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The Karnataka SSLC Class 10 Mathematics syllabus is designed to build strong fundamentals in algebra, geometry, trigonometry, statistics, and probability while preparing students for higher studies and competitive exams. The theory paper carries 80 marks and 20 marks are allotted for internal assessment, so consistent practice across all chapters is essential.

Practising past papers is the best way to use this syllabus. Gradehunt’s Karnataka Board test series gives you chapter-wise and full-syllabus papers with detailed evaluation, so you know where you lose marks before the board exam.

The Karnataka SSLC Class 10 Science syllabus for the academic year 2026-27 is one of the most important subjects for board exam preparation and future academic pathways. Science builds a strong foundation for higher studies in Science, Engineering, Medicine, and competitive exams. Prescribed by the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB), the syllabus is designed to develop scientific thinking, conceptual clarity, and practical understanding.

The subject carries 100 marks, divided into 80 marks for the theory examination and 20 marks for internal assessment, including practical work and continuous evaluation. A thorough understanding of the syllabus helps students plan systematic study and score well in the SSLC board examination.

Practising past papers is the best way to use this syllabus. Gradehunt’s Karnataka Board test series gives you chapter-wise and full-syllabus papers with detailed evaluation, so you know where you lose marks before the board exam.

The Karnataka SSLC Class 10 Social Science syllabus for the academic year 2026-27 plays a vital role in helping students understand society, governance, economy, and history. Social Science builds awareness about India’s past, present governance system, geography, and economic structure, enabling students to become informed and responsible citizens. Prescribed by the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB), the syllabus encourages analytical thinking, factual accuracy, and application of concepts in real-life situations.

The subject carries 100 marks, divided into 80 marks for the theory examination and 20 marks for internal assessment, making systematic preparation essential throughout the year.

Practising past papers is the best way to use this syllabus. Gradehunt’s Karnataka Board test series gives you chapter-wise and full-syllabus papers with detailed evaluation, so you know where you lose marks before the board exam.

The First Language subject in Karnataka Board Class 10 (SSLC) is one of the most important components of the secondary school curriculum. It serves as the primary medium through which students develop advanced language proficiency, literary appreciation, and expressive writing skills. Prescribed by the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB), the First Language syllabus is designed to deepen students’ understanding of literature while strengthening grammar, vocabulary, and composition abilities.

This subject is not only essential for scoring well in the SSLC board examination but also plays a critical role in shaping students’ critical thinking, creativity, and communication skills, which are vital for higher education and competitive examinations. The First Language paper carries 100 marks, divided into 80 marks for the theory examination and 20 marks for internal assessment.

Practising past papers is the best way to use this syllabus. Gradehunt’s Karnataka Board test series gives you chapter-wise and full-syllabus papers with detailed evaluation, so you know where you lose marks before the board exam.

The Karnataka Board Class 12 English syllabus (II PUC) plays a crucial role in shaping students’ advanced language proficiency, critical thinking, and literary analysis skills. Prescribed by the Department of Pre-University Education (DPUE), Karnataka, the syllabus is designed to prepare students for board examinations, higher education, competitive exams, and professional communication.

English in Class 12 is not only a scoring subject but also an essential foundation for success in streams such as Arts, Science, Commerce, Law, Journalism, and Management. The subject carries 100 marks, divided into 80 marks for the theory examination and 20 marks for internal assessment, with a strong emphasis on comprehension, interpretation, and written expression.

Practising past papers is the best way to use this syllabus. Gradehunt’s Karnataka Board test series gives you chapter-wise and full-syllabus papers with detailed evaluation, so you know where you lose marks before the board exam.

The Karnataka Board Class 12 Mathematics syllabus (II PUC) is one of the most important subjects for students pursuing Science and Commerce streams. Mathematics forms the backbone for higher studies in Engineering, Data Science, Economics, Statistics, Architecture, and Competitive Examinations such as JEE, CET, NDA, and other entrance tests. Prescribed by the Department of Pre-University Education (DPUE), Karnataka, the syllabus focuses on conceptual understanding, logical reasoning, and problem-solving skills.

The subject carries a total of 100 marks, with 80 marks for the theory examination and 20 marks for internal assessment, making consistent practice and conceptual clarity essential for scoring high.

Practising past papers is the best way to use this syllabus. Gradehunt’s Karnataka Board test series gives you chapter-wise and full-syllabus papers with detailed evaluation, so you know where you lose marks before the board exam.

The Karnataka 2nd PUC Chemistry syllabus for 2026-27 has 10 chapters: Solutions, Electrochemistry, Chemical Kinetics, the d- and f-Block Elements, Coordination Compounds, Haloalkanes and Haloarenes, Alcohols, Phenols and Ethers, Aldehydes, Ketones and Carboxylic Acids, Amines, and Biomolecules. That is the list in KSEAB's official 2026-27 blueprint for subject 34, Chemistry. The theory paper is 70 marks and the practical exam is 30, and the theory paper is on Monday 8 March 2027 in KSEAB's tentative timetable.

Every 5-mark question in the blueprint comes from the five organic chapters, and every 3-mark question from the five physical and inorganic chapters. Plan your revision around that split.

TL;DR

• 10 chapters for 2026-27. Solid State, Surface Chemistry, Isolation of Elements, p-Block Elements, Polymers and Chemistry in Everyday Life are not in the blueprint.
• Theory: 70 marks, 3 hours, 46 questions in five parts. Practical: 30 marks.
• The blueprint sets 105 marks of questions, and you answer questions worth 70.
• Organic chemistry carries the most: 47 of the 105 marks.
• Exam-1 date: Monday 8 March 2027, 10 am to 1 pm (tentative timetable dated 8 October 2026).

Which chapters are in the 2nd PUC Chemistry syllabus for 2026-27?

KSEAB's blueprint lists these ten units, in this order, with the teaching hours it assigns to each:

1. Solutions (14 hours)
2. Electrochemistry (14 hours)
3. Chemical Kinetics (14 hours)
4. The d- and f-Block Elements (12 hours)
5. Coordination Compounds (12 hours)
6. Haloalkanes and Haloarenes (10 hours)
7. Alcohols, Phenols and Ethers (12 hours)
8. Aldehydes, Ketones and Carboxylic Acids (14 hours)
9. Amines (8 hours)
10. Biomolecules (10 hours)

That is 120 teaching hours in all. Units 1 to 3 are physical chemistry, units 4 and 5 inorganic, and units 6 to 10 organic. The order matches the current NCERT Class 12 Chemistry textbook, so the chapter numbers in your book should be the same.

The 2026-27 2nd PUC Chemistry syllabus is these ten chapters and nothing else.

Which chapters are no longer in 2nd PUC Chemistry?

Older guides, including an earlier version of this page, still list 16 units. Six of them are not in the 2026-27 blueprint:

• The Solid State
• Surface Chemistry
• General Principles and Processes of Isolation of Elements
• The p-Block Elements
• Polymers
• Chemistry in Everyday Life

If you are using an old guide or a senior's notes, cross these chapters off. Questions from them do not appear in the blueprint or in KSEAB's 2026-27 model question papers.

Drop these six units; the blueprint gives them no marks.

How many marks does each 2nd PUC Chemistry chapter carry?

The tables further down this page give the marks for every chapter, copied from the blueprint. Two things to know before you read them.

First, the marks add up to 105, not 70. The paper offers choice, so the blueprint counts every question set, and you answer questions worth 70. Second, the split by question type is uneven, and this is the useful part:

• All six 5-mark questions (Part D) come from the organic chapters: one each from Haloalkanes, Alcohols, Amines and Biomolecules, and two from Aldehydes, Ketones and Carboxylic Acids.
• All fifteen 3-mark questions (Parts C and E) come from the physical and inorganic chapters. Electrochemistry alone has four of them.
• The 1-mark and 2-mark questions are spread across all ten chapters.

Organic chapters carry 47 of the 105 marks, physical 37 and inorganic 21. The heaviest single chapter is Electrochemistry with 13 marks.

What is the 2nd PUC Chemistry paper pattern?

KSEAB's model question paper 1 for 2026-27 has 46 questions in five parts, for 70 marks in 3 hours:

• Part A: 15 multiple-choice questions and 5 fill-in-the-blanks, 1 mark each, all compulsory (20 marks).
• Part B: answer 3 of 5 questions, 2 marks each (6 marks).
• Part C: answer 3 of 5 and then 2 of 4 questions, 3 marks each (15 marks).
• Part D: answer 4 of 6 questions, 5 marks each (20 marks).
• Part E: numerical problems, answer 3 of 6, 3 marks each (9 marks).

Part E is where physical chemistry pays. The problems are calculations from the physical chapters; model paper 1, for example, opens Part E with a cell reaction to work on. Write the formula, substitute the values with units, and give the answer with its unit, because each step carries marks.

The paper is 20 compulsory 1-mark questions, then choice in Parts B to E, with 9 marks of numericals at the end.

How is the 30-mark Chemistry practical exam marked?

The practical exam is 2 hours. KSEAB's scheme of evaluation splits the 30 marks like this:

• Salt analysis, 10 marks: preliminary tests, then the acid radical and basic radical, each with group, radical and confirmatory test.
• Titration, 10 marks: molarity of KMnO4 using a standard 0.1 M FAS (Mohr's salt) solution, with the procedure written out.
• Attendance of 75% or more in theory and practical classes, 5 marks.
• A completed and certified practical record, 5 marks.

The scheme posted on KSEAB's 2026-27 page is labelled 2025-26, so check with your college if anything changes for 2027. Ten of the 30 marks depend only on attendance and your record, so do not lose them.

Practicals: 20 marks for salt analysis and titration, 10 for attendance and the record.

How should you plan 2nd PUC Chemistry revision?

My suggestion, based on the blueprint:

1. Finish the five organic chapters first. They decide all of Part D, and they also have 1-mark and 2-mark questions in Parts A and B.
2. Practise numericals from Solutions, Electrochemistry and Chemical Kinetics every week for Part E.
3. Learn Coordination Compounds and d- and f-Block Elements for the 3-mark theory questions in Part C: VBT, isomerism, and the trends in transition elements.
4. Write at least two of KSEAB's 2026-27 model papers in 3 hours, and get them checked.

You can download the model papers, the blueprint and the question bank from KSEAB's II PUC Student Corner. For dates of all subjects, see our Karnataka board exam dates post, and our Karnataka 2nd PUC Physics syllabus post covers the paper you write on 4 March 2027.

Gradehunt's Karnataka board test series gives you full 2nd PUC papers to write by hand and upload. A subject expert checks each one within 48 hours, with step-wise marks and comments on where marks went, and your first paper is checked free.

Physics in Karnataka Board Class 12 (II PUC) is a core subject for Science students aiming for careers in engineering, medicine, pure sciences, and technical fields. The syllabus, set by Karnataka's Department of Pre-University Education, with the board exams run by KSEAB, focuses on understanding natural phenomena through concepts, laws, experiments, and numerical problem-solving.

Class 12 Physics carries 100 marks, 70 for the theory paper and 30 for practicals. With its strong link to competitive exams such as KCET, JEE, NEET, and NDA, Physics requires conceptual clarity, regular practice, and proper understanding of derivations and experiments.

Practising past papers is the best way to use this syllabus. Gradehunt's Karnataka Board test series gives you chapter-wise and full-syllabus papers with detailed evaluation, so you know where you lose marks before the board exam.

Biology in the Karnataka Board Class 12 (2nd PUC) exam carries 70 theory marks and 30 practical marks. The same chapters are tested in NEET and KCET, so the work you put in for the board paper carries over to entrance exams. Since the Karnataka Board syllabus is strictly based on NCERT, students who prepare smartly can excel in both board exams and entrance exams simultaneously.

This detailed guide covers the complete Karnataka Board Class 12 Biology syllabus, unit-wise and chapter-wise weightage, exam pattern, and effective preparation strategies to help students score high marks.

Practising past papers is the best way to use this syllabus. Gradehunt's Karnataka Board test series gives you chapter-wise and full-syllabus papers with detailed evaluation, so you know where you lose marks before the board exam.

Economics is a core subject in the Karnataka Board Class 12 (II PUC) curriculum and plays a crucial role in shaping students’ understanding of how an economy functions. The subject not only helps in board examinations but also builds a strong foundation for competitive exams such as CUET, UPSC, Banking, and MBA entrance tests.

This detailed guide explains the complete II PUC Economics syllabus, with a special elaboration of Section A (Introductory Microeconomics), expected chapter-wise weightage, and practical preparation tips.

Practising past papers is the best way to use this syllabus. Gradehunt’s Karnataka Board test series gives you chapter-wise and full-syllabus papers with detailed evaluation, so you know where you lose marks before the board exam. Planning a commerce career after Class 12? Many students start with CA: see our CA Foundation test series and the CA course guide for after 12th.

Accountancy is one of the most important and high-scoring subjects in the Karnataka Board Class 12 (II PUC)curriculum. It builds a strong foundation for careers in commerce, finance, chartered accountancy, company secretaryship, banking, and management studies. With systematic practice and conceptual clarity, students can score very high marks in this subject.

This comprehensive guide explains the complete II PUC Accountancy syllabus, section-wise topics, expected weightage, and effective preparation strategies for board examinations.

Practising past papers is the best way to use this syllabus. Gradehunt’s Karnataka Board test series gives you chapter-wise and full-syllabus papers with detailed evaluation, so you know where you lose marks before the board exam. Planning a commerce career after Class 12? Many students start with CA: see our CA Foundation test series and the CA course guide for after 12th.

Preparing for the Chartered Accountant (CA) exam is not easy. The syllabus is vast, the competition is intense, and the exam pattern requires strong conceptual understanding along with excellent answer-writing skills. Because of this, many CA aspirants look for mock test platforms and mentorship programs to improve their preparation.

Preparing for your CA exams? Practise with Gradehunt's CA Foundation test series, CA Inter test series or CA Final test series, all as per the latest ICAI pattern.

One platform that has recently gained attention among CA students is Gradehunt. Many aspirants search online for Gradehunt reviews to understand whether the platform is helpful for CA Foundation, Intermediate, or Final preparation.

In this article, we will explore Gradehunt reviews, features, benefits, and student feedback to help you decide whether it is worth using for CA exam preparation.

The latest ICSI guideline answers are for the June 2026 session. ICSI uploaded them on 9 September 2026 as four free PDFs: Group 1 and Group 2 for the Executive Programme and the same for the Professional Programme, all Syllabus 2022. The December 2025 set is on the same page, along with every session back to June 2015 except June 2020, which has no set.

Students search for them as "suggested answers" or "question papers with solutions". ICSI calls them Guideline Answers, and each PDF prints the full question before ICSI's answer, so one file gives you both. The plain question papers sit on a separate ICSI page.

Where to download ICSI guideline answers for June 2026 and December 2025

1. Open the Guideline Answers page on icsi.edu. No login or fee is needed.
2. Click the session: June 2026, December 2025, June 2025 and so on.
3. Pick Executive Programme (Syllabus 2022) or Professional Programme (Syllabus 2022). The December 2023 to June 2025 sessions also have Syllabus 2017 tabs; skip those.
4. Download Group 1 or Group 2. One PDF covers every paper in that group.

For the bare papers, go to Previous Sessions QPs on icsi.edu and open the session. The June 2026 page lists 29 papers with their codes: four CSEET papers, seven Executive papers plus EH versions of 525 and 526, and 16 Professional papers counting every elective. The December 2025 page lists 24. The archive now runs from June 2009 to an October 2026 session, which so far holds only the four CSEET papers.

How many Syllabus 2022 papers with ICSI answers exist for each subject?

Here is the count of Syllabus 2022 question papers ICSI has posted for each subject, taken from every session tab on its Previous Sessions QPs page. Each of these sessions also has a guideline answer set on the Guideline Answers page:

• CS Executive, all seven papers: 6 sessions each, December 2023 to June 2026. That is 42 past papers.
• CS Professional, the five compulsory papers: 5 sessions each, June 2024 to June 2026. Syllabus 2022 Professional papers first appear in June 2024.
• Elective 1, CSR, Internal and Forensic Audit, IPR, and AI, Data Analytics and Cyber Security (541 to 544): 5 sessions each.
• Elective 1, Advanced Direct Tax Laws and Practice (545): 2 sessions, December 2025 and June 2026.
• Elective 1, IFSCA - Regulations, Listing and Compliances (546): 1 session, June 2026.
• Elective 2, all five options (551 to 555): 5 sessions each.

Source: ICSI Guideline Answers and Previous Sessions QPs pages, checked 6 November 2026, Gradehunt analysis. The June 2026 Professional answer PDFs cover every elective; older sets were not opened paper by paper.

Two things follow. If you chose Advanced Direct Tax or IFSCA as Elective 1, you have one or two ICSI papers to learn the question style from, against five for everyone else, so ICSI's study material questions and mock papers have to do more of the work. And Executive students have more papers than time. Writing all 42 under exam conditions would take more than 136 hours at 3 hours 15 minutes each (the exam slot, reading time included), while 21 December is 45 days away.

What is inside an ICSI guideline answers PDF

• A contents page with page numbers for each paper. The June 2026 Professional Group 1 file runs to 261 pages and Group 2 to 197.
• The open-book electives are included. Group 1 has all six Elective 1 subjects and Group 2 all five Elective 2 subjects, each with its own answers.
• Each paper's header: 3 hours, 100 marks, six questions, "Answer ALL Questions".
• The amendment rule: for a December session, amendments up to 31 May of that year apply. For December 2026 that date is 31 May 2026.
• A note that the answers reflect the law when they were prepared and are indicative, not exhaustive.

To see how ICSI words its law answers, read our word count of the June 2026 JIGL and SBIL answers. For Tax Laws, see marks counted lesson by lesson from six ICSI papers.

When will ICSI release the December 2026 guideline answers?

ICSI has not announced a date. Here is the June 2026 timeline as a guide. The last paper was on 7 June, the result came on 25 August (79 days later) and the guideline answers were uploaded on 9 September, 94 days after the exam ended.

The December 2026 exams end on 28 December 2026. If ICSI keeps the same gap, the December 2026 set is expected around the start of April 2027. That estimate rests on a single session, because ICSI's page shows the same date, 31 July 2026, on every older set, so their original upload dates cannot be seen.

Using ICSI past papers in the 45 days before 21 December

The December 2026 papers run from 21 to 28 December, 2:00 to 5:15 PM, with no paper on 25 December. That is an afternoon slot. The June 2026 papers were held from 9:00 AM. The full date-wise schedule is in our time table guide.

• Write the two latest papers, June 2026 and December 2025, in full and timed, in the 2:00 PM slot. Seven subjects make 14 papers, roughly one every three days.
• Use December 2023 to June 2025 question by question, chapter by chapter, instead of as full papers.
• Before you learn an older answer, check it against the law as on 31 May 2026.
• Professional students on the thin electives: practise finding provisions in the open book against the clock. Our elective guide compares the options.

Matching your own answer to ICSI's is the hard part, because it is easy to mark yourself too kindly. With Gradehunt's CS past paper evaluation, you write the ICSI paper by hand, upload it, and ex-examiners check it within 48 hours of upload, with marks and comments on each answer.

CS Executive students often ask two things: how many marks do I need to pass, and what happens if I clear some papers but fail the group? This guide explains ICSI's passing criteria, the 60% exemption rule, qualification-based exemptions and how results are declared. At the end there is a worked example you can use to check your own scores.

Everything here is taken from ICSI's own documents, which are listed under Sources. Where ICSI's current notice should be checked, we say so.

Quick Answer: CS Executive Passing Marks

To pass a group of CS Executive, you need:

• At least 40% in each paper of the group, and
• At least 50% in the aggregate of all papers in that group.

Both conditions must be met in the same attempt. If you write both groups together, ICSI's note says you need at least 40% in each paper and 50% in the aggregate of all the papers put together, in one sitting.

ICSI's "Qualifying Marks (Passing Criteria) for CS Examinations" note describes this using the word "module". Syllabus 2022 calls the same unit a "group".

CS Executive Structure (Syllabus 2022)

Each paper is worth 100 marks and lasts 3 hours, according to ICSI's June 2026 Guideline Answers.

• Group 1 — Papers: Jurisprudence, Interpretation and General Laws; Company Law and Practice; Setting Up of Business, Industrial and Labour Laws; Corporate Accounting and Financial Management; Total marks: 400; Minimum aggregate (50%): 200
• Group 2 — Papers: Capital Market and Securities Laws; Economic, Commercial and Intellectual Property Laws; Tax Laws and Practice; Total marks: 300; Minimum aggregate (50%): 150

So you need at least 40 marks in every paper, plus 200 out of 400 in Group 1 and 150 out of 300 in Group 2.

Fell short in one paper? If you have a copy of that answer book, Gradehunt's CS certified copy evaluation marks it against ICSI's suggested answers and shows where the marks were lost.

The December 2026 exams run from 21 to 28 December 2026, according to ICSI's time table.

Paper-Wise Exemption on the Basis of Marks (the 60% Rule)

You may fail a group but still do very well in one or two of its papers. ICSI's rule is that if you:

• appeared in all the papers of the group,
• scored 60% or more in one or more papers, and
• scored at least 25% in each of the remaining papers,

but still failed the group, you get an exemption in the paper(s) where you scored 60% or more. You don't have to write those papers again in later attempts.

How the result is worked out after an exemption

ICSI's note says that marks in exempted papers are not counted when your result for the remaining papers is worked out. Taxmann's guide explains what this means in practice: you need 40% in each paper you still write, and 50% in the aggregate of those papers only, leaving out the exempted ones.

Is the exemption automatic?

Yes. ICSI's student guidelines for the June 2026 exam say that exemptions based on 60% marks are granted automatically. If you don't want an exemption, for example because you want to rewrite that paper to improve your aggregate, you can ask for it to be cancelled on the ICSI SMASH portal before the cut-off date in that session's notice.

When exemption can be a problem

An exemption lowers the number of papers you have to write. But think about it before you keep it. ICSI's examination FAQ says that for ranks you must pass all papers of a stage in a single attempt, without claiming exemption in any paper. If you are aiming for a rank, keep this in mind.

The One-Paper Rule

ICSI's qualifying marks note also has a separate provision for a candidate who:

• appeared in all papers of the group without any exemption,
• failed in only one paper, and
• scored at least 60% of the total marks of the remaining papers of that group.

A candidate like this is declared to have passed the group if they re-appear in that one paper and score 50% in it in a later exam. The exact wording and conditions matter here, so if you think this applies to you, read the ICSI note and your result-cum-marks statement carefully.

Exemption on the Basis of Higher Qualifications

ICSI's notice on paper-wise exemptions under Syllabus 2022 lists these for CS Executive:

• LL.B. (3 or 5 years) with 50% or more marks in aggregate: exemption in Group 1, Paper 1, Jurisprudence, Interpretation and General Laws (code 521).
• ICMAI (Cost Accountants) Final pass: exemption in Group 1, Paper 4, Corporate Accounting and Financial Management (code 524), and Group 2, Paper 7, Tax Laws and Practice (code 527).

Key points from that notice:

• You apply online through the SMASH portal (smash.icsi.edu) and upload scanned, attested mark sheets or certificates.
• The fee is given as Rs. 1,000 per subject.
• There is a last date for each session. The June 2026 student guidelines gave 9 April 2026 for the June session. The notice listed 10 October for the December session. Check the current ICSI notice to confirm the December 2026 date and the fee.

Unlike the 60% exemption, this one is not automatic. You have to apply for it.

How CS Executive Results Are Declared

Here is how the June 2026 results were declared, based on ICSI's result announcement dated 21 August 2026:

• Results for Executive Programme (Syllabus 2022) and Professional Programme (Syllabus 2022) were declared on Tuesday, 25 August 2026. Professional results came out at 11:00 AM and Executive results at 2:00 PM.
• Results, with each candidate's subject-wise break-up of marks, were put on www.icsi.edu.
• For CS Executive, the formal e-Result-cum-Marks Statement is uploaded on the ICSI website right after the result, so you can download it. For CS Professional, ICSI posts a physical statement to your registered address.

ICSI has not yet announced a result date for December 2026. Watch the "Results" section under Examination on icsi.edu.

After the result

ICSI's examination FAQ gives these time limits:

• Verification of marks: apply within 21 days of the result being declared.
• Inspection or certified copy of answer books: apply within 30 days of the result being declared.

Worked Example: Group 1

Group 1 has four papers of 100 marks each (400 in total). To pass, you need at least 40 in each paper and 200 in total.

Student A: passes

• Jurisprudence, Interpretation and General Laws — Marks: 52
• Company Law and Practice — Marks: 47
• Setting Up of Business, Industrial and Labour Laws — Marks: 58
• Corporate Accounting and Financial Management — Marks: 45
• Total — Marks: 202 / 400

Every paper is 40 or more, and the total is 202, which is above 200. Result: Group 1 passed.

Student B: fails, but gets an exemption

• Jurisprudence, Interpretation and General Laws — Marks: 64
• Company Law and Practice — Marks: 38
• Setting Up of Business, Industrial and Labour Laws — Marks: 56
• Corporate Accounting and Financial Management — Marks: 47
• Total — Marks: 205 / 400

The total is above 200, but Company Law is 38, which is below 40. Result: Group 1 not passed.

Now apply the 60% rule. Student B scored 64 in Jurisprudence (60% or more), and every other paper is at least 25. So Student B gets an exemption in Jurisprudence, Interpretation and General Laws. (The one-paper rule does not help here: the other three papers total 64 + 56 + 47 = 167 out of 300, which is below 60%.)

Next attempt: Student B writes only the other three papers (300 marks). The 64 in the exempted paper is not counted. Student B needs at least 40 in each of the three papers and at least 150 out of 300 in total. For example, 45 + 55 + 52 = 152 would be a pass.

Takeaway: a high score in one paper cannot make up for a paper below 40. Getting 40 in every paper is the first thing to aim for.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the CS Executive passing marks per paper?

You need at least 40% (40 out of 100) in each paper, and at least 50% in the aggregate of all papers in the group.

Do I need 50% in each group separately?

If you write one group, you need 50% in the aggregate of that group's papers. If you write both groups together, ICSI's note says the 50% aggregate is worked out on all the papers put together, and you still need 40% in each paper. For anything more specific, such as whether one group can be passed on its own after failing the combined attempt, check your result-cum-marks statement or ask ICSI.

How do I get an exemption in a CS Executive paper?

Score 60% or more in that paper, appear in all papers of the group, and get at least 25% in each of the other papers. ICSI grants this exemption automatically if you fail the group.

Can I cancel an exemption?

Yes. ICSI lets you ask for the exemption to be cancelled, through the SMASH portal, before the cut-off date given in that session's notice.

Does exemption affect ranks?

Yes. According to ICSI's examination FAQ, you must pass all papers of a stage in a single attempt without claiming exemption in any paper to be considered for a rank.

When will the CS Executive December 2026 result come out?

ICSI has not announced it yet. For reference, the June 2026 result came out on 25 August 2026. Watch icsi.edu for the official announcement.

How a Test Series Can Help

Most students who miss a group do so because one paper falls below 40, not because the total is short. Regular testing shows you your weakest paper early. With the CS Executive test series on Gradehunt, you write chapter-wise and full-syllabus papers in exam conditions and get detailed evaluation of your answer sheets. That lets you fix a weak paper before December. If you are also planning ahead, the CS Professional test series follows the same approach.

Sources

• ICSI – Qualifying Marks (Passing Criteria) for CS Examinations: https://www.icsi.edu/media/webmodules/student/Qualifying%20Marks-New.pdf
• ICSI – Paper-wise exemptions on the basis of higher qualifications (Syllabus 2022): https://www.icsi.edu/media/webmodules/ATTENTION_STUDENTS_RECIPROCAL_EXEMPTION_NEW_SYLLABUS_2022.pdf
• ICSI – Important announcement / guidelines for students, June 2026 examination: https://smash.icsi.edu/Documents/GuidelinesforStudents.pdf
• ICSI – Declaration of Result, CS Professional and Executive Programme (Syllabus 2022), June 2026: https://icsis3-console.kreate-cloud.com:9002/icsi-prod/media/latest_updates/Result_Announcement-9e657322.pdf
• ICSI – Examination > Results: https://www.icsi.edu/examination/results
• ICSI – FAQs (Examination): https://icsis3-console.kreate-cloud.com:9002/icsi-prod/media/cms_uploads/faqexam-5c15bbe1.pdf
• ICSI – Time Table for CS Examinations, December 2026 Session: https://icsis3-console.kreate-cloud.com:9002/icsi-prod/media/cms_uploads/cs-main-exam-time-table-dec-26.pdf
• ICSI – Guideline Answers, Executive Programme (Syllabus 2022), June 2026 (Group 1 and 2 PDFs linked from this page): https://www.icsi.edu/guideline-answers
• Taxmann – How to Secure an Exemption in Company Secretary Paper: https://www.taxmann.com/post/exam/how-to-secure-an-exemption-in-company-secretary-paper/

CA Final November 2026 runs from 2 to 13 November, and the next attempt is May 2027. The best practice material is what ICAI itself publishes: past question papers, CA Final suggested answers, Revision Test Papers (RTPs) and Mock Test Papers (MTPs), all free on ICAI's websites. Free retyped PDFs of the November 2026 papers are on our CA Final November 2026 question papers page.

This guide covers where to download each one, what each contains, which attempts are available right now, and how to fit them into your preparation for May 2027.

CA Final November 2026 question papers

ICAI posts the official question papers on its Final question papers page some weeks after the exams. For the November 2026 papers written so far, our CA Final November 2026 question papers page has free retyped PDFs and a note on what each paper tested. The May 2026 papers below are the latest official set.

Latest official set, May 2026: Paper 1 FR, Paper 2 AFM, Paper 3 Audit, Paper 4 DT, Paper 5 IDT and Paper 6 IBS.

Worth knowing before you use them: in May 2026 only 12.00% of Group I candidates passed, against 20.49% in Group II (54,606 and 42,573 appeared). Group I is FR, AFM and Audit, so those three papers deserve the most timed practice. Every Final result since 2016 is on our CA Final pass percentage page.

