How to Plan Studies - for CA Final Students
CA Final Students will fall in the following 2 categories:
1. A student who has cleared both the groups of IPCC and joined CA Final along with articleship training, gets a period of 2.5 years (i.e. 30 months) to study for CA Final exam.
2. Those students who are from direct entry (i.e. through graduation route) or those who cleared Group II of IPCC during articleship training will get lesser time to prepare for CA Final.
In both the above cases, the most difficult task is to manage the balance between articleship and study.
Let’s first plan for 24 hours available in a day. One must take a rest of minimum 6 and maximum 8 hours in a day. Good rest is a must to keep working efficiently for the whole day.
Articleship training (including travelling time) will consume approx 8 to 10 hours in a day.
Your daily routine like getting ready, having food etc. will consume approx 2 hours in a day.
Now, you might be left with approx 6 hours in a day for studies. Let’s say 1 hour goes in checking Emails, SMS, WA and mobile related issues. It means, you are effectively left with 5 hours for study. Let’s be more realistic and practical.
Now, spend this time for effective study. Join the coaching classes only in the morning or in the evening time. If you join the classes in the morning as well as in the evening, then it will be too hectic for you. Keep one patch of morning or evening free for revision at home. This is very important.
If you find that attending coaching classes is very difficult for you, due to time constraint, then you may opt for online coaching or offline video lectures through pen drive & DVD.
As far as possible, plan for both the groups together.
Your regular studies or coaching classes should get over 6 months before the exam.
In the last 6 months before the exam, you should devote 4 months for revision of 8 papers (15 days for 1 paper) and last 2 months for self testing (1 paper per day per week x 8 weeks).
It means, you should have appeared for each paper atleast 8 times before the exam. Self testing can be done only after the revision is over. Self testing involves either joining paid test series of ICAI or Coaching Institutes or downloading the ICAI question papers and solving them at home in a time bound manner.
Your 30 months, should get utilized as follows : (a) First 24 months for Regular studies, (b) Next 4 months for Revision and (c) Last 2 months for Self testing.
The above plan may not be suitable for each one of you. In that case, you can modify this plan to suit your needs and requirements.
For the purpose of your regular studies, please keep full trust or faith in any one teacher or one author or ICAI study material. If you choose multiple sources of learning for one.
subject, you are most likely to get confused. You may end up wasting your valuable time.
Generally, 90% contents in all the study material are same. But due to difference in the way of teaching style or the manner of presentation or language used by different teacher or author, you will get confused. Please stick to one literature, one teacher or one author per subject only. This is very important. I have noticed that, the students who study more and more are likely to get more and more confused.
Refer the other literature only as a reference book but only one study material as a regular study book.
Please note that, effective study is important and not the number of hours spent of studies. Study with understanding only and not just for the sake of studying. It is a very common question from students, asking for how many hours they should study for CA course. There is no fixed formula for it.
You should decide for how much time you can study with concentration. Generally, a normal student can concentrate up to maximum 2 hours at a stretch. In such case, you should take a small break (to recharge you battery) of 15 to 30 minutes and then start studying again. If you feel sleepy, please take a power nap of 30 minutes (set an alarm) and then return back to your studies.
Very important : Have confidence in your own ability. Feel motivated and focused. Keep cool. Don’t panic and don’t get distracted. Avoid exam fever. It is not the matter of life and death. It is just an exam.
Best of luck !
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