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Let's Crack IBS

IBS, sorted. Everything you need, in one place.

The strategy that got me 80, every faculty index, the Law and Costing topics that keep coming, and all six past IBS papers solved the way you should think in the hall.

▶ The full IBS strategy, 42 min · Open on YouTube

Start with the strategy Get the indexes Download handwritten notes

Before you start

IBS is not difficult. You will rarely find someone who fails in it. But it can make or break your CA Final, because IBS is what sets your aggregate.

The other papers have gone average for most of us. This is the one where you have to score 60+. It can help you clear Group 2, and with set-offs it often helps clear Group 1 too.

So don't aim to pass IBS. Aim for an exemption.

See you in the Pre Result and Post Result CA Fresher Program batches again :)

CA Padam BhansaliFounder, My Student Club

01 · Strategy

First, know the paper

  • 4 hrs+ 15 min reading time
  • 5 casesattempt 4, one is optional
  • 25 marksper case
  • 10 + 155 MCQs × 2 marks + 3 descriptives × 5 marks

Problem 1

You don't know Law, Costing and some minor topics

For your five core subjects you'll mostly be able to tell which subject and which chapter a question comes from. For Law and Costing, well, you know how you passed :) So there we need a quick recap, and good indexes.

Solution

Indexes. Get them here →

Two types of index

Chapter-wise (topic-wise): use it when you're sure which chapter the question is from.

Alphabetical (A–Z): use it when you're not sure. Search the keyword, it tells you the chapter and the page.

This works for the SM and for your faculty's book too, whenever you can't find something.

Print these

  1. Costing alphabetical index
  2. Law and Costing topic-wise index
  3. Study Material alphabetical and topic-wise index
  4. Your faculty's topic-wise index

Most of it won't get used. But if it gets you even one question, it's worth it. So please print it.

Do this today: open the Law index and memorize what each chapter covers. Then when you read a question, you'll at least know which chapter it's from. The two cards below help.

Also

Learn the important topics of Law and Costing

Some areas in Law and Costing come up again and again. Give them 2–3 hours today, through your faculty's videos or the book. Here's what ICAI has asked in all six papers so far (times asked in brackets):

Law (SPOM Set A)

  1. FEMA (7): ECB (who can borrow, end-use limits, INR ECB), ODI, remittances by residents and NRIs
  2. Managerial remuneration (5): s.197 limits, MD / WTD commission, sitting fees (max ₹1 lakh a meeting), Schedule V
  3. Directors (4): more than 15 directors, disqualification s.164(2), vacation s.167, DIN
  4. Mergers and compromises (4): s.230–232 schemes, auditor's certificate on accounting treatment, fast-track merger, s.236 minority buy-out
  5. FCRA (4): what is foreign contribution, gifts from relatives abroad, registration and prior permission
  6. SEBI (3): LODR related party approvals, ICDR IPO eligibility
  7. Also asked: related party transactions s.188, oppression and mismanagement s.241–244, IBC CoC voting, internal audit s.138, winding up

Law comes mostly as MCQs. May 2026 had no Law descriptive at all.

Costing (SPOM Set B)

  1. Lean (7): JIT savings, Kaizen vs standard costing, TPM and OEE, value-added vs non-value-added activities
  2. Business models and strategy tools (6): Business Model Canvas, freemium and subscription, Porter's five forces, value chain, automation
  3. Performance measurement (5): Balanced Scorecard, Triple Bottom Line, McKinsey 7S, value for money
  4. Standard costing (3): material and labour variances, planning vs operational variances, budget-to-actual profit reconciliation
  5. Pricing and decisions (3): make or buy, premium / skimming / penetration pricing, Kano model
  6. Also asked: throughput accounting (return per bottleneck minute), learning curve, supply chain, operating income analysis

Costing went from 9 marks (May 2024) to 27 (May 2026). Most of it is a named model applied to the case.

Problem 2

Time management

Solution

Practice. This is the most important thing for IBS.