Other levels: the CA Inter September 2026 papers are in our CA Inter question papers guide, and the CA Foundation September 2026 papers in our CA Foundation question papers guide.

CA Final November 2026 at a glance

ICAI has announced that from May 2026, CA Final exams are held twice a year, in May and November (as reported by Careers360; check the ICAI notice). Before that, Final was held three times a year (January, May and September). So the attempt after November 2026 is May 2027.

According to the date sheet as reported in the press (Careers360), the November 2026 papers are on:

• 2, 4, 6, 9 and 11 November 2026 for Papers 1 to 5, from 2 pm to 5 pm
• 13 November 2026 for Paper 6, from 2 pm to 6 pm

Always confirm dates and timings against the latest ICAI notice and your admit card.

Where to download CA Final suggested answers officially

ICAI's Board of Studies (BoS) runs the BoS Knowledge Portal at boslive.icai.org. The CA Final resources are grouped as tiles on its home page. The path is:

1. Open the BoS Knowledge Portal home page.
2. Scroll down to the resource tiles and click Suggested Answers.
3. Pick Final. This takes you to ICAI's page Suggested Answer - Final Course on icai.org.
4. Click the attempt you want (for example, May 2026). You then see each paper listed separately, with a PDF per paper.

For question papers, use the Previous Year Question Papers - New Scheme tile on the same home page, then choose Final. This opens ICAI's Question Papers - Final Course page.

The portal also has a separate Previous Year Suggested Answers tile.

Download only from icai.org or boslive.icai.org. ICAI's pages carry an IPR notice saying the copyright belongs only to ICAI, so websites that re-host the PDFs may carry outdated or altered versions.

Which attempts are available (new scheme)

When we checked (22 September 2026), ICAI's CA Final suggested answers page listed these new-scheme attempts:

• May 2026
• January 2026 (plus a Hindi version)
• September 2025 (plus a Hindi version)
• May 2025
• November 2024
• May 2024

The question papers page lists the same six attempts, from May 2026 back to May 2024. That gives you six full sets of new-scheme papers to practise with.

If you would rather not grade your own Final papers, upload them to Gradehunt's CA MTP and past paper evaluation. A checker marks each answer step by step, the way ICAI does, and sends the copy back within 48 hours.

Papers covered in the new scheme

Every attempt above follows the same six-paper structure:

Group I

• Paper 1: Financial Reporting
• Paper 2: Advanced Financial Management
• Paper 3: Advanced Auditing, Assurance and Professional Ethics

Group II

• Paper 4: Direct Tax Laws & International Taxation
• Paper 5: Indirect Tax Laws
• Paper 6: Integrated Business Solutions (Multidisciplinary Case Study with Strategic Management)

What is inside each resource

These four resources do different jobs, so it helps to know how each one works.

Question papers

These are the actual papers set in each attempt, published paper by paper. Use them to learn how questions are framed and how marks are split, and to find out whether you can finish in three hours (four for Paper 6).

Suggested answers

The suggested answer PDF for each paper gives the questions together with ICAI's answers. The May 2026 Direct Tax Laws & International Taxation PDF, for example, starts with "Part – I Multiple Choice Questions", which is built around integrated case studies. It also states the assessment year the questions relate to. That detail matters, because tax answers from older attempts may be based on law that has since changed.

The May 2026 and January 2026 pages also have group-wise suggested answers (a single PDF for Group I and another for Group II). The January 2026 page also includes a Summary of Examiner's Comment for each group. Read it: it points out where students commonly lost marks.

Revision Test Papers (RTPs)

RTPs are revision question sets that BoS releases for a specific upcoming attempt. The portal's Final RTP page already lists November 2026, along with earlier attempts going back to May 2024 (including some Hindi-medium versions). Since the RTP is written for a specific attempt, use the May 2027 RTP once ICAI lists it and go through it closely in your final revision.

Mock Test Papers (MTPs)

MTPs are full-length practice papers that ICAI sets to a timetable, much like the real exam. For November 2026, ICAI's announcement dated 10 August 2026 set out:

• Series I from 9 September 2026 (now over)
• Series II from 23 September 2026
• Both series in physical and virtual mode. Students who want to write in physical mode can contact their local ICAI branch.

News coverage of the schedule reports that each paper runs from 2 pm to 5 pm and that the papers are released on the BoS Knowledge Portal and the BoS mobile app. Check the official announcement for the exact times of Paper 6.

In short: question papers and suggested answers show you what ICAI actually asked. RTPs and MTPs are practice material written for the coming attempt.

How to use them before CA Final May 2027

Start this plan about six weeks before your first May 2027 paper. Here is one approach.

Weeks 1–2: finish the RTP and one past paper per subject

• Solve the May 2027 RTP one subject at a time and mark the questions you got wrong.
• Solve the May 2026 question paper for each subject before you open its suggested answer.
• Check your work against the suggested answer. Look beyond the final figure: see how ICAI sets out working notes, cites sections or standards, and states assumptions.

Weeks 3–4: timed papers

• Write two or three more past papers (May 2026 and January 2026 are good picks) under strict exam timing.
• For Paper 6, Integrated Business Solutions, practise the full four-hour case study format at least twice. It tests how you combine subjects, which a chapter-wise revision cannot prepare you for.
• For Papers 4 and 5, check the assessment year or the amendments applicable to May 2027 before you trust an older suggested answer.
• If you want someone to mark these timed papers, the CA Final test series gives you evaluated full-syllabus papers, so you can see how your answers compare with the ICAI standard.

Last two weeks: review, not new material

• Re-read the Summary of Examiner's Comment for each group.
• Go back through the questions you marked wrong earlier and redo them without looking.
• Keep your paper-writing practice going, but shorten it to sections (for example, only the MCQ part or one long question) so that you stay fresh.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Only reading answers. Reading a suggested answer feels productive, but it doesn't train you to write under time pressure. Solve first, then compare.
• Using old-scheme papers blindly. The six-paper new scheme has different subjects and paper names. Stick to the new-scheme attempts listed above, and use older material only for concepts that are still in the syllabus.
• Skipping the tax law check. Direct and indirect tax answers depend on the law applicable to that attempt.
• Ignoring presentation. Suggested answers show how ICAI expects answers to be set out. Copy that structure, not the exact words.

How a test series helps alongside ICAI material

Suggested answers tell you what a good answer looks like. They can't tell you how your own answer would be marked. A test series fills that gap: you write papers in exam conditions, and an evaluator marks them step by step and shows where you lost marks on presentation, working notes or missed points.

If you want your answers checked before the May 2027 papers, Gradehunt's CA Final test series offers full-syllabus papers on the ICAI pattern, with detailed evaluation and an All India rank. It works best alongside the ICAI RTPs and MTPs, not as a replacement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I download CA Final suggested answers for free?

Go to the BoS Knowledge Portal at boslive.icai.org, click Suggested Answers, and choose Final. This takes you to ICAI's official Suggested Answer - Final Course page, where each attempt has a PDF for every paper. It is free.

Which is the latest attempt with CA Final suggested answers?

When we checked on 22 September 2026, the latest was May 2026. Suggested answers for November 2026 will appear on the same page after that exam. Check the page for the release.

Are CA Final suggested answers available in Hindi?

Yes, for some attempts. ICAI's page lists Hindi versions for January 2026 and September 2025.

What is the difference between an RTP and an MTP?

An RTP (Revision Test Paper) is a revision question set released for a specific attempt, which you solve at your own pace. An MTP (Mock Test Paper) is a full-length paper that ICAI conducts on a fixed schedule, in Series I and Series II, so you can practise in exam-like conditions.

Is there an RTP for CA Final November 2026?

Yes. The Revision Test Papers page for Final on the BoS Knowledge Portal lists November 2026.

Should I use old-scheme suggested answers for CA Final?

Use them with care. New-scheme CA Final has six papers, including Integrated Business Solutions, and the subjects and paper names differ from the old scheme. Start with the new-scheme attempts from May 2024 onwards. Use older papers only for topics that are still in your syllabus.

Sources

• ICAI BoS Knowledge Portal (home page and resource tiles): https://boslive.icai.org/
• ICAI, Suggested Answer - Final Course (list of attempts): https://www.icai.org/post/suggested-answer-final-course
• ICAI, Suggested Answer - Final Course - May 2026: https://www.icai.org/post/sugg-ans-final-may2026
• ICAI, Suggested Answer - Final Course - January 2026: https://www.icai.org/post/sugg-ans-final-jan2026
• ICAI, Suggested Answer - Final Course - September 2025: https://www.icai.org/post/sugg-ans-final-sep2025
• ICAI, Question Papers - Final Course: https://www.icai.org/post/question-papers-final-course
• ICAI, May 2026 Final Paper 4 suggested answers (PDF): https://resource.cdn.icai.org/92768bos-sa-final-may2026-p4.pdf
• ICAI BoS, Revision Test Papers - Final: https://boslive.icai.org/education_content_rtp.php?c=Final
• ICAI BoS announcement, Mock Test Papers Series I & II for CA Final November 2026 (10 August 2026): https://resource.cdn.icai.org/93707bos-aps6055-mtp-nov2026.pdf
• Free Press Journal, CA Final November 2026 mock test series schedule: https://www.freepressjournal.in/education/icai-ca-final-november-2026-mock-test-series-begins-tomorrow-september-9-check-paper-wise-schedule
• Careers360, ICAI to conduct CA Final exams twice a year from May 2026: https://news.careers360.com/icai-conduct-ca-final-exams-twice-year-foundation-intermediate-starting-from-may-november-2026-chartered-accountant-competitive
• Careers360, CA September 2026 and CA Final November 2026 exam dates: https://www.careers360.com/commerce/articles/icai-ca-september-2026-exam-dates

If you are aiming for CA Intermediate January 2027, you have a big advantage over earlier batches: the new scheme now has many past attempts. ICAI has published CA Inter suggested answers for seven new-scheme attempts, and question papers for eight. These are free, official, and the closest thing you will get to the real exam.

This guide shows where to find them on the BoS Knowledge Portal, how question papers, suggested answers, RTPs and MTPs differ, and how to spread them across the three months before January.

CA Inter September 2026 question papers

ICAI has posted all six September 2026 Intermediate papers. Download each one from ICAI directly:

• Paper 1: Advanced Accounting (official ICAI PDF)
• Paper 2: Corporate and Other Laws (official ICAI PDF)
• Paper 3: Taxation (official ICAI PDF)
• Paper 4: Cost and Management Accounting (official ICAI PDF)
• Paper 5: Auditing and Ethics (official ICAI PDF)
• Paper 6: Financial Management and Strategic Management (official ICAI PDF)

Read them with the result in mind. In September 2026, 23.14% of Group I candidates passed (23,210 of 100,301) and 18.92% of Group II (12,938 of 68,400). Of those who wrote both groups, only 13.21% cleared both. Our CA Inter pass percentage page has every attempt since 2016.

ICAI had not posted the September 2026 suggested answers when we checked on 3 November 2026. The link goes here once it does.

Where CA Inter stands for January 2027

CA Intermediate is held three times a year, in January, May and September. You can see this pattern in ICAI's own list of papers. The September 2026 attempt has just finished, and the next one is January 2027.

The papers for January 2027 are expected to begin on 2 January 2027, but ICAI had not published the official time table when we checked on 22 September 2026. Treat any paper-wise dates you see online as tentative until the ICAI notice is out. For reference, each Inter paper in September 2026 was held from 2 pm to 5 pm.

Where to download CA Inter suggested answers officially

The Board of Studies (BoS) keeps everything on the BoS Knowledge Portal at boslive.icai.org. To get there:

1. Open the BoS Knowledge Portal home page and scroll down to the resource tiles.
2. Click Suggested Answers, then choose Intermediate.
3. This opens ICAI's page Suggested Answer - Intermediate Course on icai.org.
4. Pick an attempt. Each one lists all six papers separately. Recent attempts such as May 2026 and January 2026 also have group-wise Group I and Group II files.

For question papers only, click the Previous Year Question Papers - New Scheme tile and then Intermediate. This takes you to Question Papers - Intermediate Course.

ICAI says on these pages that it holds all copyright in this material. So download from ICAI directly and not from sites that re-upload the files.

Attempts available right now

When we checked (22 September 2026):

Suggested answers were available for:

• May 2026
• January 2026 (English and Hindi)
• September 2025 (English and Hindi)
• May 2025
• January 2025
• September 2024
• May 2024

Question papers were available for all of the above plus September 2026. The September 2026 papers are up, but their suggested answers were not listed yet. This makes them a useful test: solve them cold, then check your answers once ICAI adds the suggested answers.

The six new-scheme Inter papers

All of these attempts follow the same structure.

Group I

• Paper 1: Advanced Accounting
• Paper 2: Corporate and Other Laws
• Paper 3: Taxation

Group II

• Paper 4: Cost and Management Accounting
• Paper 5: Auditing and Ethics
• Paper 6: Financial Management and Strategic Management

Note that Paper 6 combines Financial Management with Strategic Management, so practise both parts from the same question paper.

Question papers, suggested answers, RTPs and MTPs: what's the difference?

Question papers

These are the exact papers set in each attempt. Use them for timed practice and to see the mix of questions in each paper.

Once you have written a past paper or an MTP, let someone other than you check it. Gradehunt's CA MTP and past paper evaluation checks your Inter answers in 48 hours and marks the places where step marks were lost.

Suggested answers

Each suggested answer PDF repeats the questions and gives ICAI's answers below them. In May 2026 Paper 3 Taxation, for example, the PDF opens with "Part – I: Multiple Choice Questions", built around case scenarios. The written questions follow after that. Seeing the complete paper with answers helps you pace both parts.

The January 2026 page also has a Summary of Examiner's Comment for each group. Read it before your final revision, because it explains where candidates dropped marks.

Revision Test Papers (RTPs)

BoS releases an RTP for each attempt as a revision set. The Intermediate RTP page lists attempts up to September 2026, with Hindi-medium versions for several of them. The RTP for January 2027 had not been posted when we checked. Keep checking the RTP page, and in the meantime revise from the September 2026 RTP.

Mock Test Papers (MTPs)

MTPs are full-length papers that ICAI runs on a fixed schedule before an attempt. For September 2025, for example, the portal listed Mock Test Papers Series I and Series II for CA Intermediate, with registration for the physical mode at ICAI regional councils and branches. ICAI had not yet announced the MTP schedule for January 2027 when we checked. Watch the Announcements menu on the BoS Knowledge Portal for it. Suggested answers show you the model; a CA test series shows you how far your own written answers are from it.

A simple way to remember it: question papers and suggested answers show you what ICAI has already asked. RTPs and MTPs are practice material written for the attempt you are about to take.

A three-month plan for CA Inter January 2027

You have roughly 14 weeks. Inter has six papers and Group I and II are quite different, so plan the work paper by paper.

October: learn the pattern

• Take one recent attempt (May 2026) and solve all six papers across the month, one paper at a time.
• After each paper, compare your answers with the suggested answer. Look closely at presentation: journal entries and notes to accounts in Advanced Accounting, section references in Corporate and Other Laws, and working notes in Cost and Management Accounting.
• List the topics where you were slow or unsure. That list is your revision plan.

November: build speed under timing

• Write the September 2026, January 2026 and September 2025 papers in strict three-hour slots.
• Finish all MCQ case scenarios within a fixed time. In Taxation, answers depend on the law applicable to each attempt, so check the amendments relevant to January 2027 before you trust an older suggested answer.
• If you want an outside check on your timed papers, a CA Inter test series gives you evaluated full papers to track your speed and accuracy.
• For Auditing and Ethics, and for the Strategic Management part of Paper 6, practise writing short, point-wise answers. Suggested answers show how much detail ICAI expects.

December: RTP, MTP and review

• Solve the January 2027 RTP once it is released.
• Attempt the ICAI MTP series if you can. Writing papers on set dates is good practice for the real timetable.
• Go through the Summary of Examiner's Comment and redo your weakest questions from earlier attempts.

Mistakes Inter students often make

• Starting with the answer. You'll learn much more if you attempt the question first, even roughly, and then check.
• Mixing old and new scheme. Old-scheme papers have different subjects. Start with the new-scheme attempts listed above.
• Neglecting one group. Many students keep practising Group I and leave Group II papers for the end. Balance both, especially if you are appearing for both groups.
• Ignoring the Hindi versions. If you write in Hindi, use the Hindi suggested answers where ICAI provides them (January 2026 and September 2025).

Where a test series fits in

ICAI's suggested answers are the benchmark, but they can't grade your own answer sheet. A test series lets you write full papers in exam conditions, get step-by-step evaluation, and see where marks slipped: a missing working note, a wrong section, or a half-finished case scenario.

If that feedback would help, take a look at the CA Inter test series on Gradehunt, which follows the ICAI pattern, and pick the papers you need for your January 2027 attempt. Pair it with ICAI's RTP and MTPs for the best results.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I download CA Inter suggested answers?

From ICAI, for free. On boslive.icai.org, click Suggested Answers and then Intermediate. This opens ICAI's official Suggested Answer - Intermediate Course page, with a PDF for each paper.

Are September 2026 CA Inter suggested answers out?

They had not been published when we checked on 22 September 2026. The September 2026 question papers are available on ICAI's Question Papers - Intermediate Course page. The suggested answers should appear on the suggested answers page later, so check there.

How many new-scheme CA Inter attempts have suggested answers?

Seven attempts: May 2024, September 2024, January 2025, May 2025, September 2025, January 2026 and May 2026.

Is the RTP for CA Inter January 2027 available?

Not when we checked. The latest RTP listed for Intermediate was September 2026. Keep an eye on the RTP page on the BoS Knowledge Portal.

What is the difference between RTP and MTP for CA Inter?

An RTP is a revision set of questions for an upcoming attempt that you solve at your own pace. An MTP is a full-length mock paper that ICAI runs on fixed dates (earlier attempts had Series I and Series II), so you can practise under exam conditions.

Are CA Inter suggested answers available in Hindi?

Yes, for some attempts. ICAI lists Hindi versions for January 2026 and September 2025.

Sources

• ICAI BoS Knowledge Portal (home page and resource tiles): https://boslive.icai.org/
• ICAI, Suggested Answer - Intermediate Course (list of attempts): https://www.icai.org/post/suggested-answer-intermediate
• ICAI, Suggested Answer - Intermediate Course - May 2026: https://www.icai.org/post/sugg-ans-inter-may2026
• ICAI, Suggested Answer - Intermediate Course - January 2026: https://www.icai.org/post/sugg-ans-inter-jan2026
• ICAI, Question Papers - Intermediate Course: https://www.icai.org/post/question-papers-intermediate-course
• ICAI, May 2026 Intermediate Paper 3 Taxation suggested answers (PDF): https://resource.cdn.icai.org/92874bos-sa-int-may2026-p3.pdf
• ICAI BoS, Revision Test Papers - Intermediate: https://boslive.icai.org/education_content_rtp.php?c=Intermediate
• Careers360, CA September 2026 exam dates (Inter paper timings): https://www.careers360.com/commerce/articles/icai-ca-september-2026-exam-dates
• ICAI BoS, Mock Test Papers (announcements list): https://boslive.icai.org/education_content.php?p=Mock%20Test%20Papers
• Careers360, CA Inter January 2027 exam date (tentative): https://www.careers360.com/commerce/articles/ca-inter-jan-2027-exam-date

CA Final Paper 1, Financial Reporting, on 2 November 2026 was a moderate paper with a long MCQ part. Part I packed 23 MCQs into 30 marks, up from 15 in May 2026, and business combinations under Ind AS 103 carried 24 of the 114 marks printed on the paper. Part II had fewer computation marks than May, so a student who chose questions well could make up time there.

Most of the marks sat on familiar standards. The time went on reading 23 MCQs and their case scenarios.

TL;DR

• Moderate paper. Part I is long (14 printed pages for 30 marks), Part II about average.
• Ind AS 103 has 24 printed marks and Ind AS 32/109 has 15. Nine standards tested in May 2026 have none.
• ICAI's official paper and suggested answers are awaited.

Was CA Final FR November 2026 tough or easy?

My verdict rests on the paper itself: length, marks that need calculations and the spread of standards.

1. Difficulty: moderate. Most questions ask for a standard Ind AS position, and only a handful hide a trap.
2. Length: Part I is lengthy, with 23 MCQs in three case scenarios and ten standalone questions. Part II is about average: 48 of its 84 printed marks need computation or journal entries, against 58 in May 2026.
3. Spread: Ind AS 103 alone carries 24 of 114 printed marks, and seven areas with no marks in May 2026 carry 45 marks now.

The content was fair. Part I's reading load is what made the paper long.

How did I count the marks?

I read the November 2026 paper from a scanned copy that students shared after the exam. I ignored the candidate's handwritten workings on it. May 2026 figures come from ICAI's official question paper. Each question goes to its main standard, and Part II counts as printed: six questions of 14 marks, though you write only five. With Part I's 30, each paper prints 114 marks.

Q5(c) is an internal choice, so its 4 marks count once.

Which chapters carried the most marks in CA Final FR Nov 2026?

Standard-wise printed marks for November 2026, MCQ plus descriptive, with May 2026 in brackets:

• Ind AS 103 business combinations and group accounts: 24 marks, 10 MCQ + 14 descriptive (22).
• Ind AS 32 and 109 financial instruments: 15 marks, 5 MCQ + 10 descriptive (14).
• Ind AS 12 income taxes: 8 marks, 2 MCQ + 6 descriptive (0).
• Ind AS 40 and 16 property classification: 8 marks, all descriptive (0).
• Ind AS 41 agriculture: 8 marks, all descriptive (0).
• Technology and cybersecurity: 7 marks, 2 MCQ + 5 descriptive (5).
• Ind AS 1 presentation: 6 marks, 2 MCQ + 4 descriptive (0).
• Ind AS 37 provisions: 6 marks, all descriptive (0).
• Ind AS 115 revenue: 6 marks, 1 MCQ + 5 descriptive (7).
• Applicability of Ind AS: 5 marks, all descriptive (0).
• Ind AS 116 leases: 5 marks, all descriptive (10).
• Ind AS 36 impairment: 4 marks, all MCQ (2).
• Ind AS 10 events after the reporting period: 4 marks, all descriptive (0).
• Ind AS 101 first-time adoption: 3 marks, all MCQ (7).
• Professional ethics: 1 mark, all MCQ (2).
• Q5(c) internal choice, either the Ind AS standard-setting process or derecognition under Ind AS 109: 4 marks.

Only May 2026 had marks for Ind AS 20 (8), 19 (6), 113 (6), 23 (5), 105, 34 and 108 (4 each), 8 and 33 (2 each) and the Conceptual Framework (4).

Ind AS 103 and Ind AS 32/109 together carry 39 of 114 printed marks, about a third of the paper, which is close to May's 36.

What grew, what shrank and what was new?

Part II kept the same skeleton as May 2026. Q1 is a 14-mark Ind AS 103 question both times. Q2(a) is a 10-mark compound instrument both times, convertible debentures with a put option in May and compulsorily convertible cumulative preference shares now. Q5(a) is 5 marks of Ind AS 115, Q6(a) is 5 marks of technology theory and Q5(c) is a 4-mark internal choice in both papers.

Part I changed. May had 15 MCQs of 2 marks each. November has 23, of which 16 carry 1 mark and 7 carry 2. Both papers have 9 computation MCQs, but these carry 14 of 30 marks now against 18 in May. More questions for the same marks means more reading per mark.

Ind AS 116 halved from 10 marks to 5, and Ind AS 101 fell from 7 to 3. Ind AS 12, 40 and 16, 41, 37, 1, 10 and the applicability rules had no marks in May and carry 45 now.

The two-attempt pattern is steady at the top. Ind AS 103 and the compound instrument question repeat, while the 4 to 8 mark questions rotate across standards.

Which questions were tricky or new?

In Part I

• MCQ 23 measures loan notes in the holder's books. The copy I read calls them 1% loan notes and later says interest is 4% of par. C Limited's later liquidity trouble and the waived interest do not affect initial measurement.
• MCQs 11 and 12 deal with buying your own franchisee: a reacquired right, then settling the pre-existing relationship. May 2026 MCQ 8 also tested the settlement of a pre-existing dispute, so this idea has now come up in two attempts in a row.
• MCQ 14 tests Ind AS 115 through an automated process that codes contract clauses with Boolean tags. May 2026 had no MCQ like it.
• MCQs 20 and 21 pair Ind AS 101's mandatory exceptions with its optional exemptions, and one option appears in both sets.

In Part II

• Q1 forms a new company, Planet Ltd, to combine Mercury and Venus. Under Ind AS 103 one of the existing entities is the acquirer, and the fair values and management facts point to the larger one.
• Q6(b) asks you to classify a lessee's lease, though Ind AS 116 has a single model for lessees. Say that first, then measure the right-of-use asset and the lease liability.
• Q4(b) on goats under Ind AS 41 needs entries on five dates for 8 marks. I count it as the longest question for its marks in Part II.
• Q4(a) is a short onerous contract test: provide for the least net cost of exiting the contract.

Most marks lost here will be time lost in Part I and Q4(b). Our post on writing FR Ind AS answers has the format I use for theory questions.

How did the AFM paper on 4 November compare?

AFM kept FR's new Part I layout: 23 MCQs for 30 marks, 16 of 1 mark and 7 of 2, all inside six case scenarios this time. It was heavier on calculation, though. 29 of those 30 MCQ marks needed working, and forex and international finance carried 30 of the 114 printed marks. Our CA Final AFM paper analysis has the chapter-wise count against May 2026.

Next is Advanced Auditing on 6 November. The same 1.8 minutes a mark applies there, so budget the MCQs by marks. Our exam week tips post has the paper-wise plan for the rest of the attempt.

When will ICAI release the FR suggested answers?

ICAI's official question paper and suggested answers for November 2026 are awaited. Our CA Final question papers and suggested answers post links ICAI's papers by attempt. Until then, every answer key, my reading included, is unofficial.

Until then, you can download the November 2026 FR question paper as a free PDF, retyped from a student-shared copy. Our CA Final November 2026 question papers page has all three Group I papers.

Get your answers checked

If you will write FR again in May 2027, or want to see where your Ind AS answers lose marks, the Gradehunt CA Final test series has full papers you write by hand and upload. Ex-examiners check them within 48 hours of upload, and your first paper is checked free.

CA Final Paper 2, Advanced Financial Management, on 4 November 2026 was a lengthy paper built on familiar concepts. All 23 MCQs sat inside six case scenarios, and 29 of the 30 MCQ marks needed a calculation, against 24 in May 2026. Forex and international financial management together carried 30 of the 114 marks printed on the paper, while VaR and interest rate risk management had no direct marks.

Few concepts were new, but almost every mark needed working, and three long Part II questions asked for more time than their marks allow.

TL;DR

• Lengthy, moderate on concepts. 29 of 30 MCQ marks and 65 of 84 printed Part II marks need calculation.
• Security valuation leads with 22 printed marks. Forex has 16 and IFM 14. Risk management and interest rate risk management have none.
• ICAI's official paper and suggested answers are awaited.

Was CA Final AFM November 2026 tough or easy?

My verdict rests on the paper itself: concepts, length and spread of marks.

1. Difficulty: moderate. Forwards, swaps, duration, beta, APV, EVA and exchange ratios are all study material topics. The harder items, such as Case VI, make you work backwards.
2. Length: lengthy. Only one MCQ, worth 1 mark, can be answered without numbers. In Part II, Q5(a) at 8 marks and Q2(a) and Q3(a) at 6 each ask you to compare three or more routes or stack several adjustments.
3. Spread: wide. Twelve of the 15 ICAI chapters carry direct marks, startup finance appears only inside an internal choice, and two chapters have nothing.

If your formulas were quick, the paper was fair. If they were slow, the MCQs ate the time Part II needed.

How did I count the marks?

I read the November 2026 paper from a retyped copy shared after the exam, with booklet code CDM. The May 2026 figures come from ICAI's official question paper and suggested answers. The November paper was counted twice, independently, and the two counts matched on every total. Each question goes to its main ICAI chapter. Part II counts as printed: six questions of 14 marks, though you answer only five. With Part I's 30, each paper prints 114 marks.

The counts split on one call. Case IV (MCQs 11 to 14) cuts a portfolio's beta through T-bills or Nifty futures. I placed it under portfolio management, because MCQs 11 and 13, worth 4 of its 6 marks, ask for the portfolio's beta and the shares left; under derivatives, that chapter would rise from 6 to 12. Q4(c), an internal choice, counts once.

Which chapters carried the most marks in CA Final AFM Nov 2026?

Chapter-wise printed marks for November 2026, MCQ plus descriptive, with May 2026 in brackets:

• Security valuation (bonds, equity, T-bills): 22 marks, 4 MCQ + 18 descriptive (10).
• Forex exposure and risk management: 16 marks, 12 MCQ + 4 descriptive (8).
• International financial management: 14 marks, all descriptive (12).
• Advanced capital budgeting: 12 marks, 6 MCQ + 6 descriptive (6).
• Portfolio management: 12 marks, 6 MCQ + 6 descriptive (12).
• Mergers and acquisitions: 7 marks, all descriptive (13).
• Derivatives: 6 marks, 2 MCQ + 4 descriptive (11).
• Business valuation: 5 marks, all descriptive (5).
• Financial policy and corporate strategy: 4 marks, all descriptive (4).
• Security analysis: 4 marks, all descriptive (0).
• Securitisation: 4 marks, all descriptive (4).
• Mutual funds: 4 marks, all descriptive (8).
• Q4(c) internal choice, a protective put on Vee Ltd shares or True/False on venture capital: 4 marks. May's choice was Elliott Wave or an interest rate collar.

Risk management, which includes VaR, had 6 marks in May 2026, and interest rate risk management had 7. Neither has a direct mark now. Startup finance appears only as the venture capital side of Q4(c).

What grew, what shrank and what was new?

Part I changed shape. May had 15 MCQs of 2 marks each, in five cases of three. November has 23: 16 of 1 mark and 7 of 2, in six cases of two to five questions. FR on 2 November used the same 16 plus 7 split, so two papers in a row now share it. AFM still has no standalone MCQ.

