It was a Sunday morning and I and my Dad were  discussing  “ why listening was better than reading?” Suddenly the bell rang and I went and opened the door. It was our neighbor whom I called Didi as she was senior by 4 years to me. She seemed quite upset and asked for my Dad. I brought her  to the Dad who seeing her upset enquired about the reason. She started crying and straight away said “I don’t want to do CA any further” .Dad consoled her and it came out that she had failed  in her Second attempt in IPCC both groups. Dad asked her not to worry as CA is a tough course and it needs extra effort. She was of the view that she had done all she could do and was pretty hopeless.

In order to boost her confidence Dad asked which subjects were giving her most trouble and also enquired about her Marks. It came out that she had average marks in theory papers but were  below average in Practical papers which were most scoring one. He asked whether she has some problems in practical papers. She told him that She   had no problems in understanding any of these subjects and had also practiced well but she was not able to fully solve the papers while writing exams. He further asked her how she was attempting papers and I saw him suppress a knowing smile. I butted in at that stage and said;

Me: Dad why not tell her straight away what to do?

Dad: I was going to but I had to enquire what is She actually doing First.

Didi  : I become so nervous and tense when writing exams that I forget even those things which I know very well.

Dad:(smiling) Attempting exams in correct way is most important because all your effort can go down the drain if you are not able to reproduce what You know in those three hours.

Didi; Don’t tell me  !! I cannot face it the third time.

Dad: You won’t. If you can slightly change the way you are following at present it would do the trick.

Didi: Please give me a clear guideline.

Dad went on to tell her the way to study theory papers as already outlined in my article posted on my blog www.castudyarena.comunder  the head Articles   and followed with the below set of instructions:

a) READ the Entire Question paper without thinking what you know and what you don’t.

b) In theory papers Start with the question you know best follow it what you know second best and so on.

c) Now comes the tricky part. NEVER   EVER  start ANSWERING YOUR Question Paper with a Practical Question. Because no wonder how well you are prepared, the tension level starts shooting up once you enter the Examination hall and doesn’t come down till at least half an hour elapses after getting the question paper. If you take up a practical question at that time you are bound to make mistake as the mind is tense and it would require a lot of calculations. If you are tripped in first question you get more nervous and your thinking is clouded leading to mistakes and valuable time is lost forcing you to hurry and make more mistakes. In the end the paper is either not solved fully and especially the theory Questions   get the sketchy treatment resulting in poor marks. So if you start with a theory Question , You give your full attention to it writing it properly and writing for around half hours will calm your nerves and then you can take up the practical question you know the best and follow it with second best and so on. Once your mind has calmed down you can attempt the rest of the paper in an objective way. Simple!!!!

Didi : It looks fairly logical. Is there anything else?

Dad: Don’t forget the first point ie reading without thinking what you know. Reading neutrally will take the question (input) to back memory (Hard disk) of your mind and the answer (output) will come when you are ready to take up your first practical question. It takes a bit of time and a relaxed state of mind to retrieve info that is there and needed to solve the practical question. Theory question don’t need much application of mind and there is no fear of being right or wrong.

Did i: (smiling) Thanks Uncle

Friends I had listened attentively to the above exchange and have used the above system consistently achieving   successes in all my  Exams , the latest being IPCC both groups in May 2012 with 60 percent marks. I hope the simple system if followed can be a handy tool to score good marks in any exams.

Ps.   Didi  cleared her both groups in her next attempt and is now a CA/CS.