Preparation tips for ca ipcc exams

 A very small and easy question but very difficult to answer.

1. Try and evaluate in which subjects you need classes.

• - It is not necessary to join classes for all the subjects. 
• - Joining classes for all subjects will be a complete wastage of time and money.
• - You should join classes only for those subjects which you are unable to complete by yourself.
• - Personally I took classes for Acc., Adv. Acc., CAFM and Audit. I did self study for Law, Taxation and ITSM.

2. Selection of Classes

Don't go for those classes which gives more attractive discounts and good prizes. But choose according to your need. I know many students who are influenced by glamour of coaching classes and ignores the quality of teaching.

According to me, you can follow some steps to get good quality classes - 

• - Ask for demo classes
• - Take feedback from your friend who has taken same classes earlier
• - Don't ignore even a single mistake by faculty or mgt during trial class
• - If they try to fool you by discount, small batch size or huge prizes; don't get mislead.
• - Always keep in mind you are joining classes to study and not for anything else so check whether study enviornment is there or not.
• - At last have faith in your faculty, he will try his best while teaching because every teacher wants his student to be successful at least to attract more students :P

3. Selection of right books.

• - It is very necessary to select right books for each subject and stick to same till your exams are over. 
• - Don't ignore Study material by ICAI, they are really very important.
• - As per CA IPCC AIR Rank 2 interview on CCI, "Students think Institute has given the books for free. But actually they are not free they have taken fees in consideration. They buy Accounts Reference, Stats Reference and scanners. They don't even open institute books. In All the papers I could see (30 - 40) % direct questions came from institute's book."
• - As per my view choose any book to study but don't ignore any topic from study material.
• - Have faith in the book you have choose. Don't change book because every author has tried to put his 100% in the book and no book is bad.
• - For best books as per my view refer: 
• /forum/welcome-to-ca-cpt-passed-256977.asp

4. Preparation of Notes

• - I would strongly advise you to prepare notes for all subjects.
• - You should makes notes only for you so put only those topics which you consider necessary for you and in your own language.
• - Don't make too lengthy notes as it will be of no use if you can't revise them in one day before exam. My tax notes were so small that I could revise my whole IPC Tax 2 times within 10 hours.
• - Try to use flowcharts, Hinglish (Hindi + English), Diagrams etc to make you notes easy and interesting.
• - In practical subjects note all your assumptions and concepts in a seperate diary which can be revise before exams. I prepared a diary for CAFM and I got 74. It will be very helpful.
• - Always note important (note not hard but important) questions on a seprate paper. You should note difficult question seperately. You should revise important question before exams and difficult question after your 2 or 3 revision when you are very confident that you can solve any question.
• - You can also note in a separate diary, formats of all the questions. For eg, in Accounts there were lots of questions which were repeatitive in exams so I prepared a format that how I will solve such question if I got such questions in my exam. I got 14 marks questions exactly same as I mentioned in this diary.

5. What are important questions?

• - In practical portion, Questions which cover all or maximum concepts of the chapter are important. 
• - Important question should be easy so that it can be revised a day before exam easily without any hesitation.
• - Don't put difficult question to be solved a day before exam, as this can effect your confidence level.
• - Important Questions should be only 10-15% of the questions in the chapter.
• - In theory subjects, questions repeatitive in exams are important. I don't think there is any shortcut in Theory every topic is important. But still you can search on Google or CCI for important topics in theory subjects.

6. Revision

• - It is important to revise your whole course at least 2 times before exams.
• - It is impossible to revise all questions. So always be selective while revising them.
• - But must ensure that all the concepts have been revised properly.
• - Before exam try to practice some mock tests. They will make you ensure in which area you are lacking.
• - Don't do anything new 20 days before exam. Focus should be more on completed topics

7. How much hour to study

• - A silly question, but still many students are searching for it regularly.
• - Once some juniors asked me the same question, I said I used to study whenever I get time. Some day it go beyond 14 hours, some time hardly 1-2 hours. 
• - My seniors use to tell me prepare you plans in advance and try to follow them. But sincerely speaking I never followed any written plan. Ya, I do create plans but follow them according to my needs.
• - For eg, I create a target that I will complete this portion in such number of days. Don't prepare schedule like study accounts for 3 hours, audit for 2 hours, tv for 1 hour etc, very difficult to follow such a schedule.
• - My teacher told me a very good technique to improve your performance, he said prepare a weekly schedule on starting of a week and check on last day of the week what was your efficiency ratio during the week and again make plan for next week with necessary modification. In this way you will always have an idea what are your shortcomings.
• - Finally after all the discussion I would say according to me a regular study is more important then 10-12 hours study irregularly. 
• - I read many Rank holders interview, overall my observation was : coaching/ college + 2 hours self study during starting period, 6-8 hours for 4 months before exams, 10-14 hours for 1 month before exam.

8. How to solve any problem?

• - Biggest problem with our a CA Student study life that he has no one to cosult his problems.
• - Problem might be your personal problem or problems related to your study.
• - I got a nice solution to this problem during webcast by ICAI.
• - A faculty said, " write all your problems on a paper".
• - If you have any doubt or problem don't keep it to your mind, just write it down on a page because lots of time we don't even know what is our problem and any doubt can be solved easily when it is front of our eyes.
• - Seriously guys, it's a very nice technique just try it.
• - If still your doubt is unsolved, search it on google or ask it to CCI members.

9. Friends selection 

• - Guys sorry!! If anyone got hurt.
• - According to me it is necessary to have good friends during study life as half of your day you spend with them.
• - When I joined my Accounts classes I met some new friends who after some time started forcing me to bunk classes, drink alcohol and smoke. 
• - I left their company and joined new group, who were not so good in studies but had more focus on studies.
• - We were a group of 4 students and all of us cleared our CA IPCC with good marks. So friends seriously matter.
• - I read a AIR 3 interview she said, "I am very much thankful to my friend who was also my room partner. I got AIR 3 and she got AIR 13. We used to help each other during our studies."

10. Negativity Vs. Positivity

• - Never lose hope, I also before exam was feeling very low due to pressure of exams but avoid such things.
• - If you are feeling low, consult with your parents only. They can help you best.
• - Never get afraid if your friend say that he is very well preprared for exams.
• - Always think about positive things.

11. During Exam

• - Don't be too excited if you know the questions or if question paper is too easy.
• - Don't be depressed if you don't know the question or if you paper is difficult according to you.
• - In both cases, you can ruin you paper.
• - Always keep in your mind, if paper is easy, it is easy for all and if paper is hard, it is hard for all.

12. Other Miscellaneous

• - My personal advise would be avoid using social networking or other similar materials like whatsup, fb, msg etc. I am only using fb to receive latest updates from CCI, CA groups and some institutes. 
• - Refer webcast available on ICAI website for CA IPCC preparation they are really awesome. ICAI has done a really very nice work by making webcasts available on internet. They are very useful.
• - Read interviews of AIR Holders on CCI or other websites. They are really inspiring.

Thank you!! I have tried my best to put all my experiences and observations in this article. I hope this would be useful for the students.

These are personal views and completely based on my own experience. Sorry if anyone got hurt.