Aaah the most dreaded part of life! S-T-U-D-Y L-E-A-V-E! Which translates into neither study, nor leave. But looking back, that was one of the best parts of life. You learn a lot more in a day than you can, at times, learn over several weeks at your job. Plus you have the freedom to decide what to study, when to study and when to stop.
But yes, it can be patience-testing (which I think is the whole point of CA exams). Here are some things that may help you to not only get through, but also make the most of your study leave:
1. Follow your own course: This is a must-follow. No point asking friends what they are studying, when they are studying, how they are studying. Everyone has a time of the day when they are at their best and it makes no sense messing with it merely because someone else has a different way to study
2. Stop worrying: Very difficult to follow! What if I fail? What will others think? How will I even be able to cope with failure? Trust me, there are worse things that have happened to people and they have survived it and come out much stronger. You need to change your attitude. There is a lot of difference between studying to pass vs studying to learn. The latter will help you even if you do not manage to succeed in this attempt
3. Hobbies: How can you even dare to stop doing what gives you happiness? Study leave is a marathon, not a sprint! You have a long time to cover and giving up watching TV/ movies/ playing etc for such a long period of time will only bring more frustration. Set time aside each day for your hobbies and no matter what, DO NOT miss it.
4. Avoid going to the library: No need to over-react. But how can I not go to the library? It’s the most serious exam of my life! Academically, yes, but you will overcome far greater obstacles in your life than clearing CA exams. Somehow the whole environment of sitting with huge books in a library with a serious face takes away all the fun there is to learning. Unless there is absolutely no place at your home where you can study at peace, you will be far better off by actually studying at home, taking breaks whenever you want, playing music out loud when you take breaks and all in all be able to convince your mind that this exam is NOT the end of the world.
5. Have patience: Nothing worth having ever came easy. Overnight success takes atleast 6 years. All these quotes are in fact quite true. There will be days (and a lot of them) when you won’t be able to study as per your time-table (do yourself a favour and make your own time-table, there is no need to follow what others are doing, as I mentioned earlier). But then it will take a lot of courage and discipline to keeping pushing yourself, believing that every new day is an opportunity to start afresh and to pursue learning without bothering much about the results.
6. Ignore the noise: “xyz” said papers will be tough this attempt, “abc” said they are going to reduce the pass percentage. Well, tell “xyz” and “abc” to get a life! Force yourself to just stop thinking about results and concentrate on the task at hand.
Study leave will provide you many opportunities to learn what you never thought your brain could understand. It will take up all your patience and energy but looking back, it will give you sweet memories and the satisfaction of a job well done!
Happy learning! :)
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