IS STUDY MATERIAL PROVIDED BY ICAI FOR CA INTER SUFFICIENT?

Study Material provided by ICAI

IS STUDY MATERIAL PROVIDED BY ICAI FOR CA INTER SUFFICIENT?

Chartered Accountancy (CA) is one of the most dignified and enviable profession and apparently one of the toughest ones. In order to become a qualified Chartered Accountant, you have to go through rigorous hours of study and practical training. But most students think is Study Material provided by ICAI for CA Inter is sufficient or not?

Those who have cleared CPT OR FOUNDATION (Entry Level Exam of CA) must be aware that we do not actually need to learn any new subject for foundation except Mercantile Law at the foundation level. It is just brushing up the subjects which we have learned at the school level. So IPCC is the level where we get introduced to the vast variety of the new world of commerce which has many unfamiliar as well as conceptually detailed subjects like

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT & ECONOMICS FOR FINANCE

COST ACCOUNTING

AUDITING 

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

LAW 

TAXATION

Above are the subjects waiting to embrace us with its compilation. Number of the subjects along with variety of topics and concepts are waiting for you in ipcc and remember once your concepts becomes strong at this stage this will definitely going to help you in your finals too..So you must need to understand the concepts in detail. 

Study Material provided by ICAI

You can prepare yourself for examination through two ways:

  1. Self-Study
  2. Studying in a Coaching Institute
  3. Students, who opt for Self-study often think “Is Study material provided by CA institute sufficient enough or Study Material provided by ICAI is better?” A lot of experts say it is sufficient but let us visualize it from a different angle.

No one denies that the Study material provided by Institute is quite detailed; however, by just depending on the Study Material you may miss knowing about the pattern of problem-oriented questions. You can prefer study material for detailed understanding, but in my opinion, you still have to practice some practical questions from Scanner. In addition, only reading the study material would not help you to gain the tricks/tips and easier steps for solving the problems on difficult topics.

Further, the study material do covers the practical aspects of the topics, but still you need to go to various practical oriented problems from other reference books which is very important to become a successful CA. Study material undoubtedly is best for self study but still would say one must not able to know how the formulae derives if we follow only study material and derivation of formulas is more important than anything else. Application and derivation of formulas is utmost important which is quite difficult for the one who so self study. We have seen CA’s who fails initially just by following wrong strategies and only because they didn’t understand the topic well and later on they scored rank itself only by doing smart work and by changed their way of study. So it is indeed very important to have deep conceptual clarity which can be gain by solving so many practical problems and for this you cannot depend only on study material because study material has limited practical oriented problems.

  1. Self study is important, but if the same is done in addition to Studying in a Coaching Institute, it will be like an icing on the cake. As explained above, study material provided by Institute lays out the basic facts well and helps you understand the theoretical aspects of CA examinations. But, if you want to increase your practical knowledge to an extent that it helps you in your future job prospects, we would recommend to take at least the practical subjects coaching classes, wherein you are explained in deep the important aspects of CA course and also you will be able to apply the learning’s in your articleship, which ultimately will enable you to become a learned and well versed Chartered Accountant. 

As ICAI knows that students are not having much experience about all the subjects and we need to be taught entire ABC of the subjects so that we able to solve the problems in these Subjects. So they provide us with the study material of Each and Every Subjects to get us through the basics as well as the in-depth knowledge of each of these subjects, but being so lengthy in its content, students tend to avoid studying from the study materials and seek the help of other author’s reference books or coaching material and at the same time you should refer last year question papers and other reference books for more practical oriented problems but I believe this is complete wastage of time  in those very crucial days i.e. in last days  of your revision. You really need any such material during exam time which will be having all exhaustive material at one single place instead of looking for content here and there in order to have quick revision. But Since everything you need to do in so much detail you will have to prioritize your preparation according to the time available for you for the exams. If you do regular studies from the day you have been registered in foundation, intermediate or final level, you would definitely be able to complete your class material at a reasonable time and then can practice the problems from the practice Manual and see if you have any topic left or untouched and can cover it easily because you already know all the concepts in details with the help of your guidance which you got in your classes. Study material is indeed good but it is not that much user friendly.

Sometimes solving last year question papers for each subject will boost up your confidence to a whole new level as you will get to know the practical application of all the things you have studied in the material.  Although the study material provided by the CA Institute are the best books and are enough to study for the CA Intermediate and CA IPCC exam. But at the same time you need extra reference for detailed studies and for analytical knowledge which you must need during your exam time and for this you should go for proper guidance and also there are many online coaching video classes available for CA Intermediate and CA IPCC by well known reputed institutes and by gems of the subjects. I am not mentioning any website in particular to leave your search area wide and also that you are able to check the best material. 

For CA exam and in my opinion and if you really are aiming to clear it in 1st attempt then reading study materials, practice manual and RTP are a must But, again while doing last revisions you cannot have so many books and RTPs with you because of time constraint and also by having different-different books our stress level goes too high. So here smart strategies play vital role which says jut rely on study material given to you in your coachings and give your 100% to that book only because it covers everything. Study material: Just read questions therein and see if you have left any concept or topic untouched then you can cover it from study material.

Practice manual: A must read book

RTP: Just go through it if you have already read the practice manual thoroughly, you’ll find almost the same questions but again if you have taken classes from coaching institute then the material which have given to you by them cover all these content at one place.

Model Test Papers: Again few repeated questions.

At last in my opinion from the above discussion, it is not enough to do study material only and you have to rely on other sources as well. You have to study PM, RTP, MTP and amendments and definitely it consumes your lot of time and therefore we suggested having one best author’s book so that we can easily find everything instead of studying from so many books.

Thus, as you have to do smart work while grasping the concepts and make thorough practice and enrich your learning. Read the content that will be taught in classes and keep yourself calm during paper. Just do everything creatively and success will be all yours.

Let me be very honest, study material is not that user-friendly. Although, SM is good, but it is better to go for certain other sources also.

Therefore, in summary, although it is advisable not to skip the study material provided by CA Institute but alongside that, it is highly recommended to go through practice tests, mock tests and previous question papers to score good marks in the examination.

Hence, study material provided by Institute, if studied in addition to the practical notes, question papers etc. provided by coaching institutes, will enable a better chance of cracking CA in the first attempt. 

ALL THE BEST

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Comments (2)

  • Balakrishnan Reply

    Can you please suggest the best available books on each subject for Inter and Final other than ICAI given books and Scanner ?

    December 25, 2020 at 7:18 pm
  • Ram Reply

    What about reading from the best text books??

    January 22, 2021 at 8:32 am

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