CA Inter Notes

Why notes are integral to your preparation strategy?

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CA foundation course

Introduction

So you’ve made it past the CA Foundation — congrats! Now that you’re in the second level of your CA journey, you must be prepared to work harder than before. As you might know, the CA course gets progressively more difficult with each level. CA Inter is a tougher beast to tame than the one you’ve encountered before. CA Inter notes are, without doubt, the strongest ally in your success at this level.

Contrary to popular belief, CA Inter notes aren’t all about finding the best notes available out there. It’s about your skill in note-taking itself. You need to sharpen this skill if you wish to prepare for your CA Inter exam with more confidence and less stress. So without further ado, let's dive into some vital tips and tricks for upping your CA Inter game with the right notes.  

There is no alternative to self-written notes

Nothing compares to handwritten notes when you want to master the 3 Rs of memory: remember, retain, and recall. 

The more you write, the better you understand. The more you read the notes in your own handwriting, it enhances your mind’s ability to capture information and retain it for a longer period. A study conducted by researchers from Princeton University and the University of California found that students who take notes by hand performed better than those who used laptops. 

Learn the art of taking effective notes

While there are no rules set in stone as to how note-taking should be done, there are few tips that will help to reap the most out of this effort. 

  • Scribble running notes. Pay attention during lectures and discussions but also remember to take down key points. These are running notes and you must get into the habit of taking running notes while attending your class, watching video lectures, or when you’re reading a chapter for the first time. 
  • Create pointers. Rewrite your running notes to form shorter points that are easy to remember. 
  • Use your own language. Keep the key phrases in your running notes intact and fill in the rest in your own words. It’s much easier to remember than notes authored by someone else. 
  • Use visual tools. Charts, graphs, diagrams, and tables can be excellent tools, especially when making notes for practical subjects like accounting, cost, and financial management. It’s a great way to make notes on the formula, proforma accounts, and ledger entries, etc. Another helpful tip is to use different colored pens to highlight portions in your notes. 

Create smart links. You’ll often find topics overlapping between different chapters and papers. For instance, taxation, law, and audit have many common concepts and topics. It helps to keep a note of these, not only for better understanding but also for saving time. You can use page markers or fix stick-on notes for this purpose.  

High-quality notes are guides but not above self-written notes

At IndigoLearn, we have a rich repository of CA Inter notes. And though our notes are prepared by experts and a lot of thought and hard work goes into creating our notes, we insist you treat them as your guide. Your self-written notes are the actual weapons that will help you win the CA inter exam battle. 

Give your notes a personal twist

While there are no shortcuts to success, here’s a tip that will help you cut down the time when revising: Personalisation. 

Personalise the notes in your own way. Create your own markings, bullets, etc. This is an excellent revision strategy that will serve you well in the entire duration of your CA inter exam preparation.

Replicate the notes that capture your interest

Every student is different. The notes that you might find helpful might not work for someone else, and vice-versa. So stick to what appeals to you. But even then, you must replicate it.  

Say, you are a visual learner who prefers flowcharts, diagrams, and mnemonics instead of lengthy, verbose notes, and you come across notes that are simplified and visually appealing such as IndigoLearn's flashcards. Rather than simply following just the short notes/flashcards etc, it’ll be well worth your time to understand, comprehend, and reproduce the material. No matter how simple and well-prepared the notes are, invest some time to make it your own.

Stay away from last minute notes

Last-minute notes are like 2-minutes instant noodles — good to taste but rarely good for your body. In the same way, the idea of going through readymade notes might seem alluring. However, they do nothing but mess up the learning patterns that you’ve painstakingly built over the course of your preparation. 

Therefore, you should avoid referring to any new study material in the eleventh hour. If you wish to incorporate any supplementary material in your prep work, do so early on. Nothing that you lay your eyes upon on the day before the exam should be new or unknown. 

Put your pen to paper when solving problems

When it comes to problems, it’s important to solve them. Simply watching videos of someone else solving them won’t cut it. Remember, problems can’t be watched and learned; they should be practiced. 

Similarly, you should spend time-solving old mock tests and last years’ question papers and write them in your own handwriting. 

FAQs

How should I prepare notes?

Preparing effective notes is a skill worth learning. We have covered the tips and tricks of creating good notes in our guide above.  

Should I use my own notes or 3rd party notes?

It’s a good practice to consult high-quality notes authored by experts. But, you should still make your own notes. 

Should I use my own notes for revision?

Absolutely! Your handwritten notes are your best friends when it comes to revision. Nothing matches the recall factor of your own notes. 

What are short notes / running notes? Which one is preferred?

The type of quick notes that you make while watching a video lecture is running notes. The notes that you prepare while studying on your own are short notes. Both are important and should be practiced. 

  1. Where can we get flashcards?

Flashcards for some subjects are freely available on our website. You can make them on your own as well.