Tips for CA preparing students, well..almost

Before I wrote the exams, I had decided to write an article about how to prepare for CA, of course if and when I pass CA. I did pass CA but then decided not to go on with the tips because it’s not so intelligent when you think about it. But then again I thought “What the heck, at least my blog will have a new post” and here we go

·        Number of Months to study:

3 months, if you study that is.

·        Books to refer:

Whatever they are that you can procure. Just don’t spend more time thinking about books than thinking about the subjects

·        Books to borrow:

None. Prepare your own notes, buy your own books. Phukat me kuch bhi nai hota.

·        Time table:

Study at whatever time you want to.

·        Schedule:

Make your schedule around your study time. Not your study around your schedule of the Matinee or Pooja.

·        Before the Exam:

This is an actual tip. Don’t listen to idiots who study a hundred things from a hundred materials and speculate on how tough the paper is going to be and what chapters are more important. Just revise what you know and trust the text book you studied from.

·        In the Exam:

Sit down and concentrate on how to write. Don’t think about the result when writing the paper and don’t think about the paper when reading the result.

·        Subject wise tips:

Do the sums in accounts and SFM. Study the theory well in Auditing and Law. Do the problems in Costing. Study smartly in ISCA. Study the whole thing in IDT and DT. Thing is, in a practical paper, pass in the practical part itself keeping theory for spare or safety and vise versa.

·        Waiting for the Results:

Just do something worth your while and forget about the results. I am sick of all the results tension dialogs from people.

·        Bottom Line:

If you want to do something (CA in this case), just do whatever is required to finish that task. Stop BS-ing around and work towards it.

Operating in an exam

After I finished writing my last exam, I made a resolution that, in case I pass, I am going to write an article on exams and the operational tips to avoid flunking them. But then, I had to know something which I did differently from others.

So now I think about it and realize that I can’t recollect anything which I did as a specialty. Then how did I pass out the exam in which people who, I believe, work more than me and who are more alert than me. The core of this question is ‘How did I study?’ or ‘How many days/ How much did I study?’ I didn’t count the number of people who asked me this question but many did.

I did not study as much as many people think I did. I am not as intelligent as many people think I am either. I don’t work hard by any means and for me discipline is bullshit. But I am clever in my own ways and studied logically. All I really had, or tried to have, is a good commitment as to what I was studying and the schedule I prepared. The best thing about preparing a time table was that though I never really completed any of my targets, I did well enough. In the end, it was just enough to clear the papers.

If that was not enough, ill tell some real time tips, not the kind you will hear from your parents!

1. Attempt all the questions whether you know the answer or not. No one can give you less than zero marks for an answer, whatever the shit you write.

2. Manage your time in the exam. Divide the total marks (like 100) with the whole exam minutes (like 180) and you’ll get the number of minutes you can spare on each mark. So for a 10 mark question, if you spend more than 15 or 18 minutes, you are out of the race.

3. Forget the decorations. Keep your formatting and organizing to the basic. Concentrate on the damn subject matter.

4. Write spaciously. This makes up for your scratches and your fucked up hand writing.

5. Write the question numbers correctly and verify them at the end. Crucial.

6. If you don’t do well in an exam, don’t fool yourself by thinking that it’s over. Forgive yourself and start preparing for the next exam.

7. Black ink looks good only in your notes. Use blue.

8. The most important thing about any theory paper is grammar and vocabulary. Not the length of the answers. Even the subject matter comes second.