Meet the Author – Divyam Parmar, AIR 13 CA Inter Dec ’21
Just another guy, aspiring to get the much coveted prefix ‘CA’ before his name. And apart from juggling between studies and articleship, I also happen to pen down some motivating stuff. Being a cricket enthusiast, I can discuss and talk about the game and its strategies for hours, and play few glory shots as well, if needed!
Divyam Parmar (CA Inter AIR 13) pursuing his graduation from HR College, Mumbai and is currently in his First Year of Articleship in KPMG and aspires to build a career in Finance.
The Last Hurdle – Self Study Period
The ‘Self Study period’ is one of the most crucial phases, in ones CA exam preparations, irrespective of the level you are in, irrespective of how diligently you have attended your classes. It is one of those phases that will dictate your success in the exams.
“So why are these 2.5 – 3 months before exams so important?” you may ask.
So, as we all know CA Inter and so is CA Final are well known for their mammoth, never-ending, bulky syllabus which really looks intimidating from onset, thus ‘planning-execution-practice’ becomes an important mantra to go about the business.
In this blog we will specifically talk about CA Intermediate and its dynamics.
Classes, lectures, good professors often make your task easier and simpler by making you understand the subject and different intricacies and tricky concepts that lies within it. But is it sufficient to crack the exams? Surely not. Yes, they do make a lot of difference and give you that headstart, but at the end of the day it is you who will be defining the fate of your journey.
“So how should I go about these 2.5 – 3 months period? and What strategies should I follow?”
Drawing a Macro & Micro Plan
First and Foremost thing, before you start with anything you should be really clear about the subjects and the chapters in those subject. Along with that you should be really mindful of your strengths and your weaknesses. It is an important consideration before you start with anything else.
Once you have an overall idea of the syllabus, next step is PLANNING, which can be broken down into ‘Macro Plan’ and ‘Micro Plan’ (Explained ahead). I cannot stress enough as to how important planning is to manage the ocean of syllabus that there is, and so skipping or compromising on this step can be quite suicidal.
Macro Plan
Macro Plan is basically structuring on how your 2.5 – 3 months ahead are going to look like in a nutshell. Things to be considered before- Number of revisions you plan to do, number of mock tests you plan to appear for.
For example- So consider you have 90 days (approx.), you should start your planning from end i.e. your exams are going to commence from 2nd November and considering around 29th October you need to complete your revisions, because from 30th October you’ll start preparing for your 1st paper.
Let’s say I aim for 3 revisions and so for 3rd revision I reserve 2 days for each subject (except for accounts), so now I have 76 days left (90- 14).
In these 76 days you need to complete 2 revisions, now in 2nd revision you plan to allocate 3.5/4 days to each subject. Now by this you should take around 30 days for 2nd revision and thus you have 46 days left for 1st revision.
So by simple maths you have approx.. 6 days for each subject during 1st revision.
Micro Plan
Under Micro Plan you need to structure the order, sequence and allocate time and day to each chapter which needs to be completed within those defined number of days (which might be 6/4/2 days, depending on the number of revisions you are doing)
This is how your micro plan will simply add colors to the broad outline you have pasted by way of macro plan. And therefore, it becomes quite important for you to understand your strengths and weakness, because let’s say Accounts is something you are good at versus Audit/EIS-SM you can allocate a day more to Audit and adjust it with Accounts.
Now that the planning is done, you pull your socks up to actually go into the battlefield. 3 months seems a long period, indeed it is, but the approach of taking 1 day at a time, 1 subject at a time and 1 chapter at a time is surely going to make you sail for long.
Mock Tests – Make or Break
‘Make or Break’ thing can be solving Mock Tests, because one simply cannot be a great swimmer by just reading a book about it, one needs to dive in the sea for becoming great. Similarly, if you want to ace ICAI exams, you will need to have practice of paper writing, which is definitely an art in itself.
Key point, that might help
After completing each subject during 1st /2nd /3rd revision try to give one mock test of that subject, by creating exam atmosphere and setting up time accordingly. The focus is definitely not on how much you score but rather on paper completion, presentation, ability to recall answers and most importantly on how to manage pressure during those 3 hours.
This will ensure you at least have writing practice of 2/3 mocks of each subject under your belt, which is really great!
Not everything might go as planned!
Definitely there are going to be days where your targets aren’t going to be met, you might feel restless, but always remember that there are other thousands of students like you who are going to same trough. Just hold yourself for that moment, feed yourself with some positive energy by doing stuff you cherish before you resume your battle with fresh and optimistic vibes.
Now amidst all this you can either feel sorry for yourself for slogging for hours or to take this journey in positive stride and enjoy the process, it is just a matter of perspective so why not happily sail through this rather than bogging ourselves down with those negative thoughts.
In the end just remember one thing ‘Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.’
If you want to deep dive then check 13 facts you must know while preparing for ca intermediate exams & crack CA Inter Exam in the very first attempt.
For more study resources & informational content checkout this page.
*Disclaimer: This is a personal blog. Any views or opinions represented in this blog are personal and belong solely to the blog owner and do not represent those of the people, institutions or organizations that the owner may or may not be associated with in professional or personal capacity, unless explicitly stated. Any views or opinions are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company or individual.
