Around twenty years ago CA Profession was male-dominated since many girls of their own sweet will were not coming forward to join this highly dignified & elite profession. However with the galloping changes in the Indian Economy, turnaround in the attitude of girls as well as their respective parents, economic and social necessities of urban Indian Society ample number of girls have cherished the dream of being an Indian Chartered Accountant. Consequently, as and when the result of CA Examinations is declared one interesting feature is always discernible. The Girls (Women) examinees invariably outperform their boys (men) and with each succeeding attempt there has been praiseworthy improvement in their performance. There are no secrets behind the consistent success of girls. Rather, there are certain logical reasons for their excellence in one of the toughest and breathtaking examinations of our country. These reasons have been detailed below:-
1. Exemplary Sincerity
‘Sincerity of purpose serves your purpose’ goes an oft quoted saying and the same holds perfectly true in case of women examinees of CA Examinations. It is irrefutable fact sincerity is more crucial than intelligence because in many cases intelligence leads to overconfidence & promotes laziness. Sincerity of efforts, on the other hand, is widely- considered as a crucial determinant & tool for attaining success. The vast and extensive syllabus of CA Examinations demands a good deal of sincerity on the part of students. There is a direct correlation between Sincerity in the preparation for examinations & Success in the Examinations. It is usually seen that girls possess a greater degree of sincerity which enables them not just to qualify CA Examinations but to secure top ranks & honours in the Examinations.
2. Wonderful Concentration
Girls usually concentrate more on their assignments. In other words, they do not allow themselves to get distracted by any kind of obstacle or attraction. They do not keep off their eyes from their crucial goal of passing CA Examinations. As a corollary, there is always a greater likelihood of their success. Moreover, the most of girls possess the amazing quality of studying with longer span of concentration.
3. High Expectations of parents of modern days
In the context of our country as regards urban areas there has been a lot of emphasis on having a small family for the last three decades or so. As a result most of the middle class families in the urban areas have only two children. In sizeable number of cases both the children happen to be girls. Besides, in most of middle class families mothers are also employed. Consequently, the family disposable income has gone up substantially. Further, due to extensive publicity of available career opportunities, the parents have become too much career conscious about their girls. Moreover, there is drastic change in the viewpoint of parents. They want their girls to become financially independent. In order to gain financial liberty holding of a good job is considered as a prerequisite. Again, there is a close connection between a good job & CA Qualification. Thus, ever since the childhood of their girls parents adopt a positive & optimistic approach regarding the study of their girls. They spare no efforts in making suitable academic arrangements for their girls. Gone are those days when there used to a striking contrast in the study of boys & girls as far as urban middle classes families are concerned. These families either outsource the routine chores or employ part-time/full-time servants with a view to allow their girls to concentrate wholly on their studies. They inculcate the significance of study in minds of their girls. They have fairly high expectations from their girls & they consistently motivate & inspire them to excel in academics. Resultantly girls put in greater & consistent efforts in their study arena which ultimately crowns them with superb success in CA Examinations.
4. Judicious Time Management
It is usually seen that girls manage the time at their disposal in a far more efficient way. They do realize the true significance of time. They do not fritter away their precious time in unproductive & trivial activities. They undertake their CA. Examinations study in a consistent & time-bound manner. On the other hand, by & large boys start the fully dedicated preparation of their CA Examinations only at the eleventh hour. They have the usual tendency of wasting their time either in roaming here or there or maintaining their ever increasing friend circle. Consequently, the effective time left at the disposal of boys is drastically squeezed & they are unable to do the justice to the various subjects. They hurriedly go through the different subjects & as a result have a superficial knowledge. This policy proves extremely detrimental particularly in case of practical subjects like Advanced Accountancy, Costing, Financial Management, and Income Tax. It may seem ridiculous that they study the practical subjects just like theoretical subjects. To put it in another way, they just go through the solutions of the various practical problems. They do not spend adequate time in solving the different practical problems themselves. As an upshot, their speed, accuracy, efficiency is hampered in the examination hall. In many cases, they are even unable to completely attempt all the questions. They spend disproportionate time in solving practical problems owing to insufficient practice. In contrast, girls due to their regular practice are easily & conveniently able to completely solve their question papers well in the stipulated time of three hours & reap the rich dividends of their continuous practice. It has also been noticed that more cautious & extra brilliant girls do the written practice of even purely theory papers. The result of such dedicated & regular practice is that they even outshine the boys in theory papers as well.
5. Amazing self Discipline
More often than not it is seen that female students possess a greater extent of self-discipline. The foregoing quality is truly praiseworthy and is indispensable for attaining success in CA Examinations, not to speak of any other area of life. In majority of the cases the girls students willingly & cheerfully follow a disciplined schedule for the preparation of their CA Examinations. They prefer to study round the year which in itself ensures their amazing performance in the CA Examinations. The precious quality of self-discipline helps the female examinees in more than one ways. It enables them to qualify the crucial & not so easy CA Examinations in a seemingly effortless manner. Yet in some other cases parents keep a close track on their scholastic progress. The supervision of parents in the ultimate analysis proves a boon for female examinees & they are able to qualify the examinations with flying colours. In the opposite case, the male students in the first instance do not voluntarily appreciate the concept of self-discipline in their life. They always advocate the buzzword “freedom”. In the disguise of freedom they unknowingly drift away from their main target of passing the CA Examinations with high percentage of marks. Moreover, on the whole they have the tendency of resisting the discipline if any, enforced by their parents. They develop a feeling of restlessness if their parents try to explain them the significance of discipline especially as regards their study.
