Out of the box by ICAI
(CA Final Audit Nov 16 Paper Analysis)
“Though not difficult but definitely out of the box paper by ICAI”
• Only 37 marks out of 116 from Practice Manual / Past Papers last time it was around 60
• No question was asked from Nov 16 RTP, last time around 12 marks were asked
• Case Study of only 4 marks from Professional Ethics, generally it is 16 marks case studies which are most scoring, Other 2 questions were simple but theory based.
• Company Audit & CARO accounted for 16 marks which were for 28 marks last time.
• Around 60 marks questions from small chapters which were asked for 40 marks last time. But the big change is many questions were new from remote corners of module, last time they were from PM.
• Once in 3-4 attempts you get such paper.
• If some has good conceptual knowledge they would have written good answers, may not be exact as expected, but they can expect reasonable marks.
• All above things are justified by ICAI as it is a CA Final examination, which is one of the toughest in the world.
• It appears as if, examiner studied books & notes of all popular professors, then marked areas of module (2073 Pages) which were left out by all, as they were never asked for so many exams. And then many questions were asked from such remote corners of module.
• I expect checking will be lenient.
Below analysis is subjective, taking into consideration my interaction with students I feel following is appropriate.
*All above analysis has been developed after spending hours to determine exact source of questions, each and every question of paper was critically analysed for its level also. Sometimes students or others may pass judgment in haste. It is advisable not to derive your strategy based on such comments.
Message is clear from ICAI, you cannot do selective studies. If you do selective studies your chances will be always 50-50. You will be always dependent on luck factor. For such papers, only one plan works, study everything in detail.
I travelled in many cities to take revision sessions and as such throughout the year I interact with large number of students. During these interactions, I observed students start their studies late or they are ill-planned and majority of them allocates just 10-15 days for AUDIT. They want to do jugaadu studies. Little PM, Little RTP, then IMPs and then they expect they should score exemptions, it may sound rude and harsh to few but these are the facts. I also give IMPs etc just to keep morale high and improve chances of clearing exams. But just relying on them is not a good idea.
Further students should get rid of common misunderstanding that you don’t get marks because of language. It is not about some 100-200 technical words. Students should learn to express all thoughts in sequential manner in understandable sentences. Students generally don’t express all the content they know, they eat lot of content and expect evaluator should have at least this much of knowledge to understand what half they have written. Golden advice is to write as if other person doesn’t know anything about that concept. One should write one page daily on any topic he studied and ask anyone to read it or compare it with past answers provided by ICAI.
Other Important points from my side
• For good preparation of AUDIT, you need around 100 teaching hours of classes. After this, content taught should be regularly covered by giving 50% time, i.e is around 50 hours. After this, PM questions should be covered in next 75 hours. So the total 225 hours should be given over the period of at-least 2 months. It is also very important to improve your paper writing skills so it is advised to solve at-least 3-4 papers before appearing for final exams. And then 1-2 revisions as time permits in 50 hours each time.
• To be honest I suggest students to follow my notes & questions from PM which are linked to notes, to avoid repetitions of questions, of around (708 + 482) that is around 1200 pages. Around 95 marks paper would be covered if someone followed this combination properly. Then students demand, what is important out of this as it is difficult to retain & reproduce so much. Many times, students approach me with lack of time, in such scenarios I have to suggest them shortcuts just to keep their moral high and boost their confidence to perform to the best of their ability. Now I have pledged that every nook & corner will be covered, it may add 100-200 pages, that’s fine and if students don’t have time they will have to face challenges in exam.
I will be uploading all the answers soon.
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