CA Foundation Chapter-wise Weightage: All Four Papers in Marks

ICAI sets the CA Foundation chapter-wise weightage at section level, and each section is a named group of chapters, so the section range is the marks range for those chapters. The Board of Studies issued it on 26 October 2023 for May 2024 onwards, and it still applies in January 2027. Below is every range converted into marks out of 100, from ICAI's own Foundation weightage PDF.

In Accounting, the recording chapters are 30 to 35 marks on their own; in Business Laws, the Contract Act alone can be 30; in Quantitative Aptitude, one section of statistics is worth up to 20.

TL;DR

• Paper 1 Accounting: accounting process, bank reconciliation, inventories, depreciation and bills together carry 30 to 35 marks. Final accounts 20 to 25, company accounts 15 to 25.
• Paper 2 Business Laws: Indian Contract Act 20 to 30 marks. Sale of Goods, Partnership Act and Companies Act 15 to 20 each.
• Paper 3 Quantitative Aptitude: Business Mathematics 40, Logical Reasoning 20, Statistics 40.
• ICAI allows a deviation of up to 5% either way. Papers 3 and 4 are objective with 0.25 mark off per wrong answer.

Where does the CA Foundation weightage come from?

From ICAI's Board of Studies. The section-wise weightages page on icai.org lists one PDF per level, and the Foundation PDF says it applies from May 2024 "and subsequent exams till further changes are made". No change has been issued since.

The ranges are for whole papers, and ICAI permits a deviation of up to 5% either way, so a section shown at 20% to 25% can in practice be 15 to 30 marks. Papers 3 and 4 are objective, two hours, with a quarter mark off for every wrong answer; the full structure is in our post on the ICAI paper pattern under the new scheme.

The weightage is official, dated 26 October 2023, and carries a 5% tolerance on every range.

Paper 1 Accounting: which chapters carry the marks?

• Section I, 5 to 10 marks: theoretical framework, meaning concepts and conventions, capital and revenue items, accounting policies and the idea of Accounting Standards.
• Section II, 30 to 35 marks: the accounting process (journal, subsidiary books, ledger, trial balance, rectification of errors), bank reconciliation, inventories, depreciation and bills of exchange.
• Section III, 20 to 25 marks: final accounts of sole proprietors, not-for-profit organisations, and accounts from incomplete records.
• Section IV, 15 to 20 marks: partnership and LLP accounts, including admission, retirement, death and dissolution.
• Section V, 15 to 25 marks: company accounts: shares, debentures, redemption of preference shares, bonus and right issues.

Section II is the one students underrate. Rectification and bank reconciliation look like Class 11 work, so they get a day each, and then a 10-mark rectification question with a suspense account collapses halfway. The copies I check lose more marks here than anywhere else.

Recording and adjustment chapters are a third of the Accounting paper; company accounts and final accounts are a fifth to a quarter each.

Paper 2 Business Laws: how are the 100 marks split?

• Section I, 0 to 5 marks: the Indian regulatory framework.
• Section II, 20 to 30 marks: the Indian Contract Act, 1872, including indemnity and guarantee, bailment and pledge, and agency.
• Section III, 15 to 20 marks: the Sale of Goods Act, 1930.
• Section IV, 15 to 20 marks: the Indian Partnership Act, 1932.
• Section V, 5 to 10 marks: the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008.
• Section VI, 15 to 20 marks: the Companies Act, 2013, limited to corporate veil, classes of companies, share capital, incorporation, memorandum and articles, and indoor management.
• Section VII, 10 to 15 marks: the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881.

The Contract Act range is the widest in any Foundation paper. Treat it as 30, because application-based problems are drawn from here. A practical question needs the provision in your own words, the facts applied to it, and a one-line conclusion.

Contract law is up to 30 marks; the three Acts on sale, partnership and companies are 15 to 20 each.

Paper 3 Quantitative Aptitude: what does the 40-20-40 split mean?

Paper 3 is three subjects in one paper, and ICAI gives the ranges within each part, so the marks below are of that part, not of 100.

Part A, Business Mathematics, 40 marks

• Section I, 20% to 30%, so 8 to 12 marks: ratio and proportion, indices and logarithms, equations, linear inequalities.
• Section II, 30% to 40%, so 12 to 16 marks: mathematics of finance, from simple interest to annuities, EMI, net present value and CAGR.
• Section III, 30% to 50%, so 12 to 20 marks: permutations and combinations, sequences and series, sets and functions, limits, and basic calculus.

Part B, Logical Reasoning, 20 marks

Four topics at 20% to 30% each, so 4 to 6 marks apiece: number series, direction tests, seating arrangements, blood relations.

Part C, Statistics, 40 marks

• Section V, 45% to 50%, so 18 to 20 marks: representation of data, sampling, and measures of central tendency and dispersion.
• Section VI, 25% to 30%, so 10 to 12 marks: probability and theoretical distributions.
• Section VII, 10% to 15%, so 4 to 6 marks: correlation and regression.
• Section VIII, 10% to 15%, so 4 to 6 marks: index numbers.

Mathematics of finance and central tendency are together about 30 to 36 of the 100 marks, and both are formula-driven. With 0.25 off per wrong answer, leave the long calculus question you cannot finish and bank the interest and mean-median-mode questions you can.

Paper 3 is 40 maths, 20 reasoning and 40 statistics; finance and central tendency are the two biggest blocks.

Paper 4 Business Economics: the only paper with fixed percentages

• Introduction to business economics: 5 marks.
• Theory of demand and supply: 10 marks.
• Theory of production and cost: 10 marks.
• Price determination in different markets: 15 marks.
• Determination of national income: 15 marks.
• Business cycles: 5 marks.
• Public finance: 10 marks.
• Money market: 10 marks.
• International trade: 10 marks.
• Indian economy: 10 marks.

Thirty marks sit in market structures and national income, both diagram and definition heavy, which suits an MCQ paper.

Economics has no ranges: two chapters of 15, six of 10, two of 5.

How should you use the weightage before January 2027?

The January 2027 papers are on 3, 5, 7 and 9 January, fixed by ICAI's announcement of 23 September 2026; timings are in our CA Foundation January 2027 exam dates post. That leaves about ten weeks.

1. Finish Section II of Accounting and the Contract Act first. Together they are 50 to 65 marks across two papers.
2. Do mathematics of finance and central tendency next: every formula with one solved example, then 20 MCQs in 25 minutes against the clock.
3. Write one full descriptive paper each for Accounting and Business Laws before December, by hand, and get it checked for presentation.
4. In December, take two-hour objective mocks for Papers 3 and 4 and track wrong answers separately from blanks. Wrong answers cost a quarter mark; blanks cost nothing.

Gradehunt's CA Foundation test series has full papers on the ICAI pattern for all four subjects, checked by ex-examiners within 48 hours with step-wise marks and comments on where the answer lost marks. The first paper is checked free, and mentorship plans are available.