6. No Shirking of classes/ tutorials
Ideally, CA Course is a distance learning course. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India compulsorily provides study modules to all the students at the time of their respective registration with it. Next, in order to help the students in preparation of examinations the ICAI invariably publishes Revisionary Test Papers (popularly known as ‘RTPs” in short) before any particular examination. Moving with the times these RTPs are also available on website of the ICAI. Next, Suggested Answers to questions set at a particular examination are also published with a view to enable examinees to prepare better for ensuing examinations. Subject-wise compilations of answers and Practice Manuals are also available for the benefit of the students. CA students are presumed to self-study the foregoing study modules, RTPs & Suggested Answers, subject-specific compilations and appear in CA Examinations.
Practically, however, the option of self-studying alongwith strenuous practical training is a difficult preposition. There is no denying of the fact that self-studying option requires plenty of time. Thus, now-a-days bewildering numbers of CA students prefer the option of attending oral coaching classes. This alternative has its own unparallel advantages such as regularity in studies, facility of clarifying the doubts, substantial saving in time needed to complete the syllabus. A large chunk of the parents of the CA students also fully support this alternative of oral classes. Almost all the female students attend oral classes with religious regularity & pinpoint punctuality. Further, the girls students have the laudable habit of staying after the conclusion of tutorial classes for the purpose of clarifying their doubts. In contrast, a good number of male students have somehow the propensity of completely or partially missing oral classes occasionally on flimsy grounds. This habit of total or partial shunning of classes ultimately proves very costly at the time of final preparation for truly demanding CA Examinations. In addition, the male students normally do not stay back after the tutorial classes for solving their queries. Consequently, their queries and doubts go on accumulating and in large number of cases remain unsettled.
7. Eschewing of outstation training assignments
Many times during the practical training of CA. Diploma there is an opportunity of attending to outstation audit assignments. There is general reluctance and resistance on the part of the girl article/audit assistants to accept outstation audit assignments on the pretext of family reservation. The principal Chartered Accountant, in general, accedes to their request and consequently is left with no choice but to depute his male Article Assistants for completing the outstation audit assignments. This refusal also proves a blessing in disguise for female Article Assistants. They can attend their oral coaching classes without any kind of hindrance and complete the studies in a systematic & methodical manner which eventually contributes to their shinning success in the formidable CA Examinations.
8. Relatively Lesser office working hours
According to the training manual of ICAI all article assistants are required to undergo thirty five hours of training per week. However, in a large number of Chartered Accountants’ offices schedule is very hectic & article assistants are usually required to work until late evenings. Here, also the female Article Assistants are more often given the permission to leave the office early. Resultantly, they reach their respective homes well in time. After taking some rest they are able to devote time towards their study. To put it differently, owing to lesser office working hours women article assistants are able to maintain their continuity in study which, in turn, significantly helps them to qualify the alarming CA Examinations in the first attempt.
9. Good & Impressive Handwriting
There can not be two opinions about the role of a neat and legible handwriting in the examinations. Perfectly readable handwriting attracts the instant attention of the examiner & surely creates a favourable impression on his/ her mind, as the case may be. It is usually seen that either by the grace of almighty or due to their conscious efforts a large chunk of girls have an excellent handwriting which gives them an added advantage in the examinations. As soon as an examiner sees an answer sheet in a clearly comprehensible handwriting he derives a psychological satisfaction. He can make nearly perfect assessment of the student’s knowledge. The ideal blend of comprehensive preparation, painstaking practice & remarkable handwriting is handsomely rewarded in terms of marks by the examiner. On the other extreme, the illegible handwriting of a good deal of male students irritates the examiner. He is not able to precisely make out what a male examinee wants to communicate through his answer. Resultantly, he develops a strange feeling of being penalized after seeing the scribbled answer sheet. In many cases he is left with no option but to surmise the answers which prove nearly fatal [in terms of exams marks] for the male examinees.
10. Laudable Habit of Making Notes
The propensity of making notes is bound to reap rich rewards for the crucial & challenging examinations like Chartered Accountancy Course. Female examinees normally develop the habit of making three kinds of notes for each topic. The first notes are fairly comprehensive in nature & prepared from the study modules of ICAI, RTPs, Suggested Answers & different recommended text books. The second kinds of notes are prepared on a single sheet containing summary of the concerned detailed topic & omitting all the details. The third types of notes consist of only sub-headings. This note-making habit not only helps the female students to thoroughly understand a given topic in all its dimensions but also assists them in retaining the gist of a given topic in their respective minds. As a natural beneficial effect of this habit, the female students are able to appreciably answer all the indirect questions in the examinations. In contrast, a large majority of the male students have either no inclination for making of notes or they do not find sufficient time for fruitful note making activity & have, therefore, to pay a big price.
