CA Intermediate Jan 2027 Both Groups: Free 96-Day Study Tracker (Sep–Dec 2025)

Appearing for CA Intermediate January 2027 — both groups — is one of the most demanding commitments a student can take on. Six papers, two groups, roughly 120 chapters of ICAI Study Material, MTP and RTP practice, plus full mock tests — all of it needs to fit into a tight preparation window between September and December 2025.

This article walks through the exact 96-day tracker built for that attempt: the logic behind the subject sequence, how weekends are structured differently from weekdays, how chapters are graded by difficulty, and why certain papers appear earlier than others in the schedule. At the end, you can download the complete tracker as an Excel file and adapt it for your own attempt.

What the Tracker Covers

The tracker is structured around a single, non-negotiable constraint: the January 2027 CA Intermediate exams begin on 2 January 2027 (Group I) and 8 January 2027 (Group II), with papers running 2–5 PM on alternate days. Working backward from those dates, a preparation window starting 21 September 2025 gives exactly 96 days — 69 weekdays and 27 weekends.

Metric	Detail
Total days	96 days (Sep 21 to Dec 25, 2025)
Study weekdays	69 days — chapter-by-chapter coverage
Study weekends	27 days — MTP, RTP and mock test rotation
Total chapters covered	120 chapters across both groups (~1.7 chapters per weekday)
Group I papers	Taxation → Advanced Accounting → Corporate Law
Group II papers	FM & SM → Costing → Auditing
Weekend structure	MTP / RTP / Full Mock rotation — one per paper per cycle

The Subject Sequence: Why This Order?

The paper order in this tracker is not alphabetical or the order ICAI assigns exam dates. It is based on two specific strategic principles: starting with the highest-revision-need subjects and pairing Group I and Group II coverage so you are never too far behind in either group at any point.

Group I Sequence: Taxation → Advanced Accounting → Corporate Law

Taxation first — IT and GST together cover the most chapters of any Group I paper (13 IT chapters + 15 GST chapters = 28 chapters). Taxation also benefits most from early coverage because provisions change with every Finance Act, and you want maximum time to revisit updated rules. Starting Taxation in Week 1 means you will have revised it twice by the time the exam arrives.

Advanced Accounting second — Advanced Accounting (15+ chapters covering AS Standards, amalgamation, holding companies, branch accounts, and more) is the most calculation-intensive Group I paper. Placing it after Taxation ensures it gets dedicated mid-period attention when your exam muscle memory from Taxation practice is already building and you can cross-reference AS provisions with real company scenarios.

Corporate Law last in Group I — Corporate Law, while conceptually demanding, benefits from being covered later because it requires recall of specific provisions rather than extended calculation practice. It is also the paper where short, repeated revision cycles yield the best results — covering it in the final weeks before exams allows you to maintain freshness on the provisions right up to exam day.

Group II Sequence: FM & SM → Costing → Auditing

FM & SM first in Group II — Financial Management is formula-heavy and benefits from early coverage because formula retention improves with time and repeated practice. Strategic Management, paired with FM in the same paper, is relatively shorter and provides a mental break from calculation-heavy days. Starting with FM also means your formula sheet starts being built from Week 1 — by exam day, you have been using and revising the same formulas for three months.

Costing second in Group II — Cost and Management Accounting is the most calculation-intensive Group II paper. Placing it in the middle of the preparation window — after FM has established a calculation rhythm — means you approach Costing with stronger problem-solving habits already in place.

Auditing last in Group II — Auditing and Ethics, like Corporate Law, is primarily a theory and recall paper. Its Standards on Auditing chapters reward recency — the closer to exam day you revise them, the better your recall. Placing Audit at the end of the Group II sequence exploits this.

How Weekdays and Weekends Are Structured Differently

One of the most important structural decisions in this tracker is the complete separation of weekday and weekend activities. These are not interchangeable.

