For any student who has just enrolled for the CA course or has just started preparation for CA Foundation, this is a big question. In this post, I am trying to answer this question with a pinch of salt. Read on...
I am someone who scored 91% in CA CPT (yes, I know it was all MCQ then, it is semi-MCQ now) with AIR 10 - all by self-study. So I hope, this builds some credibility that what you are going to read further in this post, it is something tried and tested.
CA Foundation is your step in the beautiful profession of Chartered Accountancy and also your first step in your pursuit to realize your dream of getting the two coveted letters prefixed to your name.
At the same time, you should also bear in mind that CA Foundation is the easiest set of exams you can expect from this profession. Out of the 4 subjects of CA Foundation - Accounting, Business Laws, Economics and Business Maths+LR, you would find that a major chunk of the 3 subjects - Accounting, Economics and Business Maths & Stats is already covered in your Plus 2 level.
This is why I recommend --> there is NO NEED for you to look at anything beyond ICAI STUDY MATERIAL for CA Foundation.
While this may appear a bit too difficult to digest for you, given the hoards of students outside Inox Accounts, PVR Economics, and Cinepolis Maths, take it from me, there also a whole lot of people who study on their own and get excellent results.
The best thing to do to ace CA Foundation (may I extend this to all the levels? What do you think?) is to study through the ICAI study materials and read them thoroughly. You will find more than 80% of the CA Foundation question paper to be from the study material itself.
If you are still keen on referring to some reference books, here is a post solely on this topic. If you are on any of those CA notes Telegram groups, you would know that there are a lot of scanners and books floating on the web for FREE in pdf form. Please be cautious while using them because they may not represent 100% coverage of the syllabus, or may unduly simplify the language by eliminating some of the technical terms required by ICAI in your answers.
As far as the practical subjects are concerned, it is definitely better if you can refer a couple of books (not too many) for Accounts and Maths. It will strengthen your practice and help you adapt your mind to deal with a variety of questions.
Lastly, be careful to have clear concepts and application-oriented thinking. The pattern of the paper has changed a bit towards application-based. So study accordingly.
Thanks for reading!
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