CA students should be thankful to the ICAI for inculcating in them the virtues of discipline, time management, dedication, commitment, and hard work. All these qualities are tested when it comes to sticking to your study timetable. But did you clear this hurdle? Let's find out...
You must have already read my previous 2 posts on this subject. If not, please read them first, before going ahead with this post, otherwise, you would not understand much of what I am going to write here.
I assume you would have maybe spent some time preparing a customized study schedule for yourself. Kudos to the hard work and dedication you have put in. And now with the timetable in place, I hope you are able to follow it strictly.
What happened? Is the timetable a bit too strict? Are you finding it difficult to stick to it? Don't worry... this is normal. If you remember, in the first post of this series, I had clearly mentioned that I am not a timetable person. I myself could not continue it for more than 3 days. And I should not expect too much from you either.
So what is the solution to this? Are all those who advocate for a study plan misleading us? No, they aren't. They are saying something beneficial for you. Just that we have ourselves to blame. We are too indulged in the moh-maaya of the world (read: social media) that we do not want to cut ourselves totally and commit to a piece of paper.
In such a scenario, please allow me to put forth an alternative to a study plan. This is something I picked up from a friend of mine. And trust me, this is a much easier solution to the problem than preparing a timetable. Let's see what it is -->
Introduction to Tasktables
The main problem with a timetable is that it becomes a bit too difficult to follow after a point of time. For me it happened right after 3 days, for some it could be 3 months or for a few, maybe not at all. So the way out is to shift to making tasktables.
Here's the difference -->
Time Table - A schedule which states what is to be done at what time in a day. Task Table - A schedule which states what is to be done in a day.
The tasktable does a fantastic work of making you aware as to what you want to cover in a day or a week or a fortnight or a month. It is like a Google Calendar Task scheduler. It tells you what all needs to be done in a day and in what time.
Here is a sample task table -->
Source: Shweta Arora
The tasktable is much easier to prepare and follow. All it needs is a bit of thought into what all you want to set as the target of the day and what time you want to allocate to which activity.
Here's what a tasktable should normally include:
Main activities - What all activities you want to cover within a day - chapters, topics, subjects, videos, etc.
Description - Be specific in describing the activity - solving 10 questions of Direct Tax Chapter 4 (Salaries)
Time per activity - Write the appropriate time to complete each activity - in minutes or in hours (as may be applicable)
Total time required - Now that you have allocated the time required to complete each activity, add up the time for each task and arrive at a total figure (5 hours in this case)
Start time and end time - Note down the time when you will start studying and till when
Total time available - Calculate the total available on the basis of the start time and end time (7 hours in this case)
Free time - Subtract the total time required from the total time available to arrive at the free time you have in your hands to dispose of as you wish!
Another feature of a task table is the inherent motivation it provides. You must have observed the Google Calendar striking off each task after it is marked as done. The same thing applies here also. You get the opportunity to strike off each activity after you have completed it. This gives you added motivation.
This is what I shifted to when I just could not continue with the timetable. I had daily tasktables for myself, but on the basis of the number of pages per subject I intended to cover in a day, instead of a topic-wise tasktable, because of the sheer volume of the ICAI study material. Trust me it works. And it also does not need the level of commitment I talked about in one of my earlier posts. To start with, you can even use Google Calendar to maintain it. So it is an easy to prepare, maintain and execute alternative to a timetable.
This is how my task table used to look like at IIMA. Actually it used to be a whole lot more cluttered with activities right from 8:45 am to 2:00 am (There's no typo here!). But I don't want to give you guys a heart attack just yet. Clear CA first :p
Hope this helps solve your queries on how to prepare a timetable, what are the shortcomings and how you can easily derive much more effectiveness from a tasktable.
You can get in touch with me any time in case you have any questions, observations, comments or feedback on the topic of study plans, timetables and tasktables. And even in case of any other issues as well. You can contact me here.
Thanks for reading:)
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