Get a friend on Google Meet. Don't have one? Join our Nov'26 Chartered Community, connect with someone there, and solve case studies together. As many as you can.

You'll learn the approach, how to find things, how to use the index, and many times you'll see the same topic in the exam too. The first case may take 2 hours, the second an hour, the third half an hour, and from there it keeps dropping. Solve at least 10 cases before the exam.

I solved countless cases, staying up till 3 AM with one of my friends. That was the one thing that made the difference.
In practice, don't write the answers. Just find the topic and the page in your notes, note what you would have written, and compare it with the answer. Do it quick, and solve as many as you can.

Today, after IDT

  1. Print the indexes
  2. Keep the Study Material and every book you studied from ready
  3. Go through the Law and Costing chapter topics
  4. Learn the important topics above
  5. Solve one case study

Tomorrow

  1. Solve case after case, with a 1-hour timer each
  2. Check each one against the solved papers below
  3. See what your friend does right, and what you can do better

Solved papers: all six past papers, with what you should have thought to find the concept. More cases: ICAI's Case Study Digest, Volume I and Volume II.

And

Set boundaries during exams

One case = strictly 1 hour. Only then will you finish four cases in four hours. If you can't find something, learn to let it go.

3 min per MCQ

1 min to find the concept, 2 min to solve. In the other papers you did 23 MCQs in 45 minutes, so here you have extra time. Score well here.

15 min per descriptive

5 min to find the concept, 10 min to write. 3 descriptives = 45 min, plus 15 min of MCQs = your hour.

Place your watch in front of you. You will skip some questions, and that is your buffer. With practice, you will reduce the time you take.

The flow, for every question

Think. Sure of the chapter and the topic: open the material directly, no index. Only the chapter is clear: chapter-wise index. Unsure: A to Z index. Then write. Thinkwhat is it testing? Chapter + topic clearyou know where it is Only chapter clearyou can name the chapter Unsureno idea which chapter Open the materialdirectly, no index Chapter-wise indexfaculty / SM index A–Z indexsearch the keyword Writekeywords

Sure of the chapter and the topic? Don't waste time on the index: open your SM or book at that topic directly.

02 · In the exam

On 13 Nov, in the hall

  1. First 15 minutes: read only the questions. Mark the subject and chapter against each one, and drop the case you're most unsure about.
  2. Strict 1 hour per case: 3 min per MCQ, 15 min per descriptive. You can give MCQs a little more time, but give them your best. MCQs alone can get you through.
  3. Attempt your best question first.
  4. Found the topic? Don't copy it word for word. That takes too much time. Write the keywords and the key points.
  5. Stuck on something? Leave pages and move on. Come back at the end.
  6. Check if it is a "Correct" or an "Incorrect" question, and circle the word as you see it. ICAI plays with this a lot.

Finally, chill

You have come a long way. Six months of sleepless nights, countless tears. This is just the final step towards adding the most important two-letter prefix: CA.

You are going to be CA dear this Nov'26.

Don't worry. Trust God's plan, they have something really beautiful planned for you.

And once that's done, I'm waiting for you at the next stop: the MSC CA Fresher batch. Let's make all that effort worth it by cracking your dream job. We'll help you with everything jobs. All the best.

Hojayega

See you in the Pre Result and Post Result CA Fresher Program batches again :)

See the CA Fresher Program

03 · Resources

Everything to download

Faculty indexes

Don't download everything. Take just your faculty's index (for the book you studied from) and the SM index. For Law and Costing, take the ones marked My pick.

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Notes, analysis and case studies

ICAI Case Study Digest to practise: Volume I · Volume II

04 · Solved papers

Past papers, solved the way you should think

For every question: the clue in the case, the chapter, what to search in the index, and the answer as you should write it. Solve the case yourself first, then open the thinking.

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05 · What ICAI asks

All six papers, every question tagged

May 2024 to May 2026: marks by subject and the chapters ICAI repeats.

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Most-asked chapters