The recent result declared by the Institute for PCC students was really an eye opener for many and considerably brought out the shortfall of the CPT level of exam introduced in the recent years by the Institute as an initiative to bring revolution in the exam structure and attract many students to pursue the course.
But in point of fact it has led to more failures in numbers, eventually leading to lowering the overall passing percentage plus ruining the most important years of education for many students.
Let me be clear I am not judging here the motive of the Institute to change the exam structure nor I have any doubt about its wholehearted efforts to take the success of the profession to the new height. But what I have noticed from many of the students who appeared for the PCC but couldn’t clear, I sincerely think authorities in the seat need to give a serious thought to the following.
The overall structure of the CPT exam is such that a student can appear in the exam without giving much attention to all the subjects equally; this leads to the haphazard knowledge on the part of students in some of the basic subjects which you can not afford to sideline. Take for example those students who come from commerce background may find mathematics a little difficult to comprehend, so might be the case of Science students in case of Accounts, but that may lead to very weak foundation in these subjects for such students.
Earlier, in case of PE -1 students, it was a different regime altogether. Student had to rigorously study and understand each subject so as to pass the first level. So there was no question of ignorance some subjects.
Another thing which specifically needs mention is the format of the exam which has undergone heap of a change at the entrance level. The objective type of the question - answers do not call for any presentation skills on the part of students. So students naturally tend not to write down the answer or say problems in a systematic format so as to solve them and instead try to take out the answer orally or on the calculator without understanding the logic behind the same.
Earlier, in case of PE -1 student, there were four theory papers and presentation of the paper (handwriting, neatness etc) was as important as comprehensive understanding of the subject matter of each paper so as to clear the exam. But now the presentation has least importance at the CPT level.
Earlier students would understand the toughness of the exam and the level of hard work you need to put so as to clear the course, in the very beginning of the course at foundation / PE-1 itself., but now in case of CPT students, perhaps the students understand the seriousness of the study and hard work only after getting failed once or twice at PCC level when real show begins.
I might be sounding too rude but I have seen many students who never took exam seriously, appeared for CPT exam and got through with 100 marks. But getting through so easily in the first level of CA course spoiled their head and that made them continue with the same approach even in the PCC level which eventually lead to disastrous result in the PCC. The performance went so low for one student who had passed his CPT in first attempt with 100 marks that he couldn’t score even in double digit not in a single subject.
Taking a fair view of the situation I can say we can not blame ‘students’ only for this sorry state of affair, creating the conditions in the first instance of allowing them to pass so easily (sometimes) in the entrance exam and not letting them realize what they will go through in the further levels is obviously not fair enough on the part of Institute.
Plus there’s more concerning issues regarding the career of an average student who aspires to become a CA, suppose if a student gets pass in the CPT level without having required ability to clear the further levels (real CA course) and he appears two- three times for PCC exam and then he realizes that its not his cup of tea then he would already have lost considerable period of his education life and would ultimately have to reset up everything from the stretch.
Had there been the foundation or PE1 exam like case then, in the first instance only he would have understood the tough ness of the course, and he would have left the course much earlier to see further career avenues available which suit him well according to his ability.
So I would specifically urge CPT students to consider the following:
ü Please take the course seriously from the beginning and not after you have lost important years of your career.
ü Make a lot of practice of writing in systematic and lucid manner and get used to it because ultimately it will only be useful in the long run.
ü There’s no shortcut to success, you can pass your CPT through using shortcuts but not CA, avoid solving problems only on calculator or orally instead make a habit of solving in a systematic manner with logical presentation by writing on paper.
ü Do not take PCC lightly, remember through conceptual understanding, put in lots of hard work, and discuss things in groups it will help remembering things well and after all believe in yourself.
Comments are welcome.
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