Daily Routine Time Table for CA, CS and CMA Students: Sample Study Schedules

Sample time table for a full-time student at home

This is the routine we suggest if you study full time at home, for example after Class 12 or between college terms. It is set for an afternoon exam (CA, CS or CMA Intermediate). Change the clock times to suit you, but keep the order and the length of the blocks.

That adds up to 8 hours of study and 8 hours of sleep. Inside each block, take a 10-minute break every hour to walk around or stretch, and snack on fruit rather than junk food. The 2 to 7 PM stretch is deliberate: after three hours of timed practice, the evening break is when you recover for the last block.

Adjusting the routine

• Early riser: start at 5 AM, exercise first, and move block 1 to 6 to 9 AM. Keep block 3 at exam time and finish studying by about 8:30 PM so you still get your sleep.
• CMA Final: ICMAI's December 2026 time table runs Final papers from 10 AM to 1 PM, so swap blocks 1 and 3 and do your timed practice in the morning.
• CMA Foundation: all four December 2026 papers are on one day. Papers 1 and 2 run from 10 AM to 12 noon and Papers 3 and 4 from 2 to 4 PM, so in the last weeks practise two 2-hour sessions with lunch in between.
• CSEET: ICSI's CSEET runs from 2:30 PM, so start block 3 half an hour later.
• Two papers a day: the routine already leaves block 4 for a second paper. If you would rather split the day evenly between two papers, give the harder one the morning block.

Exam timings to set your practice block

Your timed-practice block works best at the same hours as the real exam, so you get used to being sharp at that time of day. These are the timings in the institutes' latest announcements.

Timings can change from one session to the next, so check the announcement or time table for your own session on icai.org, icsi.edu or icmai.in.

Time table alongside college

If you attend college as well, you have fewer hours, so the routine has to be tighter. On college days we suggest about 6 hours of study:

At weekends and during vacations, such as the summer break, switch to the full-time routine above, including one timed paper in the exam slot each week.

If you are a CA student in articleship and also studying for a degree, ICAI does not allow you to attend college during articleship working hours. You need its permission in Form 112, applied for within one month of joining the course (ICAI Prospectus, June 2025). For the rules on taking two courses at once, see whether you can do CA, CS and CMA together.

Time table during articleship or practical training

During training, your office hours decide the routine. The institutes set these minimums:

A weekday routine that fits around a 10 AM to 6 PM office:

At weekends, use the full-time routine for at least one day, with a timed paper in the exam slot.

Leave before exams

Plan your study leave within your institute's allowance:

• CA: 12 days of leave in each year of practical training (ICAI FAQs on the New Scheme, Q 5.4). For extra leave and the other articleship rules, see our guide to CA articleship.
• CS: study and exam leave is for CS exams only. Students who have passed the Executive Programme get 52 days of leave, including 31 days of examination leave, to prepare for the Professional Programme exam. Those who start training after passing the Professional Programme (from 1 June 2022) get 21 days of casual leave only. If you take more, your training is extended by the extra days (Training Guidelines 2024, para 5.11).
• CMA: one day of paid leave a month, plus 60 days of unpaid leave across the whole training period for appearing in ICMAI exams. Extra leave must be made up with an equal period of training (CMA Prospectus 2025).

How to make your own time table

1. Fix your sleep and wake-up times first. Everything else fits around them.
2. List your papers and chapters, and count the weeks to your exam. Split them into first reading, revision and practice under exam conditions.
3. Put the hardest paper in your first block, when you are freshest.
4. Keep one 3-hour block at exam time for timed questions, then full papers in the last weeks.
5. Keep a half-day free each week to catch up on whatever slipped.
6. Write down what you planned and what you finished each day, and adjust the next week's plan.

For timed practice, use the institutes' own papers. ICAI's Board of Studies Knowledge Portal has Revision Test Papers, mock test papers and past papers with suggested answers. ICMAI lists model question papers, past question papers and suggested answers among its student resources (CMA Prospectus 2025), and ICSI says it conducts mock tests, crash courses and revision classes before the exams (Student Services FAQs). For how to use ICAI's free material at home, see how to self-study for CA at home.

If you find yourself reading the same page twice, take a proper break before the next block rather than pushing on. For more on staying focused, see how to improve concentration while studying.