Weekdays: Chapter-by-Chapter Coverage

Every weekday in the tracker is assigned specific chapters from the ICAI Study Material, along with PYQ (Previous Year Question) practice from those chapters on the same day. The principle: cover a chapter, then immediately attempt questions from it before moving on. The resource column on each weekday row reads "Study Material + PYQ (chapter-wise)" — this is not just reading. It means:

1. Read the chapter in the Study Material (or ICAI module)
2. Attempt the chapter-end questions and the PYQ bank for that specific chapter
3. Mark mistakes for revision

Most weekdays carry two subjects — one from Group I and one from Group II. This ensures that at no point during the 96 days are you spending all your time on a single group. If Group II exam anxiety creeps in during October, it is because you have not looked at Group II since September — the dual-subject weekday structure prevents this completely.

Weekends: MTP, RTP and Mock Rotation

Weekends in this tracker never cover new chapters. Instead, they follow a rotation between three activity types:

• MTP (Mock Test Papers) — ICAI-released mock test papers for specific subjects
• RTP (Revision Test Papers) — ICAI's revision test papers, released per attempt
• Full Mock Tests — complete paper attempts under timed exam conditions, covering all papers

Weekend Type	Purpose	How Often
MTP / RTP	Subject-specific timed practice with ICAI-released material	Most weekends — one paper per weekend
Full Mock Test	Complete attempt under exam conditions for all papers	Approximately once every 3–4 weeks (Days 36, 42, 78, 84)

Full mock tests appear on Days 36, 42, 78 and 84 — roughly one per month. This frequency is deliberate. Too many full mocks early in preparation wastes time when knowledge coverage is incomplete. Too few full mocks means you never calibrate your time management or identify cross-chapter gaps before exam day.

The Chapter Difficulty System: 🟢 🟡 🔴

Every chapter in the tracker carries a difficulty rating. This is not the chapter's theoretical complexity — it is its time requirement and exam weight.

Rating	Label	What It Means	Example Chapters
🟢	Easy	Can be covered thoroughly in a single study session. Lower calculation density or shorter provisions.	IT Ch 1: Basic Concepts, GST Ch 6: Time of Supply, Corp. Law Ch 1: Preliminary
🟡	Medium	Requires two study sessions or extended PYQ practice. Moderate calculation depth or provision length.	IT Ch 3: Heads of Income – Salaries, GST Ch 4: Place of Supply, Costing Ch 2: Material Cost
🔴	Heavy	High time requirement. Either lengthy calculation problems, dense provisions, or both. Do not compress into a single day.	IT Ch 5: Business or Profession, Costing Ch 13: Standard Costing, Adv. Acc. Ch 9 (AS 14): Amalgamation

When a weekday has two subjects assigned and one is rated 🔴 Heavy, the other is intentionally rated 🟢 Easy or 🟡 Medium. You will rarely see two 🔴 Heavy chapters scheduled on the same day. The tracker accounts for this — it is not asking you to do two impossible things simultaneously.

Week-by-Week Progress: What You Are Covering When

Here is how the 96-day period is structured at a high level, with the major chapter milestones in each phase.

Phase 1 — Weeks 1 to 4 (Sep 21 – Oct 19, Days 1–29): Taxation and FM First Pass

The first four weeks are entirely focused on establishing the two papers that require the most sustained practice: Taxation (Group I) and FM & SM (Group II). By the end of Week 4 (Day 29), you have covered:

• Taxation — IT: All 13 Income Tax chapters (Basic Concepts through Return of Income)
• Taxation — GST: Chapters 1 through 9 (Introduction through Registration)
• FM: All 9 FM chapters (Scope of FM through Working Capital Management)
• SM: Chapters 1 through 5 (Introduction through Strategy Evaluation)

Weekends during this period rotate between Taxation MTP/RTP and FM & SM MTP/RTP, with the first full mock scheduled on Day 36 (26 Oct).

