The initial few days after the exam goes into relaxing and catching up with friends or watching the Netflix series you were putting on hold for so long. But a dilemma, that arises in every CA Student after their exams is, whether to go for a job or to prepare more till the results come out. The uncertainty that looms concerning CA results is very well known and it is understandable to find yourself in this tussle. Let's find a way to address it in this article.
Firstly, I would like to acknowledge you for giving your exams while the world faces COVID challenges and putting your best foot forward.
As a mentor, I have come across many students who face the confusion between choosing whether to go for a job or to continue their studies. In this article I have dissected the issue into four parts for your better understanding, these are:
- The Drivers for Employment
- The Vicious Cycle of Attempts
- Taking a Reality Check
- 3 Possible Scenarios - 3 Possible Choices
If you have given only a single group, then this should not even be a question for you. Strongly suggest you to put in your best efforts for the remaining group without thinking about work till the next attempt.
Plan your efforts for the balance group in a proper manner so that you can optimize every single study hour that you invest. You can download study planner for CA Final / Intermediate and channelize your efforts to make every single hour count.
Here is the link to the Study Planners for your perusal
CA Final Study Planner
CA Intermediate Study Planner
The Drivers for Employment
Given the huge gap between exams and results, one may have the following drivers to go for a job.
i. Staying Relevant
One of the major concerns of students is to stay abreast with the industry. You may feel that you are losing touch with your practical skills and knowledge. Hence, thoughts of your future work prospects drives your decision here.
ii. Financial Independence
Although the opportunity cost of not becoming a CA is high, many students gravitate towards jobs for sense of financial independence.
iii. Seeking Change / Variety
You may feel dissatisfied with how your time is going by while sitting at home. Whereas doing a job will bring variety in life such as new friends, new tasks, new routine, etc. Moreover, small-small victories at job make you feel productive of your time.
However, before you join a job, you need to be aware of the downside risk of getting stuck in “The Vicious Cycle of attempts” and hedge this risk appropriately.
The Vicious Cycle of attempts
You may grab employment opportunities for any of the above-said reasons. However, in case of negative results, you will find yourself in a difficult situation of working for the contracted period and pleading for leaves from your employer.
If you choose to honour your commitment to the employer, then you are barely left with 1-1.5 months of preparation time, where you end up revising what you had studied in the earlier attempt. This results in putting the same efforts like the one in the last attempt and more often than not, similar results too. Hence, the vicious cycle of attempts keeps going on.
So now the point is how do you come out of this vicious cycle?
Taking a Reality Check
The first and the toughest step is to honestly predict your CA results. Generally, you can predict your results 80% of the time on your own by fairly extrapolating your marks. However, many students resist this exercise because they do not want to experience any discomfort. But this will help you pro-actively decide whether you should go for the job or not. Most of us rely on luck which is quite unreliable in real life.
3 Possible Scenarios
After you have analysed your possible result with reasonable accuracy, you will have three scenarios in front of you. Through my mentoring experience, I have given logical and honest suggestions in respect to each scenario to save you from getting into the loop of attempts.
First Scenario- 80%-20% | 80% confidence of clearing the exam
If you are 80% confident of clearing your CA exams then you can opt for one of these two things for career advancement:
Get into contract-based employment (full-time or part-time) with an amicable understanding of leaving immediately in case of negative results. Alternatively, you can also choose to opt for taking freelance assignments that limits your commitments and offers you schedule flexibility.
Even if you are 80% certain of your results, do not commit yourself to employment that will bind you. In case of adverse results, you must be able to get off the hook without thinking twice. Do not think what your employer will think of you. At this point, only your career should be your priority.
Secondly, you can also choose to educate yourself in sharpening relevant technical and soft skills that will be useful for the job that you have aspirations for. e.g. excel, blockchain, etc. or you can focus on personality development during this time e.g. for grooming your public speaking skills you can consider joining toastmasters.
Second Scenario: 60%-40% | 60% confidence of clearing the exam
If your chances of clearing are 60% or more, then you must invest your time in strengthening subjects that will help you in your practical life. The knowledge you gain at this point will never go to waste. It will only increase your chances of getting rewarding work opportunities in the future. Furthermore, in case of unfavourable results, you will have the first-mover advantage.
Third Scenario: 50% or less | 50% or less confidence of clearing the exam
If your estimation of clearing exams is either 50% or less, then it is suggested to start planning for the next attempt without wasting any further time.
However, do not rush into studies without making a plan first. CA syllabus is humongous and the time available is always in short supply. Hence, you need to optimize the investment of your every single hour. You can plan at the level of every hour using a study planner (links of the planner are given at the bottom of the article)
My advice will be to pick up the weakest subject to become friends with it and strengthen it to the point that you are no more scared of it.
The Final Advice
Before placing yourself in any of the categories, make sure you are assessing yourself critically as that's the first step of the entire decision-making.
Before I conclude, I sincerely wish you all the success in the future and acknowledge you for taking up CA which reflects the strength of your character. I trust this article has brought clarity to your mind and shall help you to resolve the tussle between going for a job vs starting your studies.
Here are the links to Study Planners
CA Final Study Planner
CA Intermediate Study Planner
The author of this article is CA Ashutosh Rathi and founder of IGNITE - a comprehensive mentoring program for CA Final & CA Intermediate Students. Special thanks to Mahima Pareek for her contribution to the article.
He can be reached at ignite@ashutoshrathi.com & 8369901565 (WhatsApp)
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