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EXAM COOLER

Are you concerned about how you will perform in the exam? Or are you struggling to manage the pressure of the exam? Then you have made the correct decision and are reading the correct content for a change.

See a far as I am concerned, exam is just a bench mark to see how u have prepared. It’s not an evaluation on how knowledgeable you are. You may be the last word in any subject but when it comes to exam the person who is far more inferior to you, as far as the knowledge level is concerned, scores more or even manages to get a rank while you ponder over the fact  what hit you and caused you to FAIL !!!!.

The Answer is simple - The other guy has a strategy and you don’t.

Believe me when I say, CA exam is a WAR and wars are seldom fought and won without a strategy.

Let me tell you a truth. Once a person wrote an exam and scored 28 marks. But the funny thing is he studied only 1 chapter out of 20 chapters. Yes, in CA Exam and he failed. (No, he was not a genius). So if you extrapolate (using complex probabilistic and statistical Formulas), he could have passed the exam with exemption if he had studied at least 8 important chapters.

That’s called a strategy. They say all is fair in love and War.

Believe me no one is going to remember how much mark you secured or what stupid things you wrote or what all tricks you used to tackle the exam. At the end of the day what matters is ARE YOU A CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT OR NOT.  That’s all.

So my advice is you need not worry about how you are going to perform in exam or how the exam questions are going to be.

The only thing to be concerned with is whether you have a plan or strategy and how you make most of your time. Everything else is insignificant.

So the next question, Is there a thing called fail proof strategy? NO, all strategy are bound to have their structural flaws. But thats the risk you will have to take. When you are lazy at least take some risk for a change (by the way that’ll spice your life too).

So let’s put certain things into perspective and these are hard truths that are difficult to swallow and I learned them the hard way. These are underground secrets none would ever bother to tell you because they never realize they know them.

ü  Unless you are trying for a rank all you need is just 50 Marks or 40 Marks to pass.

ü  WOW!! - That means you can waste the other 50 marks out of 100 (I always see the bright side- Optimism)

ü  Prepare to the extent possible because unless you prepare you won’t pass.

ü  Everything that you score between just pass and Rank is useless and will never be acknowledged.

ü  The above statement is true because I know an incident when a multinational company selected a person who got just pass over a rank holder. It’s your aptitude and confidence that matters and not Rank. Cos at the end of the day we are all Chartered Accountants.

ü  Always revise the portions that you have studied the day before the exam. Even though you have studied your subjects thoroughly if you don’t revise all your efforts would be in vain. Because you might get confusions in the exam hall. Now the ICAI has provided day leave between the exams earlier it was like a fire cracker set on fire, once started it’ll stop only after all the exams have been exhausted

ü  Do you know why the pass percentage is very low in CA exams? It’s simply because you don’t revise the portions just before the exam or more comfortably you have not studied at all. In my earlier discussion I never said you should not study and revise. Let’s be clear on that. There is difference between not studying and studying something or studying portions that are relevant (This involves a certain portion of Risk – selective study, but it’ll do the trick in most of the cases and reduce the burden).

ü  You need not know the whole subject to pass.

ü  If a friend of yours has immense knowledge in a subject (I know how you feel- the bloody hell with him) that’s his problem. Don’t bother, your objective is to pass and not be the all-in-all in a subject.

ü  All you need to have is some basic knowledge of the subject, 100 grams logic, 50 Grams confidence and a thought lingering in your mind "Whatever happens I’ll write something and pass this exam”. Amen

ü  Exam is not the end of you carrier because the next exam is only 6 months away. Rome was not built in a day and even god took 6 days to create the entire universe and got it working( all though there are so many bugs to be fixed) so what make you think you can do it all in a day. But yes the monetary or Economic benefits that are to flow will be delayed but who the hell is bothered about time value of money.

ü  The word is "PERSEVERENCE”. I know you will be running for a dictionary by now. It means to continue in a course if action in spite of difficulty or with little or no indication of success. So that’s it I‘ve said it.

ü  You need not do 100 questions in a chapter to understand it. What you need is "CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING”. Just 5 questions are enough to get the concept. Remember CA exam is not just 1 chapter or 1 subject. So utilize your time properly (Put in lazy man’s terms Minimum input -Maximum Output)

ü  The trick in leaving a question is not just leaving it unattended – but just tabulate the data under a head called "ANALYSIS OF DATA” and try to do something with your logic and available knowledge. But please don’t come up with new concepts and theories and unlegislated sections.

ü  Don’t go into Research mode when you have very little time to study. Research about how something came and why, should be probed into only if you have sufficient time to waste.

ü  Don’t fear. Fear can act against you in exams. The thing is when you have fear it‘ll cause your brain to shut down and it’ll stop functioning the moment you touch the question paper. It’s like kryptonite and you know who you are(Hint. The Man in tights who is wrongly dressed). Even if you have prepared thoroughly (even after my long lecture about not studying in the earlier points) if you have fear you’ll mess up you exam. So be CONFIDENT.

ü  Regardless of how you have performed in the first exam or earlier exam once you have paid the exam fee please go and write the exam. The future is uncertain and your ability to write the next exam will depend upon the happening or non happening of certain future uncertain events !!@@. So never miss a chance to write your exam because you’ll never know what awaits you. Some time you will pass in the exam for which you have not prepared (just by luck- & not always true) and fail in the one for which you have studied nicely (happens all the time).

ü  Presentation: The way you present your answer fetches you the mark. Your paper has to stand out of the crowd (and with your level of preparation, without a speck of doubt you know that’s never gonna happen if only the content is considered). Your six months of preparation comes down to 3 hours of exam and in those 3 hours you get only 10 minutes to capture the valuer’s attention. Make his job easier and you’ll be rewarded.

ü  Prayer has an immense effect on your thought process. Imagine if someone told you that he/she will come to the exam hall and help you with your exam, won’t you be relieved? Of course you would. Just keep that faith in GOD. At least the same amount of trust that you were putting on a worthless mortal human.

ü  Trust in GODs plans helps you to take things lightly. It gives you hope that even if you make a mistake god will help you. If you forget, he will whisper the answer in your ears. But in order for you to translate what he is whispering you have to study.

ü  BELIEVE!! NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GOD. Just humble yourself and ask for his help.

ü  Now if you fail think that next time you’ll be a better Chartered Accountant, who has more knowledge, experience and capability to handle situations and one day you will be able to motivate, induce and give a FANTABULOUS BLAH BLAH to your fraternity on how to cool off the exam heat.

 On that note it’s me, Nishanth Ernest signing off. Happy exams.