Phase 2 — Weeks 5 to 8 (Oct 20 – Nov 16, Days 30–57): Costing and Completing GST

Phase 2 brings in Cost and Management Accounting for Group II while completing the GST portion of Taxation for Group I. This is the heaviest period of the 96 days — some of the most calculation-intensive chapters in the entire CA Intermediate syllabus appear here.

Key milestones in Phase 2:

• Costing Ch 4: Overheads and Absorption Costing (Day 30) — rated 🔴 Heavy
• GST Ch 8: Input Tax Credit (Day 33) — rated 🟡 Medium
• Costing Ch 13: Standard Costing (Day 44) — rated 🔴 Heavy
• Costing Ch 14: Marginal Costing (Day 45) — rated 🔴 Heavy
• GST Ch 15: Returns (Day 45) — completing the GST portion of Taxation
• Costing Ch 15: Budget and Budgetary Control (Day 46)

A second full mock test appears on Day 42 (1 Nov). By Day 57, all Costing chapters and all GST chapters are complete.

Phase 3 — Weeks 9 to 12 (Nov 17 – Dec 14, Days 58–84): Auditing and Advanced Accounting

This phase introduces Auditing (the final Group II paper) while simultaneously covering Advanced Accounting — the most AS-intensive paper in Group I. Both are best studied in this sequence because:

• Auditing's Company Audit chapters overlap significantly with Corporate Law concepts you will cover in Phase 4
• Advanced Accounting's AS Standards (AS 4 through AS 28) are easier to retain closer to exam day than if covered months earlier

Major chapters covered in Phase 3:

• Auditing Ch 1–7: Nature and Objectives through Audit Report (Days 58–65)
• Adv. Acc. — AS 1, 2, 3, 10: Basic Accounting Standards (Days 63–65)
• Auditing Ch 8–13: SA-based chapters including Special Audits (Days 66–73)
• Adv. Acc. — AS 12, 13, 14: Amalgamation (Day 76 — rated 🔴 Heavy)
• Adv. Acc. Ch 10: Consolidated Financial Statements (AS 21, 23, 27) — rated 🔴 Heavy
• Adv. Acc. Ch 12–15: Buyback, Amalgamation of Companies, Reconstruction, Branch Accounts (Days 82–83) — all 🔴 Heavy

Full mock tests appear on Days 78 (7 Dec) and 84 (13 Dec). By Day 84, Group II is completely covered and the heavy Group I chapters are done.

Phase 4 — Weeks 13 to 14 (Dec 15 – Dec 25, Days 85–96): Corporate Law and Final Wrap

The final 12 days cover Corporate Law — deliberately placed last because it is the most recall-dependent Group I paper. Fresh coverage of Companies Act chapters just before the January exam means the provisions are at their most accessible.

Corporate Law coverage in Phase 4:

• Companies Act chapters 1 through 12 (Preliminary through LLP Act) — Days 86–94
• Other Laws: General Clauses Act, Interpretation of Statutes, FEMA — Days 95–96

Day 96 (25 Dec) is also the final tracker day — leaving a full week after Christmas for last-minute revision, mistake rectification and sleep-routine alignment before exams begin on 2 January.

How to Use This Tracker

Download the Excel file using the button below. The tracker has the following columns ready for your use:

Column	What to Do With It
Day	Sequential day number from 1 to 96 — do not skip days
Date	Fixed to Sep 21, 2025 start — adjust the start date if your window differs
Paper	Which CA Intermediate paper you are studying that day
Group	Group I or Group II — ensures you are always covering both
Chapter	The specific chapter or AS standard to cover that day
Level	🟢 Easy / 🟡 Medium / 🔴 Heavy — use this to plan your daily time allocation
Resource / Task	What material to use — Study Material + PYQ on weekdays; MTP/RTP/Mock on weekends
Done ✓	Mark with ✓ when the chapter + its PYQ practice is genuinely complete
Notes	Record difficult concepts, recurring errors, or chapters flagged for extra revision

Adaptation tips:

• If you are only attempting Group I or Group II, delete the rows for the other group's chapters and redistribute the freed days across additional revision
• If your start date differs from Sep 21, adjust the Date column — the Day sequence and chapter order remain valid regardless of start date
• Use the Notes column to build your mistake list — this becomes your revision guide for Phase 3 and Phase 4
• Do not skip weekends. MTP/RTP practice is as non-negotiable as chapter coverage — it is where exam technique develops

The Logic Behind 96 Days for Both Groups

A common question: is 96 days enough to prepare both groups simultaneously?

