Even if you secure 0, go and give your exam

On the eve of Father's Day, my memories took me back to my CA Intermediate Exam days. It was the Accounts exam- the first one, in group one, among the total six papers in two groups in CA intermediate syllabus. 

I couldn't manage my time well so left out a major portion of the paper. Shattered, I returned home & told my Mom that I was not confident of securing the passing 40 marks in my accounts paper, as I had left out around 30 marks paper. CA intermediate results were known to have very low qualifying %, so I lost hope of securing the passing 40% in accounts, especially when i had not attempted 30 marks paper. For qualifying any group in CA intermediate, it is necessary to secure atleast 40 marks in each paper & overall 50%. 

I told my Mom that in view of my lost hope in passing my accounts exam, it was practically not worth to give the remaining 2 papers of Group 1, i.e., auditing & corporate laws, as even if I passed these 2 exams, I won't be able to clear my Group 1. 

So, I convinced my Mom that I will give the 4th exam- Cost Management, (first paper of Group 2], and will utilise the two days (on account of not attempting my auditing & corporate laws papers) in preparing for my 2nd group 3 papers. In those days, the toughest part of clearing CA exams was the absence of preparatory holiday, in between the exams. 6 papers in CA intermediate were held back-to-back on 6 consecutive days & if someone got lucky, only Sunday holiday was available. 

My Mom got convinced, & i started revising for my 4th exam of Cost Management, i.e., the first paper of Group 2.

My Papa returned home from office, at about 8 pm. My Mom had not told me anything yet about my accounts paper. 

When we sat for dinner, my Mom told my Papa about my intention of not to give the remaining auditing & corporate law papers of group 1, & my reasoning for the same.

I was almost certain that my Papa won't have any concern regarding this decision of mine, as he has always been a very cool Papa. 

But to my surprise, that day, he became stern & instructed me that I had to attempt these remaining 2 papers of Group 1, irrespective of the marks i secure in my accounts paper. 

I remember getting angry with him at that point of time, more so, because I had spent my entire day revising the 4th paper of cost management and had not revised even a single page of my auditing study material. He still said, that even if I secured 0 in auditing, due to my lack of revision, it didn't matter to him, & what matter to him was my attempting these 2 papers of group 1, irrespective of the outcome.

I ultimately attempted both the remaining papers of group 1 as well as all 3 papers of group 2. 

Result day came.

With heavy heart I entered my role number to check my result. Group 1 – pass Group 2- pass. I cried. I had secured 58 marks in my accounts paper, 65 in my auditing & 62 in my corporate law. In group 2 papers also I managed well. Then my Papa explained me the reason for him becoming so adamant. He said that he had seen me preparing for my exams earlier, and was confident that my prior preparations were sufficient to atleast attempt the exams. The revision during exam days could only provide more confidence but for passing, prior study matters. He also told me that "we Aggarwal Marwaris have 52 buddhis' in us, so we can't fail in accounts paper. So he was confident, even more than me that out of attempted paper of 70 marks, I will definitely secure atleast the passing 40 marks, & which I infact did by securing 58 marks out of 70.

So, this way, my Papa's confidence in me, saved my full 6 months of giving the group 1 again.