Forex and IFM rose from 20 marks to 30. Ten of the 23 MCQs are on Forex: a USD/INR forward, an AUD-GBP swap and an import hedge. Part II adds export trade finance in Q3(a) and group treasury netting and funding in Q5(a).

Security valuation rose from 10 marks to 22. Duration and convexity appear twice: the bullet versus barbell case for 4 marks and two bonds in Q6(a) for 7. A 364-day T-bill in Q1(a) and Gordon's model in Q4(a) make up the rest.

Several slots repeat. Q1(c) is 4 marks of sustainable growth theory both times, Q6 again has a 7-mark mergers part and securitisation keeps its 4-mark theory part. APV returns too, now for a domestic project with a subsidised NABARD loan instead of May's foreign one.

The Part II mix barely moved: 65 computational and 15 theory marks out of 84, against 66 and 14 in May. The compulsory Q1 has 10 computational and 4 theory marks in both papers.

Which questions were tricky or new?

In Part I

• Case VI gives sensitivity factors and asks you to rebuild the project. A 1% rise in volume adds Rs 6.06 lakh at a factor of 5, so NPV is Rs 121.20 lakh. MCQ 22 also needs the five-year discount factor at 12% for the Rs 40 lakh salvage. It is not printed, so derive it from the annuity factor: 1 - 0.12 x 3.6048 = 0.5674.
• In Case IV, 150 Nifty futures at 26,000 cut beta by 0.39 on a Rs 50 crore portfolio. Moving Rs 15 crore into T-bills gives the same result, a beta of 0.91.
• MCQ 19 lists four statements on the option hedge. Two carry figures close to the right ones, such as Rs 89.50 per USD against Rs 89.60 by my working, so finish the sum before you mark.

In Part II

• Q5(a) needs netting, three funding routes, a consolidated cost and a rate range for the intra-group loan. At 8 marks it is the largest single part in either 2026 paper; May's largest was 7. Germany's EUR 5 million surplus is ring-fenced, so leave it out.
• Q3(a) protects an export receivable of KLR 165 million in a fictional currency, with a 95% chance of normal payment. Three alternatives with two outcomes each make it long for 6 marks.
• Q2(a) stacks ungearing, a three-year build, a growing perpetuity, tax shields on two loans, a subsidy, issue costs and distress costs. Of the three PVIF rows, at 14.14%, 14.74% and 15.34%, you need only the 14.74% one.
• Q2(b) says analysts expect Rs 220 to Rs 300, but its probability table runs from Rs 240 to Rs 340. In Q4(c), a put with a Rs 2,200 strike on a Rs 2,100 share costs Rs 50, less than its Rs 100 intrinsic value. Use the numbers given and state your assumption.

Some of these may be retyping errors. In May 2026, ICAI's own suggested answers marked MCQ 6 as having no correct option and footnoted three wording errors, so check the official paper once it is published.

How did the Audit paper on 6 November compare?

Audit kept the Part I layout that FR and AFM used: 23 MCQs, 16 of 1 mark and 7 of 2. Its Part II leaned on recall, though. Only 26 of its 84 printed marks asked you to apply the facts and conclude, and ethics alone carried 29 of 114. Our Audit paper analysis has the chapter-wise count and a retyped copy of the paper.

Direct Tax is next, on 9 November. Our exam week tips post has the paper-wise plan for the rest of the attempt.

When will ICAI release the AFM suggested answers?

ICAI's official question paper and suggested answers for November 2026 are not yet published. Our CA Final question papers and suggested answers post links ICAI's papers by attempt. Until ICAI's answers are out, every key, my working included, is unofficial.

Until then, you can download the November 2026 AFM question paper as a free PDF, retyped from a student-shared copy. Our CA Final November 2026 question papers page has all three Group I papers.

Get your answers checked

If you will write AFM again in May 2027, or want to see where your working loses marks, the Gradehunt CA Final test series has full papers you write by hand and upload. Ex-examiners check them within 48 hours of upload, and your first paper is checked free.

CA Final Paper 3, Advanced Auditing, Assurance and Professional Ethics, on 6 November 2026 was a moderate paper that leaned on ethics and on study-material lists. Part I had 23 MCQs instead of May's 15, and ethics carried 29 of the 114 printed marks, against 22 in May 2026. Only 26 of the 84 printed Part II marks asked you to apply the facts and conclude. In May it was 52.

Little was unfamiliar, but the paper paid for exact recall more than for judgment, and one 10-mark case asked about nothing but a firm's branch and temporary offices under section 27.

TL;DR

• Moderate and list-heavy. 23 MCQs (16 of 1 mark, 7 of 2), and 35 of 84 printed Part II marks are answered as lists.
• Ethics leads with 29 marks, up from 22. Reporting has 12, audit planning 11. Prospective financial information and internal audit have none.
• Standards on Auditing carry 44 marks. ICAI's suggested answers are not yet published.

Was CA Final Audit November 2026 tough or easy?

My verdict rests on the paper itself.

1. Difficulty: moderate. SA 505, SA 720, SA 600, CARO, NOCLAR and contingent fees are all study material topics. The doubt sits in a few MCQs that depend on an RBI, SEBI or Council rule the paper does not print.
2. Length: manageable. No Part II sub-question goes above 5 marks, and only MCQ 23 needs a money calculation; MCQs 16 and 17 need a day count from the quarter end.
3. Spread: uneven. Seventeen of 19 chapters carry marks, but ethics alone has 29, a quarter of the paper.

If you had revised ethics and the SA lists closely, the paper was fair. If you planned to reason your way through the facts, Part II gave you fewer chances than May did.

How did I count the marks?

I read the November 2026 paper from a student-shared scanned copy (booklet KRS) and counted it twice, independently; the two counts agreed on the paper's structure, every printed mark and the 114 total. The May 2026 figures come from ICAI's official suggested answers. Each question goes to its main chapter in ICAI's 19-chapter study material. Part II counts as printed, six questions of 14 marks, so with Part I's 30 each paper prints 114 marks. The Q6(c) choice counts once.

The counts split on one chapter call. MCQ 21, one officer keeping the sales ledger and handling cash receipts, sits in an internal audit setting but tests only segregation of duties, so I placed it under internal control. They also differed on several application-versus-list calls, which I settled after re-reading; that sorting is my own judgment.

Which chapters carried the most marks in CA Final Audit Nov 2026?

Printed marks for November 2026, with May 2026 in brackets:

• Professional ethics and liabilities of auditors: 29, 10 MCQ + 19 descriptive (22).
• Reporting: 12, 2 MCQ + 10 descriptive (12).
• Audit planning, strategy and execution: 11, 1 MCQ + 10 descriptive (4).
• Digital auditing and assurance: 7, 2 MCQ + 5 descriptive (6).
• Audit of banks and NBFCs: 7, 2 MCQ + 5 descriptive (7).
• General auditing principles and auditor's responsibilities: 6, 2 MCQ + 4 descriptive (9).
• Materiality, risk assessment and internal control: 6, 1 MCQ + 5 descriptive (0).
• Due diligence, investigation and forensic accounting: 6, 1 MCQ + 5 descriptive (7).
• Quality control: 5, all descriptive (2).
• Audit evidence: 5, all MCQ (10).
• Specialised areas, related services, public sector audit and SDG/ESG assurance: 4 each (0, 4, 2, 6).
• Review of financial information 2 (5), completion and review 1 (6), group audits 1 (2).

Prospective financial information and internal audit had 5 marks each in May and none now.

What grew, what shrank and what was new?

Part I changed shape. May had 15 MCQs of 2 marks. November has 23, 7 of 2 marks and 16 of 1, in cases of six, five and six questions plus six standalone. Case and standalone marks stay at 24 and 6. FR on 2 November and AFM on 4 November used the same 16 plus 7 layout, so Audit is the third paper in a row with it.

Ethics MCQ marks went from 4 to 10, because all of Case II is on ethics. Depending on your choice of questions, you answered 20 to 29 ethics marks, against 13 to 22 in May. At 25.4% of printed marks, ethics is above its 17-24% band in ICAI's Saransh booklet, and miscellaneous audits, at 15.8%, fall below theirs. Digital auditing, at 6.1%, is also just above its 3-6% band. In May every section sat inside its band.

Audit planning rose from 4 to 11 through SA 600 in 4(a) and SA 610 direct assistance in 5(a). Internal control went from nothing to 6, with SA 315 and SA 330 on an automated ERP in 1(b). Audit evidence fell from 10 to 5.

The bigger change is in Part II. By my reading, 26 printed marks ask you to apply the facts, 35 are answered as a list from the study material and 23 mix both, against 52, 23 and 9 in May. A November candidate answered 16 to 26 application marks; in May it was 34 to 48.

Two frames came back. The BRSR question in 6(c), on the most relevant principle and its core elements, repeats May's 4(c) almost word for word. MCQ 22 mirrors May's 3(c) on SA 570: then the material uncertainty was adequately disclosed, now it is not.

Which questions were tricky or new?

In Part I

• Case II gives all 10 marks to section 27 of the Chartered Accountants Act. A Dehradun firm opens branches 55 km and 239 km away, puts a partner attending 165 days a year in charge of one and a part-time paid assistant in charge of the other, and plans a four-month temporary office in Chandigarh. The attendance requirement for the member in charge comes from a Council decision the paper does not print; the 50 km limit appears only inside option D of MCQ 7.
• MCQ 2 asks for named CAAT tools: Power BI, ACL, Alteryx, CaseWare. MCQs 4 to 6 are three SA 505 confirmation items.
• MCQs 16 and 17 test the SEBI rule for a listed entity's auditor who resigns with limited reviews pending. The answer turns on the 45-day rule and on which quarter the paper means.
• MCQ 23 sells two NPAs to an ARC at a shortfall of Rs 15 crore against net book value and an excess of Rs 10 crore; the 2021 RBI Master Direction fits no option exactly. For MCQ 18, on NBFC cash shortages of Rs 12,500 and Rs 6,000, my key rests on RBI thresholds that may predate the 2024 fraud directions.

In Part II

• 3(a) is NOCLAR with an imminent breach: a listed company plans to discharge untreated chemical waste into a river, and the managing director threatens to remove the auditor.
• 3(b) asks about NFTs for an art auction company, and 5(c) for CAG audit criteria at a state power distributor. May tested social engineering and a performance audit instead. 4(b) is the contingent-fee pair: 8% of debts recovered and 5% of tax saved.
• Four items read loosely. 4(c) wants an audited cash flow statement projecting 24 months, which is prospective information, not an SA 800 audit. 2(c) asks for SAs in a compilation, which SRS 4410 governs. 4(a) uses the year ended 31 March 2025. In 2(b), CARO clause 3(vii)(b) applies, but 3(viii) is debatable because the company never surrendered the income.

Answer from the standard that actually governs and state your assumption. Without ICAI's answers, every MCQ key here, and every legal reference the paper does not print, is my reading.

Where can I get the CA Final Audit Nov 2026 question paper?

We have retyped the student-shared copy into a free GradeHunt PDF, so you can download the November 2026 Audit question paper and attempt it under time. Once ICAI publishes its official paper, use that one, because a scanned copy can carry errors.

The FR and AFM papers are on our CA Final November 2026 question papers page.

How should you approach Direct Tax on 9 November?

Paper 4, Direct Tax Laws and International Taxation, is on 9 November. If it follows the first three papers, its 30 MCQ marks are worth about 54 minutes of 180. Spend the two days on timed questions: one each on capital gains, business income and transfer pricing, then the limits and rates you mix up. Our exam week tips post has the rest of the plan.

When will ICAI release the Audit suggested answers?

ICAI's official question paper and suggested answers for November 2026 are not yet published. Our CA Final question papers and suggested answers post links ICAI's papers by attempt. Until ICAI's answers are out, every key, mine included, is unofficial.

Get your answers checked

If you will write Audit again in May 2027, or want to see where your answers lose marks, the Gradehunt CA Final test series has full papers you write by hand and upload. Ex-examiners check them within 48 hours of upload.

CA Final Paper 4, Direct Tax Laws and International Taxation, on 9 November 2026 was a lengthy, calculation-heavy paper on familiar topics. Part I had 23 MCQs instead of May's 15, and 72 of the 118 printed marks needed a calculation: 61.0%, against 52.5% in May 2026. International tax kept May's 36 printed marks.

Few questions were new in concept, but the MCQ cases carry one answer into the next, and Q1 is a single 14-mark computation.

TL;DR

• Lengthy, moderate on concepts. 23 of 30 MCQ marks and 49 of 88 printed Part II marks need working.
• PGBP and trusts lead with 14 marks each. Digital assets, penalties and a REIT case, none tested in May, carry 17.
• This was the last CA Final DT paper under the Income-tax Act, 1961. ICAI's suggested answers are not yet out.

Was CA Final DT November 2026 tough or easy?

1. Difficulty: moderate. Penalties under s.270A, virtual digital assets, REITs, s.44C and the s.115BAA choice are all study material topics, and 17 printed marks come straight from ICAI's study material.
2. Length: lengthy. Sixteen of the 23 MCQs need a calculation, Q1 is one undivided 14-mark computation, and Q2 is numbers from start to finish. In May, 4 of Q2's 14 marks were theory.
3. Spread: wide. Twenty of ICAI's 28 chapters carry direct marks, against 16 in May, so skipping chapters cost more than usual.

If you write computations quickly, the paper was fair. If not, Part I and Q1 ate the time.

How did I count the marks?

I read the November 2026 paper from a student-shared scanned copy (booklet LDF) and counted it twice, independently. The counts agreed on every question's marks; I settled a few chapter and type differences, using ICAI's study material for chapters. The May 2026 figures come from ICAI's official suggested answers. Items go to their main ICAI study-material chapter. Part II counts as printed, including the third 4-mark part of Q5(a), so each paper prints 118 marks and you answer 100. Our FR, AFM and Audit posts count internal choice once, which gives 114 here.

An MCQ is computational when you must work out an amount; one asking for a treatment or a statutory cap, such as MCQ 21 or MCQ 9, is theory. Five items show no marks on the scan; I set each by difference.

Which chapters carried the most marks in CA Final DT Nov 2026?

Printed marks for November 2026, with May 2026 in brackets:

• Profits and gains of business or profession: 14, all descriptive (14).
• Trusts, political parties and other special entities: 14, 6 MCQ + 8 descriptive (16).
• Non-resident taxation: 13, 7 MCQ + 6 descriptive (14).
• Deduction, collection and recovery of tax: 12, all descriptive (16).
• Transfer pricing: 7, 1 MCQ + 6 descriptive (6).
• Taxation of digital transactions: 6, all MCQ (0).
• Tax audit and ethical compliances: 6, all descriptive (6).
• Double taxation relief: 6, all descriptive (6).
• Provisions to counteract unethical tax practices: 5, all MCQ (0).
• Appeals and revision: 5, 1 MCQ + 4 descriptive (8).
• Capital gains, assessment of various entities, tax planning, miscellaneous provisions, advance rulings and model tax conventions: 4 each (4, 0, 6, 0, 4, 6).
• Income from other sources 2 (0), BEPS 2 (0), clubbing 1 (0), assessment procedure 1 (2).

Set-off of losses and dispute resolution had 4 marks each in May and deductions from gross total income 2; none of the three carries marks now.

What grew, what shrank and what was new?

Part I changed shape. May had 15 MCQs of 2 marks. November has 23, 7 of 2 marks and 16 of 1, in four cases plus six standalone questions; case and standalone marks stay at 24 and 6. FR on 2 November, AFM on 4 November and Audit on 6 November used the same 16 plus 7 split, so DT is the fourth paper in a row with it.

Part II kept May's layout, with no OR and the same Q5(a) choice. The new ground came through Part I: digital assets, penalties and a REIT. The TDS and TCS chapter had four MCQs in May and none of its own now (its s.194S and s.194LBA MCQs sit in the VDA and REIT cases), so it fell from 16 to 12.

By module, income heads fell from 24 to 21, entities, trusts and digital assets rose from 22 to 28, and procedures and penalties went from 36 to 33. International tax stayed at 36, with 6 marks in each of Q2 to Q5.

Computational marks rose from 62 of 118 printed to 72, and from 50-62 to 58-72 of the marks you answered.

Several slots repeat: Q1 on a company's income and s.115BAA, again with no gain from opting by my working, foreign tax credit at Q3(b), transfer pricing at Q4(b), OECD and UN Models at Q5(b), a tax auditor's ethics at Q6(a) and advance rulings at Q6(c).

Which questions were tricky or new?

In Part I

• Case I applies s.270A twice: 50% on the Rs 12 lakh addition under s.143(3) and 200% on the Rs 15 lakh misreported under s.147. The 25% rate turns on 2023-24 turnover of Rs 397 crore, not 2024-25's Rs 403 crore. My penalties: Rs 1,66,920 and Rs 8,34,600.
• In Case II, the Bitcoin loss cannot be set off, the NFT sale of Rs 9.9 lakh is net of 1% TDS, and a Bitcoin gift from a friend is taxed while one from a brother is not. MCQ 11 builds on MCQs 10, 12 and 14, so one slip costs twice.
• MCQ 16 likewise uses MCQs 17, 18 and 19, and MCQ 23 uses MCQs 20 and 21. MCQ 20 taxes the REIT on Rs 1.21 crore at the maximum marginal rate, and two options fit, depending on the surcharge: Rs 47,19,000 at 39% or Rs 51,72,024 at 42.744%. ICAI's study material gives no figure, so I pick neither.
• The standalone MCQs covered six topics May did not test: s.155(1A), s.92CE(2A), interest on enhanced compensation, a buy-back after 1 October 2024 taxed as deemed dividend, clubbing of a wife's gift, and the ITAT fee, which stops at Rs 10,000.

In Part II

• Q1, Bardhaman Technologies Ltd, ends on s.115BAA or s.115BAB; s.115BAB is out, as the company was set up in 2017-18. The printed CII and the Arunachal Pradesh backward area are distractors. By my working, opting does not pay: about Rs 12.98 lakh of tax against Rs 14.85 lakh under s.115BAA, or Rs 15.63 lakh against Rs 16.99 lakh if the ECL reversal was not credited to profit.
• Q2 is all computation, ending with a foreign company's Indian branch, where s.44C caps head office expenditure at 5% of Rs 16 crore of adjusted total income, or Rs 0.80 crore.
• Q4(b) runs three associated enterprise tests. A Rs 320 crore loan against Rs 600 crore of assets makes an AE, a 21% holding falls short of 26%, and 80% of supplies falls short of 90%.

Q6(a) is close to Question 4 in Chapter 20's Test Your Knowledge section, with buses for dumpers. Q5(a)(ii) and (iii) track the Maruti Suzuki (2019) and Pioneer Overseas (2022) Supreme Court rulings, Q4(a)(ii) is CBDT Circular 9/2012, and MCQ 5 uses the 20.9664% rate printed in Chapter 24. Every key and figure above is my working.

Where can I get the CA Final DT Nov 2026 question paper?

We have retyped the student-shared copy into a free GradeHunt PDF, so you can download the November 2026 DT question paper and attempt it under time. Some figures were unreadable on the scan, so switch to ICAI's paper once it is out. Our CA Final November 2026 question papers page has the other papers.

Was this the last DT paper under the Income-tax Act, 1961?

Yes. The November 2026 paper was set for AY 2026-27 under the 1961 Act and never cites the new one. In an announcement dated 5 December 2025, ICAI's Board of Studies said the Income-tax Act, 2025 applies to Final Paper 4 from the May 2027 exams, and there is no CA Final attempt in between.

For May 2027, study from ICAI material written for the 2025 Act and learn its terms and section numbers: tax year in place of previous year and assessment year, and section 202 for the new regime in place of section 115BAC. Past papers still teach the method; rework their answers under the new sections.

How should you approach IDT on 11 November?

If Paper 5, Indirect Tax Laws, follows the first four papers, its 30 MCQ marks are worth about 54 of your 180 minutes. On 10 November, time one GST question each on place of supply, input tax credit and valuation, and one on customs valuation. Our exam week tips post has the rest of the plan.

When will ICAI release the DT suggested answers?

ICAI's official question paper and suggested answers for November 2026 are not yet published. Our CA Final question papers and suggested answers post links ICAI's papers by attempt. Until ICAI's answers are out, every key, mine included, is unofficial.

Get your answers checked

If you will write DT again in May 2027, the Gradehunt CA Final test series has full papers you write by hand and upload. Ex-examiners check them within 48 hours of upload.

The CS Executive December 2026 exams run from Monday, 21 December to Monday, 28 December 2026, one paper a day from 2:00 PM, with no exam on 25 December. If you are writing both groups, that is seven papers in eight days, so your revision has to be finished before the first paper, not squeezed in between them.

Plan as if there is no gap between papers, because for a student writing both groups there isn't one.

TL;DR

• Dates: 21 to 28 December 2026, with no paper on 25 December.
• Timing: 2:00 PM to 5:15 PM, and the first 15 minutes are reading time.
• Group 1 papers fall on 21, 23, 26 and 28 December. Group 2 papers fall on 22, 24 and 27 December.
• Hardest stretch: Tax Laws and Practice on Sunday 27 December, then Corporate Accounting and Financial Management on Monday 28 December.

When is each CS Executive paper in December 2026?

• Monday, 21 December: Jurisprudence, Interpretation and General Laws (Group 1)
• Tuesday, 22 December: Capital Market and Securities Laws (Group 2)
• Wednesday, 23 December: Company Law and Practice (Group 1)
• Thursday, 24 December: Economic, Commercial and Intellectual Property Laws (Group 2)
• Friday, 25 December: no exam
• Saturday, 26 December: Setting Up of Business, Industrial and Labour Laws (Group 1)
• Sunday, 27 December: Tax Laws and Practice (Group 2)
• Monday, 28 December: Corporate Accounting and Financial Management (Group 1)

These are the dates in ICSI's December 2026 schedule, and Careers360's report of the schedule lists the same papers. I would still open the ICSI website once in early December to check for changes, and go by the reporting time printed on your admit card.

Seven papers, 21 to 28 December, every one of them at 2:00 PM, with only Christmas Day free.

How much gap do you get between papers?

That depends on the group you are writing.

• Group 1 only: papers on 21, 23, 26 and 28 December. You get one free day before Company Law, two (24 and 25 December) before Setting Up of Business, and one (27 December) before Corporate Accounting and Financial Management.
• Group 2 only: papers on 22, 24 and 27 December. The longest break, 25 and 26 December, comes before Tax Laws and Practice, which is useful because that paper has the most computation.
• Both groups: seven papers in eight days. After each paper you have one evening to look over the next subject, which is enough for a final read of short notes and nothing more.

The pair I warn every student about is Tax Laws and Practice on Sunday followed by Corporate Accounting and Financial Management on Monday. Both are numerical, and both punish slow working. Sit these two as full mocks on two days in a row at least once before December, so the back-to-back load is not new to you in exam week.

Students writing one group get a day or two between papers; students writing both should treat the week as one long exam.

How should you use the ten weeks before 21 December?

1. Finish the first reading of every pending chapter by mid-November, and write a chapter-wise test after every two or three chapters.
2. From mid-November, write full papers in the real 2:00 PM to 5:15 PM slot, at least two per subject, and get each one checked.
3. Keep the last ten days for revision only: your own notes and the remarks on your checked papers, with no new books.

I insist on the afternoon slot for one reason. Students who always practise late at night often find their writing speed drops after the first ninety minutes of a 2 PM paper, and the exam is the wrong place to discover that.

The target is two checked full papers per subject by mid-December, then revision and nothing else.

Where do students lose marks in CS Executive answers?

Five of the seven papers are law papers, and they reward a simple order: the provision in plain words, how it applies to the facts in the question, and a one-line conclusion. The most common problem in the answer sheets we check at Gradehunt is the opposite, a long account of everything the student knows about a section with no clear answer to what was asked.

• Quote the section or rule only when you are sure of it. A wrong section number next to correct reasoning looks careless.
• End practical questions with a conclusion such as "the company can proceed" or "the appointment is not valid". An answer without one rarely gets full marks.
• Show workings in Corporate Accounting and Financial Management and in Tax Laws. Marks are given for steps, so a clean working note can rescue an answer with a slip in the final figure.

To pass, you need at least 40% in each paper and 50% in aggregate across the group. Our post on CS Executive passing marks explains how the aggregate works when you clear one group at a time.

Provision, application, conclusion: answers in that order score well, and long essays without a conclusion do not.

What should you check on the admit card and on exam day?

• ICSI puts the admit card on its website before the exam, and it is not sent by post. Download it as soon as it is out and check your photo, name, centre and subjects.
• Carry the printed admit card and a valid photo ID, and visit the centre a day early if you have not been there before.
• Use the 15 minutes of reading time to choose the order of questions, then start with one you are sure of.

Download the admit card the day ICSI releases it, so there is time to get any error corrected.

Where can you practise with checked CS Executive papers?

Gradehunt's CS Executive test series has papers set on the ICSI pattern for all seven subjects, checked by ex-examiners within 48 hours, with remarks on where each answer lost marks. Your first paper is checked free.

If you are still comparing options, our guide on choosing a CS test series lists what to look for.

ICMAI holds the CMA Intermediate and Final exams for the December 2026 term from Thursday 10 to Thursday 17 December 2026. Final papers run from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm and Inter papers from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm IST, and the two groups of each level write on alternate days. Every date below is from ICMAI's official time table PDF.

The exam form window closed on 17 October. If you have applied, check one thing before the admit card: ICMAI's 26 October circular asks students with pending documents (provisional admission for Inter, practical training and IOTP training for Final) to clear them by 16 November 2026, or a regular admit card may not be issued. Counting from 6 November, there are 34 days to the first paper.

CMA December 2026 exam dates at a glance

• Dates: Thursday 10 to Thursday 17 December 2026, offline at ICMAI exam centres.
• Timings (IST): Final 10:00 am to 1:00 pm; Inter 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm.
• Exam form: closed. The normal last date was 10 October 2026, and the late window with a ₹500 fee ran from 11 to 17 October.
• Pending documents: clear them by 16 November 2026, 24 days before the first paper, as ICMAI's 26 October circular asks.
• Result: latest by 5 February 2027 as per ICMAI's notice, 50 days after the last paper.

CMA Inter and Final December 2026 time table, day by day

Both levels use the same eight dates. Final writes in the morning slot and Inter in the afternoon:

• Thursday 10 December: Final Paper 13, Corporate and Economic Laws (Group III). Inter Paper 5, Business Laws and Ethics (Group I).
• Friday 11 December: Final Paper 17, Cost and Management Audit (Group IV). Inter Paper 9, Operations Management and Strategic Management (Group II).
• Saturday 12 December: Final Paper 14, Strategic Financial Management (Group III). Inter Paper 6, Financial Accounting (Group I).
• Sunday 13 December: Final Paper 18, Corporate Financial Reporting (Group IV). Inter Paper 10, Corporate Accounting and Auditing (Group II).
• Monday 14 December: Final Paper 15, Direct Tax Laws and International Taxation (Group III). Inter Paper 7, Direct and Indirect Taxation (Group I).
• Tuesday 15 December: Final Paper 19, Indirect Tax Laws and Practice (Group IV). Inter Paper 11, Financial Management and Business Data Analytics (Group II).
• Wednesday 16 December: Final Paper 16, Strategic Cost Management (Group III). Inter Paper 8, Cost Accounting (Group I).
• Thursday 17 December: Final Paper 20, your elective (Group IV): 20A Strategic Performance Management and Business Valuation, 20B Risk Management in Banking and Insurance, or 20C Entrepreneurship and Start-up. Inter Paper 12, Management Accounting (Group II).

Source: ICMAI, Intermediate and Final Examination Time Table and Programme, December 2026 (Syllabus 2022).

Group I (Inter) and Group III (Final) papers fall on Thursday, Saturday, Monday and Wednesday: 10, 12, 14 and 16 December. Group II and Group IV papers fall on Friday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday: 11, 13, 15 and 17 December. The Final elective comes last, on 17 December; our post on choosing the CMA Final elective compares the three papers.

Which days are hardest if you write both groups?

Write one group and you get a free day before every paper after the first, with four papers spread over 7 days. Write both and you face eight papers on eight straight days. The weekdays show where the pressure sits. Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 December carry the longest computational pair at both levels: Financial Accounting then Corporate Accounting and Auditing at Inter, and Strategic Financial Management then Corporate Financial Reporting at Final.

• Inter: Financial Accounting on Saturday 12 December, then Corporate Accounting and Auditing on Sunday 13 December. Both are long accounting papers, and the second also carries auditing theory.
• Final: Strategic Financial Management on Saturday 12 December, then Corporate Financial Reporting on Sunday 13 December, both heavy on computation.
• Final: Direct Tax Laws on Monday 14 December, then Indirect Tax Laws on Tuesday 15 December, two tax papers with separate amendments to keep apart.
• Inter: Cost Accounting on Wednesday 16 December, then Management Accounting on Thursday 17 December. The concepts overlap, which helps, but tired students mix up the formats.

Before 10 December, write each of these pairs as full papers on two consecutive days at least once, starting with the Saturday-Sunday pair. The first time you feel that fatigue should not be in the exam hall. For paper-wise advice on the week itself, read our CMA exam week tips.

CMA December 2026 exam fees, mode and centres

• CMA Inter: ₹1,500 for one group and ₹2,800 for both groups at centres in India.
• CMA Final: ₹1,800 for one group and ₹3,200 for both groups at centres in India.
• Overseas centres: US$100 for one group and US$150 for both groups, at either level.
• Late fee: ₹500 for forms filed from 11 to 17 October 2026.

Per paper, both groups together cost less: ₹350 a paper against ₹375 at Inter, and ₹400 against ₹450 at Final. Taking both groups in one form saves ₹200 at Inter and ₹400 at Final compared with two single-group forms.

The exam is offline and centre-based, and forms were accepted online only, with no paper forms or demand drafts. ICMAI's notice lists 140 centre cities in India, from Adipur-Kachchh to Visakhapatnam, and three overseas centres: Bahrain, Dubai and Muscat.