The honest answer: 96 days is sufficient if — and only if — you maintain the weekday/weekend distinction, do not skip the full mocks, and use the difficulty ratings to allocate your daily hours correctly rather than treating every chapter as equivalent.

Students who attempt both groups and fail typically make one of three specific errors:

1. They study both groups randomly — spending three days on one paper then four days on another with no planned sequence. The tracker solves this by building a fixed sequence that covers both groups daily.
2. They skip MTP/RTP weekends for extra chapter coverage — this feels productive but produces students who know the material and cannot apply it under time pressure. MTP/RTP practice is the mechanism that converts knowledge into exam performance.
3. They leave 🔴 Heavy chapters until the last two weeks — the tracker places the heaviest chapters (Standard Costing, Amalgamation, Consolidated Financial Statements) in the middle weeks when there is still time for a second revision before exams.

Chapter Count by Paper: What You Are Actually Committing To

Paper	Chapters	Heavy (🔴)	Medium (🟡)	Easy (🟢)	Covered By
Taxation (IT + GST)	28	3	15	10	Day 45
FM & SM	14	2	8	4	Day 23
Costing	15	5	7	3	Day 57
Auditing	13	2	6	5	Day 77
Advanced Accounting	31	8	13	10	Day 83
Corporate Law	15	0	6	9	Day 96
Total	116+	20	55	41	Day 96

Advanced Accounting carries 8 Heavy chapters — the most of any paper. This is why it is placed in the middle of the preparation window (Days 63–83) rather than at the start: you need enough prior calculation practice from Taxation and FM to handle the AS problem-solving intensity effectively.

How Mistakes Are Built Into the Schedule

The tracker does not have a dedicated "mistake rectification week" — because by the time you reach Day 96, your Notes column is already a living mistake log. Here is the recommended approach:

1. Every weekday: When you attempt PYQ for a chapter and get something wrong, note it in the Notes column. Do not move on until you understand why you got it wrong.
2. After every MTP/RTP weekend: Spend 30–45 minutes the following morning reviewing your MTP/RTP mistakes before opening that day's chapter.
3. After every full mock: Write a one-line summary of your weakest chapter per paper. These become the priority revision chapters in the final 2 weeks.
4. Final 7 days (Dec 19–25): Use the Notes column's accumulated mistakes as your revision guide, not the full Study Material chapters. By Day 90, the chapters are done — revision time is for mistakes, not re-reading.

Download the Tracker

The complete tracker — all 96 days, both groups, chapter-by-chapter with difficulty ratings and resource assignments — is available as a free Excel download.

Open the file in Excel or Google Sheets. Start on Day 1 by checking the assigned chapters. Mark the Done ✓ column at the end of each day. Use the Notes column continuously. Do not wait until you feel "ready to start" — the schedule is designed to build readiness, not require it upfront.

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Practise What You Study — on e-mentor

The tracker gives you the chapter schedule. e-mentor Pro Hub gives you the practice material to make every chapter session count:

• CA Intermediate Mock Tests — full-length timed papers for all six subjects with chapter-wise performance breakdown, so your Notes column stays precise and evidence-based
• AI Study Planner — builds a personalised day-by-day schedule based on your exam date, current coverage, and weak areas — a live version of this tracker adapted to where you actually are
• Chapter Progress Tracker — mark chapters as studied, track revision cycles, and get a visual overview of your coverage across all six papers
• Performance Analytics — identifies chapters where your PYQ accuracy is lowest, converting your mistake log into ranked priorities

Start for free on e-mentor →