The month of September has almost drawn to an end, and I hope you would be neck deep into some quality rounds of revisions and mock tests. I know this period can be mentally taxing on some students, and in this post, my attempt would be to address some of these mental blocks. Read on...

Nervousness & Anxiety

The last one month of exam prep is like the slog overs (overs 40-50) in One-Day cricket. You know there are only 10 overs to maximise your team's score. And the natural instinct is to hit every ball or at least score off every ball to minimize the dot balls. The same is the case for a CA student in the last one month of his/her exam prep. The focus needs to be to utilize each and every minute of the day fruitfully and productively.

There would be many instances during the next one month leading to your exams when you would start to feel a bit down on confidence, or go into self-doubt (The What-ifs that Nimisha Salampuria has talked about in her post Dreams Do Come True!). Trust me, this is ABSOLUTELY NORMAL. Even I have gone through it, and I sometimes feel the fun of exams is incomplete without that little bit of anxiety and nervousness.

But I would certainly caution against too much nervousness, anxiety and self-doubt. If you have given it your best shot in readying yourself for the main battle, there is absolutely no need to lose sleep over trivial things, most of which might just not be within your control. A major chunk of the anxiety builds when a student starts taking too much pressure unnecessarily - whether caused by internal thoughts, or external vibes. I think a good starting point to keep this nervousness at bay is to think about the bigger picture. Instead of thinking it as "Gosh, it is just 1 month to the exams now", think of it as "Okay, I still have 30 days to go". If you distinguish between the 2 lines of thought, the first one adds to the pressure and anxiety, making you feel as if you have very little time to complete a humongous task. But when you break it into larger numbers and smaller goals, the entire thought process becomes so positive. Suddenly, a seemingly difficult goal would become very easy if you can change your thoughts and combine this with strong planning and analysis.

Confidence is the key

I have been a big Michael Schumacher fan throughout (for those who don't know him, he has been one of Formula 1's greatest drivers of all times). The one thing which stood out in him (apart from of course, the extremely fast Ferrari car), was his confidence. That man had the confidence to win in the worst of situations - be it a bad start, or torrential rain, or even mechanical problem with his car. Till date, I haven't seen such confidence in any other race driver to win from 14th on the grid after the halfway mark of the race. It is this Never Give Up attitude which is so important in this last one month of a CA student's prep journey. Every one studies hard, but the one who can stay positive and ace the mental game eventually succeeds.

Believe in Yourself

Needless to say, confidence is a by-product of self-belief. Positive thoughts will emanate from your mind only if you believe in your capabilities and your prep. You will have to keep faith in your abilities to bounce back in tough situations and keep marching on. Remember that there must have been something in you which has brought you this far, and it is that belief that will take you to the path of glory even in future. So never stop believing in yourself, and never give up.

Conclusion

Last, but not the least, take care of yourself. Remember that you are the most precious element in this world for your parents. And this last one month is the time when you can prove your mettle and show them that if their son/daughter has the capacity to spend an entire day binge-watching and lazying around, that same person can also slog hard without any distractions, prepare well for competitive exams and succeed.

To all the Nov. 2020 CA aspirants reading this, Best of Luck from my side. May the pen be with you!!