“Practice makes a man perfect”. This should be your daily mantra while preparing for CA Intermediate examinations. You need to understand the importance of having a clear-cut strategy especially for challenging exams like CA Intermediate. In this article, you will find detailed and effective methods to approach each subject covered under the CA Intermediate syllabus.
General Guidelines:
DO RTPs, MTPs and QUESTION PAPERs without fail. Keep doing it repeatedly as a few questions come directly from here. This is one of the most important tips you should implement well.
Around 10-15 marks of the paper is asked from the latest RTP. Hence, make Cover it thoroughly.
Even if you have not finished your SM & PM, must solve at least 3 mock test papers & past 3 question papers. This will help you when you are sitting in the exam hall for writing and you know the manner to answer any question.
Paper-1: Accounting
The main focus for this paper must be on Accounting Standards as it is an easy area to score at.
The first and foremost rule for Accountancy is to not mug up, but to understand the various concepts and topics. This is important to make the base strong which will further help in solving various difficulty level questions.
Important questions must be practised frequently and repeatedly.
Maintain a study journal to note down:
Important concepts
Important questions
Easy to access notes
Important formulas
Paper-2: Corporate and Other Laws
As per the latest notice by ICAI, Paper 2 will be partially subjective and partially objective in the ratio of 70:30.
This places extra pressure on your side, so as to ensure to not miss out on any topic lest you mess up the 30 marks objective session.
Theory papers need to be answered in a technical manner. Your vocabulary and technical presentation will be judged to a great extend and therefore, over and above understanding concepts, you also need to master the art of mugging up important terms and sections.
Corporate law has the highest weightage and hence, make sure you attain a strong base on the same.
Law comes with the risk of boredom since it’s pure theory. This is the outlook and experience of many students. But law can only get interesting and easy to study if you concentrate on the whys rather than on the whats. Behind every drafted law, there is logic. Try to understand why the provision exists. This helps to increase analytical skills and to build a strong base.
Paper-3: Cost and Management Accounting
It is always better to start and be done with the small and easy chapters first. The reason corresponds to the simple fact that all the small chapters collectively contribute to a huge weightage of marks.
Keep repeatedly practising important questions from important chapters as it is imperative that you think less and produce more on the answer sheet at the time of the exam.
Maintain a correction journal to jot down your mistakes for future reference.
Maintain a formula book as costing and management accounting has numerous formulas which are to be memorised.
Focus more on practical questions than on theory as the relative weightage of marks is greater in the former one.
Paper-4: Taxation
As per the latest notice by ICAI, Paper 4 will be partially subjective and partially objective in the ratio of 70:30.
Practice, practice, practice as many questions as you can to cover atleast a significant percentage of the variety of questions and question banks available.
Indirect tax covers the GST Act. You should make it a habit to understand each and every provision as it is an easy area to score.
Direct tax, which covers the Income Tax Act, 1961 must be studied diligently. You can concentrate more on relatively important chapters which includes, but not restricted to Basic Concepts, Residential Status, Salaries, Income from House Property.
Profits and Gains from Business and Profession is a vast chapter which requires efficient allocation of time. Therefore, it is not advisable to keep this for the last minute.
Section numbers of important provisions must be memorised.
Paper-5: Advanced Accounting
The main focus for this paper must be on Accounting Standards as it is an easy area to score at as they will cover a minimum of 20 marks of the paper.
Important questions must be practised frequently and repeatedly.
Maintain a study journal to note down:
Important concepts
Important questions
Easy to access notes
Important formulas
There must be atleast one question from the Buy Back, Underwriting or ESOP carrying 8 marks or two questions of 4 marks each and are chapters which are generally easy to prepare for.
Company accounts carry an average of 30-35 marks. Practice can make you perfect at it as it’s generally confined to sticking to formats.
Partnership accounts is a large portion of the syllabus and hence, you must allocate time towards it wisely, efficiently and keeping in check your priorities.
Paper-6: Auditing and Assurance
As per the latest notice by ICAI, Paper 6 will be partially subjective and partially objective in the ratio of 70:30.
Auditing and Assurance is one paper which is tedious to score at. Hence, the only path to success is to read and understand each and every provision in order to be able to reproduce it in technical writing.
While studying, note down and highlight each keyword and repeatedly revise those keywords. Your presentation or language proficiency won’t matter unless such key terms are included in your answer script.
Standards on Auditing should be one area of focus as it covers an average of 15-20 marks and is easy to interpret and learn.
Company Audit should be the next priority for 3 reasons:
It is very easy and very interesting to learn
It covers an average of 30 marks of the question paper
You have already covered it substantially in Paper-2: Corporate and other Laws
Paper-7: Enterprise Information Systems and Strategic Management
As per the latest notice by ICAI, Paper 6 will be partially subjective and partially objective in the ratio of 70:30.
This subject is equally divided into two sections one is Enterprise Information System (EIS) and the other one is Strategic Management (SM). SM is considered as scoring and easy while EIS is difficult to learn and retain.
In Enterprise Information systems most scoring and easiest topic is Flowchart and Decision Table (covers an average of 8 marks).
Make summary of the chapters. Chart format is preferable because at the exam time revision of the entire course is not possible from the book. So, be ready with the summary notes.
Lack of revision is a key issue faced for EIS. Hence, make it a habit to revise daily in order to improve retention skills.
Your language proficiency matters a lot in EIS and SM.
Write and practice answers instead of merely reading it. This helps in improving your vocabulary which will act as a huge advantage for your answer script.
Paper-8: Financial Management and Economics for Finance
The subject is divided into two sections one is Financial Management and another one is Economics for Finance. Financial Management covers the major part consisting of 60 marks and Economics for Finance consists of 40 marks.
Start from the basic theory and formulas of the chapters so that you can easily solve the difficult level questions.
It is always better to start and be done with the small and easy chapters first. The reason corresponds to the simple fact that all the small chapters collectively contribute to a huge weightage of marks. Eg: Leverage, Ratios etc
Economics for Finance is basic, simple and easy to understand. Reading it thoroughly and understanding concepts will definitely fetch sufficient marks.