All timings in the notice are in IST. In local time, the Final paper starts at 8:30 am in Dubai and Muscat and at 7:30 am in Bahrain; the Inter paper starts at 12:30 pm and 11:30 am.

Is the CMA December 2026 exam form still open?

No. The normal last date for Inter and Final was 10 October 2026, and the late window with a ₹500 fee closed on 17 October. ICMAI holds Inter and Final exams twice a year, in June and December, so if you missed this window your next attempt is the June 2027 term.

When will the CMA December 2026 admit card and result come?

Admit cards are issued on the Admit Card page of icmai.in. On 6 November 2026 that page still showed only the June 2026 term link. Our CMA admit card December 2026 post covers the download steps and what to check on the card.

Before that, check your eligibility. ICMAI's circular of 26 October 2026 asks students with pending requirements (provisional admission for Inter, practical training and IOTP training for Final) to submit the documents by 16 November 2026. If they are not in by then, the Examination Department may be unable to issue a regular admit card. You can see what is pending for you on ICMAI's eligibility checking page.

For results, ICMAI's notice says Inter and Final results will be published latest by 5 February 2027.

What are the passing rules for CMA Inter and Final?

ICMAI requires at least 40% in each paper and 50% in aggregate across the papers of a group. The aggregate is counted per group, so a strong paper can carry a weaker one in the same group but cannot help a paper in the other group. Exemptions and carry-forward are explained in our post on CMA passing marks and exemption rules, and our post on the CMA exam pattern covers the structure of each level.

How to use the weeks before 10 December

• Until 30 November: write at least two full papers per subject in your real slot, morning for Final and afternoon for Inter, and get them checked.
• In the same weeks: write one back-to-back pair on consecutive days, starting with the Saturday-Sunday pair.
• 1 to 9 December: revise from your own notes and checked papers. ICMAI's clarification of 15 September 2026 makes amendments up to 31 May 2026 applicable for this term: Companies Act, cost audit rules and CAS, Finance Act 2025 and GST, and Ind AS. Read it before your last revision of Papers 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 15, 17, 18 and 19.
• For a week-by-week version, see our CMA December 2026 last 45 days plan.

Where can you practise with checked CMA papers?

Gradehunt's CMA Inter test series has papers checked by ex-examiners, and the CMA Final test series has papers checked by CMA professionals. Each answer sheet is checked within 48 hours of upload, so you see where marks are lost while there is still time before 10 December. Full syllabus mock tests start from ₹199 per subject, and the full CMA test series page lists both levels.

For past results by level, see our CMA pass percentage page for the last ten years.

Step marking means a long answer is marked step by step instead of simply right or wrong. The examiner works from a marking scheme that splits the marks across the steps, and you keep the marks for every correct step even when the final answer is wrong.

Two students with the same wrong answer can end up with very different marks, and the difference is entirely in what they wrote down.

TL;DR

• CBSE marking schemes split marks across steps and penalise an error only once.
• In numericals, the formula, the substitution with units and the final answer each carry marks.
• Theory answers are marked by value points, not by length.
• A method with no final answer still earns marks; a blank space earns none.

What do CBSE examiners get told about step marking?

Every CBSE marking scheme opens with general instructions for evaluators, and a few of them decide a lot of marks:

• The scheme gives suggested value points only. If a student writes a correct answer in their own words, the marks are given.
• No marks are deducted for the cumulative effect of an error. A mistake is penalised once, where it happens.
• If a question has parts, each part is marked separately and then totalled.
• If a student attempts an extra question, the answer that deserves more marks is kept and the other is crossed out.
• Examiners are told to use the full range of marks and not to hesitate to give full marks when an answer deserves them.

You can read these instructions at the top of any of the CBSE marking schemes on cbse.gov.in. I ask every student to spend five minutes on them, because they tell you exactly what the person checking your paper has been asked to do.

CBSE examiners are told to reward correct steps, to penalise an error once, and to give full marks when they are earned.

How does step marking work in a Class 10 Maths question?

Take a three-mark question: find the sum of the first 20 terms of the AP 3, 7, 11, and so on. A typical split gives part marks for identifying a = 3 and d = 4, part for the formula Sn = n/2 [2a + (n − 1)d], part for substituting correctly, and the rest for the answer, 820.

Now look at two students who both get it wrong:

• Student A writes only "Sum = 802". The answer is wrong and there is nothing else to mark, so the score is zero.
• Student B writes a and d, the formula, the substitution 10 × (6 + 19 × 4), and then slips in the arithmetic to reach 802. Student B loses only the mark for the final answer.

Same mistake, very different result, and the only difference is the working on the page.

How are Physics, Chemistry and Accountancy answers marked?

Numericals in Physics and Chemistry

The formula, the substitution with units and the answer with its unit each carry marks. Missing units is one of the commonest ways students lose half a mark again and again across a paper.

Accountancy

Working notes are marked. If your final balance is wrong but the working note shows the right method, you keep most of the marks; without the note the examiner cannot see the method at all.

Theory answers and diagrams

Theory answers in Science, Social Science and Economics are marked by value points, so a five-mark answer usually needs five clear points rather than one long paragraph that hides three of them. A correct, labelled diagram can carry its own mark even when the explanation beside it is thin.

In every subject, marks sit in the steps: formula and units in numericals, working notes in Accountancy, value points in theory.

Do ICSE and state boards follow step marking too?

Yes, even when the details are not published. CISCE examiners mark from a scheme, and the yearly Analysis of Pupil Performance that CISCE releases lists, subject by subject, the steps students most often skipped. State boards give their examiners model answers with marks split by points. You can find CISCE's publications on the CISCE website.

Whatever your board, assume every correct step can earn a mark and write accordingly.

How do you write answers that collect every step mark?

1. Write the formula or rule before you use it, every time, even when it feels obvious.
2. Put each step on its own line, because an examiner checking hundreds of copies gives marks for what is easy to see.
3. Carry units through the working in numericals and underline the final answer.
4. If time is running out on a long question, write the method in two or three lines; it still earns step marks.
5. Leave working you are unsure of instead of crossing it out, since crossed-out work is usually ignored.

The habit I push hardest is the first one. Students who write the formula first rarely get a numerical down to zero, even on a bad day.

Formula first, one step per line, units throughout, and never a blank: those four habits protect most step marks.

Where can you see your own answers marked step by step?

The fastest way to learn this is to see your own answers marked the way a board examiner would. Gradehunt's board test series checks your handwritten papers step-wise, with marks for each step and a note on what was missing.

For practice material, start with the solved CBSE Class 10 Maths past papers and compare your working with the solutions line by line.

In CBSE Class 10, the Science and Social Science answer books are divided into subject sections, and an answer written in the wrong section is not evaluated. The rule started with the 2026 board exams, and the 2026-27 sample papers keep the same layout, so it applies to this year's Class 10 too.

A correct answer in the wrong section earns nothing, and re-evaluation will not fix it.

TL;DR

• Science: Section A Biology, Section B Chemistry, Section C Physics.
• Social Science: Section A History, Section B Geography, Section C Political Science, Section D Economics, 20 marks each.
• Answers in the wrong section, or mixed across sections, are not evaluated, even at verification or re-evaluation.
• Practise every mock and pre-board in a section-wise answer sheet.

What is the CBSE section-wise answer book rule?

Both papers are split into subject sections, and the answer book has a separate space for each one. CBSE has said that answers written outside the designated section, or mixed across sections, will not be evaluated, and that this also holds during verification and re-evaluation after results. Careers360's report on the change carries the details, and the 2026-27 Science sample paper on the CBSE academic website follows the same three-section layout.

Each subject section has its own space in the answer book, and only answers in the right space are marked.

How are the Science and Social Science papers divided?

Science (80 marks, 3 hours)

• Section A: Biology
• Section B: Chemistry
• Section C: Physics

Social Science (80 marks)

• Section A: History
• Section B: Geography
• Section C: Political Science
• Section D: Economics

Science has three sections and Social Science four, each Social Science section worth 20 marks.

Which Science chapters belong to which section?

The section heading printed on the question paper is what counts. Knowing the split still helps you plan your time:

• Biology: Life Processes; Control and Coordination; How do Organisms Reproduce?; Heredity; Our Environment.
• Chemistry: Chemical Reactions and Equations; Acids, Bases and Salts; Metals and Non-metals; Carbon and its Compounds.
• Physics: Light, Reflection and Refraction; The Human Eye and the Colourful World; Electricity; Magnetic Effects of Electric Current.

Follow the section printed on the question, not the chapter you think it comes from.

Where do students slip up with the new answer book?

The rule sounds easy until you are 90 minutes into the paper. These are the moments it goes wrong:

• Skipping a hard question and coming back later, then writing it wherever there is space at the end of the book, which is now inside another section. Leave enough space in the right section before you move on.
• Running out of space in one section. Do not carry the answer into the next section; ask the invigilator what to do before writing anything outside it.
• Case-based questions that feel like another subject. A Chemistry case that mentions the human body is still a Chemistry question.
• Question numbering. Write the number exactly as printed, because in a section-wise book a wrong number makes it much harder for the examiner to match your answer.

Most section mistakes happen when students skip and return to questions, so leave space before moving on.

How should you practise for the section-wise format?

1. Write every mock and pre-board in a section-wise answer sheet, drawing the section lines yourself at home if you have to. CBSE has asked schools to follow the format in pre-boards too.
2. Decide your order of sections in advance. Starting with your strongest section is fine, as long as every answer stays in its own section.
3. Keep a rough time split. In Social Science the four sections carry equal marks, so about 40 minutes each with 20 minutes to review is a fair start.
4. After every mock, check one thing separately: did any answer land in the wrong section?

My advice to parents is to make that last check part of every practice paper at home. It takes one minute and builds the habit long before February.

Practise the layout, not just the content: section-wise sheets, a fixed order and a one-minute section check after every mock.

Where can you get mocks checked section by section?

If you want your mocks checked the way a board examiner would check them, Gradehunt's CBSE Class 10 test series has your handwritten answers checked section by section, with step-wise marks and remarks.

For real papers to practise on, use our solved CBSE Class 10 Science and Social Science past papers.

No. In the papers I have worked through, ICAI almost never prints a past question again word for word. What comes back is the standard, the section and the shape of the question. The May 2025 Financial Reporting paper tested Ind AS 103, 109, 34, 36, 33, 16, 102, 115, 28, 2 and 113. Open any recent FR paper and most of those standards are there again, with new facts and new figures.

Past papers tell you which topics will come. They do not tell you which questions.

TL;DR

• Exact repeats are rare. Topic repeats are the norm, because the section-wise weightage ICAI publishes fixes how many marks each area gets.
• RTP and MTP questions are practice material. A similar question sometimes appears, with different numbers. Nobody at ICAI promises more than that.
• The thing that repeats most reliably is the mistake. ICAI's own examiners' comments list the same errors attempt after attempt.
• Use past papers to build a topic grid, the latest RTP for amendments, and MTPs for timed writing.

What do past CA papers actually show?

ICAI publishes the question paper, the suggested answers and a short report called Examiners' Comments after every attempt. The comments go question by question and name the standard or section each one tested. Read four or five of these for one paper and the pattern is obvious. The standards are the same. The questions are not.

Take Final Paper 1. In the May 2025 examiners' comments, Question 1 was a consolidation under Ind AS 103, Question 2 had an Ind AS 109 loan modification and an Ind AS 34 interim adjustment, Question 3 had an Ind AS 36 impairment with goodwill and an Ind AS 33 EPS with anti-dilutive shares. I have not seen that exact set of facts in any earlier paper. I have seen an Ind AS 103 consolidation, an Ind AS 109 computation and an EPS question in almost every FR paper under the new scheme.

The one place where something closer to a repeat happens is theory. A short question such as the conditions for capitalising borrowing costs, or the limits on dividend out of reserves, has only one correct answer, so it reads like a repeat even when the words differ. The Inter January 2026 comments on Paper 1 mention exactly that dividend question, and most students still got the 10% and 15% limits wrong.

Past papers are a map of topics, not a bank of questions. Build your preparation around the standards and sections that appear every attempt.

Do RTP and MTP questions come in the exam?

The Board of Studies releases a Revision Test Paper for every paper before each attempt, and two series of Mock Test Papers. Both are on the BoS knowledge portal. The RTP carries the amendments and notifications that apply to that attempt, which is its real value. If a Finance Act change or a new SA is examinable for the first time, the RTP is usually where ICAI shows how it expects you to handle it.

Does a question from the RTP then appear in the exam? Sometimes a question of the same type does, with different figures. I would not plan an attempt around that hope. The MTP is written to copy the exam format: 30 marks of case-scenario MCQs and 70 marks of descriptive questions in Inter and in Final Papers 1 to 5. Its job is to let you practise the clock, not to leak the paper.

Solving repeated questions only helps if your written answer earns the marks. Gradehunt's CA MTP and past paper evaluation checks a past paper you have written and shows where presentation is costing you.

What ICAI itself says about objective questions

Since the new scheme began on 1 July 2023, 30% of assessment at Inter and Final is objective. ICAI's Board of Studies says in its case scenario booklets that it launched an MCQ practice portal and the booklets so students could practise application-based MCQs. The booklets carry the answer and a reason for each MCQ. They are closer to what the exam asks than any compilation of past MCQs, because the exam MCQs are new each time.

Treat the RTP as the amendment update and the MTP as the dress rehearsal. Neither is a question bank for the real paper.

Why do the same mistakes repeat when questions do not?

This is the part of the examiners' comments that I would read before anything else. The errors listed for May 2025 Final FR are not about rare standards. They are about method.

• Question 1, Ind AS 103: many examinees could not compute the fair value of identifiable net assets, and some skipped the Notes to Accounts.
• Question 3(a), Ind AS 36: the question asked candidates to cite the relevant provisions. Some did not, and some computed the impairment loss as ₹9.2 crore instead of ₹22.2 crore because they ignored goodwill.
• Question 5(a), Ind AS 115: most students reached the right conclusion on the software sale and the franchise fee, but could not support it with the provision.

At Inter, the January 2026 Paper 1 comments say a common error in the EPS question was using profit before tax instead of profit after tax. That is not a knowledge gap. It is a reading gap, and it costs the same marks every attempt.

In the answer sheets I check, the pattern is identical. The student knows the standard. The answer loses marks because the provision is not stated, the working is not shown, or the conclusion is missing. Those three habits repeat far more than any question does.

How should you use past papers, RTPs and MTPs?

1. Take the last five or six attempts of your paper from the ICAI suggested answers pages and write a one-page grid: topic down the side, attempt across the top, marks in each cell. This takes an evening and shows you where 70% of the marks sit.
2. Read the examiners' comments for those attempts and list the errors that appear more than once. Keep that list next to you during revision.
3. Solve the latest RTP fully, with special attention to amendments. Older RTPs are useful in Costing and FM. In Tax, anything older than the current attempt will mislead you on rates and limits.
4. Write both MTP series in the real time slot, in one sitting, by hand. Then compare your answer with the suggested answer line by line for structure: provision, analysis, conclusion.
5. Repeat the topics in your grid with new questions, not the same ones. The exam will give you new facts. Practise on new facts.

You can find the ICAI papers and suggested answers for every recent attempt in our CA Final suggested answers post and the CA Inter suggested answers post, both linked to the official PDFs.

Practise on new questions, checked the ICAI way

Gradehunt's CA Final test series gives you fresh papers on the ICAI pattern, written by hand and checked by ex-examiners within 48 hours. The checker marks each step and writes where the provision, working or conclusion was missing. Your first paper is checked free, so you can see your own repeat mistakes before the exam does.

ICAI marks every descriptive answer step by step against a marking scheme, and it has said so in writing since September 2019: an answer without step-wise marks is treated as unevaluated. The objective part, 30 marks in every Intermediate paper and in Final Papers 1 to 5, is machine-read and carries no negative marking. Final Paper 6 is different again, with a 40:60 split and an open book. Here is how each piece works, from ICAI's own notices.

You are not marked on the final figure alone. You are marked on every step the scheme lists, and verification can add those marks later.

TL;DR

• Foundation: Papers 1 and 2 descriptive, Papers 3 and 4 objective with 0.25 mark deducted per wrong answer.
• Intermediate Papers 1 to 6 and Final Papers 1 to 5: 30 marks of case-scenario MCQs plus 70 marks descriptive. No negative marking.
• Final Paper 6, Integrated Business Solutions: four hours, open book, five case studies of 25 marks each, attempt any four, 40% MCQ and 60% descriptive.
• Pass marks: 40% in each paper and 50% aggregate in the group. 60% in a paper earns an exemption.
• There is no revaluation. You can apply for verification within a month of the result, and it includes a check that step-wise marks add up.

How are marks split in each CA paper?

ICAI's FAQ on the New Scheme of Education and Training sets out the pattern for all three levels.

CA Foundation

• Paper 1, Accounting, and Paper 2, Business Laws: descriptive papers.
• Paper 3, Quantitative Aptitude, and Paper 4, Business Economics: objective papers, with 0.25 mark deducted for every wrong answer.

CA Intermediate and Final

• Every Intermediate paper and Final Papers 1 to 5: 30% case scenario or case study based MCQs and 70% descriptive questions, in one 100-mark paper of three hours.
• The MCQs carry one or two marks each and have four options. There is no choice among them.
• From the May 2026 exams, candidates receive one combined question booklet, descriptive and MCQ together, at 1.45 PM, 15 minutes before the 2 PM start.

Final Paper 6, Integrated Business Solutions

Paper 6 is a four-hour case study paper covering Final Papers 1 to 5, the Self-Paced Online Modules Sets A and B, and Strategic Management. It has five case studies of 25 marks each and you attempt any four. Within each case, 40% of the marks are MCQs and 60% are descriptive. It is an open book exam: printed reference material is permitted.

The split to remember is 30:70 for every paper at Inter and for Final Papers 1 to 5, and 40:60 with an open book for Final Paper 6.

Is there negative marking in CA exams?

Only at Foundation, and only in Papers 3 and 4, where a wrong answer costs 0.25 mark. ICAI's FAQ states plainly that there is no negative marking in MCQ-based questions at Intermediate or Final. An unanswered MCQ and a wrong MCQ both score zero at those levels, so at Inter and Final you should answer every MCQ.

Does ICAI give step marking?

Yes, and this is an ICAI rule rather than a custom. In its announcement of 21 September 2019 on the evaluation of answer books, ICAI said that step-wise marking is being enforced, that an answer without step-wise marks is deemed an unevaluated answer, and that the step-wise marks will be awarded during re-verification.

The verification FAQ on the exam website lists what a verification covers. One item is whether the step-wise marks awarded for each question match the total shown for that question on the cover page. Another is whether any question or part of a question has remained unvalued.

What this means for you is simple. In a 10-mark computation, the examiner has marks reserved for the working, the formula, the treatment and the figure. A wrong final answer with correct steps keeps most of them. A correct final answer with no visible steps gives the examiner nothing to award except the last mark.

Step marks are a published ICAI rule, not an examiner's kindness. Write so that each step can be seen and ticked.

Who checks the CA answer books?

The same 2019 announcement describes the evaluation system. Applicants for the examiner panel must pass an online test in their subject before they are empanelled, and existing examiners sit an online test once every three years. Since November 2018, several papers are evaluated centrally, with examiners working under a Head Examiner and Associate Head Examiners. Digital evaluation of scanned answer books covers all Intermediate and Foundation papers, which ICAI says removes totalling errors and lets it review examiner performance in real time.

What are the passing marks for CA exams?

A minimum of 40% in each paper of a group and 50% in the aggregate of all the papers of that group, at every level. Scoring 60% or more in a paper while failing the group gives you an exemption in that paper for the next three attempts. The detail on how exemptions work, including what happens when they run out, is in our post on CA Intermediate passing marks and exemption.

Can you get a CA answer book re-checked?

You can ask for verification, not revaluation. Regulation 39(4) of the Chartered Accountants Regulations, 1988 allows verification, and ICAI's FAQ says revaluation is not permitted. Apply from your SSP dashboard within a month of the result. Verification checks that every question was marked, that step-wise marks add up to the question total, that the cover page total is right and that the handwriting is the same across the books. You can also apply for certified copies of your answer books, which show you the marks the examiner wrote against each step.

Verification can raise or lower your marks, and ICAI lists both outcomes. It is worth doing when a paper is a few marks short of 40 or 60.

If you already have the certified copy of your answer book, Gradehunt's CA certified copy evaluation compares it with ICAI's suggested answers and shows, question by question, where the marks went.

How to write so step marks are awarded

1. State the provision, standard or formula first, in one line, before you apply it.
2. Show each working as a numbered note and refer to it in the main answer. An examiner cannot give marks for a figure that appears from nowhere.
3. Carry units and currency through the working and box the final answer.
4. End every case question with a conclusion: allowed or not allowed, valid or invalid, with the amount.
5. If time is short, write the method in three lines rather than leaving the question blank. The 2019 rule means those steps must be marked.

At Gradehunt, we have checked more than 6,000 answer sheets, and the marks students lose most often are step marks on questions they knew. Our CA test series has your handwritten papers checked by ex-examiners within 48 hours, with the step-wise marks written on the sheet the way ICAI's scheme would split them. The first paper is checked free.

For the official papers and suggested answers to compare your answers against, see our CA Final suggested answers post.

Six boards had put out their 2027 exam dates by 13 October 2026, and CBSE followed with its date sheet on 6 November 2026. As of 13 October 2026, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal (Class 10), Gujarat and Karnataka (provisional) had announced their windows, while CISCE, Bihar, Rajasthan, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana had not. This page lists every board in one place.

Every 2027 board exam announced so far falls between 5 February and 5 April, and the boards still to announce have started in February or March for years.

TL;DR

• Earliest start announced: UP Board, 5 February 2027. Latest: Karnataka SSLC Exam 1, 22 March to 5 April (provisional).
• CBSE 2027 date sheet: released on 6 November 2026. Both classes begin on 16 February 2027; Class 10 ends on 9 March and Class 12 on 9 April.
• Subject-wise PDFs are still pending for Maharashtra and Gujarat even though their windows are fixed.
• Each board below links to our detailed page for that board.

Which boards have announced 2027 exam dates?

Dates are as published by each board or reported from its notice. Where the board has called them tentative or provisional, I have said so.

Maharashtra (MSBSHSE)

Press note of 17 September 2026. SSC (Class 10) written papers from 15 February to 11 March 2027, with practicals, orals and internal assessment from 28 January to 13 February. HSC (Class 12) written papers from 8 February to 16 March 2027, with practicals from 20 January to 6 February. The subject-wise time table is yet to come. Details are in our Maharashtra SSC time table 2027 post and the Maharashtra HSC 2027 dates post.

Madhya Pradesh (MPBSE)

Time table notice dated 13 August 2026 on mpbse.nic.in. Class 10 main exams from 24 February to 18 March 2027, single shift 9 AM to 12 noon, with Hindi on 2 March, Mathematics on 5 March, English on 9 March, Science on 15 March and Social Science on 18 March. The Class 12 schedule was released the same day; portals disagree on its first day, so take it from the board PDF.

Uttar Pradesh (UPMSP)

Press statement of 12 October 2026. High School and Intermediate exams both run from 5 to 24 February 2027. High School papers are in the morning, 8.30 to 11.45 AM, and Intermediate papers in the afternoon, 2 to 5.15 PM. Hindi is the first paper for both classes. The day-wise PDF is on upmsp.edu.in.

West Bengal (WBBSE), Class 10

Madhyamik routine released on 13 July 2026. Exams from 15 to 25 February 2027, 11 AM to 2 PM with 15 minutes of reading time from 10.45. First Language on 15 February, Mathematics on 22 February, Physical Science on 23 and Life Science on 24. The Class 12 Semester IV routine from WBCHSE is still awaited.

Gujarat (GSEB)

The board's 2026-27 academic calendar, reported on 29 September 2026, places the SSC and HSC board exams from 25 February to 17 March 2027, with Class 12 Science practicals from 5 to 13 February. The subject-wise time table is expected in November. Our Gujarat board exam date 2027 post tracks it.

Karnataka (KSEAB), provisional

Provisional time tables released in the second week of October 2026, with objections open until 22 October. SSLC Exam 1 from 22 March to 5 April 2027 and Exam 2 from 24 to 31 May. 2nd PUC Exam 1 from 27 February to 17 March 2027 and Exam 2 in May. Papers run from 10 AM. Final dates will follow on kseab.karnataka.gov.in, and our Karnataka SSLC and 2nd PUC dates post will carry them.

Six boards have fixed their 2027 windows, from UP's 5 February start to Karnataka's provisional 5 April finish.

Which boards are still to announce 2027 dates?

• CBSE (Class 10 and 12): announced on 6 November 2026, from 16 February to 9 March 2027 for Class 10 and 16 February to 9 April 2027 for Class 12. See the CBSE date sheet 2027 post for subject-wise dates.
• CISCE (ICSE and ISC): the 2026 date sheet came out on 13 November 2025, so expect November. Our ICSE 2027 dates and ISC 2027 dates posts will update first.
• Bihar (BSEB): the routine usually comes in November. In 2025, Inter ran from 1 to 15 February and Matric from 17 to 25 February.
• Rajasthan (RBSE): in 2026, Class 10 ran from 12 to 28 February and Class 12 from 12 February to 11 March. No 2027 notice yet.
• Telangana (TGBIE and BSE): the Inter time table came on 31 October last year and the SSC time table on 9 December. See our Telangana exam dates post.
• Andhra Pradesh (BIEAP and BSEAP): exam fee payment for Inter 2027 is open until 29 October, exams expected in March. See our AP exam dates post.
• Punjab (PSEB): exam forms for February-March 2027 are open, without late fee until 23 October 2026. Date sheet awaited. See our Punjab board dates post.
• Haryana (BSEH): date sheet usually comes in January. See our Haryana board dates post.

Eight boards are still to publish. Going by last year, CISCE and Bihar should be next, in November.

When are the CBSE 2027 board exams?

CBSE published the Class 10 and Class 12 date sheet on cbse.gov.in on 6 November 2026. Both classes begin on Tuesday, 16 February 2027; Class 10 ends on 9 March and Class 12 on 9 April, and every paper starts at 10:30 a.m. For 2027, CBSE’s scheme has a compulsory Class 10 exam in February-March and an optional second Class 10 exam in May. Practicals for winter-bound schools are in November-December, and for all other schools in January-February.

How should you plan when your date sheet is not out?

Count back from 1 February. Nearly every board starts within three weeks of that date, so your syllabus should be finished once by the end of December whatever board you are in. January is for pre-boards and full papers written by hand in the real time slot.

If your board has announced, print the window and work out the gaps. UP students have twenty days for everything. MP Class 10 students have three days between Mathematics and English and six between Science and Social Science. Those gaps decide the revision order.

If your board has not announced, the date you need is your school's pre-board, which will be in January for almost everyone. That is the first full rehearsal, and the paper you write there is the one to get checked properly.

Gradehunt's board test series covers CBSE, ICSE, ISC, Maharashtra and other state boards. You write full papers by hand, upload them, and subject experts check them within 48 hours with step-wise marks and comments. The first paper is checked free, and mentorship plans are available for students who want a revision schedule built around their own date sheet.

The Maharashtra board (MSBSHSE) has fixed the SSC 2027 written exams for 15 February to 11 March 2027, with practicals, orals and internal assessment from 28 January to 13 February. The board announced these dates in a press note on 17 September 2026. The subject-wise time table, the PDF that tells you which paper falls on which day, is not out yet. Last year it came on 1 November.

Your Class 10 papers start on 15 February 2027. The day-by-day order will come in November, and the shape of the schedule rarely changes.

TL;DR

• SSC written exams: 15 February to 11 March 2027. Practical, oral, graded and internal assessment: 28 January to 13 February.
• HSC (Class 12) written exams: 8 February to 16 March 2027, with practicals from 20 January to 6 February.
• Subject-wise PDF: awaited on mahahsscboard.in. In 2026 it was released on 1 November.
• Hall tickets come through your school, usually in the last weeks of January.

When is the Maharashtra SSC exam 2027?

From 15 February to 11 March 2027 for the written papers. The practical, oral, graded and internal assessment component runs from 28 January to 13 February, before the written papers begin. The board announced the windows for both SSC and HSC together on 17 September 2026, and most reports of the press note, including Careers360 and UNI, carry these dates.

One portal has printed the SSC written window as 1 to 11 March. I have not found that in the board's note or in the mainstream reports, so I am going with 15 February. When the board uploads the subject-wise PDF on mahahsscboard.in, that document settles it.

What changes from 2026

The 2026 SSC exams ran from 20 February to 18 March. The 2027 window is five days earlier at the start and a week earlier at the end, so the whole schedule is tighter by about a week. If you were planning on last year's dates, move your revision forward.

Written papers run from 15 February to 11 March 2027. Internals and practicals are done by 13 February.

When will the subject-wise SSC time table 2027 be released?

The board has not given a date. In 2026 the subject-wise time table was published on 1 November 2025 for exams that began on 20 February 2026, about three and a half months ahead. On that pattern, expect the 2027 PDF in the first half of November 2026, on mahahsscboard.in under the SSC examination section. Your school will also receive it and put it on the notice board.

Watch the official site, not forwarded PDFs. Every year an old time table with the year changed goes round on WhatsApp in October.

What order do the SSC papers usually follow?

The board has not published the 2027 order, so what follows is the pattern from 2026, labelled as such. First Language papers (Marathi, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati and the others) opened the exams on 20 February 2026. English as first and third language came a week later, on 27 February. Mathematics Part I and Part II, Science and Technology Part I and Part II, and Social Sciences Papers I and II were all in March, with a day or two between each.

• Two shifts: 11 AM to 2 PM and 3 PM to 6 PM. Most main papers are in the morning shift.
• The two Maths papers and the two Science papers are each separated by a gap, not written on the same day.
• In 2026, Geography (Social Sciences Paper II) was the last paper, on 18 March.

If 2027 follows the same shape, you get your language papers first and the heaviest week, with Maths and Science, in the first half of March.

How should you plan from now to 15 February?

