Dear Friends,
Today I want to share with you my experience through which I cleared the CA exams without any pressure & the kind of quality study require to clear the exam.
I cleared my CPT exam in Feb 2008 & CA final exam in Nov 2011. In these years & during the study I understood that if person wants to become a CA then one must do quality study instead of just mugging the syllabus. No doubt even in quality study you need to do hard work but the quantum of hard work is much less. So today I will share with you how to clear CA exams in my way.
For CPT I will not narrate much as it is very much easier to clear CPT than foundation. Any student can clear CPT exam in 1 month of study. In my opinion foundation exam should be conducted instead of CPT.
During my time, there was PCC exam instead of IPCC. Though there are some changes with respect to pattern but syllabus is almost same. Instead I will say, IPCC is easier than PCC (In IPCC, account syllabus is divided between 2 papers and service tax & vat portion increased to 50 marks in Taxation).
I cleared my PCC exam in second attempt. In first attempt I used to focus & study all the topics equivalently. Like I studied tough/important topic for 1 day & easy/less important topic for 1 day. There was no bifurcation of time between important & less important topics. I studied them for equal amount of time. In that attempt I scored 258 marks (300 marks were passing) for both groups. I cleared all the subjects but didn’t get aggregate.
When I analyzed my performance I found my mistake as mentioned above. In first attempt I did hard work but no quality hard work. If one requires result then he must do quality hard work.
After analyzing my result, I also found that I lost many marks in easy & important topics in which one can score out off marks. After that I listed down the topics in which one can score almost full marks with much less study. Like
1. In Law, ethics & communication is for 40 marks.
2. In Accounts, AS ask for 30 marks
3. In Tax, service tax & vat ask for 25 marks (in PCC, now it is for 50 marks)
4. In information system, flow chart for 10 marks
5. In costing, theory for 15 marks
6. In FM, theory for 15 marks
After listed down the easy & important portion for which less time require to study, I used to study above topics for 3 hours every day for 1.5 month continuously. Like, everyday 1 flowchart, 1 problem of each topic. When I finished the study of above topics in 20 days, I again studied these topics till the exams. In 1.5 month of study, I read above topics for 4 times. So till the time of exam, I became perfect in those topics & also got confidence to face exam bravely.
It doesn’t mean that I studied only these topics. I did above study over & above of normal study. Every day after 8pm, I studied these topics only. Before 8, I did daily study. I used to study max 8 hours a day including 3 hours of special study.
After studying for 1.5 month for 2nd attempt when I gave exams, I was satisfied with the result. In 2nd attempt I scored 368 marks (passing was 300 marks in PCC both groups), increase of 110 marks from 1st attempt. That was my best moment.
When I compared my both attempt results, I found that I scored the extra marks in above mentioned portion only. That special study of 3 hours gave me extra 110 marks. I didn’t study anything extra in 2nd attempt but I focused on easy & important portion which generally most students ignore. I hardly studied 8 hours a day for 1.5 month but with quality study.
When my family members & friends saw my result they were completely shocked because they nerve found me studying in the early morning or late till night. They thought how one can score so many marks without much hard work. So they didn’t expect these much marks from me.
Due to such result of smart & quality study I gain much confidence. The same method I applied for CA final exams. I listed down the easy & important topics for which there is much weightage of marks and did special study of those topics. I did only 3.5 month study for CA final exam that too hardly 10 hours a day but that was quality & smart study. I was much confidant to face the exam & result was as expected. I cleared CA final exam in Nov 11 in first attempt only because of smart study.
I am not studious at all. I couldn’t even seat for more than 2 hours continuously while studying. I never studied more than 8-10 hours a day which most of CA guys do study. But due to this smart study only, I was able to clear CA exams without any pressure & burden.
So I want to tell all the students, to just list down easy & important topics for which much marks are allotted by the ICAI which most of you ignore. Do study these topics regularly & with consistence revision.
Consistency makes man perfect!
Hope this method can be useful for the students.
Regards
CA Abhishek Malpani
Pune
CAclubindia
