot of breaks in between. Now you have to break the balance hours in smaller slots.
6:30 pm to 8:30 pm	You have already touched upon 3 subjects till now and that's the upper limit of the subjects to be read in a day. In these 2 hours read that subject which you think you were not able to cover much in the allotted time. You have to be honest and don't stretch the time allotted to a subject in a day. 3 slots of 3 hours mean 3 subjects or at most 2 subjects. Switch between subjects as that is very important. Those 2 hours should be buffer time and read that subject in these 2 hours which you think was not covered much during the day out of 2/3 subjects already read.
8:30 pm to 9:30 pm	Free Time. Have dinner, spend time with your family, etc.
10:00 pm to 12:00	I would suggest to make your short revision notes or do that subject that involves writing. Handwritten revision notes are very important as it was always convenient to revise from self-prepared notes. The theoretical subjects must be avoided in this slot as you are already exhausted after studying for the entire day.
12: 00 to 5:00 am	Sleep

You studied for 13 hours which is a very good number with a lot of small breaks in between. Follow this time table for next 5-10 days and I am sure that output will increase and you must be done with 1-2 subjects completely

Some more tips to increase effective hours

1) The best way to increase effective hours is to steal a nap. As already suggested, you have to take small breaks as studying for long hours is not advisable. Your mind has a saturation point and it needs rest. Some people study in Libraries, so always choose a library which is close to your home so that you can come home for small breaks.

2) Keep your mobile phones away when you sit for studying as mobile phones are the biggest source of distraction. I would not advise staying away from social media but don't let these distractions affect your study slots. You can do whatever you want in your free time.

3) Walking is very important. Don't lock yourself in a room for the next 2 months. You need to go out to freshen yourself. These things are equally important as effective hours will increase only when your mind is fresh. So, go out daily that's probably the most important thing according to me.

4) Plan for the next day before going to sleep. Out of the last 2 hours slot, take out 30 mins to analyze your entire day performance and plan for the next day. Take out books that you will be using in the next days first slot so that you don't waste time after waking up.

5) Don't subscribe to a lot of channels or groups on WhatsApp or telegram as this is a sheer waste of time. I have a telegram channel where you get all ICAI updates, MCQ tests, and Descriptive Tests at Zero Cost. So, you can subscribe to it and stay updated about each ICAI announcement, notes, and Tests on a daily basis. Subscribe the channel on telegram "professionalsansaarofficial" or else WhatsApp me at 9899218725 if you face any issue in subscribing.

6) Eat well and don't skip meals as if you eat well then only mind works. So, eating healthy food is also important.

7) Choose a faculty whose Revision/Amendment lectures you will be watching on youtube and don't change later on a lot of faculties share such lectures these days. So, don't waste time watching the same lecture of different faculties.

8) Make a table dividing it into 2 parts i.e. time utilized and time wasted during a day. Do it for 2 days and you will get to know where you are wasting time. Track yourself for 2 days and do introspection on how you can utilize the time wasted.

These were few tips and a study schedule which I suggest as helped me personally in Qualifying Chartered Accountancy after failure in CA Final. Try this schedule and tips for the next 2-3 days and let me know in the comment box whether this was helpful.

The author can also be reached at connectwithcarohitkapoor@gmail.com