84 in CA Final SFM Without Classes! How?

I got 84 marks in CA Final SFM without classes and in this post, I’m going to give you my detailed strategy for SFM. Plus, I’m going to tell a secret about where 80-90% of the questions come from and a few important points to be kept in mind while studying for SFM. Without further ado, let’s start!

Articleship Period

I cleared CFA Level 1 exam during the first year of my articleship through self-study. That gave me the confidence to study SFM on my own.

There was no crash course for SFM in pen drive format. So, I copied notes from my friend’s tuition register who took classes from Sanjay Saraf Sir. I did all the questions from her tuition book on my own without looking because practice is a must. I also watched some intro to SFM/demo videos by Sanjay Saraf Sir to get an idea about the SFM syllabus.

I skipped theory completely at this point and thought I’ll do it during the prep leave.

Main Aim:

1. Conceptual Clarity
2. Notes should be neat and complete

Side Note: If you try doing SFM, or any other subject on your own but don’t get the confidence without classes then go for classes. The reason is that confidence is necessary in every subject. I took tuitions in all other subjects, even RM, so that all the concepts are clear and I have confidence in myself.

1st Revision

And now comes the big secret about where the paper comes from. The answer is Study Material. 80-90% of the paper comes from here.

You can watch subject-wise strategies of multiple rank-holders and they give the same advice – do Old Coure PM (don’t trust me, take a look at the links given below yourself). And old course PM and study mat are Xerox copies. If you’ve done this and Bhavik Choksi Sir’s Theory Scanner then you should be aiming for 80+ in this subject.

1. Kushal Lodha’s subject-wise strategy – https://youtu.be/CPFeOdm0k3E
2. Komal Jain’s blog – https://komal-jain-blog.blogspot.com/2021/03/cracking-ca-right-way-one-stop-guide.html

May’2023 attempt: A lot of people commented on my video saying that my May’2023 attempt’s paper was very tough and barely anything came from the SM. I gave a disclaimer at the end of the video and I’m giving one here as well. In case of a googly by ICAI, you need to rely on your conceptual clarity. Also, I gave a pop-up mentioning RTP, MTP and past papers as well.

Coming back to the 1st revision, I went chapter by chapter. I revised from notes, watched Bhavik Choksi Sir’s revisionary videos if required, and then did all the questions from SM. Then onto the next chapter. There are a few important points to be kept in mind at this time which I’ll tell you later in the post.

Main Aim: 100% syllabus coverage and 100% scanner coverage (SM + theory scanner).

Side Note: If you’re getting stuck on 1-2 questions or concepts then move on and do them in 2nd revision. But keep this to a minimum because time will be even less in the next revision.

Theory

I used 1 thing and 1 thing only – Bhavik Choksi Sir’s Theory scanner which is free on his telegram channel! It was recommended in CA Komal Jain’s blog.

That scanner has all the questions from past years’ papers, RTPs, MTPs, SM and even old course PM. The best thing is that all the attempts in which that question was asked are mentioned in front of it so that you know which questions are the most important ones.

Sir updates this scanner for every attempt and he makes a 4-hour-long video explaining the scanner. That’s it! Here’s the link to Bhavik Choksi Sir’s latest video on SFM theory: https://youtu.be/tF2CNJW51mg

Side Note: You can do some pure theory chapters directly from the SM. I did not have that much time so I only did Bhavik Choksi Sir’s scanner.

2nd Revision

I revised everything in 2-3 days and gave a private mock test, scoring 70+ in it.

Emphasis during the test:

1. Give yourself proper time (3 hours writing time + 10 minutes reading time)
2. Present the answers properly
3. Aiming for exemption (minimum)

Before giving that mock test, I checked the last attempt’s paper and its suggested answer to see the paper pattern. Also, I checked the answer sheets of CA Komal Jain (AIR-1) to see how answers can be presented in a student’s language.

Main Aim: Give a mock test and aim for exemption in it.

1.5 Day

I did not study anything when I came home after the FR paper. I watched some TV, had some food and relaxed. One hour before dinner, I put all my FR books inside, took out all my SFM books and prepared my 1.5-day strategy based on how confident I felt in different topics. Then I had dinner and slept.

My strategy was to cover all the practical portions in the full day and cover theory on the day of the exam so that I retain more. I went through all the notes which were marked important first and went through Bhavik Choksi Sir’s formula sheet as well.

Then I went through all the questions marked important. It is very useful to go through those important questions because many times those exact questions get repeated in the exam and having gone through them just 1 day before helps a lot. This helped me a lot in my DT exam when many of those marked questions ended up coming in my attempt.

Main Aim: Cover everything important and have a good night’s sleep before the exam day so that your mind is sharp.

Important Points

Please be mindful of the following points while studying for SFM:

1. 100% Syllabus has to be covered. Don’t leave anything to chance.
2. If you’re using a tuition teacher’s book, make sure all the questions from SM are covered by your teacher and ICAI answers are followed.
3. Reduce content for the next revision by cutting out unimportant/easy parts or marking important/difficult parts.
4. Mark tricky points in big questions so that you don’t need to waste time understanding the whole question again when revising.
5. Memorise keywords in theory. Don’t just read it like a novel.
6. Practice, practice practice. This is the only way to reduce silly mistakes and improve conceptual clarity.
7. Solve sums on a calculator during revisions to save time.
8. Give a mock test and aim for 60+ in it (rather, aim for 80+).

Bonus Tips

1. Conceptual clarity is important if in case ICAI decides to give an extremely tough SFM paper in your attempt.
2. Aim for exemption and nothing less than that. SFM and elective subjects are the easiest and the highest-scoring subjects in CA Final. I guaranteed myself that even in the worst-case scenario, I’d get exemptions in these two. And I did.

Summary

Revision 1:

Material: Class Notes + Bhavik Choksi Sir’s revision videos + ICAI Study Material (You can and should add MTPs, RTPs and Past papers) + Bhavik Choksi Sir’s theory scanner

Main Aim: 100% syllabus coverage and 100% scanner coverage (SM + theory scanner).

Revision 2:

Material: Notes and questions from revision 1 which were marked important + Bhavik Choksi Sir’s formula sheet + last attempt’s paper + Private Mock Test

Main Aim: Give a mock test and aim for exemption in it.

1.5 Days:

Material: Notes and questions from revision 2 which were further reduced.

Main Aim: Cover everything important and have a good night’s sleep before the exam day so that your mind is sharp.

I hope this post is useful for you. All the best for your exams! See you later!

Disclaimer: The information presented in this post is for educational purposes. All the views expressed in this post are personal and are not intended to hurt any country, organisation, person, religion, caste, gender or ethnicity. We do not guarantee the accuracy of any facts stated in the post and your reliance on this post is your sole responsibility. All third-party content used falls under fair use. This post is NOT sponsored. Some product links are affiliate links which means if you buy something I’ll receive a small commission.