Common Mistakes to Avoid in CA/IPCC Exam Preparation

Every year, probably during the months of May and November, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) conducts CA/IPCC examinations where a large number of students put their full potential to crack the papers and strive a tough competition to clear the same. However, even after preparing a lot, many of the ambitious minds commit silly mistakes and consequently, suffer in the results. Here, we are discussing some of the common mistakes made by the examinees during exams. Have a look and try to avoid them in your next attempts.

1. Do not get panicked

The first mistake that has been accounted a maximum number of times is that students start to get panicked after going over the first paper. There’s a common tendency among students that if one of the question papers comes a bit longer, for instance, they’ll start panicking. Before even making an effort to write the paper, they used to get worried about how they are going to complete it and this usually happens just after checking it out. Resultantly what they have thought earlier, becomes true. The worst part is they don’t leave what has gone and start spending time on a lot of things like recalling the exam time all over again, weeping, etc.,.
The point here is rather than thinking about how your previous exam has gone, you should start preparing for your next paper. What has gone, has actually gone. It won’t come back again. Instead of thinking about all those crap, give yourself a kick and arm yourself for the second exam.

2. Understand what paper evaluator thinks

Every evaluator has a different mindset of evaluation while checking the papers. You just need to grasp what techniques they would use or in what areas their mind will make a move. Put yourself in his place and think accordingly.

• To begin with, neat handwriting makes a very good impression. Your handwriting should be legible and fast. You could end up with a zero if the examiner is unable to read the sheet.
• Incorrect English or grammar plus wrong spellings is again a negative point, which uplifts the chances of losing marks.
• Read the question paper correctly. Sometimes, it may happen that what was asked and what you wrote becomes totally different things. Concentrate properly and think for a minute about what has been asked.
• Leave margin after completing your answer. This leaves a good impression on the checker.
• Maintain your word limit according to the marks allotted to each question. Be specific and brief for short answer questions. Evaluators always prefer correctness and specificity.

3. Manage Your Time

Always do your work effectively and efficiently. After glancing the paper thoroughly, have a rough idea in your mind that how much time you should devote on which question. It usually happens that students waste maximum time completing a single question and when they are done, they realize that an ample amount of time they have taken to complete just one answer. Plan your time according to the marks the question carries. For example, for one mark question, devote only one minute or max to max 1.5 minutes, not more than that.

4. Don’t Lose Focus

It is quite understandable that the CA examinations are majorly different and more demanding than the usual Graduate or under-graduate university exams, hence the approach made by CA students in terms of learning and training are highly distinct and more professional rather than the ordinary overnight study. Over a thousand of CA Journals, Books, Seminars, Webinars etc.,. are available in the market. However, it needs to get in mind that having concepts from a wide variety of stuff doesn’t make any sense. Students should be open-minded and sound enough to judge which material is near to their head & soul and focus on that particular thing only.

5. Selective Study

Suppose you have studied accounting standards 16-20, 22, 9, 26 pretty well as they appeared in the previous paper. But, what if you got 10 mark questions each from depreciation accounting, investment accounting or say from some other lessons. This normally happens. People study smartly by covering highly predictable topics, which is a good thing. But at the same time, do not ignore other topics completely. Go through each and every chapter once, though, render much time on the important areas.

6. Do Not Neglect Past Examinations/ Mock Test Papers

Although, studying textbooks has always been the most superior idea to succeed in any examination, yet to go beyond that doesn’t harm you. Past papers always work as a key to conquer the examinations and also help you perceive the idea about the patterns of questions. Have a glance over as many different papers you can have a look at as are available. You would be amazed to see that you how you’ll get much higher marks in the current attempt than from the previous ones. Further, you can also solve online mock papers run by various other institutes. This helps in enhancing your performance fairly and help you to prepare well for the examinations.

Recommended: Study Tips to Pass IPCC in First Attempt