1. Finish the first full reading of every subject by the end of November. For Science, that means both Part I and Part II textbooks, including the activity-based questions.
2. Write one full paper per subject in December in the real shift, 11 AM to 2 PM, by hand. Use the board's own question paper format of 40 marks for Science Part I and Part II and 40 marks for each Maths paper.
3. Treat your school's preliminary exam in January as the dress rehearsal. Get that paper checked step by step and keep the list of comments.
4. Finish practicals and internal work early in the 28 January to 13 February window so that the last ten days are for revision only.
5. From 1 February, revise from your own corrected papers and the board's past question papers, not from new books.

Past papers with solutions for Science and Technology are in our Maharashtra SSC Science past papers post, and the other subjects are linked from there.

Hall ticket and the exam day

MSBSHSE sends SSC hall tickets to schools, and schools hand them to regular students, normally in the last two weeks of January. Check your name, photograph, subjects and centre the day you receive it, and report errors to the school the same day. Our MSBSHSE SSC hall ticket post explains the process and the corrections.

For how the other boards compare, our board exam date 2027 page lists every board's status in one place.

Gradehunt's Maharashtra Board SSC Class 10 test series gives you full papers in the board's format for every subject. You write them by hand, upload them, and subject experts check them within 48 hours with step-wise marks and comments on what the board's answer scheme expected. The first paper is checked free, and mentorship plans are available if you want a week-by-week plan built around the 15 February start.

The CA Inter January 2027 date sheet is out, paper by paper. Group I is on 2, 4 and 6 January 2027 and Group II on 8, 10 and 12 January 2027, every paper from 2 PM to 5 PM IST. ICAI announced the group dates on 23 September 2026 in announcement No. 13-CA (EXAM)/JANUARY/2027, and its guidance notes for the January 2027 Intermediate exam put a paper against each date.

As on 6 November 2026 the exam form is open on the Self Service Portal. The last date without late fee is Monday 16 November, ten days away, and Paper 1 is 57 days away.

Six papers on alternate days, and Foundation papers fill the days in between, so 10 of the 11 days from 2 to 12 January have a CA paper.

TL;DR

• Group I: Paper 1 on 2 January, Paper 2 on 4 January, Paper 3 on 6 January 2027.
• Group II: Paper 4 on 8 January, Paper 5 on 10 January, Paper 6 on 12 January 2027.
• Timing: 2 PM to 5 PM IST, with 15 minutes of reading time from 1.45 PM.
• Exam form: open from 3 November; ₹1,500 for one group, ₹2,700 for both, till 16 November. With the ₹600 late fee, till 19 November.
• Admit card: ICAI says generally 14 days before the exam, which points to around 19 December 2026.
• ICAI's January 2027 notice and its form schedule cover Foundation and Intermediate only, so there is no CA Final paper in January 2027.

CA Inter January 2027 date sheet: paper-wise timetable

These are the dates and days exactly as ICAI prints them in the Intermediate guidance notes:

• Saturday 2 January 2027: Paper 1, Advanced Accounting (Group I)
• Monday 4 January 2027: Paper 2, Corporate and Other Laws (Group I)
• Wednesday 6 January 2027: Paper 3, Taxation, Section A Income-tax Law and Section B GST (Group I)
• Friday 8 January 2027: Paper 4, Cost and Management Accounting (Group II)
• Sunday 10 January 2027: Paper 5, Auditing and Ethics (Group II)
• Tuesday 12 January 2027: Paper 6, Financial Management and Strategic Management, Section A FM and Section B SM (Group II)

Source: ICAI Intermediate guidance notes, January 2027, paragraph 2; ICAI announcement No. 13-CA (EXAM)/JANUARY/2027 dated 23 September 2026.

Two papers fall on a weekend, Paper 1 on a Saturday and Paper 5 on a Sunday. The notice says the schedule will not change if any exam day is later declared a public holiday by the Central Government, a State Government or a local body, so plan on these dates as printed.

Paper 3 and Paper 6 are written in two separate answer books in the same three-hour sitting: Income-tax in book A and GST in book B, FM in book A and SM in book B. Practise the switch in your mock papers, so that moving from book A to book B does not cost you time on the day.

CA Inter Group 2 exam date for January 2027

Group II starts two days after Group I ends. Cost and Management Accounting is on Friday 8 January, Auditing and Ethics on Sunday 10 January and FM and SM on Tuesday 12 January. A student writing only Group II gets the whole of 2 to 7 January for Costing.

For a both-groups student, the pair to rehearse is Taxation on 6 January followed by Costing on 8 January. Both are computation-heavy, and in checked copies the second heavy paper is where working notes start getting skipped. If you are still deciding, our one group or both groups guide sets out the trade-off.

How do the Inter and Foundation dates fit together?

The same notice fixes CA Foundation on 3, 5, 7 and 9 January 2027. Put the two levels on one calendar and there is a CA paper on every day from 2 to 10 January, then on 12 January:

• Inter: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 January (2 PM to 5 PM).
• Foundation: 3, 5, 7 and 9 January (Papers 1 and 2 from 2 PM to 5 PM, Papers 3 and 4 from 2 PM to 4 PM).
• No CA paper: Monday 11 January only.

Source: ICAI announcement No. 13-CA (EXAM)/JANUARY/2027; day count by Gradehunt.

This matters if someone in your house is on the Foundation track. Your free days are their exam days, so the house runs on two exam calendars for eleven days, not one.

Paper timing and reading time

All six Inter papers run from 2 PM to 5 PM IST, with 15 minutes of advance reading time from 1.45 PM. Overseas centres start at local times that match 2 PM IST: 12.30 PM in Dubai, 11.30 AM in Bahrain and 2.15 PM in Kathmandu.

Each paper has 30 marks of MCQs and 70 marks of descriptive questions. The MCQs carry 1 or 2 marks each, have no choice and no negative marking. I would use the 15 minutes on the descriptive part: read the case scenarios, choose the question you will start with, and leave the MCQs for later.

CA Inter exam form January 2027: last date and fee

The form is online only, at eservices.icai.org, and the window opened on 3 November 2026. These are the dates in ICAI's notice:

• Last date without late fee: Monday 16 November 2026.
• Last date with late fee of ₹600 (US$10 at Dubai and Bahrain): Thursday 19 November 2026.
• Correction window for exam city or medium: 20 to 22 November 2026.
• Fee at Indian centres: ₹1,500 for one group and ₹2,700 for both groups, or ₹2,100 and ₹3,300 with the late fee.
• Overseas: US$325 and US$500; Kathmandu ₹2,200 and ₹3,400.

If you registered for Intermediate after passing Foundation or through Direct Entry, you must have registered on or before 1 May 2026, which gives the eight months of study ICAI requires. Either way, your course code on the portal must be NEWINT23 or CONINT23. If it is not, convert on the portal before you fill the form. The steps, photo rules and common errors are in our CA exam form January 2027 guide.

CA Inter January 2027 exam cities: 304 in India

ICAI lists 304 exam cities in 32 states and union territories, plus Dubai, Bahrain and Kathmandu overseas. The five states with the most cities are:

• Maharashtra: 37 cities
• Tamil Nadu: 28
• Rajasthan: 25
• Gujarat and Karnataka: 23 each

Eleven states and union territories have a single exam city, from Port Blair to Gangtok. ICAI also says it can hold the exam in a city only if enough candidates choose it, and it can withdraw a city or centre.

The City Master, the list you pick from in the form, has 368 exam-city codes in India: 89 in the Western region, 105 Southern, 35 Eastern, 100 Central and 39 Northern. That is 64 more codes than cities, because large cities are split into zones by locality. Mumbai has 13 zones, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai have 8 each, Kolkata has 6, and Ahmedabad, Pune, Hyderabad and Jaipur have 4 each.

Source: ICAI announcement No. 13-CA (EXAM)/JANUARY/2027 and City Master, January 2027; counts by Gradehunt.

If you live in one of these cities, pick the zone by the localities printed against it, not by the zone number. Picking the wrong zone can put your centre across the city. If you have made that mistake, use the 20 to 22 November correction window.

When will the CA Inter January 2027 admit card come?

ICAI's guidance notes say admit cards are hosted on eservices.icai.org generally 14 days before the exam starts, and no physical admit card is sent. Counting back 14 days from 2 January gives Saturday 19 December 2026. When it is up, check the centre address against your zone and visit the centre once before 2 January.

What to do in the 57 days before 2 January

• By 16 November: submit the form and pay. Do not leave it to the last evening.
• 19 to 30 November: write ICAI's MTP Series 1 (19, 21, 23, 25, 27 and 30 November), three hours each, by hand. Series 2 runs from 3 to 14 December. Our MTP Series 1 post has the paper-wise dates.
• Check the amendments that apply to this attempt in our CA Inter amendments list for January 2027, and solve them from the latest RTP.
• From 14 December, Paper 1 is 19 days away. Use them for revision of your own notes and your checked papers, not for new chapters. The week-by-week version is in our CA Inter study plan for January 2027.

Keep the pass rule in mind when you decide how to split time: 40% in each paper and 50% in aggregate for the group. Our CA Intermediate passing marks post explains how exemptions carry across attempts, and past papers with ICAI's suggested answers are in our CA Inter suggested answers post.

The mistake I see most in checked Inter copies is not a knowledge gap. It is a student who knew the provision, wrote the answer in the wrong order and lost the step marks. Gradehunt's CA Inter test series gives you full papers on the ICAI pattern that you write by hand and upload. Ex-examiners check each sheet within 48 hours of upload, with marks and comments. Notes, MCQs and ABC analysis are included, and full syllabus mock tests start from ₹199 per subject.

The CA Foundation January 2027 exam date is 3, 5, 7 and 9 January 2027, one paper on each day. ICAI fixed these dates in its announcement of 23 September 2026, No. 13-CA (EXAM)/JANUARY/2027. Papers 1 and 2 run from 2 PM to 5 PM. Papers 3 and 4 are shorter, from 2 PM to 4 PM, and they are the two papers with negative marking.

Four papers on alternate days, and the two-hour objective papers at the end are where a careless guess costs a quarter mark each.

TL;DR

• Dates: 3, 5, 7 and 9 January 2027.
• Papers 1 and 2: 2 PM to 5 PM, three hours, 15 minutes of reading time. Papers 3 and 4: 2 PM to 4 PM, two hours, no reading time.
• Exam form on eservices.icai.org from 3 to 16 November 2026, late fee of ₹600 until 19 November.
• Fee: ₹1,500 at Indian centres.
• The dates stay even if one becomes a public holiday.

When is the CA Foundation January 2027 exam?

ICAI's notice gives four dates and a timing table. It does not print paper names against dates, but the papers are numbered 1 to 4 and are held in that order, and the timing table pairs Papers 1 and 2 with three hours and Papers 3 and 4 with two hours. So the working timetable is this. Check it against your admit card.

• Sunday 3 January 2027: Paper 1, Accounting, 2 PM to 5 PM.
• Tuesday 5 January 2027: Paper 2, Business Laws, 2 PM to 5 PM.
• Thursday 7 January 2027: Paper 3, Quantitative Aptitude, 2 PM to 4 PM.
• Saturday 9 January 2027: Paper 4, Business Economics, 2 PM to 4 PM.

The first paper is on a Sunday. The notice says plainly that the schedule will not change if any exam day is later declared a public holiday. Centres are in the cities listed in the notice, subject to enough candidates opting for each, and overseas in Dubai, Bahrain and Kathmandu at the local time equal to 2 PM IST.

Four papers, 3 to 9 January 2027, each one two days after the last.

Why are Papers 3 and 4 only two hours?

Because they are objective papers. Under the new scheme, Paper 3 (Quantitative Aptitude, which covers business mathematics, logical reasoning and statistics) and Paper 4 (Business Economics) are MCQ papers of 100 marks each, and ICAI's FAQ on the scheme says a wrong answer in these two papers costs 0.25 mark. Papers 1 and 2 are descriptive and have no negative marking.

The notice also says there is no advance reading time in Papers 3 and 4. In Papers 1 and 2 you get 15 minutes from 1.45 PM to 2 PM with the question paper. In the objective papers the clock starts at 2 PM with the paper in front of you, so 120 minutes for 100 questions is the whole budget. That is 72 seconds a question, with no separate reading slot.

What this means on the day

• In Paper 3, do the logical reasoning section first. It is fast and it settles nerves. Leave the long statistics computations for the last 30 minutes.
• Skip, do not guess, when you have no idea. Four wrong guesses wipe out one correct answer.
• In Paper 4, read the question stem twice. In practice tests the error I see most is a student answering the opposite of what was asked because the question said "which of the following is not".

Papers 3 and 4 are two-hour MCQ papers with 0.25 negative marking and no reading time, which is why they are shorter.

When does the exam form open and what is the fee?

The form is online at eservices.icai.org. Register on the portal first if you never have, with your SRN as the username.

• Form opened: 3 November 2026.
• Last date without late fee: 16 November 2026.
• Last date with late fee of ₹600: 19 November 2026.
• Correction window for city or medium: 20 to 22 November 2026.
• Fee: ₹1,500 at Indian centres, US$325 at overseas centres other than Kathmandu, ₹2,200 at Kathmandu.

You can answer in English or Hindi; choose the medium in the form. Eligibility is set by your Foundation registration date, which had to be at least four months before the first day of the exam month. For January 2027 that meant registration by 1 September 2026. If you registered later, your first attempt is May 2027.

The form window is 3 to 16 November 2026, the fee is ₹1,500, and 19 November is the last day with a late fee.

What should the twelve weeks before 3 January look like?

1. Finish Accounting and Business Laws first, by mid-November. These two are descriptive and need writing practice, which takes longer to build than MCQ speed.
2. From 15 November, solve one chapter of Paper 3 or Paper 4 MCQs every day, timed at 72 seconds a question, and keep a list of the question types you got wrong.
3. Write two full Accounting papers and two Business Laws papers by hand in the 2 PM to 5 PM slot in December. Get them checked, because the pass rule is 40% in each paper and 50% in aggregate, and a presentation habit that loses five marks a paper is enough to miss it. Our post on how to prepare for CA Foundation has the subject-wise reading order.
4. Write the two MCQ papers as full two-hour sittings at least twice each, with negative marking applied when you score them.
5. Keep 26 December onwards for revision of marked mistakes only. Download the admit card as soon as ICAI puts it on the portal, usually about two weeks before the first paper.

In Foundation Accounting copies the marks go on format: a journal entry without narration, a ledger with no balancing figure, final accounts with no working for closing stock. Gradehunt's CA Foundation test series gives you full papers on the ICAI pattern, written by hand and checked by ex-examiners within 48 hours, with step-wise marks and the format errors pointed out. The first paper is checked free, and mentorship plans are available if you want the twelve weeks mapped out.

Maharashtra SSC Science 1 weightage for 2027 follows a 40-mark paper where the physics chapters carry about 23 marks and the chemistry chapters about 17. Effects of Electric Current, Refraction of Light and Carbon Compounds are the three heaviest chapters at 5 marks each without options. The board has not published a separate 2027 blueprint, so the chapter-wise figures below are an estimate from the paper format and the last few papers, and I have labelled them as such.

Three chapters give you 15 of the 40 marks, and all three are the ones students postpone because they have numericals or naming rules.

TL;DR

• Science and Technology Part 1 is a 40-mark, two-hour paper. Part 2 is another 40, and internal assessment is 20, for 100 in all.
• Heaviest chapters: Effects of Electric Current, Refraction of Light and Carbon Compounds, 5 marks each without options and 7 with.
• Lightest: Gravitation, Heat and Space Missions, 3 marks each.
• The 2027 exams run from 15 February to 11 March. In 2026, Science 1 was on 11 March, 11 AM to 1 PM.

How many marks does each chapter carry in Science 1?

This is the chapter-wise estimate used across the main exam portals, and it matches what I see when I map a recent paper chapter by chapter. The first figure is marks without options, the second is marks with options, where the paper offers more questions than you need to answer. The ten chapters add to 40 and 60.

• Gravitation: 3 marks, 5 with options.
• Periodic Classification of Elements: 4 marks, 6 with options.
• Chemical Reactions and Equations: 4 marks, 6 with options.
• Effects of Electric Current: 5 marks, 7 with options.
• Heat: 3 marks, 5 with options.
• Refraction of Light: 5 marks, 7 with options.
• Lenses: 4 marks, 6 with options.
• Metallurgy: 4 marks, 6 with options.
• Carbon Compounds: 5 marks, 7 with options.
• Space Missions: 3 marks, 5 with options.

Two cautions. The board sets the paper to the syllabus and question format, and the official site mahahsscboard.in does not publish a chapter-wise marks table for each year, so any table you see, including this one, is worked out from past papers. And a paper can shift a mark or two between chapters. What stays steady is the shape: physics around 23 marks, chemistry around 17, with no chapter below 3 or above 5.

The weightage is an estimate, but a stable one: three chapters at 5 marks, four at 4 and three at 3.

How is the Science 1 paper structured?

The question paper is 40 marks in two hours. The March 2026 paper, held on 11 March from 11 AM to 1 PM, followed the format the board has used since the revised syllabus, as Careers360's report of that paper shows.

• Q1 (A): five multiple choice questions, 5 marks.
• Q1 (B): five one-mark questions such as true or false, odd one out, match the pairs, 5 marks.
• Q2 (A): give scientific reasons, two out of three, 4 marks.
• Q2 (B): short answers, three out of five, 6 marks.
• Q3: three-mark questions, five out of eight, 15 marks.
• Q4: one long question out of two, 5 marks.

The 20 extra marks in the with-options column come from those choices: one extra scientific reason, two extra short answers, three extra three-mark questions and one extra five-mark question. Q3 is where the chapter weightage is decided, because eight questions of three marks each spread across the ten chapters. A chapter that gets two of the eight is a heavy chapter that year.

The internal assessment of 20 marks sits on top of the two 40-mark papers, as the board's pattern on Careers360 sets out.

Six question parts, 40 marks, and the fifteen-mark Q3 is where most chapters show up.

Which chapters should you revise first?

Start with the three five-mark chapters, then the four four-mark ones. That order is also, roughly, the order of difficulty for most students, which is why it works.

Physics: 23 marks

Effects of Electric Current and Refraction of Light are the numerical chapters. Between them they can supply two of the Q3 questions and the Q4 long question in the same year. Lenses adds the ray diagrams and the lens formula, which most students know but draw carelessly. Gravitation and Heat are short chapters with one or two formulas each, and Space Missions is almost entirely theory, so these three together take two evenings.

Chemistry: 17 marks

Carbon Compounds is the chemistry half's five-mark chapter and the one with the most to memorise: functional groups, IUPAC names, homologous series and the reactions of ethanol and ethanoic acid. Periodic Classification, Chemical Reactions and Metallurgy are four marks each, and each has one table or one sequence the questions keep coming back to: the trends across a period, the four reaction types with examples, and the steps of extraction with the reactivity series.

Revise in the order of marks: the three five-mark chapters first, Space Missions and Heat last.

Where do students lose marks in the chemistry half?

I check the chemistry answers, and the same four errors keep appearing in copies from students who clearly studied.

• Unbalanced equations. A reaction written with the right reactants and products but wrong coefficients gets the identification mark and loses the equation mark.
• IUPAC names with the wrong suffix. Writing "ethanal" for ethanoic acid, or putting the position number after the name instead of before the suffix.
• Scientific reasons answered with a restatement. "Sodium is kept in kerosene because it reacts with air" is the fact, not the reason. The mark needs the reaction and the product.
• Reactivity series out of order in Metallurgy, which breaks every question that asks which metal displaces which.

None of these are knowledge gaps. They are writing habits, and a checked paper fixes them faster than another reading of the textbook.

How to use the weightage between now and February

1. Finish the first reading of all ten chapters by 30 November, in the order of the marks above. The full syllabus with chapter lists is in our Maharashtra SSC Science and Technology syllabus post.
2. Solve the last five board papers for Part 1 chapter by chapter, and count which chapters supplied the Q3 and Q4 questions. The papers are linked in our Science and Technology past papers post.
3. In December, write two full Part 1 papers by hand in the 11 AM to 1 PM slot and get them checked.
4. In January, use your school preliminary exam as the rehearsal and keep the comments from it.
5. From 1 February, revise only from your corrected papers and the chapter table. The 2027 schedule, with the written papers from 15 February to 11 March, is in our Maharashtra SSC time table 2027 post.

Gradehunt's Maharashtra Board SSC Class 10 test series gives you full Science 1 papers in the board's six-part format. You write them by hand, upload them, and subject experts check them within 48 hours with step-wise marks and comments on balancing, naming and the ray diagrams. The first paper is checked free, and mentorship plans are available if you want the chapters scheduled week by week.

Maharashtra SSC Science 2 weightage for 2027 is spread more evenly than Science 1. Of the 40 marks, Life Processes in Living Organisms Part 2 and Environmental Management carry 5 each, six chapters carry 4 each, and Heredity and Evolution and Disaster Management carry 3 each. The board does not publish a yearly chapter-wise table, so these are estimates from the paper format and recent papers. The March 2026 paper, held on 13 March, fits them closely.

No chapter in Science 2 is worth skipping, because the heaviest is only 5 marks and the lightest is still 3.

TL;DR

• Science and Technology Part 2 is 40 marks in two hours, same six-part format as Part 1.
• Top chapters: Life Processes Part 2 and Environmental Management, 5 marks each without options and 7 with.
• Six chapters at 4 marks: Life Processes Part 1, Towards Green Energy, Animal Classification, Introduction to Microbiology, Cell Biology and Biotechnology, Social Health.
• The 2026 long questions came from six different chapters, which is why the even spread matters.

What is the chapter-wise weightage for Science 2?

The first figure is marks without options, the second with options. The totals are 40 and 60.

• Heredity and Evolution: 3 marks, 5 with options.
• Life Processes in Living Organisms Part 1: 4 marks, 6 with options.
• Life Processes in Living Organisms Part 2: 5 marks, 7 with options.
• Environmental Management: 5 marks, 7 with options.
• Towards Green Energy: 4 marks, 6 with options.
• Animal Classification: 4 marks, 6 with options.
• Introduction to Microbiology: 4 marks, 6 with options.
• Cell Biology and Biotechnology: 4 marks, 6 with options.
• Social Health: 4 marks, 6 with options.
• Disaster Management: 3 marks, 5 with options.

I would read this table differently from the Science 1 table. In Science 1 you can put three chapters first and be sure of 15 marks. In Science 2 the top two chapters give 10, and the next 24 marks are spread across six chapters that students tend to rank as easy or boring and then under-prepare. Social Health and Disaster Management are the usual casualties. They are short chapters, and a four-mark loss in each is the difference between 70 and 78 in the subject.

Two five-mark chapters, six four-mark chapters, two three-mark chapters, all estimates and all worth doing.

How is the Science 2 paper set?

Part 2 uses the same format as Part 1. The board's pattern, as Careers360 lays it out, puts Science and Technology at 100 marks: two 40-mark written papers and 20 marks of internal assessment.

• Q1 (A): five MCQs, 5 marks. In 2026 several were based on a picture, a flowchart or a short passage rather than plain recall.
• Q1 (B): five one-mark items, 5 marks: match the pairs, true or false, odd one out, name the following.
• Q2 (A): scientific reasons, two out of three, 4 marks.
• Q2 (B): short answers, three out of five, 6 marks.
• Q3: five three-mark questions out of eight, 15 marks. Diagrams and labelled sketches sit here.
• Q4: one five-mark question out of two.

The with-options total of 60 is the 40 plus the extra questions the paper offers in Q2, Q3 and Q4. The chapter weightage is decided mostly in Q3, where eight three-mark questions are shared across ten chapters, so most chapters get one and two chapters get a second.

Same six parts as Science 1, 40 marks in two hours, with Q3 deciding which chapters count that year.

What did the 2026 paper ask?

Careers360's live report of the 13 March 2026 paper lists the long-answer topics: Lamarckism, mitosis, threatened species, the thermal power plant, body symmetry in animals and the human reproductive system. Teachers quoted in the report called the paper easy and well structured.

Map those six topics to chapters and the weightage table shows up. Lamarckism is Heredity and Evolution. Mitosis is Life Processes Part 1. Threatened species is Environmental Management. The thermal power plant is Towards Green Energy. Body symmetry is Animal Classification. The reproductive system is Life Processes Part 2. Six long questions, six chapters, and the two five-mark chapters both present. A student who had done only the top two chapters properly would have had the options for perhaps two of those six.

The 2026 long questions came from six different chapters, which is the strongest argument for the even revision plan below.

Which chapters give the most marks for the least time?

The diagram chapters

Life Processes Part 1 and Part 2, Animal Classification and Cell Biology are the chapters where a labelled diagram earns marks on its own. The ones that come back year after year are the stages of mitosis and meiosis, the structure of the human male and female reproductive systems, the menstrual cycle sequence, the stem cell flowchart and the body plans of the phyla. In checked copies, a correct diagram with three wrong labels loses most of its marks. Practise the labels, not just the outline.

The theory chapters

Environmental Management, Social Health, Disaster Management and Towards Green Energy are mostly reading. Their questions are scientific reasons, short notes and the odd flowchart such as the steps in a thermal or nuclear power plant. These are the fastest marks in the paper if you know the textbook's own wording. The board's answer scheme follows the textbook closely, so a scientific reason written in the textbook's two sentences scores better than a longer answer from memory.

The hard chapter

Heredity and Evolution is only 3 marks, but it has the most concepts: Mendel's monohybrid and dihybrid ratios, the central dogma, Lamarck versus Darwin, and the evidences of evolution. Give it one full day and then move on. Three marks do not justify a week.

Diagrams earn the quickest marks in the biology chapters, and textbook wording earns them in the environment chapters.

How to revise Science 2 between now and February

1. Read all ten chapters once by the end of November, in textbook order. The chapter list is in our Maharashtra SSC Science and Technology syllabus post.
2. Draw every diagram in the ten chapters once, from memory, and check the labels against the textbook. Keep the ones you got wrong on a single sheet.
3. Solve the last five Part 2 board papers from our Science and Technology past papers post and note which chapter each Q3 and Q4 question came from.
4. Write two full Part 2 papers by hand in December, in the 11 AM to 1 PM slot, and get them checked. Do the same for Part 1 using the chapter order in our Science 1 weightage post.
5. Use the preliminary exam in January as the rehearsal, and revise from the corrected papers alone through February.

Gradehunt's Maharashtra Board SSC Class 10 test series gives you full Science 2 papers in the board's format. You write them by hand, upload them, and subject experts check them within 48 hours, with step-wise marks and comments on each diagram and each scientific reason. The first paper is checked free, and mentorship plans are available for students who want all ten chapters scheduled before the 15 February start.

The ICAI paper pattern under the new scheme of education and training is 4 papers at Foundation, 6 at Intermediate and 6 at Final, plus four Self-Paced Online Modules. Every Intermediate and Final paper is 100 marks, with 30 marks of case-scenario MCQs and 70 marks of descriptive questions. The scheme has been in force since 1 July 2023, and every figure below comes from ICAI's FAQ on the new scheme or from its exam notices.

Sixteen papers, one of them open book, two with negative marking, and the same pass rule at every level: 40 in each paper and 50 in aggregate.

TL;DR

• Foundation: 4 papers of 100 marks. Papers 1 and 2 descriptive, three hours; Papers 3 and 4 objective, two hours, with 0.25 mark deducted per wrong answer.
• Intermediate: 6 papers of 100 marks, three hours each, 30% MCQ and 70% descriptive, no negative marking.
• Final: 6 papers of 100 marks. Papers 1 to 5 are closed book and three hours. Paper 6 is open book, case study based and four hours.
• Self-Paced Online Modules: Sets A to D, 100 marks each, 50% to pass, all four cleared before you can sit the Final.
• Pass rule at every level: 40% in each paper and 50% in aggregate of the group, in one sitting.

How many papers are there under the ICAI new scheme?

The new scheme, notified in the Gazette of India on 22 June 2023 and in force from 1 July 2023, has 4, 6 and 6 papers in place of the old 4, 8 and 8, plus four Self-Paced Online Modules taken online before the Final.

Foundation and Intermediate exams are held in January, May and September, Final in May and November. The November 2026 Final runs from 2 to 13 November and the next one is in May 2027; the January 2027 Foundation and Inter dates are in our CA Foundation January 2027 exam dates post.

Sixteen exam-hall papers: four, six and six, the last two levels in groups of three.

What is the CA Foundation paper pattern?

• Paper 1: Accounting, 100 marks, descriptive, three hours.
• Paper 2: Business Laws, 100 marks, descriptive, three hours.
• Paper 3: Quantitative Aptitude, 100 marks, objective, two hours. Part A Business Mathematics 40 marks, Part B Logical Reasoning 20 marks, Part C Statistics 40 marks.
• Paper 4: Business Economics, 100 marks, objective, two hours.

Papers 3 and 4 carry negative marking of 0.25 mark for every wrong answer. Papers 1 and 2 have none. Under ICAI's January 2027 exam notice, Papers 1 and 2 run from 2 PM to 5 PM with 15 minutes of reading time from 1.45 PM, and Papers 3 and 4 run from 2 PM to 4 PM with no reading time.

Two descriptive papers of three hours, two objective papers of two hours, and a quarter mark lost for each wrong objective answer.

What is the CA Intermediate paper pattern?

• Paper 1: Advanced Accounting, 100 marks.
• Paper 2: Corporate and Other Laws, 100 marks. Part I Company Law and LLP Law 70 marks, Part II Other Laws 30 marks.
• Paper 3: Taxation, 100 marks. Section A Income-tax Law 50 marks, Section B Goods and Services Tax 50 marks.
• Paper 4: Cost and Management Accounting, 100 marks.
• Paper 5: Auditing and Ethics, 100 marks.
• Paper 6: Financial Management and Strategic Management, 100 marks. Section A Financial Management 50 marks, Section B Strategic Management 50 marks.

All six papers follow the same pattern: 30 marks of case scenario based MCQs and 70 marks of descriptive questions, in one three-hour sitting from 2 PM to 5 PM with 15 minutes of reading time, and no negative marking. How the 70 descriptive marks are checked is in our post on the ICAI marking scheme.