It is true that most of the female students who opt for Chartered Accountancy Diploma belong to middle class families. The social norms of these families do not allow the female students to have a large friend circle despite the mind-boggling & unconceivable use of mobile phones in urban areas. The girls are allowed to keep a moderate number of friends which proves a blessing in disguise for them. The habit of having large number of friends proves damaging in two ways- it entails financial implications and secondly & more importantly there is a greater likelihood of wastage of invaluable time. In a substantial number of cases, the parents keep a close track on the friends of their girls. Girls are not given the liberty & luxury of having many friends. The favourable aspect of this close vigil on the part of parents is that girls are able to direct their priceless time & vital energy towards the realization of their single minded goal i.e. to qualify the CA Examination at the earliest possible attempt. The male students, on the other hand, have ever increasing friend circle. More often than not, this habit works against their own interest & they loose sight of their main target of becoming a Chartered Accountant in the first attempt. In sizeable number of cases, non-essential & non-academic discussion & gossiping(the art of saying nothing in a manner that leaves nothing unsaid) takes place amongst the friends which entails frittering away of non-recoupable time & quintessential energy. As a result, the mind & attention of students is drifted like river- water & examination preparations are likely to receive a big jolt.
12. Incessant Leave period
Article Assistants (both Male & female) are entitled to certain number of uninterrupted study leaves as per the relevant regulations of training issued by ICAI. However, practically on a couple of occasions during the tenure of study leave article assistants are required to attend the office in connection with urgent official works. Believe it or not, here also the girls stand to gain because they request their concerned principals to grant them immunity from attending the office during that critical period. The principal Chartered Accountants, therefore, call their male article assistants to finish the important unfinished time-bound assignments. The most obvious evil- consequence of attending to office at that juncture is that the fixed study schedule of male article assistants goes haywire. They feel emotionally disturbed which doubtlessly has negative bearing both on examination preparation & performance. As mentioned before, the majority of the girls are somehow able to avail the unparallel benefit of uninterrupted leave which surely stand in good stead for them. The female article assistants are able to maintain their unbridled continuity in study at significant point of time when every minute counts.
13. Immense Inclination towards theory
It has been minutely observed that female students typically have a great penchant for theoretical subjects. Girls prefer to learn the theoretical answers by heart & reproduce the same in the examinations. Their counterparts, on the other extreme, characteristically have fondness for practical subjects. Thus it goes without saying that in theory oriented subjects like Auditing, Corporate Laws the girls secure better marks.
In practical subjects such as Advanced Accounting, Management Accounting & Financial Analysis, Direct Tax Laws there has been a discernible change in the examination policy of ICAI over the last couple of years. Consequently, even in practical subjects there has been plenty of emphasis on theoretical questions. It has been seen that each question is sub-divided into two/three parts. The first part contains practical question but the second and/or third part consists of a compulsory theory question(s). The male students in general neglect the theory portion of practical subjects both at preparation & examination stages. They spend bulk of their time in solving practical problems during the preparation period. Putting it differently, they do not do the justice particularly to the theoretical aspects of practical subjects. Even during the course of writing of examinations they remain focused on solving practical problems and leave the theory questions to be attempted during the last fifteen or twenty minutes. Since their preparation of theoretical subjects lacked essential efforts, they are unable to attempt the theoretical questions properly & impressively. Accordingly, they do not obtain good marks even in practical subjects. On the other extreme, female examinees attempt these theoretical portions of practical questions exceedingly well owing to investment of sufficient time & note-making habit at the preparation phase. This investment bears handsome reward in terms of marks by the examiners. It is incredibly true that female examinees get full marks in respect of their answers to theoretical portions of practical subjects. Ultimately, female students are able to qualify the CA Examinations.
Conclusion
There is no Jadoo (magic) behind the ever increasing percentage of astounding success of female students in one of the toughest examinations of our country. Their noticeable sincerity, consistent hard work, Discipline, Impressive Handwriting, keenness towards theory questions shape their success stories. They truly deserve all appreciation & regular encouragement to come & join one of the most sought after professions which is in the overall interest of our country.
Executive Summary
Once upon a time not many girls used to join celebrated & demanding Chartered Accountancy Course. However, in the recent years owing to several economic, social & prestigious reasons there has been a phenomenal change in the viewpoint of girls. As a result, good deals of girls have not only joined CA Course but have successfully completed the same. On rational & dispassionate analysis of their tremendous success, it becomes evident that there are many reasons for their dazzling performance. Prominent amongst them are their strong-willed discipline, no shirking of classes, sensible time management, whole-hearted sincerity, wonderful concentration & pleasing handwriting.
CA Raj Kumar Jaggi
M.No. 509084
Mob: 9818793332
Mail me @: carajjaggi@gmail.com
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