PRACTICAL ADVICE ON PASSING CA EXAMS.
(From a highly experienced examinee, who took 19 years to become a CA and failed 13 times in Gr. I, Final Exam)
These are very practical and down to earth tips based on my own experience. I hope that these will save no. of attempts and valuable time of some of my younger brothers and sisters :
- Always remember – CA Exam is not the test of knowledge or intelligence. It is only the test of your cramming ability and laboriousness. Anybody can pass the exams if he can cram the entire syllabus and reproduce it in the exam hall, in verbatim. Forget about your achievements in School / University Exams.
- Take “Sanyas” from all hobbies and social activities. Keep distance from all your fast friends, who are not CA students. Shoot your girlfriend (don’t worry – after clearing CA, will receive too many marriage proposals from wealthy families). Donate your PC/Laptop/Smart Phone. Delete your email and Facebook ids. Don’t attend marriages or any other social events. If you are living with your parents, then try to rent in a room in a different locality for studies. There is no need to read newspapers or watch news. Never touch ET or any other business daily. You won’t die if you avoid all these things just for 2.5 years.
- Don’t take your articleship training seriously. The job offers and the salaries after becoming CA will solely depend on the no. of attempts taken by you. Bigger the size of the firm, higher your workload. The glamorous Articleship training at a Big 4 is meaningless without CA degree. So avoid any CA firm with high outstation audits. Go for the smaller firms which are lenient in granting leaves for study. Be ready to surrender your stipend and even pay premium for a “Dummy Seat”, if your father can afford it. (Don’t worry, your future father-in-law will reimburse it).
- If you are not capable of appearing in both the groups, then there is no harm in taking the groups one by one. Know your limitations and don’t follow your friends.
- Join the most popular teacher’s coaching classes for all the papers in a nearby metro city. It will save you from “re-inventing the wheel”, make you regular on studies for all the papers and prepare you ready for the exam in shortest possible time. If you are from a non-metro city, migrate to a nearby metro, if you can afford.
- Throw away the institute’s study material. It is pure wastage of time and will never help you in clearing the exams. Buy a copy of the famous teacher’s notes / short notes for the respective papers. Also refer Scanners and the suggested answers for the last 10 years.
- Try to base your study on a single book / notes for each paper, even if some topics in them are not good. Higher the no. of books you refer, higher will be your confusion and wastage of time.
- Increase your writing speed in the exam. conditions. Practice the numerical questions at least 8-10 times before the exams. Attempting the coaching academy’s mock tests helps.
- If you fail in a attempt, don’t loose your heart and start preparing for the next attempt. Remember there are more than 70% - 80% other candidates who have also failed.
- Never miss a attempt, even if you could not prepare well due to any reason. When you pass, you will be surprised to find that you have prepared and attempted well in the previous unsuccessful attempts.
- After completion of your articleship, if you are yet to clear the Final exam, never join any kind of employment / business / earning activity, whatever financial hardship you may be facing. Skip your daily meals but don’t try to earn any penny until you clear your CA.
- Never think about the alternatives if you could not become a CA. Take a vow that you’ll go to Himalaya if you could not become a CA.
- Last but not the least – “Persistence and perseverance pays”. Every dog will have its day. All your personal problems will get automatically solved when you will become a CA. Remember – The value of the CA degree is just due to the examinees who could not clear it.
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