Six papers of 100 marks, each 30 marks MCQ and 70 marks descriptive, three hours, no negative marking.

What is the CA Final paper pattern, and which paper is open book?

• Paper 1: Financial Reporting, 100 marks.
• Paper 2: Advanced Financial Management, 100 marks.
• Paper 3: Advanced Auditing, Assurance and Professional Ethics, 100 marks.
• Paper 4: Direct Tax Laws and International Taxation, 100 marks.
• Paper 5: Indirect Tax Laws, 100 marks. Part I Goods and Services Tax 80 marks, Part II Customs and Foreign Trade Policy 20 marks.
• Paper 6: Integrated Business Solutions, 100 marks.

Papers 1 to 5 are closed book, three hours each, with the same 30% MCQ and 70% descriptive split as Intermediate and no negative marking. Paper 6 is the exception. ICAI's Board of Studies announcement of 14 January 2024 fixed its assessment: open book, case study based, four hours, five case studies of 25 marks each of which you attempt any four, and within each case study 40% by MCQs and 60% by descriptive questions.

Open book does not mean easy. The case studies pull together accounting, auditing, taxation, corporate law, finance and strategy around one business situation. In November 2026 it runs from 2 PM to 6 PM on 13 November.

Five Final papers are closed book on the 30:70 pattern; Paper 6 is open book, four hours, four case studies out of five.

What are the Self-Paced Online Modules?

• Set A: Corporate and Economic Laws, 100 marks, mandatory.
• Set B: Strategic Cost and Performance Management, 100 marks, mandatory.
• Set C: one elective out of ten, 100 marks, such as Risk Management or International Taxation.
• Set D: one multidisciplinary subject out of four, 100 marks, such as Digital Ecosystem and Controls.

You qualify a module with 50% marks, and the marks are not added to the Final result. To sit the Final you must have completed practical training six months before the exam month, finished Advanced ICITSS, and qualified all four modules.

Four online modules of 100 marks, two of them fixed and two chosen, each needing 50% and all four needed before the Final.

Passing marks and exemptions at a glance

At every level the rule is 40% in each paper and 50% in aggregate of the group, in one sitting. Write both groups together and the aggregate runs over all six papers, so a 68 in Costing can carry a 44 in Accounting; our CA Intermediate passing marks post has worked examples.

Exemptions are the same at Intermediate and Final: 60% or more in a paper of a failed group exempts that paper for the next three exams, with 40% in each remaining paper and 50% in aggregate still needed. After that it can become a permanent exemption, with 50% in each remaining paper.

The pass line is 40 and 50 everywhere; a 60 buys a three-exam exemption.

How should you practise for a 30:70 paper?

1. Write every mock as a full 100-mark paper in three hours, MCQs included. Most students practise the 70 descriptive marks alone and run short on the day.
2. At Final, write two full Paper 6 sittings of four hours with four case studies each, open book.
3. Get the descriptive answers checked for step marks, not just a total.

Gradehunt's CA test series gives you full papers on the ICAI pattern at all three levels, written by hand and checked by ex-examiners within 48 hours with step-wise marks and comments. The first paper is checked free, and mentorship plans are available.

CA Inter chapter-wise weightage does not exist as an ICAI document. ICAI publishes a section-wise weightage for each of the six papers, issued on 26 October 2023 and applicable from May 2024 onwards, with a deviation of up to 5% either way allowed. Each section is a fixed group of chapters, so the section range is the marks range for those chapters. Below are the ranges for every paper, converted into marks.

In four of the six papers one section carries half the marks or more, and in checked copies it is rarely the section students know best.

TL;DR

• Advanced Accounting: Accounting Standards 55 to 65 marks, company accounts 30 to 35, branches 5 to 10.
• Law: company law 70 marks, other laws 30. Taxation: income-tax 50, GST 50, with levy and supply 25 to 40 of the GST marks.
• Costing: ascertainment of cost 35 to 40 marks. FM: financing decisions and cost of capital 45% to 50% of the 50.
• Deviation allowed: 5% either way, on the paper as a whole, MCQs included.

Where does the CA Inter weightage come from?

From the Board of Studies. The Intermediate PDF sits on ICAI's section-wise weightages page, listing each paper's contents in numbered sections with a percentage range and a 5% deviation note at the end.

The PDF does not split the 30 MCQ marks from the 70 descriptive marks; the weightage is for the whole paper, and ICAI's FAQ on the new scheme confirms the 30:70 pattern.

The weightage is official at section level, carries a 5% tolerance, and covers MCQs and descriptive questions together.

Paper 1 Advanced Accounting: which chapters carry the marks?

• Section I, 55% to 65%, so 55 to 65 marks: the formulation of Accounting Standards and Ind AS, the Framework, applicability, and the application of AS 1 to AS 29 as listed in the syllabus.
• Section II, 30% to 35%, so 30 to 35 marks: company accounts. Schedule III Division I, the statement of profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow statement, buy-back of securities, and internal reconstruction.
• Section III, 5% to 10%, so 5 to 10 marks: accounting for branches, including foreign branches.

The copies I check tell the opposite story: reconstruction worked out in full, and the AS questions answered with a one-line conclusion. The reason carries the marks.

Accounting Standards are 55 to 65 of the 100 marks; company accounts are a third; branches are one question.

How are the 100 Law marks split?

Part I, Company Law and LLP Law: 70 marks

• Section I, 20% to 30%, so 14 to 21 marks: incorporation, prospectus, share capital and debentures.
• Section II, 20% to 30%, so 14 to 21 marks: deposits, charges, management and administration.
• Section III, 30% to 35%, so 21 to about 24 marks: dividend, accounts, audit and auditors, foreign companies.
• Section IV, 15% to 20%, so 10 to 14 marks: the LLP Act, 2008.

Part II, Other Laws: 30 marks

• General Clauses Act, 1897: 35% to 40%, so 10 to 12 marks.
• Interpretation of statutes: 25% to 30%, so 7 to 9 marks.
• Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999: 30% to 40%, so 9 to 12 marks.

Company law is 70 of the 100; Section III on dividends, accounts and audit is its heaviest part.

Which Taxation sections carry the most marks?

Section A, Income-tax Law: 50 marks

• Section I, 10% to 20%, 5 to 10 marks: basic concepts and computation of total income.
• Section II, 25% to 30%, 12 to 15 marks: residential status and the five heads of income.
• Section III, 15% to 20%, 7 to 10 marks: clubbing, set-off of losses, deductions.
• Section IV, 15% to 20%, 7 to 10 marks: advance tax, TDS and TCS.
• Section V, 20% to 25%, 10 to 12 marks: return filing, self-assessment, the alternative tax regime.

Section B, Goods and Services Tax: 50 marks

• Section I, 0% to 5%: introduction to GST and constitutional aspects.
• Section II, 50% to 80%, 25 to 40 marks: levy and collection, supply, reverse charge, exemptions, composition levy.
• Section III, 20% to 45%, 10 to 22 marks: place, time and value of supply, input tax credit, registration, invoices, e-way bills, payment and returns.

Income-tax is spread across five sections; GST puts 25 to 40 of its 50 marks on supply, levy and exemptions, while the computation chapter most students practise first can be as little as 10.

Where do the Costing marks sit?

• Section I, 10% to 15%: overview, cost classification and cost sheets.
• Section II, 35% to 40%: ascertainment of cost. Material, employee cost, overheads, activity based costing, cost accounting systems.
• Section III, 20% to 25%: methods of costing. Unit, job, process, joint and by-products, service costing.
• Section IV, 25% to 30%: cost control and analysis. Standard costing, marginal costing and budgetary control.

Overheads and material cost together outweigh all the methods of costing.

How is Auditing and Ethics spread across nine sections?

• I, nature, objective and scope of audit: 4% to 6%.
• II, audit strategy, planning and programme: 8% to 12%.
• III, risk assessment, internal control and materiality: 8% to 12%.
• IV, audit evidence, sampling, documentation and internal audit: 12% to 18%.
• V, audit of items in the financial statements: 12% to 20%.
• VI, completion and review, including going concern and written representations: 8% to 12%.
• VII, audit report, modified opinions, key audit matters and CARO: 8% to 12%.
• VIII, audits of special entities and bank audit: 12% to 18%.
• IX, ethics and the terms of audit engagements: 8% to 10%.

No section crosses 20%, so no chapter can be left out.

What is the FM and SM split?

Section A, Financial Management: 50 marks

• I, introduction and ratio analysis: 10% to 15%.
• II, financing decisions and cost of capital, including sources of finance and capital structure: 45% to 50%, so about 22 to 25 marks.
• III, investment and dividend decisions: 20% to 25%.
• IV, management of working capital: 15% to 20%.

Section B, Strategic Management: 50 marks

Five sections at 15% to 25% each, about 7 to 12 marks: introduction; external analysis (PESTLE, five forces); internal analysis (SWOT, generic strategies); strategic choices (Ansoff, BCG, GE, ADL); implementation and evaluation.

Half the FM marks are financing decisions; SM has no heavy section.

How should you use the weightage to plan revision?

1. Rank each paper's sections by the top of their range and revise in that order: Accounting Standards, company law Section III, GST Section II and costing Section II first.
2. Check the ranking against the last three papers and suggested answers, linked in our CA Inter suggested answers post, and count the marks each section got.
3. Write the heaviest section of each paper as a timed test before a full paper. Concepts repeat even where questions do not; our post on whether ICAI repeats questions shows the pattern.
4. Fix the plan to the dates: the January 2027 exams start on 2 January, and the timetable is in our CA Inter exam dates post.

Gradehunt's CA Inter test series gives you full 100-mark papers on the ICAI pattern, written by hand and checked by ex-examiners within 48 hours, with step-wise marks and comments. The first paper is checked free, and mentorship plans are available.

Maharashtra SSC Maths 1 weightage for 2027 rests on a 40-mark Algebra paper with six chapters. Linear Equations in Two Variables, Quadratic Equations and Statistics carry the most, about 12 marks each with options, and Arithmetic Progression, Financial Planning and Probability about 8 each. The board (MSBSHSE) does not publish a chapter-wise blueprint, so these are estimates from the paper format and recent papers, and I have labelled them as such. The question format, on the other hand, is fixed, and it is set out below part by part.

Half the Algebra paper comes from three chapters, and they are the ones where a wrong sign in the second line wipes out the step marks.

TL;DR

• Mathematics is 100 marks: Algebra 40, Geometry 40, internal assessment 20.
• Algebra is a two-hour paper. In 2026 it was held on 6 March from 11 AM to 1 PM. The 2027 written exams run from 15 February to 11 March.
• Chapter estimate, marks with options: Linear Equations 12, Quadratic Equations 12, Statistics 12, Arithmetic Progression 8, Financial Planning 8, Probability 8.
• Eight question parts, 40 marks answered and 60 on the paper, and only the first attempt at an MCQ is marked.

How many marks does each Algebra chapter carry?

This is the table I would plan from. The figures are marks with options, which add to 60 because the paper offers more questions than you answer. The paper itself is scored out of 40.

• Linear Equations in Two Variables: 12 marks.
• Quadratic Equations: 12 marks.
• Arithmetic Progression: 8 marks.
• Financial Planning: 8 marks.
• Probability: 8 marks.
• Statistics: 12 marks.

A second table circulates online with five chapters and no Financial Planning, giving 16 marks to Linear Equations and 14 to Quadratic Equations. It leaves out a chapter that is in the current textbook. The March 2026 paper asked GST questions in Q1, so plan for all six.

The board site, mahahsscboard.in, publishes the syllabus and the question paper format, not a yearly chapter-wise marks table. Treat any chapter figure, including mine, as a guide that can move by two or three marks in a given year.

Three chapters at about 12 marks and three at about 8, out of 60 with options, and all six are examined.

How is the 40-mark Algebra paper set?

The paper has five questions in eight parts. The format has been the same since the revised syllabus, and the March 2026 paper, which Careers360 covered live, followed it.

• Q1 (A): four MCQs, 1 mark each, 4 marks. Only the first attempt at an MCQ is evaluated.
• Q1 (B): four one-mark sub-questions, 4 marks.
• Q2 (A): complete any two of three activities, 2 marks each, 4 marks.
• Q2 (B): solve any four of five sub-questions, 2 marks each, 8 marks.
• Q3 (A): complete any one of two activities, 3 marks.
• Q3 (B): solve any two of four sub-questions, 3 marks each, 6 marks.
• Q4: solve any two of three sub-questions, 4 marks each, 8 marks.
• Q5: solve any one of two sub-questions, 3 marks.

That is 40 marks answered and 60 marks printed. The 20 marks of choice sit in Q2 to Q5, and that is where the chapter weightage is decided each year: a chapter that supplies one of the three Q4 problems and one of the four Q3 (B) problems is a heavy chapter that year. The 20 marks of internal assessment sit on top of the two written papers, as the board's pattern on Careers360 sets out.

Eight parts, 40 marks in two hours, with the chapter balance decided by the options in Q2 to Q5.

Which chapters should you revise first?

The two equation chapters

Linear Equations in Two Variables covers the graphical method, Cramer's rule with D, Dx and Dy, equations reducible to linear form, and word problems. Quadratic Equations covers factorisation, completing the square, the formula, the nature of roots through the discriminant, and word problems. Between them these two chapters supply most of the Q4 four-mark problems, so they come first.

Statistics

Mean by the assumed mean and step deviation methods, median and mode from grouped data, histograms, frequency polygons and pie charts. Long but mechanical. It is the most regular source of a three-mark Q3 (B) problem.

The three eight-mark chapters

Arithmetic Progression is the nth term and the sum of n terms. Financial Planning is GST, with the CGST and SGST split and input tax credit, and shares, with face value, market value, brokerage and dividend. Probability is the sample space, events, and P(A) = n(A) divided by n(S). These three mostly appear as one-mark and two-mark questions in Q1 and Q2, which makes them the quickest marks on the paper.

Equations first, then Statistics, then the three short chapters, which is also the order of marks.

Where do students lose Algebra marks?

I check Algebra papers, and these five losses repeat in copies from students who knew the chapter.

• Activities answered as a list of blanks. In Q2 (A) and Q3 (A) the complete activity has to be written out with the blanks filled in place. A column of answers without the steps around them can lose marks.
• Cramer's rule with Dx and Dy swapped, or a sign error inside a determinant. The method mark survives; the answer marks go.
• The quadratic formula applied without first writing a, b and c, so an arithmetic slip cannot be given step credit.
• Statistics tables with the class mark or the assumed mean chosen wrongly, which breaks every column after it.
• Graphs with no scale, unlabelled axes, or the point of intersection not written as an ordered pair.

None of these need another reading of the textbook. They need a checked paper with the comment written next to the line.

The marks go on presentation: full activities, labelled graphs and stated formulas.

How to prepare Algebra between now and February

1. Finish all six chapters once by 30 November, the equation chapters and Statistics first. The full chapter list is in our Maharashtra SSC mathematics syllabus post.
2. Solve the last five Algebra board papers from our mathematics past papers post and tick which chapter each Q4 and Q5 problem came from.
3. In December, write two full Algebra papers by hand in the 11 AM to 1 PM slot and get them checked.
4. Use the school preliminary exam in January as the rehearsal, and keep the comments.
5. From 1 February, revise from your corrected papers only. The 2027 schedule, with written exams from 15 February to 11 March, is in our Maharashtra SSC time table 2027 post.

Gradehunt's Maharashtra Board SSC Class 10 test series gives you full Algebra papers in the board's eight-part format. You write them by hand, upload them, and subject experts check them within 48 hours with step-wise marks and a comment on each activity, graph and determinant. The first paper is checked free, and mentorship plans are available if you want the six chapters scheduled week by week.

Maharashtra SSC Maths 2 weightage for 2027 is spread across seven Geometry chapters in a 40-mark paper. Circle is the heaviest at about 12 marks with options, Similarity and Mensuration are about 10 each, and Pythagoras Theorem, Geometric Constructions, Co-ordinate Geometry and Trigonometry are about 7 each. As with Algebra, the board publishes the format and not a chapter table, so the chapter figures are estimates and I have marked them so. The March 2026 paper, held on 9 March, fits them.

Geometry has no chapter you can skip: the lightest is still a 7-mark chapter, and the heaviest is where the theorem proofs live.

TL;DR

• Geometry is 40 marks in two hours. Mathematics in total is 100, with Algebra 40 and internal assessment 20.
• Estimate, marks with options: Circle 12, Similarity 10, Mensuration 10, Pythagoras Theorem 7, Geometric Constructions 7, Co-ordinate Geometry 7, Trigonometry 7.
• Same eight-part pattern as Algebra: 40 marks answered, 60 printed.
• Teachers quoted after the 9 March 2026 paper called it moderate and slightly lengthy, with Q4 and Q5 the hard part.

How many marks does each Geometry chapter carry?

• Similarity: 10 marks.
• Pythagoras Theorem: 7 marks.
• Circle: 12 marks.
• Geometric Constructions: 7 marks.
• Co-ordinate Geometry: 7 marks.
• Trigonometry: 7 marks.
• Mensuration: 10 marks.

These are marks with options, adding to 60; the paper is scored out of 40. Some portals print a six-chapter version of this table without Trigonometry, which is incomplete: trigonometric identities and heights-and-distances problems appear every year. The board's site, mahahsscboard.in, publishes the syllabus and the format, not the chapter marks, so expect a chapter to move by two or three marks in a given year.

One chapter at 12, two at 10 and four at 7, all estimates, and the spread is flat enough that nothing can be dropped.

What is the Geometry paper pattern?

The same as Algebra: five questions, eight parts, two hours.

• Q1 (A): four MCQs, 1 mark each, 4 marks. Only the first attempt at an MCQ is evaluated.
• Q1 (B): four one-mark sub-questions, 4 marks.
• Q2 (A): complete any two of three activities, 2 marks each, 4 marks.
• Q2 (B): solve any four of five sub-questions, 2 marks each, 8 marks.
• Q3 (A): complete any one of two activities, 3 marks.
• Q3 (B): solve any two of four sub-questions, 3 marks each, 6 marks.
• Q4: solve any two of three sub-questions, 4 marks each, 8 marks.
• Q5: solve any one of two sub-questions, 3 marks.

The 2026 paper, on 9 March from 11 AM to 1 PM, kept this shape. Teachers quoted in Careers360's live report called it moderate and slightly lengthy, and said Q4 and Q5 took the time. Those are the four-mark and three-mark problems with figures. Internal assessment adds 20 marks to the two written papers, as the board's pattern on Careers360 shows.

Eight parts and 40 marks, with the long figure-based problems in Q4 and Q5 deciding the grade.

Where do the theorems and constructions come in the paper?

Theorems

The textbook theorems you can be asked to prove include the basic proportionality theorem, the theorem on areas of similar triangles, the Pythagoras theorem, the tangent segment theorem and the inscribed angle theorem. A full proof usually appears as a Q3 (B) or Q4 option for 3 or 4 marks, and Q3 (A) often gives a proof as an activity with blanks.

Constructions

Dividing a segment in a given ratio, constructing a triangle similar to a given triangle in a given ratio of sides, and constructing tangents to a circle from a point outside it or at a point on it. A short construction comes in Q2 (B) for 2 marks and a longer one in Q3 (B) or Q4 for 3 or 4 marks.

The rest

Co-ordinate Geometry is the distance, section and midpoint formulas and the slope of a line. Trigonometry is the identities and heights-and-distances problems with 30, 45 and 60 degree angles. Mensuration is surface area and volume of the cylinder, cone, sphere and frustum, with arc length and sector area. These fill Q1 and Q2 and take one of the Q4 options most years.

Proofs sit in Q3 and Q4, constructions in Q2 to Q4, and the formula chapters fill the one-mark and two-mark slots.

Where do students lose Geometry marks?

• Proofs without the frame. A theorem proof needs the figure, Given, To prove and Construction, if any, before the Proof. Copies that jump straight to the proof lose the frame marks and often lose the thread.
• Steps without reasons. Every step in a proof needs the theorem or property in brackets. An equality of two angles with no reason earns nothing on its own.
• Constructions with the arcs erased and no rough figure. The arcs are the evidence of the method, and the method carries the marks.
• Mensuration answers without units, or with pi taken as 3.14 when the question says 22/7.
• Heights and distances with the figure drawn but the angle of elevation marked at the wrong vertex.

These are habits, and a checked paper breaks them faster than a new textbook does. The way method marks are split in board papers is explained in our post on step marking in board exams.

The losses are in the frame of a proof, the arcs of a construction and the units of an answer, not in the geometry itself.

How to revise Geometry before February

1. Finish all seven chapters once by 30 November, theorems first. The chapter list is in our Maharashtra SSC mathematics syllabus post.
2. Write every textbook theorem proof from memory once a week, with the figure and the frame, until none of them needs the book.
3. Solve the last five Geometry board papers from our mathematics past papers post and note which chapter each Q4 and Q5 problem came from.
4. In December, write two full Geometry papers by hand in the 11 AM to 1 PM slot and get them checked. Do the same for Algebra using the chapter order in our Maharashtra SSC Maths 1 weightage post.
5. Use the January preliminary exam as the rehearsal, and from 1 February revise from corrected papers alone. The written exams start on 15 February 2027.

Gradehunt's Maharashtra Board SSC Class 10 test series gives you full Geometry papers in the board's eight-part format. You write them by hand, upload them, and subject experts check them within 48 hours with step-wise marks and comments on every proof, construction and unit. The first paper is checked free, and mentorship plans are available if you want the seven chapters scheduled before 15 February.

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. From mid-November, that leaves about seven 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.

CA Inter Law answer writing comes down to three parts in a fixed order: the provision, its application to the facts, and the conclusion. Most students who fail Paper 2, Corporate and Other Laws, know the law. They lose marks because the answer retells the facts, skips the provision, or gives a conclusion with no reasoning. ICAI's own examiners' comments say so in almost those words, and I see the same thing in the Law copies I check.

The examiner is paid to find the provision in your answer. If it is not there, the conclusion alone is worth one mark, however right it is.

TL;DR

• Paper 2 is 100 marks: Company Law and LLP Law 70, Other Laws 30, with 30 marks of case-scenario MCQs and 70 descriptive.
• Every descriptive answer: provision in your own words, application to the facts, a one-line conclusion. In that order.
• Budget about 35 minutes for the 30 MCQ marks and 2 hours 10 minutes for the 70 descriptive marks.

What does the CA Inter Law paper look like in January 2027?

Paper 2 is written on Monday 4 January 2027, from 2 PM to 5 PM, as the second Group I paper under ICAI's announcement of 23 September 2026. The full group-wise schedule is in our CA Inter January 2027 exam dates post.

• Part I, Company Law and Limited Liability Partnership Law: 70 marks, twelve chapters of the Companies Act, 2013 plus the LLP Act, 2008.
• Part II, Other Laws: 30 marks. The General Clauses Act, 1897, interpretation of statutes, and the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.
• Pattern: 30 marks of case-scenario MCQs and 70 marks of descriptive questions, three hours, no negative marking. ICAI's Intermediate weightage PDF confirms the 70:30 split between the parts.

Seventy marks of company law, thirty of other laws, and most descriptive questions set as facts about a company followed by "examine the validity".

What do ICAI examiners say goes wrong in Law answers?

ICAI publishes a summary of examiners' comments after each attempt; the latest Intermediate set on the listing page is November 2023, when the paper had the same name and company law core. From the Paper 2 section:

• On annual return: candidates "referred to the provisions relating to filing of annual return but failed to answer the quantum of penalty in case of default". The provision was there; the number was not.
• On a whole-time director holding office in more than one subsidiary: "most of the examinees have failed to provide the correct provisions under the General Clauses Act, 1897, read with the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013".
• On a question where the conclusion was right: "most of the examinees have not provided the correct provisions but succeeded in providing the correct conclusion". That is the one-mark answer.
• And the verdict on a contract law problem: "many examinees have provided a generic answer".

The examiner has a marking scheme with marks against the provision, marks against the application, and a mark or two against the conclusion. Our post on the ICAI marking scheme explains how that split is built.

Examiners report missing provisions, unquantified penalties and generic answers far more often than wrong law.

How should a Law answer be structured?

For a 4 to 6 mark practical question, four steps, written as short paragraphs:

1. Open with the provision: the Act, the section if you are sure, and the rule in plain words in two to four lines, including any time limit, penalty or threshold.
2. Apply it to the facts. Take the names and figures from the question and show which part of the rule they meet or fail. This is the paragraph most students skip.
3. Conclude in one line, in the words the question used: "the appointment is valid" or "the company must refund the deposit".
4. If the question has parts (i), (ii) and (iii), conclude each part separately. Examiners mark part by part.

A 4-mark answer needs about 12 to 15 lines and a 6-mark answer about 20. Longer answers cost time on the next question.

Provision, application, conclusion, each as its own paragraph, with every sub-part concluded on its own.

A worked answer: AGM on a public holiday

A November 2023 question, and a type that keeps coming back: a company calls its annual general meeting on a public holiday that is not a national holiday, at a place outside the state of its registered office. Is the meeting valid?

Provision

Under Section 96(2) of the Companies Act, 2013, every annual general meeting must be called during business hours, between 9 AM and 6 PM, on any day that is not a National Holiday, and must be held at the registered office or at some other place within the city, town or village in which the registered office is situated.

Application

The day chosen is a public holiday but not a National Holiday, so the first condition is met. The venue is outside the state of the registered office, so it cannot be within the same city, town or village, and the second condition fails.

Conclusion

The meeting can be held on that day, but not at that venue. The company must shift it to the registered office or a place within the same city, town or village.

Nine lines cover every mark in the scheme. A student who writes a page on what an AGM is, then says "hence it is valid", has written more and scored less.

Should you quote section numbers and case law?

Section numbers: yes, when you are certain. When you are not sure, write "under the Companies Act, 2013" and state the rule correctly. A wrong section next to a correct rule makes the examiner doubt the rest; a missing section costs nothing if the rule is right.

Case law: use it where the study material gives it, mainly in interpretation of statutes and the corporate veil chapters. One line with the case name and the principle is enough.

Penalties: always quantify. "Penalty applies" earns nothing. "The company and every officer in default are liable to a penalty of ₹10,000, and ₹100 for each day the failure continues, up to ₹2 lakh for the company and ₹50,000 for an officer" earns the mark. Amendments move these numbers; check them against ICAI's suggested answers.

Quote a section when sure, a case when the material gives one, and a penalty figure every time.

How do you manage time across 30 MCQ marks and 70 descriptive marks?

The MCQs are case-scenario based, so each scenario needs reading. Give the 30 marks about 35 minutes, straight after the 15-minute reading time. Then 70 marks in about 130 minutes, a little under two minutes a mark: 11 minutes for a 6-mark question, 7 for a 4-mark one. Move on when the time is up.

Before the exam, write at least two full three-hour Law papers by hand, MCQs included. Where to spend revision time is in our CA Inter chapter-wise weightage post.

Gradehunt's CA Inter test series gives you Law papers on the ICAI pattern, checked by ex-examiners within 48 hours, with the provision, application and conclusion marks shown separately so you can see which one you are dropping. The first paper is checked free, and mentorship plans are available.

The Maharashtra SSC paper pattern gives every subject 100 marks: 80 from the written paper and 20 from internal assessment, orals or practicals. The written 80 is one three-hour paper in the languages and two separate two-hour papers of 40 marks each in Maths, Science and Social Science. The board (MSBSHSE) has not published a fresh pattern document for 2027, and press reports of its announcement say the current syllabus continues for 2026-27, so the structure below, taken from the March 2026 papers, is the one to prepare for.

Six subjects, nine written papers: three of three hours and six of two hours, each two-hour paper worth 40 marks.

TL;DR

• Each subject: 80 marks written, 20 internal. Pass is 35 of 100 in each subject, written and internal counted together.
• Languages: one 80-mark paper, 11 AM to 2 PM. English written marks are split across reading, grammar and writing, with 20 marks for orals.
• Maths: Algebra 40 and Geometry 40, two hours each. Science: Part 1 and Part 2, 40 each, two hours each, plus 20 for practicals.
• Social Science: Paper 1 History and Political Science 40, Paper 2 Geography 40, two hours each.
• SSC 2027 written exams: 15 February to 11 March 2027. Practicals and internals: 28 January to 13 February.

How is each Maharashtra SSC subject marked?

Every subject is out of 100. The written component is 80, and the remaining 20 comes from the school: oral tests in languages, practicals in Science, and internal assessment in Maths and Social Science. The board adds the two together, and you need 35 of the 100 to pass the subject. Careers360's pattern page carries the same 80 and 20 split for each subject.

The internal 20 is not a formality. A student with 30 in the written Maths papers and 18 in internals passes with 48; with 10 in internals the same student is at 40. Ask your school how the 20 is awarded in each subject.

Eighty written and twenty internal in every subject, with 35 of the combined 100 to pass.

Which subjects have two papers?

• Mathematics: Part 1 Algebra (40 marks) and Part 2 Geometry (40 marks), on separate days.
• Science and Technology: Part 1 (40 marks, physics and chemistry chapters) and Part 2 (40 marks, biology and environment chapters), on separate days.
• Social Science: Paper 1 History and Political Science (40 marks) and Paper 2 Geography (40 marks), on separate days.

Each of these six papers is two hours, 11 AM to 1 PM in 2026. The three language papers are single 80-mark papers of three hours, 11 AM to 2 PM. So a student writing Marathi, English and Hindi sits nine written papers in all.

Maths, Science and Social Science are two 40-mark papers each; the languages are one 80-mark paper each.

What is the question pattern in Maths and Science?

Maths, each paper 40 marks

Both Algebra and Geometry follow the same eight-part structure: Q1(A) four MCQs for 4 marks, Q1(B) four one-mark questions, Q2(A) two of three activity questions for 4, Q2(B) four of five for 8, Q3(A) one of two activities for 3, Q3(B) two of four for 6, Q4 two of three for 8 and Q5 one of two for 3. That is 40 marks to attempt out of 60 on the paper. Only the first attempt at an MCQ is marked. Chapter-wise marks are in our Maths 1 Algebra weightage post.

