"Form mein aakar last day par perform karna zaroori hai, warna zaari mehnat paani mein jayegi"
My favourite quote is "Don’t wait for the papers to finish. Wait for them to start", this is what we have worked so hard for. Time to show the examiner that we deserve to be a CA
2 HOURS BEFORE THE PAPER: What one must do before the paper. I don’t recommend you to study till the last moment. Your mind must be relaxed and happy for it to perform the best. What I used to do was that I used to watch an akshay kumar movie scene before the paper as it made me laugh everytime. You can listen to music or anything that relaxes you.
MINDSET AT THE START of the PAPER: When the paper starts , blank your mind to any expectation. Hum ek particular paper pattern expect karen aur us baar ICAI ne pattern badal diya to immediately loss of concentration ho jata hai. So just tell yourself whatever the pattern I know the concepts and I will answer.
TIME MANAGEMENT: As a general rule 1.8 minutes per mark for income tax and 1.5 minutes per mark for GST.
I suggest since GST has shorter answers and is simpler to do attempt it first and take 60 minutes to finish it.
EXAM POINTERS:
There is step marking so try and finish the question in the time allocated else move to the next question and leave space for the unfinished answer to come back to if you have time.
Practice at home writing the answers within time
The 3 C’s of PTC to ensure you pass in the first attempt
Clarity of Presentation: write all steps and don’t just concentrate on getting the final answer right
Completing the paper within Time: Attempting all questions within the given time is the key to scoring high marks
Clarity of Concept: Study indepth as the MCQ’s can only be answered with detailed study
In the first one hour we must try and gain maximum marks.
In the first 45 minutes even if we can assure ourselves of getting 20/30 marks it’s a great start, Ab bas 20 marks aur for passing and then we go for exemption.
If any MCQ is taking time (remember you have roughly 1.8 mts per marks) then leave it.
Next pick up GST – short questions & simpler than Income Tax : 28 Marks - 60 minutes even if we can get 20 then in the first 90 minutes we have reached 35 marks.
Now for 42 marks we have 90 minutes…do the total income question where there is tax calculation towards the end.
CA. Arvind Tuli