Making the Impossible Possible: My Saga of Scoring 95 in Final SFM Paper

Author: CA Prashant Wadhwani | 16th Nov 2020 | Read Time: 8-10 mins 

Hello,

To begin with, I’d like to introduce myself to you all- I’m Prashant Wadhwani, a practicing Chartered Accountant (Qualified May 2019) with deep interests in taxation (both Direct and Indirect), and a teacher by choice!

I’m writing this article in an attempt to give you some insight & direction by sharing my experience of preparing and writing the SFM examination (and going on to score 95!)

Disclaimer: I am not a habitual high scorer. I flunked CA Final exam twice before eventually becoming a Chartered Accountant. Also, the writeup is a little longer than many would have the time and patience to read, but all I want to convey to you all at this juncture (last week before the much dreaded CA exams!) is that if we choose to follow a process-driven approach, we are bound to achieve success one way or the other.

I have broken down my experience into various phases:

1.During classes:

Well, there’s literally not much to share in this phase except that it proved really fruitful to maintain a near 100% attendance and 70% homework compliance in Sanjay Sir’s classes. The main factor is not to be present just physically, but mentally too- that’s the key. While maintaining notes is very important, its equally crucial to actually listen and understand various concepts.

During the classes, I believe that the teacher is always playing the lead role and the student is merely required to be a dedicated follower. That’s what I did. The class was a big satisfaction and also enjoyable because of the swagger that comes with Sanjay Sir!

2.The First revision:

The idea here was to revisit all the classes- through my notebook. It is like watching a Harry Potter movie first and then reading the same book. The few things that I followed were:

• I used to study a chapter in the sequence it was written in my notebook–reading concepts, solving the examples, solving classwork questions and then the homework questions, all in the same sequence as done in class.
• With regards to questions, I first tried to solve them directly on the calculator and if succeeded, just referred to the presentation in the notebook and marked as “don’t see again” in my book. The questions which weren’t as smooth to solve on calculator were solved through pen & paper and depending upon the result and my confidence in that question, were marked “solve again” or “don’t see again”.
• Additionally, after every sub topic I used to make a really short summary which would cover either the concept or “type of sums” or any other thing I found important along with the page number of the notebook that covers the concept. This way, I filtered the questions by eliminating the easy ones, and also had a good summary at the end.

3.The Second revision:

This time, I followed the summary I had made–reading the concept of the topic followed by tackling the filtered questions. The time was to filter them further and mark more questions as “don’t see again” depending upon my comfort level.

4.The Third revision:

Again, read the concepts and jump to filter the questions further. I would categorise them now as either difficult, ambiguous or sums to learn. Remember, these are the only questions you have to scan (not solve) during the final revision i.e. one day before the exam. You may make a list of those in your “Summary”.

5.After the FR examination:

Now the plan of study was as below:

• I studied small topics like equity, bond, dividend, mergers from 7pm to 12 am.
• The next day I gave 4 hours each to forex, portfolio (including mutual fund) and derivatives from 8 am to 12 midnight with appropriate breaks
• On the day of the examination, I went with capital budgeting and remaining concepts for 2 hours and the ambiguous questions for the next one hour i.e. completed all of it at around 12:30.

Then it was time to switch the mind off for a while to phase the body & mind to normal pace (from the brisk revision mode)

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Throughout the journey of my CA preparation, one thing that I always felt (unlike many others)- was that the last day before the examination is a hyped affair and doesn’t make much difference in the way we perform in the exam. How can 32 hours change things miraculously if you have studied rigorously for more than 200 hours! Unless ofcourse you panic and disturb your health. At this point I would also like to tell you that I never compromised on my 8-hour sleep routine—especially during the exams!

We have to understand that it is CA examination (yes, we all know how luck matters here!) and not all might go your way on the D-day. It is important to be in a comfortable or joyful mindset and not overhype the examinations in our own head. The exams are tough-yes, but that should not mean that we become miserable.

The key in the last two days is to be calm, comfortable and confident. Remember that examination is just a part of life like any other- it is the means, not the end!

All the Best
CA Prashant Wadhwani

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