Science, each paper 40 marks

Part 1 and Part 2 share a six-part structure: Q1(A) five MCQs for 5 marks, Q1(B) five one-mark questions, Q2(A) scientific reasons for 4, Q2(B) three of five for 6, Q3 five of eight for 15 and Q4 one of two for 5. Diagrams, numericals and the scientific-reasons question are where the step marks are. Our Science 1 weightage post has the chapter estimates.

Maths papers have eight parts and Science papers six, and in both you attempt 40 marks out of 60 on offer.

How are the language and Social Science papers set?

English (first and third language) is one 80-mark written paper. The split Careers360 reported for the 27 February 2026 paper was reading of textual passages 20, reading of non-textual passages 20, grammar 15 and writing skills 25, with 20 marks for the oral test. The writing section is the one that decides the grade: letters, reports, speeches and expansions of an idea carry the largest single block and are marked for format as much as for language.

The first language papers (Marathi, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati and others) follow the same 80 written and 20 oral shape, with their own activity-sheet layout.

Social Science Paper 1 is History and Political Science for 40 marks in two hours. In the 16 March 2026 paper, questions 1 to 5 were History and questions 6 to 9 were Political Science. Paper 2 is Geography for 40 marks in two hours, with map work and the Brazil-India comparison chapters. Several portals print a History 28, Political Science 12 split; I have not seen that in a board document, so treat it as a guide to the question order rather than a rule.

Languages are single papers with writing as the biggest block; Social Science is two two-hour papers of 40.

When are the 2027 papers, and how long is each one?

The board's press note of 17 September 2026 fixed the SSC 2027 written exams for 15 February to 11 March 2027, with practicals, orals and internal assessment from 28 January to 13 February. The subject-wise time table is not out yet; in 2026 it came on 1 November. Our Maharashtra SSC time table 2027 post tracks it.

Expect the language papers first and the two-paper subjects later, as in 2026: English on 27 February, Algebra on 6 March, Geometry on 9 March, Science 1 on 11 March, Science 2 on 13 March, History on 16 March and Geography on 18 March. Three-hour papers ran 11 AM to 2 PM and two-hour papers 11 AM to 1 PM. The hall ticket carries the 2027 timings.

Written papers run 15 February to 11 March 2027; languages take three hours and the six 40-mark papers take two.

How to plan revision around the pattern

1. Write every mock in the real format: 40-mark papers in two hours, 80-mark language papers in three. Practising a 40-mark paper with no clock hides the time pressure of Q3 and Q4.
2. Prepare the two-paper subjects as six separate papers. Give Geometry and Science 2 their own days; they are the halves students leave for last.
3. In languages, practise the writing section against a format checklist. Format marks are the cheapest marks in the paper.
4. Collect the internal 20 in every subject. Ask your class teacher which activities and tests count and when they are due.
5. After each mock, check where the step marks went, because Maharashtra examiners mark step by step. Our post on step marking in board exams shows how.

Gradehunt's Maharashtra SSC test series has papers for every subject in the board's own pattern, written by hand and checked by subject experts within 48 hours with step-wise marks and comments. The first paper is checked free, and mentorship plans are available.

ISC Class 12 Accounts weightage for the 2027 exam is fixed unit by unit in CISCE's own syllabus: 80 marks of theory in one three-hour paper and 20 marks of project work. Section A, compulsory, is 60 marks, with partnership accounts at 34 and joint stock company accounts at 26. The remaining 20 come from Section B, management accounting, or Section C, computerised accounting, whichever your school teaches. The figures below are from the CISCE Accounts syllabus for 2027.

Partnership is 34 of the 80 theory marks, and the 15-mark goodwill and reconstitution block inside it is the single biggest unit in the paper.

TL;DR

• Paper I theory, 3 hours, 80 marks: Section A 60 compulsory, then Section B or Section C for 20.
• Section A: fundamentals of partnership 11, goodwill with admission, retirement and death 15, dissolution 8, issue of shares 11, issue and redemption of debentures 8, final accounts of companies 7.
• Section B: financial statement analysis 4, cash flow statement 8, ratio analysis 8. Section C: spreadsheet 10, DBMS 10.
• Paper II project, 20 marks: two projects of 10, each marked on format 1, content 4, findings 2 and viva 3.
• The syllabus notes, not the chapters, decide many answers: what to assume in dissolution, indirect method only for cash flow, horizontal format on admission.

How are the 100 marks in ISC Accounts split?

Two papers. Paper I is the theory exam, three hours, 80 marks, divided into Sections A, B and C. Section A is compulsory. You then attempt either Section B or Section C, never both. Paper II is project work for 20 marks, assessed in school. CISCE's ISC 2027 regulations and syllabus page carries the subject PDF.

CISCE also released specimen papers in selected subjects in October 2026, with a circular on cisce.org; check there whether Accounts is among them before you build your mocks.

Eighty marks of theory, 60 of them compulsory, and 20 marks of project work.

Section A: which units carry the 60 marks?

Partnership accounts, 34 marks

• Fundamentals of partnership, 11 marks: profit and loss appropriation, fixed and fluctuating capitals, current accounts, guarantee of profits and past adjustments.
• Goodwill and reconstitution, 15 marks: valuation of goodwill by average profit, super profit and capitalisation methods, admission of a partner, retirement and death of a partner, and change in profit-sharing ratio.
• Dissolution of a partnership firm, 8 marks: realisation account, partners' loan and capital accounts, and the cash or bank account.

Joint stock company accounts, 26 marks

• Issue of shares, 11 marks: at par and at premium, for consideration other than cash, calls in arrears and in advance, forfeiture and reissue.
• Issue and redemption of debentures, 8 marks.
• Final accounts of companies, 7 marks: Schedule III format.

The 15-mark reconstitution block is where the long questions come from, usually an admission or retirement with a revaluation account, goodwill adjustment and a new balance sheet. In the copies I check, the marks go in the ratios: a wrong sacrificing ratio at the top of the answer carries through goodwill, capital adjustment and the balance sheet, and the student loses six marks for one slip. Work the ratios on a rough sheet, check them once, then start the accounts.

Partnership 34, company 26: the two long-question units are reconstitution at 15 and issue of shares at 11.

Section B or Section C: which 20-mark option should you take?

Section B is management accounting: financial statement analysis for 4 marks (comparative and common-size statements), cash flow statement for 8, and ratio analysis for 8. Section C is computerised accounting: accounting applications of an electronic spreadsheet for 10 and database management systems for 10.

In practice the school decides, since Section C needs lab time. If yours offers both, I would take Section B. Cash flow and ratios are marked step by step, so one wrong figure costs one mark, not the question, and a student heading for CA or CMA meets both chapters again at the next level.

Twenty marks from either management accounting (4, 8 and 8) or computerised accounting (10 and 10), decided mostly by what your school teaches.

What do the syllabus notes tell you about marking?

The CISCE syllabus has NOTE lines under most units, and examiners mark to them. Some that change answers:

• Dissolution: if the question is silent about paying a liability, pay it in full. If it is silent on the realised value of tangible assets and investments, take book value. If it is silent on intangible assets, accrued income or prepaid expenses, take nil.
• Dissolution: bank overdraft goes to the bank or cash account, not to realisation, but a bank loan is transferred to realisation.
• Goodwill: capital employed is total assets excluding purchased goodwill, non-trade investments and fictitious assets, less outside liabilities. Investments are non-trade unless the question says otherwise.
• Admission, retirement and death: the balance sheet is prepared in horizontal format only.
• Cash flow statement: AS 3 (revised), indirect method only, manufacturing companies only.
• Partners' commission or transfer to general reserve is calculated on the correct trading profit, not on the divisible profit.

A student who assumes a creditor was paid at a discount because "that is what usually happens" has contradicted the syllabus and loses the step. Copy these notes onto one page and read it before every mock.

The NOTE lines under each unit are the marking rules; the dissolution assumptions and the horizontal-format rule come up every year.

How is the 20-mark project marked?

You complete two projects from any topic in the theory syllabus, 10 marks each, marked on overall format for 1 mark, content for 4, findings for 2 and a viva on the project for 3. The suggested list includes a sole trader's journal to final accounts from a case study with at least 15 transactions.

The viva is 30% of each project. Write the project yourself and be able to explain every figure, because three marks on a conversation are the easiest part of the 20 to lose.

Two projects of 10 marks, with 4 for content and 3 for the viva in each.

How to turn the weightage into a study order

1. Start with goodwill and reconstitution, 15 marks. Do one admission, one retirement and one death question in full every week until the format is automatic.
2. Then fundamentals of partnership and issue of shares, 11 each. Both are rule-heavy; the past adjustments and forfeiture entries are where the marks move.
3. Dissolution and debentures next, 8 each, with the syllabus NOTE assumptions beside you.
4. Your 20-mark section last but not least: cash flow and ratios are formula work that improves fastest with timed practice.
5. Write two full 80-mark papers in three hours before the pre-boards. Compare your working with the solved papers in our ISC Class 12 Accounts past papers post, line by line.

Gradehunt's ISC Class 12 test series has Accounts papers on the CISCE pattern, written by hand and checked by subject experts within 48 hours with step-wise marks and a note on each lost step. The first paper is checked free, and mentorship plans are available.

The full unit list, with the topics inside each, is in our ISC Class 12 Accounts syllabus post.

The CA Final IBS paper, Paper 6 Integrated Business Solutions, is a four-hour, open-book exam with five case studies of 25 marks each, of which you attempt any four. Each case study is 40% MCQs and 60% descriptive questions, so 10 marks of MCQs and 15 marks of written answers per case. ICAI's Board of Studies confirmed this pattern in a notice dated 14 January 2024, and it applies to the November 2026 paper and, unless ICAI changes it, to May 2027 as well.

IBS is won in the first fifteen minutes, when you choose which four cases to write. The fifth case is the one that would have cost you an hour.

TL;DR

• Five case studies of 25 marks, attempt any four, four hours, open book.
• Each case: 10 marks of MCQs and 15 marks of descriptive questions.
• The November 2026 IBS paper is on Friday 13 November, the last day of Group II; the next one is in the May 2027 attempt.
• The cases pull from FR, AFM, Audit, Direct Tax, Indirect Tax and Strategic Management, so the paper rewards breadth over depth in one subject.
• Budget about 55 minutes per case after a reading pass. Open book helps only if your material is indexed.

What is the CA Final IBS paper?

IBS is the sixth paper of the CA Final under the new scheme and sits in Group II with Direct Tax Laws and Indirect Tax Laws. Its full title describes it as a multi-disciplinary case study with Strategic Management. A single case can ask you to value a business, spot an audit issue, compute GST on a transaction and recommend a strategy, all built on the same set of facts.

For November 2026, Group II papers are on 9, 11 and 13 November, and IBS is the paper on 13 November. Press reports of the schedule give the time as 2 PM to 6 PM; your admit card is the final word.

IBS is the only CA Final paper that is open book and four hours long, and it tests five other Final papers together with Strategic Management.

How is the IBS paper marked?

The 10 marks of MCQs in each case

The MCQs are built on the case facts, so you cannot answer them before reading the case. Each one usually needs a short calculation or one judgement call. There is no negative marking in CA exams, so leave no MCQ blank.

The 15 marks of descriptive questions

This is where students drop marks. In the case-study answers I check, the common fault is a textbook answer that never mentions the company in the case. If the question asks whether a subsidiary should be sold, the examiner wants the numbers from Annexure 3, the relevant Ind AS or tax provision in one or two lines, and a clear recommendation. A page on the theory of divestment earns very little.

Write the descriptive part the way ICAI's own solutions do: a short heading, the working, the provision, then the conclusion in a sentence. Our post on the ICAI marking scheme explains how step marks are split.

Per case, 10 marks are case-based MCQs and 15 marks reward answers that use the case's own facts and figures.

How should you pick four of the five case studies?

Spend the first 15 minutes reading only the questions at the end of each case, then the first page of the facts. You are looking for the case where you recognise the most of what is asked, and the case that leans on the subject you are weakest in.

1. Read the requirement list of all five cases before any annexure.
2. Mark each case with the subjects it tests: FR, AFM, Audit, DT, IDT or strategy.
3. Drop the case with the most questions from your weakest subject, even if it looks short.
4. Start with the case you are most sure of, so the first hour builds marks and confidence.

Do not change your choice halfway through. Switching after 30 minutes on a case loses those 30 minutes and leaves you racing on the last one.

Choose by subject mix in a fixed 15-minute pass, drop the case that hits your weakest paper, and stick to the choice.

How do you split the four hours?

Four hours is 240 minutes. After the 15-minute selection pass, you have 225 minutes for four cases, which is about 55 minutes each with a few minutes spare.

• First 15 minutes: reading pass and selection.
• Each case, about 55 minutes: 10 minutes reading the annexures, 15 minutes on the MCQs, 30 minutes on the descriptive part.
• Last 5 to 10 minutes: fill any MCQ you left and check that every answer is numbered as in the paper.

The trap is the first case. Students spend 80 minutes on it because they know it well, and the fourth case gets 25. Write the clock time for each case at the top of your rough sheet before you begin.

Plan on roughly 55 minutes a case after a 15-minute selection pass, and write the target times down before you start.

What does open book mean for IBS?

Open book means you can take your material into the hall, but there is no time to read it. With 55 minutes for a case, you can afford two or three look-ups. A book is useful only if you can find a provision or a format in under a minute.

• Carry one or two thin, indexed sets of notes rather than full study modules.
• Tab the pages you will need fast: valuation formats, key Ind AS summaries, GST and income tax rate tables, audit report formats.
• Keep a one-page index of where each topic sits in your notes.

Check the instructions on your admit card for what you may carry. The rules for open-book papers are printed there.

Treat the book as a lookup tool for two or three facts per case, never as a source of answers.

How to prepare IBS in the last three weeks

1. Solve the IBS case studies in ICAI's RTP and both MTP series on the BoS Knowledge Portal, in four-hour sittings.
2. Check your answers against the ICAI solutions, then list which subject cost you marks in each case.
3. Revise those subjects at summary level only. IBS asks for application, not every detail.
4. Build your indexed open-book set from your own notes and use it in every mock so the tabs are familiar.
5. Read the previous attempt's IBS paper and ICAI's suggested answers, listed in our CA Final suggested answers post.

Gradehunt's CA Final test series includes IBS case-study papers on the ICAI pattern, 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.

Use ICAI's study papers in this order: suggested answers of past attempts while you study each chapter, the RTP when you start revision, and the two MTP series as timed mock exams in the final weeks. All three come from ICAI's Board of Studies and sit on the BoS Knowledge Portal, free. Most students download all of them and use none properly. Here is how to use ICAI RTP and MTP papers so that each one changes your marks.

An MTP you solve with the answer key open is a reading exercise. An MTP you write in three hours and then mark yourself is an exam.

TL;DR

• Suggested answers: ICAI's solutions to the last attempts' real papers. Use them chapter by chapter.
• RTP: revision questions with solutions, plus the amendments that apply to the attempt. Use it at the start of revision.
• MTP: two mock papers per subject per attempt, with answer keys. Write them under exam conditions.
• For January 2027 CA Inter, MTP Series I is reported to start on 19 November and Series II on 3 December 2026.

What is the difference between RTP, MTP and suggested answers?

• Revision Test Paper (RTP): a set of questions with ICAI's solutions, released for each attempt. For tax and law papers it also states which amendments and notifications apply to that attempt.
• Mock Test Paper (MTP): a full paper in the exam format, set in two series for each attempt, with an answer key.
• Suggested answers: ICAI's own answers to the actual question paper of a past attempt, published after the exam.

Suggested answers show what the examiner accepted. RTPs show what ICAI wants you to revise. MTPs show whether you can do it in three hours.

RTPs are revision sets, MTPs are mock exams, and suggested answers are the official solutions to past papers.

When does ICAI release RTPs and MTPs?

The RTP comes out a few weeks before the exam. The MTP series follow ICAI's announcement for each attempt. For the November 2026 CA Final, reports of ICAI's 10 August 2026 announcement put MTP Series I from 9 September and Series II from 23 September, with answer keys uploaded within 48 hours of each paper.

For the January 2027 CA Inter, Series I is reported to start on 19 November 2026 and Series II on 3 December 2026, from 10 AM to 1 PM, in physical and virtual mode. Check the BoS announcement before you plan around these dates.

Both MTP series land in the last eight weeks before the exam, so plan them into your timetable early.

In what order should you use ICAI's papers?

1. While studying a chapter, solve the suggested-answer questions on it from the last three attempts. Note how ICAI words its answers.
2. When the syllabus is done, read the RTP's amendments section first, then solve the RTP questions with a 40-minute limit per 10 marks of questions.
3. Write MTP Series I in full, three hours, by hand, in one sitting. Mark it the next day against the answer key.
4. Spend the gap before Series II fixing only the topics where Series I lost you marks.
5. Write Series II the same way. Compare the two scores subject by subject.

Our CA Final suggested answers post and CA Inter suggested answers post list the past papers to start with.

Past papers while learning, the RTP for revision, then two timed MTPs with a fix-up gap between them.

How do you check your own MTP against the answer key?

Numerical questions

Do not stop at the final figure. Compare each working note with the key and give yourself step marks only where your step matches. A wrong closing stock in a 16-mark FR question can still earn 10 marks if the format and the other adjustments are right. Count that honestly.

Theory questions

Mark the key's answer into points, usually one point per mark. Tick each point your answer actually states, not one it hints at. In the theory answers I check, students lose most marks on missing provisions and missing conclusions, not on wrong law. Our post on the ICAI marking scheme shows how examiners split the marks.

Self-mark step by step and point by point; a total that is too kind teaches you nothing.

If you want an outside view of your attempt, you can get your MTP answers checked by Gradehunt in 48 hours, with step-wise marks and comments.

What should you do with the RTP amendments?

Copy the amendments that apply to your attempt into the margin of your notes, next to the chapter. In Direct Tax, Indirect Tax and Law, an answer based on a provision that has been changed loses the mark however neat it is. Students often solve the RTP questions and skip the first pages, which is where these updates sit.

Read the RTP's amendment pages first and mark them into your notes.

Which mistakes waste these papers?

• Reading solutions instead of writing answers. You learn the answer, not the speed.
• Writing MTPs in parts over three days. The paper only tells you something if you write it in three hours.
• Skipping the second MTP series because the first went badly. Series II is where you check the fixes.
• Treating RTP questions as a guess at the exam. They are revision material, not a prediction.

Gradehunt's CA Final test series gives you full papers on the ICAI pattern, written by hand and checked by ex-examiners within 48 hours, with step-wise marks so you can see what a strict examiner would award. The first paper is checked free, and mentorship plans are available.

CS Professional elective subjects are two papers you choose yourself under ICSI's 2022 syllabus: Paper 4, Elective 1, in Group 1, from six options, and Paper 7, Elective 2, in Group 2, from five options. Both elective papers are open book. Choose each one on how much of it you already know, how heavy its update load is, how easy its material is to search in the hall, and the work you want after you qualify. The list below is from ICSI's Professional Programme page as it stood on 21 October 2026.

An elective is a 100-mark paper you pick. Pick the one where you start with marks already in hand, not the one a senior called scoring.

TL;DR

• Elective 1 (Paper 4): CSR and Social Governance, Internal and Forensic Audit, IPR, AI and Data Analytics and Cyber Security, Advanced Direct Tax, IFSCA.
• Elective 2 (Paper 7): Arbitration, Mediation and Conciliation; GST and Corporate Tax Planning; Labour Laws; Banking and Insurance; Insolvency and Bankruptcy.
• December 2026: Elective 2 on 27 December and Elective 1 on 28 December, as per the time table reported in the press.
• Tax electives carry the heaviest update load; CSR and Arbitration have the lightest.

Which electives does ICSI offer in CS Professional?

Elective 1, Paper 4 (Group 1)

• 4.1 CSR and Social Governance
• 4.2 Internal and Forensic Audit
• 4.3 Intellectual Property Rights, Law and Practice
• 4.4 Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics and Cyber Security, Laws and Practice
• 4.5 Advanced Direct Tax Laws and Practice
• 4.6 IFSCA, Regulations, Listing and Compliances

Elective 2, Paper 7 (Group 2)

• 7.1 Arbitration, Mediation and Conciliation
• 7.2 Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Corporate Tax Planning
• 7.3 Labour Laws and Practice
• 7.4 Banking and Insurance, Laws and Practice
• 7.5 Insolvency and Bankruptcy, Law and Practice

ICSI has posted separate study material for 4.5 and 7.2 marked "for June 2027 exam onwards". If you sit in December 2026, use the current edition; from June 2027, switch to the new one.

Six choices for Elective 1 and five for Elective 2, and the two tax papers have a new edition from June 2027.

When are the elective papers in December 2026?

The December 2026 Professional papers run from 21 to 28 December, from 2 PM to 5:15 PM including 15 minutes of reading time, as per the ICSI time table reported in the press. Elective 2 is on 27 December and Elective 1 on 28 December, the last two days. The full paper-wise pattern is in our ICSI CS exam pattern guide.

The two electives close the December 2026 session on 27 and 28 December.

What should decide your elective choice?

I would weigh four things. The scores below are my own view of the common choices, out of 5, where 5 is most in your favour.

• Overlap with what you know: a commerce graduate with tax practice starts ahead in 4.5 and 7.2; a law graduate starts ahead in 7.1 and 7.5.
• Update load: tax papers change with every Finance Act and GST notification; arbitration and CSR change slowly.
• Bare-act size in the hall: open book helps only if the material is thin enough to search.
• Career fit: the work you want to do after qualifying.

How the common choices score

• 7.1 Arbitration, Mediation and Conciliation: overlap 3, update load 4, book size 4, career fit 3 for litigation and dispute roles.
• 7.2 GST and Corporate Tax Planning: overlap 4 for commerce students, update load 2, book size 2, career fit 4 for compliance and tax roles.
• 7.5 Insolvency and Bankruptcy: overlap 3 if Paper 6 is strong, update load 3, book size 3, career fit 4 for restructuring work.
• 4.1 CSR and Social Governance: overlap 3, update load 4, book size 4, career fit 3.
• 4.5 Advanced Direct Tax: overlap 4 for students with CA Inter tax, update load 2, book size 2, career fit 4.

No elective is easy. The one you can write 100 marks on with the least new material is the right one for you.

Which electives suit which careers?

If you want a listed-company secretarial role, IFSCA (4.6) and Banking and Insurance (7.4) add regulatory depth. For a practising CS doing tax and compliance, 4.5 and 7.2 fit. For insolvency work, 7.5 is closest to what an insolvency professional does, though that route also needs IBBI's own examination. For an HR or factory-heavy employer, Labour Laws (7.3) is the obvious pick.

Match the elective to the role you will apply for, then check it against the overlap score above.

How do you prepare an open-book elective?

1. Get the ICSI study material for your exam session and read it once in full. Open book does not save a student who has never seen the chapter.
2. Make a one-page index per chapter: key sections, case names, forms and time limits.
3. Tab the bare act or the module at those pages, and use the same copy in every mock.
4. Practise case-based answers: the provision, its application to the facts, a one-line conclusion.
5. Solve ICSI's past papers and suggested answers, listed in our ICSI suggested answers post.

In elective answers I check, the weak ones copy a paragraph of the act and stop. The examiner wants the act applied to the company in the question.

Gradehunt's CS Professional test series has papers on the ICSI pattern, electives included, checked by ex-examiners within 48 hours with step-wise marks and comments on how each answer could score more. The first paper is checked free, and mentorship plans are available.

ISC Class 12 Economics weightage for 2027 is set in CISCE's own syllabus: an 80-mark, three-hour theory paper split evenly between microeconomics (40) and macroeconomics (40), plus 20 marks of project work. National income, at 12 marks, is the biggest single macro unit, and demand with elasticity is the biggest micro block at 16. The marks below come from the CISCE Economics syllabus for 2027 and the paper structure from the ISC specimen paper 2027.

Demand, elasticity and supply together are 16 marks, and national income is 12. Those two blocks are more than a third of the theory paper.

TL;DR

• Paper I theory: 80 marks, 3 hours plus 15 minutes reading. Paper II project: 20 marks.
• Micro 40: demand, elasticity and supply 16; market mechanism, production, and cost and revenue 12; market forms and equilibrium of a firm 12.
• Macro 40: income and employment 8, money and banking 8, balance of payments 6, public finance 6, national income 12.
• Specimen 2027: Section A 16 one-mark questions, Section B eight 4-mark questions, Section C four 8-mark questions.
• Numericals come from national income, the multiplier and elasticity by the percentage method.

How are the 100 marks in ISC Economics split?

Two papers. Paper I is the theory exam, 80 marks in three hours, with 15 minutes of reading time. Paper II is project work for 20 marks, assessed by your teacher and a visiting examiner. CISCE's syllabus says examples should refer to the Indian economy wherever relevant, and the specimen paper follows that: RBI rate decisions, the Union Budget and GST changes all appear as case lines.

It is 80 marks of theory plus 20 of project, with the theory split equally between micro and macro.

What is the unit-wise weightage of ISC Class 12 Economics?

Microeconomic theory, 40 marks

• Demand, elasticity of demand and supply: 16 marks.
• Market mechanism, concepts of production, and cost and revenue: 12 marks.
• Main market forms and equilibrium of a firm: 12 marks.

Macroeconomics, 40 marks

• Theory of income and employment: 8 marks.
• Money and banking: 8 marks.
• Balance of payments and exchange rate: 6 marks.
• Public finance: 6 marks.
• National income: 12 marks.

The specimen paper's note says the weightage in the syllabus "will be strictly adhered to". So these are firm targets, not rough guides.

Demand to supply carries 16, national income 12, and the two smallest units are balance of payments and public finance at 6 each.

What does the ISC Economics specimen paper 2027 look like?

• Section A, 16 marks: sixteen one-mark subparts, a mix of MCQs, assertion-reason, data reading and very short answers.
• Section B, 32 marks: eight short-answer questions of 4 marks, with internal choice in three.
• Section C, 32 marks: four long-answer questions of 8 marks, with internal choice in two.

There are thirteen questions in all and every one is compulsory. Each subpart carries a tag such as Recall, Understand, Apply, Analyse, Evaluate or Create, and many are built on a news line or a real case. In the specimen, a question on app-based cabs asks you to name the market form and then, as the owner, suggest a fix for a price ceiling with a diagram.

The format is 16 one-mark, eight 4-mark and four 8-mark questions, with case-based and application questions throughout.

Which topics carry numericals in ISC Economics?

Three areas. National income by the expenditure, income and value-added methods. The investment multiplier with MPC and MPS. Elasticity of demand, where the syllabus allows numericals on the percentage method only.

A quick example of the percentage method: price falls from ₹20 to ₹16, a 20% fall, and quantity demanded rises from 100 to 130 units, a 30% rise. Elasticity is 30 divided by 20, so 1.5, and demand is elastic. In checked copies, the mistake I see most is the formula written upside down, price change over quantity change, which gives 0.67 and the wrong conclusion.

For the multiplier: if MPC is 0.8, k is 1 divided by 0.2, so 5, and an extra ₹200 crore of investment raises income by ₹1,000 crore. Write the formula, the substitution and the answer with units on separate lines. Each line can carry a step mark.

Numericals sit in national income, the multiplier and the percentage method of elasticity; show every step.

How is the ISC Economics project marked?

You complete two projects from any topic in the theory syllabus, each worth 10 marks, marked as format 1, content 4, findings 2 and a viva on the project 3. The teacher and the visiting examiner each mark the first 7 and the two are averaged; only the visiting examiner holds the viva. Suggested topics include a socio-economic survey of at least 30 households and a ten-year comparison of the Union Budget's spending on agriculture, defence, industry and education.

Two projects of 10 marks each, and 3 of the 10 come from a viva you cannot fake.

How to plan ISC Economics revision by weightage

1. Start with demand, elasticity and supply. Draw every diagram the syllabus names until you can do it without looking.
2. Do national income next: one numerical by each method every second day, and the list of precautions for each method.
3. Revise market forms and the equilibrium of a firm with the shutdown and break-even diagrams.
4. Cover money and banking and the multiplier together, since both turn on credit and spending.
5. Write two full 80-mark papers in three hours before the pre-boards, then compare with the solved papers in our ISC Class 12 Economics past papers post.

The full topic list for each unit is in our ISC Class 12 Economics syllabus post.

Gradehunt's ISC Class 12 test series has Economics papers on the CISCE pattern, written by hand and checked by subject experts within 48 hours, with step-wise marks and comments on diagrams and numericals. The first paper is checked free, and mentorship plans are available.

ICAI declared the CA Intermediate September 2026 result on 22 October 2026. You can check it on caresults.icai.org with your registration number and roll number. This page explains how to check the result, what the pass rules are, and what to do next whether you clear one group, both groups or neither.

Whatever the result says, decide your next attempt this week. The January 2027 form is open until 16 November, and the students who start writing papers early are the ones who clear it.

TL;DR

• Result declared on 22 October 2026, on caresults.icai.org. Pass rate: Group I 23.14%, Group II 18.92%, both groups 13.21%.
• You need your registration number and roll number. Keep your admit card handy.
• To pass a group you need at least 40% in each paper and 50% in total for the group.
• Missed it? The next CA Inter exams are in January 2027: Group I on 2, 4 and 6 January, Group II on 8, 10 and 12 January.
• The January 2027 exam form window opened on 3 November 2026 and closes on 16 November 2026 without late fee.

How do you check the CA Inter September 2026 result?

1. Open caresults.icai.org.
2. Choose the CA Intermediate result link for September 2026.
3. Enter your registration number and your roll number from the admit card.
4. Submit, then download or screenshot your marks statement.

On result day the site is often slow for the first hour. If it does not load, wait a few minutes and try again rather than refreshing again and again. ICAI also usually sends results by email and SMS to students who registered for that service.

What marks do you need to pass CA Inter?

You pass a group when you score at least 40% in every paper of that group and at least 50% in the aggregate of the group. Group I has Advanced Accounting, Corporate and Other Laws, and Taxation. Group II has Cost and Management Accounting, Auditing and Ethics, and Financial Management and Strategic Management.

