Dear Students,
Every time before the examination and after examination there always haunts one thing in mind which is, I should have put some more efforts? I should have answered the question in much better way? etc. I think this are some common questions which strikes to our mind whenever we come out of examination hall. So, this is something which we no but, still we do the same mistake. When you start introspecting yourself and start your own root cause analysis then one weakness in you emerges that is what most people lack and some people lag. It is "PROFESSIONALISM", which ever career you choose it is important that you develop professionalism. For us, Accounts is a Profession and so when we treat it as Profession then we need to follow some of the basic ingredients and nurture those things in us so as to create value to the job what we do. Our institutes, like CA/CWA/CS were created out of separate Parliament Act in order develop accounting, management and practicing professionals so as to serve the industry in better and in more professional manners. So, there is lot of responsibilities on the institutes when it comes to question of identifying, creating and adding new professionals in to the Economy.
So, it is not correct to blame institutes for not giving good results but, we need to have our own introspections and should put question to ourselves as to Whether we really have a professional approach in facing exams or not. In almost 90% of students we see that they lack in professionalism at the time of writing exams. Students don't take exams in true spirit with whole hearted efforts and some student’s stll have not come out of the mindset of college days and would like to answer in the same way as they used to do at board and university level exams. I am not blaming students for these, it is because we are not aware of or some times we are not serious enough which results in waste of precious time, money are efforts. So, my dear friends I would like to share with you some of the important points which you need to develop with in you, in order to face exams confidently. Remember one thing always -" Exams are manmade and it is purely limited to extent of knowledge what man has derived".
Tips to develop Professionalism in you –
1. Develop Interest in the profession
2. Do your own SWOT analysis (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats)
3. Address your Weakness first
4. Set you short term and long term goals
5. Work towards the various positive and negatives which may come in achieving your goals
6. Measure your performance regularly in your own way and see where you stand Preparing for Exams
(Professional)
1. Make clear in your mind that you are writing professional exams
2. Don't rely only on study materials and scanners, you need to open up your mind and develop habit of reading and referring books, journals, attending seminars etc.
3. Don't study keeping only exams in mind, think that you are acquiring knowledge for your profession.
4. Practice writing skills (majority of students complain that they know the answers but, they were not able to write the answers in allotted time)
5. Practice presentation skills - In professional exams it is quality which is very important and not the quantity of what you write. So, presentation skill refers to how professionally you present the answers. It should be neat, clear, answer to the point. For. e.g. when you are answering accounts problem and if you are preparing ledger account then, it should be clear that it has a proper heading, debit and credit, date, particulars, amount etc mentioned. Similarly, when answering the taxation paper, relevant case law should be quoted. As far as possible restrict your answers to bullet points and not paragraph answers.
6. Time Management Sills - Time management is very important in professional exams. Here time management in two sense is very important, one at the time of preparation and the second very important at time of writing the exams. Most of students do not practice this and they fail because they think that paper was too length and there was no sufficient time to complete it. Nothing like that, you need to manage time properly and practice the skills of managing time more effectively and efficiently. So, now I think there is enough time for students who are appearing for May/June 2011 exams to keep in mind and practice what all I have told. Practice these skills and definitely you will reap good fruits in your profession. If you have any exam related query or about the profession, feel free to contact me.
All the best - PROFESSIONALS
Thanks and regards, CMA Kaushik
CAclubindia
