Many CA students look for some inspiring stories of CAs, specially those who showed the zeal, passion and commitment to bounce back from the lows. So many people give the example of CA Shailee Chaudhary. But there are many many more, whose story we don't know.
In this post, I am introducing you to one such proud CA - CA Shubham Goyal. He has been an outstanding student throughout -
School Topper from Delhi Public School (Kolkata)
Fellow Xaverian (2 years my junior!)
AIR 1 in the National Account Talent Search
AIR 5 in CA Foundation (erstwhile CPT)
AIR 38 in CA Final
And to top it all... Joining IIM Ahmedabad for his MBA this year.
An envious profile indeed!! But do you know the pain Shubham has had to go through in his journey to make a profile this strong? It is called the Pain of Failure... Let's hear it out from the man himself...
CA Shubham Goyal
As a CA student, I have had a very strange journey. It started with a high, went below expectations, and then rose again. However, this roller coaster of a journey also put me in a unique position to understand what works for this examination and what does not work. Let me briefly narrate my story and also my learnings at each step of my CA journey.
CA Foundation (erstwhile CPT) – A cakewalk
When I gave my CA Foundation, we had 200 MCQs divided into four sections of Accounts, Maths, Law, and Economics. The pattern has changed recently under the New Syllabus. Only the math and economic parts are now MCQ based.
I won’t delve much into how CA Foundation MCQs should be approached as people tend to clear them fairly easily and MCQs have also become a smaller part of the exam. In short, the best method I feel to approach MCQ type exams like CA Foundation or CAT is probably to just focus very well on concepts because:
It is difficult to identify exactly what topics/questions will be asked as a 1 mark question can be created from any part of the syllabus
Clearing concepts, as would also be evident in some CA Inter and Final subjects helps in revising concepts faster and saves preparation time.
If there is consistent study and clarity of concepts, I don’t think there should be a lot of issues in clearing this exam.
CA Intermediate (erstwhile IPCC) & CA Final – A different ball game altogether
Now, let’s talk about IPCC and Final. Firstly, there are some fundamental principles of scoring good marks which will always remain the same no matter what exam one gives. So, they might be working hard (>8 effective hours per day), but what is more important is trying to understand concepts and starting well in advance.
However, despite doing all of these and being a school topper + CPT rank holder, I could not clear my IPCC exams in one shot. In retrospect, I feel that the strategy was lacking somewhere. Overall, I think that the following were the major reasons why I could not clear my exams (and why many others are not able to do so too):
Focus: I think this is the biggest factor that determines success or failure in CA exams. The biggest issue with CA exams remains the humongous syllabus. The concepts are not very tough, neither are the questions tricky. It is just that the syllabus is so huge that people get lost. Some get lost in only doing tuitions, some get lost in reading fat books and the like.
Lack of practice in Practical subjects: Practical subjects have a very simple solution. Like MCQs, focus on the concepts. Once someone is clear with the concepts nothing else will really be an issue. Most students understand this. What they do not understand is after knowing the concepts, it is equally important to practice these questions because, until one practices, he or she will never get to know the major pain points.
Lack of quick revision methods for theory subjects: Theory subjects are the deal breakers for any student. It is mostly due to theory subjects like Audit and Law that students keep flunking in CA exams. These are the same students who would have otherwise scored 95+ in their board exams in theory subjects like business studies. The reason probably is the huge syllabus which is difficult to revise again and again.
It is an established fact that if you want to memorize something, you need to revise it twice or thrice. In CA theory subjects, this is only possible by using notes, highlighting etc. What helped me in CA final was highlighting content the first time I read something. I only read the highlighted content the next time. This helped me in revising the same subject multiple times.
I think these three are the key factors that probably worked against me in my CA Inter exams and worked in my favour in my CA Final exams. Clearing the CA exams in the first shot is not just academics, but also strategy and planning. Obviously, the list does not get over here. Apart from these things, giving mock tests, marking problematic sums in practical subjects for quicker revisions, maintaining a daily study routine and having a good circle of friends also helped me a lot. But these are things which will probably not have as big an impact as the above three factors.
As it is often said, CA course is a big teacher and it teaches you a lot of things outside of academics too. Above were some of my learnings which I think would be beneficial for any CA student to know. Wishing all the readers best of luck for their exams and future endeavours.
This was Shubham's journey - truly an inspirational one. The way he bounced back from the lows of IPCC and proved it as a one-off blip in this career is absolutely admirable. What must also be appreciated is the mental strength and determination he showed in quickly realizing his mistakes and converting them into his strengths in CA Final.
I am extremely thankful to Shubham for taking the time out and penning down this wonderful post for CA Exam Strategies. I sincerely hope this post would add some fire to the fuel amongst the readers to fight against all odds and negativities and focus solely on their target - the dream to be a CA.
If you have any observations, comments, questions or feedback - either for me or for Shubham, please let me know in the comments below.
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