CA-CPT-Examination tips

So finally the day of the exam has arrived. What are the points to keep in mind before you appear for the examination?

Have a good amount of sleep the night before. Do not skip your sleep. Otherwise, all the efforts taken would go in vain.

Make sure you have all the required stationery in hand. Do not reserve this for the last. Ensure you have everything prepared 3 to 4 days before the examination.

Check for the hall ticket or admit card and all the necessary documents. I personally suggest you to maintain a file 3 to 4 days before the examination to avoid any last minute hassle.

Also, it is advised you visit your exam centre well in advance before your actual day of the exam to plan the commute and timing properly.

Stop revising the night before the exam. I do know this is very hard to resist because you will see a lot of students flipping through the pages till the last minute. However, i suggest to reach the exam hall well before time and try to revise it in your mind.

Now let us look at how to approach each subject on the examination day:

Accountancy quick tips:

Answer the question with all the steps involved. Step marks matter a lot. Even the smallest step would fetch you half or one mark.

Neat presentation is a treat to the eyes for the examiner . However, it is not the most important criteria and hence you can draw the columns even free hand without spending much time on using a scale and pencil.

If the balance sheet does not tally, do not spend your time continuously on trying to tally it. Come back to it after you are done with the other questions.

Try to draft your rough works at the last page of the answer booklet. Also remember to strike them out before submitting the paper so that the examiner does not assume them to be answers.

Use your calculator with utmost care and attention. It is natural for us to punch in the numbers with haste because of the limited availability of time in hand. However, it is important that you are not careless while using the calculator. Also, ensure the memory of the calculator is cleared before you proceed with a fresh calculation. Otherwise, the numbers might be distorted along with the previous answers. Always carry two calculators to the examination hall as a backup. Casio MJ Desktop calculator is a really fast processing calculator along with soft touch keypads. Also, it is not necessary to use the calculator for every step. For eg : If you have to calculate : 5000 + 3000 +4000, these kind of calculations can be very well done in your mind, since it is easy to solve even without a calculator. This is a time saviour.

Ensure you use the same calculator in the exam that you used during your preparation. This may sound like a very trivial point. However, it is really important since the placement of the keypads in your regular calculator are something that your muscle memory gets used to, thereby making your punching speed faster and accurate.

Business Laws quick tips:

Quote the exact words from the Act while defining any term from the Act. Avoid usage of own words when quoting provisions from the Act.

In case, you do not remember the relevant section, do not quote the wrong section. Just write “As per the relevant provisions of the Act,….” .This is sufficient.

In all the questions, start by writing the relevant provisions of the Act and then move on to explaining how that provision is applied here. The basic format to answer any law related question is “Provision.Analysis.Conclusion”. Ensure you answer all these three points.

Try to answer in pointers as much as possible along with side headings and also underline the keywords. Side headings and underlining the keywords are really important so that the examiner will understand the content of your answer without having to read through the entire answer line by line.

Quantitative aptitude quick tips:

Do not attempt answering by fluke in this subject just because it is an objective paper. It will prove to be a blunder if you attempt with that mindset.

If you are comfortable, try to start attempting statistics first. Once you complete the difficult part, it would give you more time to answer business mathematics and logical reasoning which is relatively easier but time consuming.

Use the substitution method. In problems, where you are asked to find the value of a variable x or y, you can save time by substituting the options in the equation and find the correct result without having to solve the entire sum.

Use the 50- 50 method . Out of the four options given, rule out two wrong options . These can be identified half way through solving the problem. Hence, it becomes easier with two options than four.

Economics quick tips

Unlike Quantitative aptitude, answering economics questions do not require much of calculation. If you are strong with the concepts, theories and its application, economics and commercial laws is a cakewalk and can be completed quickly during the examination.

There a few tips that are common to all subjects. Let us take a look at what they are :

Go through the question paper in the 15 minutes time given. Grab the key words as to what the question demands. Do not become over anxious.

In case of subjective papers like accountancy and law, always start with question no.1 which is a compulsory question. Also, do not juggle between the questions. Answer question wise. Some say it is okay to start with the last question or the question that you are confident about. However, it is highly suggested to be orderly considering the examiner’s mindset while correcting the paper. Leave some space in between the answers to come back and continue. Do not be stuck with one question.

When you are confused about which question to choose from the optional question, pause and think which one might be able to fetch you more marks even if it is one or two marks extra. Attempt that question.

Neat presentation is a treat to the eyes for the examiner. However, it is not the most important criteria. Try to use a single pen and not juggle between blue and black pens. However, do not skip underlining the keywords.

Always reserve a minimum of 5 to 10 minutes to check your paper before submitting. This time is not meant for checking the accuracy of your answers, rather it is to check if you have answered all the questions and its relevant sub parts.

All the best ! 🙂

CA-CPT – Examination Tips