8 SUCCINCT RULES TO YOUR SUCCESS IN THE FORTHCOMING ICAN EXAMINATIONS

The examination timetable of the November diet of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) is currently out. The examinations are scheduled to commence in this month of November. The question I was frequently asked by students is: How do I pass the larger-than-life examinations of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) without hassle? And borrowed from this is the question of how to tackle ICAN’s examination questions?
 

Without much ado, let me begin by dispelling as untrue the saying gaining currency among student members of the Institute that you cannot pass its examinations at one sitting. You can pass your ICAN examinations at one sitting, and you will; just simply follow these principles that worked for me and which I have told some of my students to follow through on:

Prepare ‘professionally’

To begin with, to even muster the thought of passing any examination at all you need to be prepared. Now, professional examinations like those of ICAN are unlike the examinations you took during your academic programmes at the university or polytechnic. Preparing professionally means not only to spend many a-hour reading and attending lectures, but it also requires you to mentally ‘practicalize’ the information you acquired from textbooks and lectures.

Visualize what you read and learnt! Imagine it, play it over in your mind as you go about your job and task. If you presently work as an account person or in a capacity that is accounting related, try to apply your knowledge to what you do. In doing this you will not only preserve and cement in your memory what you studied or learnt, but you will equally see the relationship between them and what is obtainable in practice, which is essential in passing a professional examination.

Skim through the question/case

At this point, it is assumed that you have prepared ‘professionally’ and you are right in the examination hall with the examination questions opened right before you. Well, you should not sweat it out because at this point you have just 3 hours to decide your fate (whether to pass or fail!). Please note that your road to success is easy provided you can calm down and skim through the questions.

Read the question quickly at this point to get a feel of the content without paying much attention to whether you can answer them or not.

Read the requirements

Every question at the professional level of ICAN can be conveniently divided into two parts namely, the case part and the requirement(s). The case is the body of the question that provides you with detailed information. This information may be a detailed case study, a scenario or an ‘intro’ to the question.

The requirement is the part where the demand of the question is made known. This often times, is drawn from the case or the detailed information part of the question. On your own part, gently read the requirements and ensure that you understand what their demands are because this will help you in not only solving the question right but also solving or answering the right question.

Read the question/case carefully

Read the case part of the question carefully again and be deliberate about it this time. At this junction, you should arm yourself with a pencil, and while reading, identify and underline the main or cogent points in the case or question.

This should be easy to isolate after you have read and understood the requirements of the question.

List out your points

List out your points on your answer script, numbering each as you go along. These points should be the cogent points identified as answers to the requirements or demands of the questions. For computational questions, these points may provide the basis for your working notes or the items that require workings and calculations.

They will equally help in ensuring that no useful information is left unattended to.

Attempt or solve the questions

Having identified the cogent points to the questions you should go ahead to answer to them. Most times, the identified points usually, either are direct answers to the requirements of the questions or provide the basis for answering them. For a corporate or financial reporting question you should be mindful of the fact that your financial statements are not complete unless you add notes to the accounts. Your notes to the accounts should also include the statement of significant accounting policies of the hypothetical company used in the case.

Most times, in advanced audit and assurance questions you may be asked to identify and discuss, and at another time you may be asked to discuss or evaluate. You know that in all of these, you should itemize your points first, then take each point one at a time and explain.

Remember, timing is important!

In your labour, time is of essence. At the start of the examination you should allocate time to each question you are required to answer. And you should try as much as possible to work on each question within the time allotted. Solving three questions very well out of five questions may not necessarily help your cause towards success.

But ensuring that you tackle all the required number of questions may hike your probability of success in the paper. Try as much as possible to bring your knowledge and imaginations to bear on all the questions and ensure you complete them with time to spare on reviewing your work.

Believe

The interval between the conclusion of the examination and the release of the results is usually a long wait. You just have to believe that you have done your best howbeit that you feel you have not done justice to one or more of the questions.

Ruminating over the exams or looking through the questions will not help you, but rather this will heighten your blood pressure. If you have prepared, and you have answered all the questions to the best of your ability, there are higher chances that you will have the pass mark of 50.

In conclusion, you still have few days ahead to prepare before the exam. You can still achieve more than you have before these exams. Why not act now and commit yourself to adequate professional study? Try to devote at least two hours of your days to this quest. It is not too late to pass. Successo valanga!