10 common mistakes by CA students that are to be avoided.

This article is just a generalisation of mistakes and relatable to most of the students

#M-1: COMPARISON WITH OTHERS

This is the biggest mistake that stops a student at different stages of preparation and examination. Never compare with others. You are never gonna put his hall ticket no. on your exam sheet anyway. Don't make any false judgements on others preparation. Discussion and taking opinions are fine. But be reasonable enough to make decisions on your own.

#M-2 BLIND ADOPTION

Never blindly adapt someone's success story. If you want to make your own success story, follow your own rules and choose timings that are appropriate for you.

#M-3: IMPORTANCE FOR HOURS STUDIED RATHER THAN CONTENT LEARNT

This is also a bigger mistake. ICAI is a platform where a student is evaluated on the content he/she learnt not by the hours they might have spent.
Be productive, cut all the thoughts and be focused on the subject. Time matters but productive utilisation of it is only key to success.

#M-4: NOT HAVING PROPER PLAN

Most students do have plan. But it's just so simple that a small disturbance or deviation from the plan affects the complete preparation. Have something like alternative or escape plan which can bring back the preparation to good form in case of any unavoidable circumstances.

#M-5: IGNORING THEORY

It has been a common practice or saying that theory is boring. In comparison with practical, theory might have looked boring but it is as important as pratical. Because exams evaluate your both individual and aggregate strength, missing or escaping from theory will cost you an attempt.

#M-6: LESS WRITTEN EXERCISE

While preparation,try to put concepts on paper, it gives you the habit of writing patiently. sitting straight 3 hours in the exam where every second is important and you facing the problem of writing concepts is definitely worst case scenario.

#M-7: REFERRING OTHER BOOKS AND IGNORING ICAI CONTENT

ICAI content which includes study material,practise manual, RTP'S and many other things is definitely above all other books. No offense to other authors or publishers but no content can outdone ICAI content. Properly utilise the help extended from ICAI.

#M-8: NOT ATTENDING MOCK EXAM

Be it any mock exam either ICAI's or some institute's, try to write atleast 1-2 mocks before you attempt the main exam. It gives you the ability to analyse what to attempt first and what not. Don't take mock results as a parameter for evaluating your preparation but judge your attempting skills out of it and try to improve.

#M-9: NOT UTILIZING TIME IN THE EXAM

Don't be in a hurry to move out of the hall. Sit through the complete time allotted for the exam. Write something that makes sense and then move out of the hall. Getting out early and later regretting the fact that you've written nothing proves nothing but your impatience. Write clearly and also carefully go through the guidelines of ICAI exam. Utilise the 15 min. question paper reading time and make proper decision regarding the order of questions to be attempted.

#M-10: WASTING TIME ON A SINGLE QUESTION

Exam questions are tricky, they first make you feel that they are easy to attempt and when you actually attempt them, you face the problem. If a question is taking much time and you can't figure out anything, just move onto other questions and return back to this at the end of exam. Never carry the mood of a bad exam to the next exams. It really affects the aggregate.

There are other mistakes too which are not as common as above. But you are the better evaluator of your skills. Try to identify the mistakes and correct them before the time runs out.

Thank you... Best of luck for your exam.