A common surprise is a student who has 50% overall but 38 in one paper. That group is not cleared, because the 40% rule applies to each paper separately. Check every paper's marks, not just the total.

Under the current scheme, a score of 60% or more in a paper can earn an exemption in that paper for later attempts if you do not clear the group. ICAI shows any exemption on the marks statement, so read it carefully.

Cleared both groups: what next?

Congratulations. Your next steps are the ICAI training courses and practical training (articleship) that lead to CA Final. Check ICAI's current rules on the order and timing before you register, since they decide when you become eligible for the Final exam.

Use the articleship years well. Students who keep writing a paper a month during articleship find the Final syllabus far less heavy later. When you are ready, the CA Final test series lets you start with chapter tests and move to full papers.

Cleared one group: what next?

You now have one group left, and the January 2027 attempt is about ten weeks away. That is enough time for one group if you start this week.

• Week 1: read your marks statement and list the papers where you were closest to 40% or 50%.
• Weeks 2 to 6: chapter tests in the remaining group, written by hand and checked.
• Weeks 7 to 10: at least two full three-hour papers per subject before 8 January, if your remaining group is Group II.

Our CA Inter study plan and chapter-wise weightage posts help you decide what to cover first.

Did not clear either group: what next?

A result like this hurts, but it is common at Inter and it is not the end of the road. Most students who clear on a later attempt change one thing: they stop only reading and start writing full answers under the clock, then get those answers checked.

If your marks surprised you, the certified copy of your answer book shows what the examiner saw. Gradehunt's CA certified copy evaluation checks that copy against ICAI's suggested answers in 48 hours, so you know what to change for the next attempt.

Before you plan, look at your marks per paper. If most papers are between 35 and 45, your problem is usually presentation and time, not concepts. Missing working notes, laws without section numbers and unfinished papers cost exactly these marks. If several papers are below 30, you need to rebuild those subjects first.

For January 2027 you can write one group or both. If your marks were close in both groups, both is possible. If not, one group done well is better than two done badly.

How can a test series help before January 2027?

A test series gives you what self-study cannot: an examiner marking your own handwriting, step by step, and telling you where the marks went. GradeHunt's CA Inter test series follows the ICAI pattern for January 2027, and every paper comes back checked by an ex-examiner within 48 hours, with remarks on each answer.

If you are unsure, start with one paper. Your first CA paper is free, so you can see the checking before you pay.

September 2026 pass percentages, as reported from ICAI result data: Group I 23.14% (23,210 of 100,301 candidates), Group II 18.92% (12,938 of 68,400), and both groups 13.21% (5,066 of 38,339). All three are higher than in May 2026, when they were 10.25%, 16.11% and 8.47%. AIR 1 was shared by Neel Rajesh Shah and Chandak Sakshi, both with 502 marks out of 600.

The CA exam form for January 2027 opened on 3 November 2026 at 10 am and closes on 16 November 2026 at 11:59 pm without a late fee. Foundation and Intermediate students apply on eservices.icai.org, ICAI's Self Service Portal. After that you can still apply until 19 November with a late fee of Rs 600, and a correction window runs from 20 to 22 November.

Most form problems have nothing to do with the form. They come from an old course code, a rejected photo or a missing Class 12 document on your SSP profile, and all three can be fixed today.

TL;DR

• Form window: 3 November (10 am) to 16 November 2026 (11:59 pm), no late fee.
• Late fee window: 17 to 19 November 2026, Rs 600 extra in India.
• Correction window: 20 to 22 November 2026.
• Fees in India: Foundation Rs 1,500, Inter one group Rs 1,500, Inter both groups Rs 2,700.
• Exams: Inter from 2 January and Foundation from 3 January 2027.

When does the CA January 2027 exam form open and close?

ICAI's Important Dates notice for January 2027 gives one window for both levels. I have copied the times as ICAI states them, in IST.

• Form opened: Tuesday 3 November 2026, 10:00 am.
• Last date without late fee: Monday 16 November 2026, 11:59 pm.
• Last date with late fee: Thursday 19 November 2026, 11:59 pm.
• Correction window: 20 November, 10:00 am, to 22 November 2026, 11:59 pm.

Do not plan to apply on 16 November. Portals tend to slow down near a deadline, and a payment that fails at 11:50 pm leaves you in the late-fee window.

Apply between 3 and 16 November to pay the normal fee; the absolute last day is 19 November.

How much is the CA exam fee for January 2027?

The fee depends on your level and your exam centre. These are the figures in ICAI's fee chart for January 2027:

• Foundation, centre in India: Rs 1,500. With late fee, Rs 2,100.
• Intermediate, one group, centre in India: Rs 1,500. With late fee, Rs 2,100.
• Intermediate, both groups, centre in India: Rs 2,700. With late fee, Rs 3,300.
• Kathmandu centre: Rs 2,200 for Foundation or one Inter group, Rs 3,400 for both groups, plus Rs 600 late fee.
• Bahrain or Dubai centre: US $325 for Foundation or one Inter group, US $500 for both groups, plus US $10 late fee.

There is no separate form fee. You pay the whole amount online at the end of the form.

An Inter student writing both groups from an Indian centre pays Rs 2,700 on time, or Rs 3,300 after 16 November.

Who can apply for the January 2027 CA exams?

Foundation

You must have registered for the Foundation course on or before 1 September 2026. You also need either your Class 12 admit card (if you have appeared) or your Class 12 marksheet (if you have passed) uploaded on SSP. Students who registered on the old CPT route must be converted to Foundation before they fill the form.

Intermediate

You need eight months of study from registration to 1 January 2027. In practice that means you registered for Intermediate on or before 1 May 2026. You must also be registered for the group or groups you plan to write. A student registered only for Group I cannot pick both groups in the exam form.

Foundation needs registration by 1 September 2026; Intermediate needs registration by 1 May 2026.

What should you check on SSP before you apply?

ICAI's notice on requirements lists the checks. I would do them before you start the form.

1. Log in to SSP and confirm your username and password work. Use the forgot-password option now if they don't.
2. Check your course code. Foundation must show NEWFND23 or CONFND23, and Intermediate must show NEWINT23 or CONINT23. If yours is different, apply for conversion under Student Functions, then Course Registration. Conversion is free.
3. Check your photograph: a clear face on a white background, no selfie, saved as jpg or jpeg between 20 and 50 KB.
4. Check your signature: black pen on plain white paper, cropped, between 10 and 20 KB.
5. Foundation students: upload the Class 12 admit card or marksheet if it is not already there.

A wrong course code stops the January form from opening, and conversion can take a few days to show on the dashboard.

How do you fill the CA exam form step by step?

1. Log in at eservices.icai.org on a laptop or desktop. ICAI asks students not to fill exam forms on a phone.
2. Open the January 2027 exam form for your level from the student dashboard.
3. Choose your exam city and centre from ICAI's city list, and check the city code shown.
4. Inter students: choose the group, the medium (English or Hindi) and confirm any exemption shown.
5. Review every field once more, then pay online.
6. Save the PDF that the portal gives you after payment. It is your proof of application.

Open only one form session at a time. Two tabs or two browsers on the same computer can corrupt the application.

Fill the form on a computer, pay online, and keep the PDF; that PDF is the only proof you have until the admit card comes.

What if you miss the date or make a mistake?

If you miss 16 November, apply by 19 November with the Rs 600 late fee. After 19 November there is no window, and you will have to wait for the next attempt.

If you have already paid and then notice a wrong centre, medium or group, use the correction window from 20 to 22 November. For anything the form will not let you change, write to [email protected] or [email protected], as ICAI's notice says.

You can also check the paper dates before you apply: our posts on the CA Foundation January 2027 dates and the CA Inter January 2027 dates list them paper by paper.

How should you use the weeks after the form is filled?

Once the form is in, you have about seven weeks to the first paper. That is the time to write full papers, not just read. Gradehunt's CA test series covers Foundation and Inter for January 2027. You write on paper, upload it, and an ex-examiner returns it within 48 hours with step-wise marks and comments, so you know which answers lose marks while there is still time to fix them.

The CA Final November 2026 admit card is out on eservices.icai.org. Log in to the Self Service Portal (SSP) with your username and password and download it; ICAI does not post a printed copy to anyone. ICAI's guidance note says admit cards go up generally 14 days before the first paper, which for a 2 November start meant around 19 October.

Group I, on 2, 4 and 6 November, is over. Group II is on Monday 9, Wednesday 11 and Friday 13 November. If you are writing Group II and have not printed the card yet, print it today and check every detail. There is no working day left before Paper 4 on Monday, so raise any error in SSP at once.

The card has been on SSP since October. Group II students: print two copies now, not on Sunday night.

TL;DR

• Where: eservices.icai.org, with your SSP username and password. No physical admit card is sent.
• Group II: Paper 4 on 9 November, Paper 5 on 11 November, Paper 6 (IBS) on 13 November 2026.
• Reading time runs from 1:45 pm to 2 pm IST. Papers 4 and 5 run from 2 pm to 5 pm; IBS runs from 2 pm to 6 pm.
• Calculator: battery-operated, up to 6 functions, 12 digits and two memories. Scientific calculators are not allowed.
• Having a mobile phone in the hall, even switched off, counts as unfair means and can lead to a 5-year debarment.

Is the CA Final November 2026 admit card out?

Yes. ICAI's guidance note for Final November 2026 says admit cards, with the candidate's photograph and signature and the Instructions to Examinees, are hosted on eservices.icai.org generally 14 days before the exam begins. Counting back from 2 November gives 19 October, and Group I has now been written on those cards. The place to check is your own SSP dashboard.

The guidance note also says an admit card is not issued until the candidate meets the eligibility criteria. Advanced ICITSS and any Self-Paced Online Module sets you needed had to be completed by 10 October 2026, and anyone who filled the form on a provisional basis has to update their eligibility status on SSP. If your card is missing, check these first, then write to [email protected] or call 0120-3054851.

The card is live on SSP. ICAI does not issue it until eligibility is met, so a missing card means checking your eligibility status on SSP.

How do you download the CA Final admit card?

1. Go to eservices.icai.org on a laptop or desktop.
2. Log in with your SSP username and password. Use the forgot-password link if needed.
3. Open the Final November 2026 exam section on your dashboard and find the admit card.
4. Download the PDF and check every detail before you print.
5. Print two copies on A4 paper and save the PDF on your phone and in your email.

Download from SSP, check, then print two copies. A phone copy alone will not get you into the hall.

What should you check on the admit card?

ICAI's guidance note asks you to verify your name, registration number, centre, medium and group as soon as you print the card. Also check your photograph, signature and roll number:

• Your name, photograph and signature.
• Your registration number and roll number. You write the roll number on every answer book, in the space given for it.
• The exam centre address. Check the route before 9 November if Group II is your first visit to the centre.
• The group or groups you applied for, and the medium (English or Hindi).

ICAI's helpdesk list sends name, photo and signature problems to a ticket in SSP, your regional office or [email protected], and eligibility problems to [email protected] or 0120-3054851. Exemption queries go to [email protected]. The helpdesk works on working days, 10 am to 5 pm, so quote your registration number, attach a screenshot and raise it the moment you spot it.

Check name, photo, registration and roll number, centre, group and medium. Name, photo or signature errors go to an SSP ticket or [email protected]; eligibility problems go to [email protected].

CA Final November 2026 timetable and reading time

The dates come from ICAI's exam notice No. 13-CA (EXAM)/SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER/2026 of 2 May 2026, and the paper-wise timings from the Final guidance note:

• Monday 2 November: Paper 1, Financial Reporting, 2 pm to 5 pm.
• Wednesday 4 November: Paper 2, Advanced Financial Management, 2 pm to 5 pm.
• Friday 6 November: Paper 3, Advanced Auditing, Assurance and Professional Ethics, 2 pm to 5 pm.
• Monday 9 November: Paper 4, Direct Tax Laws and International Taxation, 2 pm to 5 pm.
• Wednesday 11 November: Paper 5, Indirect Tax Laws, 2 pm to 5 pm.
• Friday 13 November: Paper 6, Integrated Business Solutions, 2 pm to 6 pm, open book.

Every Final paper gets 15 minutes of reading time, from 1:45 pm to 2 pm IST, before writing starts. So be seated before 1:45 pm, not just before 2 pm. ICAI also states that the schedule will not change even if a day is declared a public holiday.

Counted from these dates: the whole exam spans 12 days, and Group II gives you two free days (the weekend of 7 and 8 November) before Paper 4, then one free day before Paper 5 and one before IBS. Group II is 10 hours of writing against 9 for Group I, because IBS runs four hours; with the three 15-minute reading slots it is 10 hours 45 minutes.

Group II is 9, 11 and 13 November. Reading time starts at 1:45 pm IST, so be in your seat by then to use all 15 minutes.

Timings at the overseas centres

ICAI holds the Final exam in Dubai, Bahrain and Kathmandu at the same moment as in India. The guidance note gives the local times; the reading-time start is 15 minutes before each:

• Dubai (UAE local time): reading from 12:15 pm, Papers 1 to 5 from 12:30 pm to 3:30 pm, IBS from 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm.
• Bahrain (local time): reading from 11:15 am, Papers 1 to 5 from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm, IBS from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm.
• Kathmandu (Nepal local time): reading from 2 pm, Papers 1 to 5 from 2:15 pm to 5:15 pm, IBS from 2:15 pm to 6:15 pm.

Source: ICAI Final November 2026 guidance note and notice 13-CA (EXAM)/SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER/2026; reading-time start and day counts are Gradehunt's arithmetic.

What does the Group II paper look like on the day?

The guidance note sets out the pattern. Papers 4 and 5 each carry 30 marks of compulsory MCQs, worth 1 or 2 marks each with four options, and 70 marks of descriptive questions. There is no negative marking and no reasoning is needed for an MCQ answer.

IBS has five case studies of 25 marks each, and you attempt any four. Each case study has 10 marks of MCQs and 15 marks of descriptive work, so the 100 marks you attempt split 40 MCQ and 60 descriptive. MCQ answers go in the OMR portion on the cover page of the answer sheet, which is machine-checked. Our guide on the IBS paper covers how to pick four of the five case studies.

Papers 4 and 5: 30 marks MCQ, 70 descriptive, no negative marking. IBS: attempt 4 of 5 cases, 40 MCQ and 60 descriptive.

What can you carry, and what gets you in trouble?

Carry these

• The printed admit card.
• A photo ID. Read the Instructions to Examinees hosted with your admit card for what is accepted.
• Pens, a pencil, a scale and a calculator within ICAI's limits: battery-operated, up to 6 functions, 12 digits and two memories. A scientific calculator, or one with more features, counts as unfair means.
• For IBS only: your own material in hard copy. ICAI allows study material, practice manuals, ICAI's revision test papers, textbooks, bare Acts and your own notes.

Leave these outside

ICAI's guidance note is blunt here. Mobile phones and other electronic gadgets, other than a permitted calculator, are not allowed in the hall. Merely having a phone with you, even switched off or on silent, is treated as unfair means, and a candidate may be debarred for five years. In IBS, candidates cannot exchange material with each other inside the hall.

Inside the answer book

Write your roll number only in the space given for it. Writing it anywhere else, or writing a symbol such as "OM", "Sri" or "786" in the answer book, is also treated as unfair means. Answers must be in your own handwriting; pasting text from reference material into the answer book is unfair means too, which matters in the open-book IBS paper.

Admit card, photo ID, pens and a 6-function calculator go in; the phone stays out, and the answer book carries nothing but answers and the roll number in its box.

What should you do the day before each Group II paper?

Pack the bag the night before: admit card, ID, pens, calculator, and for IBS your tabbed material. Plan to be in your seat before 1:45 pm. Spend the evening on your own short notes, not on new questions. Our exam-week tips for CA Final November 2026 cover the revision side of these last days.

After 13 November: dates the guidance note gives

• Question paper complaints: a representation on an out-of-syllabus or ambiguous question goes to [email protected] within a week of the last exam date, so by 20 November, in ICAI's prescribed format.
• Result: the guidance note says it is likely in December 2026 or January 2027, on icai.nic.in.
• Verification of answer books costs Rs 50 per paper, applied for on SSP within a month of the result. ICAI has no revaluation.
• Certified copies of evaluated answer books cost Rs 100 per paper, applied for on SSP within 30 days of the result.

There is no CA Final paper in January 2027. ICAI's January 2027 exam notice covers only Foundation and Intermediate, so a student who needs another Final attempt looks at May 2027.

If a group carries over to May 2027, Gradehunt's CA Final test series has full-syllabus mock tests from Rs 199 per subject. You write each paper by hand and upload it, and it is checked by ex-examiners within 48 hours of upload.

The CS admit card for the December 2026 Executive and Professional exams is not out yet. ICSI uploads e-admit cards on icsi.edu a little over a week before the exams, and the December 2026 papers run from 21 to 28 December, so expect the card around the second week of December. For December 2025, ICSI issued the cards on 12 December for exams that began on 22 December.

The admit card date does not change what you should do now. Your registration number, your photo and your exam centre on the ICSI portal are the things to check this month.

TL;DR

• Exams: 21 to 28 December 2026, 2 pm to 5:15 pm, with 2 pm to 2:15 pm as reading time.
• Admit card: not released as of 22 October; expected around 10 days before the first paper (our estimate from past sessions).
• Download: icsi.edu, using your 17-digit registration number.
• ICSI does not send printed admit cards. Download and print it yourself.
• Read the Instructions to Examinees attached to the e-admit card.

When will the CS December 2026 admit card come out?

ICSI has not announced a date. What we have is the pattern from past sessions:

• December 2025 session: cards issued on 12 December, exams from 22 December.
• December 2022 session: cards issued on 11 December.

On that pattern, the December 2026 card should come out around 10 to 12 December. Treat this as an estimate, not an ICSI date. I will update this page when ICSI posts its notice on the admit card page.

Expect the e-admit card in the second week of December 2026, about ten days before the 21 December start.

How do you download the ICSI e-admit card?

1. Go to the admit card page on icsi.edu once ICSI announces the release.
2. Open the Executive and Professional download link for December 2026.
3. Enter your 17-digit registration number.
4. Download the PDF, check it, and print it along with the Instructions to Examinees.

Keep your registration number saved in your phone now, so you are not digging through old emails on release day.

The card comes from icsi.edu against your 17-digit registration number; print it with the instructions page.

What should you check on the CS e-admit card?

ICSI's notice for the June 2026 cards asked students to verify these details, and the December list is likely to be the same:

• Name, photograph and signature.
• Registration number and stage (Executive or Professional).
• Exam centre name and address.
• Syllabus, exemptions, optional or elective subject, medium and group.
• Date and time of each paper.

For a CS Professional student, the elective is the detail to look at twice. If you are still deciding which elective suits you, our post on CS Professional electives compares them.

Verify personal details, centre, group, medium and elective the day the card comes out.

What if there is a mistake on the admit card, or no admit card at all?

Raise a ticket on ICSI's online grievance portal, support.icsi.edu, which is the route ICSI's admit card notice gives. Attach a screenshot and your registration number. If the card does not appear at all, first check that your exam form and fee went through and that you received the confirmation. Until the admit card arrives, use the weeks you have to write full papers in a CS test series and get them checked.

Do not wait for the week of the exam to raise it. Errors in the elective or the centre take time to correct.

Use support.icsi.edu for any error, and raise it the day you see it.

What should you carry on CS exam day?

• The printed e-admit card. Do not write anything on it.
• A photo identity card. Check the Instructions to Examinees for the IDs ICSI accepts in this session.
• Blue or black pens, and a simple calculator if your paper needs one and the instructions allow it.

Reach early. The paper starts at 2 pm, and the first 15 minutes, 2 pm to 2:15 pm, are for reading the question paper. Students who arrive at 1:55 lose those minutes to settling in.

Admit card, photo ID and pens are the essentials, and arriving early keeps the full 15 minutes of reading time.

How should you use the weeks before the admit card arrives?

For Executive students, the paper order is set: Jurisprudence, Interpretation and General Laws on 21 December, then one paper a day until Corporate Accounting and Financial Management on 28 December, with no paper on 25 December. Our CS Executive December 2026 timetable post lists every paper and the gaps between them.

What I see most in CS law answers is the section number written correctly and then not applied to the facts of the question. Writing full papers in the 2 pm slot and having them checked is the fastest way to fix that. Gradehunt's CS Executive test series and CS Professional test series send every paper back within 48 hours, checked by an ex-examiner with marks for each step.

CBSE Class 10 students in 2027 will again have two board exams. The first, in February and March, is compulsory for every student. The second, in May, is optional and lets a student who has passed improve in up to three of these subjects: Science, Mathematics, Social Science and the languages. The better of the two scores is used for the final result.

Prepare for the February exam as if there is no second one. The May exam is a safety net for one or two subjects, not a second chance at the whole year.

TL;DR

• The first board exam is compulsory. Nobody can skip it and write only in May.
• The second exam is for improving up to three subjects, or for compartment.
• Miss three or more subjects in the first exam and you cannot write the second; CBSE places you in the "Essential Repeat" category.
• For regular students, the better of the two performances counts.
• CBSE released the 2027 date sheet on 6 November 2026: the main Class 10 exam runs from 16 February to 9 March 2027.

How did the two board exams work in 2026?

2026 was the first year of the scheme. CBSE's press release of 18 July 2026 gives the facts:

• The main exam ran from 17 February to 11 March 2026.
• The second exam ran from 15 to 21 May 2026.
• 6,64,027 students registered for the second exam, and 5,13,955 of them wrote it for improvement.
• 3,08,095 of those students, 59.95%, improved on their main-exam score.
• The overall pass percentage after combining both exams was 96.78%.

So about three in five of those who tried to improve managed it. The rest kept their February marks, because the better score is the one that counts.

The 2026 pattern was February-March for the main exam and mid-May for the second, with results of the second exam out on 18 July.

Who can write the second CBSE Class 10 exam?

CBSE's notification of 14 February 2026 lists four groups of students who can appear:

• Improvement: students who passed and want to improve in up to three main subjects.
• Compartment: students whose first result is compartment.
• Compartment plus improvement.
• Improvement for students who passed by replacing a failed subject with an additional one.

The same notice is strict about the first exam. Every student must appear in it. A student who does not appear in three or more subjects cannot write the second exam and is placed in the "Essential Repeat" category, which means writing the main exam again the next February. CBSE states that requests to bend this rule will not be answered.

You qualify for May only through the February exam: improvement, compartment, or both.

Which subjects can you improve in the second exam?

Up to three subjects out of Science, Mathematics, Social Science and the languages. You cannot add a new subject after passing Class 10, and stand-alone subjects are not allowed.

A worked example

Say a student scores 92 in English, 88 in Hindi, 71 in Science, 64 in Mathematics and 85 in Social Science in February. She can sit Science and Mathematics in May. If she gets 80 in Science and 61 in Mathematics, her result uses 80 for Science (the better score) and keeps 64 for Mathematics. The lower May score in Mathematics does her no harm.

Pick at most three of Science, Maths, Social Science and languages; a lower May score never replaces a higher February one.

Which score goes on the marksheet?

For regular students, CBSE uses the better of the two performances to prepare the final result, as the July 2026 press release states. If you do not write the second exam, your February marks stand.

This is different from how marks are added up for the pass rule. Our post on CBSE passing marks explains the 33% rule and how theory and internal marks combine.

Better of the two counts, subject by subject.

What is confirmed for 2027, and what is not?

The scheme continues for 2027: CBSE's notices describe two board exams in Class X "from 2026", and the board has announced no change. CBSE released the 2027 date sheet for the main exam on 6 November 2026; the main Class 10 exam runs from 16 February to 9 March 2027. Check cbse.gov.in rather than social media; CBSE's own press release warns parents against unverified posts.

Our board exam dates 2027 post lists the 2027 date sheets for every board, including CBSE.

The two-exam system is confirmed, and the main exam runs from 16 February to 9 March 2027.

Should your child plan for the second exam?

My advice to parents is no, not as a plan. The May exam comes soon after the first results, and a student who counts on it as a fallback risks easing off in February. Use it only if one or two subjects go badly.

What helps far more is writing full board papers before February, with an examiner's marks and comments. Gradehunt's CBSE Class 10 test series has your child write papers by hand, and a subject expert checks each one within 48 hours with step-wise marks. The first paper is checked free.

The CA Final November 2026 exams run from Monday 2 November to Friday 13 November, and the best exam tips for this stretch are about the gap days. Each group has three papers on alternate days, so after the first paper you always get at least one clear day before the next. Papers 1 to 5 run from 2 pm to 5 pm with 30 marks of MCQs and 70 marks of descriptive questions. Paper 6, IBS, runs from 2 pm to 6 pm.

A gap day is for sharpening what you already know and timing one MCQ block. It is too late to open a chapter you have never revised.

TL;DR

• Group I: 2, 4 and 6 November. Group II: 9, 11 and 13 November 2026.
• Papers 1 to 5: 2 pm to 5 pm, 30 marks of MCQs plus 70 marks descriptive, no negative marking.
• IBS on 13 November: 2 pm to 6 pm, open book, attempt any four of five case studies.
• Direct Tax for November 2026 is still set on the Income-tax Act, 1961. The 2025 Act comes in from May 2027.
• A phone in the hall, even switched off, is treated as unfair means.

When are the CA Final November 2026 papers?

These are the dates in ICAI's guidance note for this attempt, and the note says they stay the same even if a date becomes a public holiday:

• Monday 2 November: Paper 1, Financial Reporting.
• Wednesday 4 November: Paper 2, Advanced Financial Management.
• Friday 6 November: Paper 3, Advanced Auditing, Assurance and Professional Ethics.
• Monday 9 November: Paper 4, Direct Tax Laws and International Taxation.
• Wednesday 11 November: Paper 5, Indirect Tax Laws.
• Friday 13 November: Paper 6, Integrated Business Solutions, 2 pm to 6 pm.

If you are writing both groups, the weekend of 7 and 8 November is the longest break you get: two days before Direct Tax. Use it for DT and International Taxation, because Indirect Tax and IBS follow with one day each.

Six papers in twelve days, one day off before each paper, and two days off before Direct Tax.

How should you split three hours in papers 1 to 5?

ICAI's rules for papers 1 to 5 are clear. The MCQs carry 30 of the 100 marks, each worth 1 or 2 marks with four options. They are compulsory, there is no choice among them, no reasoning is needed, and there is no negative marking.

Three hours for 100 marks works out to 1.8 minutes a mark. At that rate the MCQ block would get 54 minutes, but MCQs are faster to answer than a 14-mark computation. My split is this:

• About 40 to 45 minutes for the 30 marks of MCQs.
• About 125 minutes for the 70 descriptive marks.
• The last 10 minutes to fill any MCQ you skipped and check totals.

Never leave an MCQ blank. With no negative marking, a guess between two options you have narrowed down costs nothing.

Cap the MCQs at about 45 minutes, give the descriptive part about two hours, and answer every MCQ.

What should you revise on each gap day?

The gap day is for your own short notes, the corrections from papers you have had checked, and one timed MCQ set from ICAI's RTP or MTP. Here is what I would look at for each paper.

Before Financial Reporting (1 November)

Go over the Ind AS where the numbers decide the answer: Ind AS 115 on revenue, Ind AS 116 on leases, Ind AS 109 on financial instruments and the consolidation standards.

Before AFM (3 November)

Write your formula sheet from memory once: forex, derivatives, portfolio and valuation. In the paper, write the formula before you put figures in it.

Before Audit (5 November)

Revise Standards on Auditing by number and name together, for example SA 240 on the auditor's responsibilities relating to fraud. A case answer needs the relevant provision, the facts applied to it and a conclusion. Students who skip the conclusion leave marks on the table.

Before Direct Tax (7 and 8 November)

For November 2026 the paper is on the Income-tax Act, 1961. ICAI's Board of Studies has said the Income-tax Act, 2025 applies from the May 2027 exams. Do not mix the two. Use the two days for computation questions and International Taxation, which many students leave to the end.

Before Indirect Tax (10 November)

GST valuation, input tax credit and place of supply first, then Customs and Foreign Trade Policy. Write each answer with the section reference and then the working.

Short notes, checked-paper corrections and one timed MCQ set: that is the whole of a good gap day.

How should you handle the IBS paper on 13 November?

IBS has its own pattern. The paper has five case studies of 25 marks each, and you attempt any four. In each case study, 10 marks are MCQs and 15 marks are descriptive questions on computation, analysis or interpretation. You mark the MCQ answers in the OMR portion on the cover page of the answer book, and a machine checks them.

Four hours for four case studies gives you 60 minutes a case. Read all five openings first and drop your weakest. You may bring printed study material, practice manuals, ICAI's RTPs, bare Acts and your own notes, but you cannot paste anything into the answer book or swap material with another candidate. Our IBS paper guide covers case selection in more detail.

Pick four of the five cases quickly, give each about an hour, and fill the OMR as you finish each case.

Which mistakes cost marks in the exam hall?

These are the ones I see most often in checked CA Final answer sheets:

• Working notes with no number and no link to the main answer, so the checker cannot find the step.
• An assumption used in the answer but never written down.
• The last descriptive question started with eight minutes left and half finished.
• An Audit or Law answer that quotes the provision and stops before applying it to the facts.

Two more can cost you the whole attempt. ICAI treats having a mobile phone with you in the hall, even switched off, as unfair means. Writing your roll number anywhere except the space given for it, or any symbol in the answer book, is also unfair means. Our post on the CA Final admit card lists the rest of the exam-day rules.

Label every working note, write every assumption, keep time for the last question, and carry nothing but the permitted calculator.

What should the evening before each paper look like?

Pack the bag first: admit card, photo ID, pens and a calculator of the kind ICAI allows, which is battery operated with up to 6 functions, 12 digits and two memories. Scientific calculators are not allowed. Then read your own notes for two or three hours and sleep at your normal time.

If you still have time for one full paper before 2 November, Gradehunt's CA Final test series returns it within 48 hours, checked by an ex-examiner with step-wise marks and comments, so the gaps it shows can go straight into your gap-day notes.