Development of MCQs for 30:70 & Practical Training Assessment

CA Study

Hello Everyone,

ICAI has recently issue a new notification inviting expression of interest for formulation of MCQs for Practical Training Assessment & 30:70 Assessment. Text of the notification reads as –

Announcement

Board of Studies

13^th April, 2020

I. Development of MCQs for Practical Training Assessment

In September, 2018, the Board of Studies launched the Practical Training Assessment for CA students as a step to assess the effectiveness of practical training which they are undergoing. Concurrent practical training along with theoretical education is undoubtedly the unique feature of the CA course. In fact, the knowledge and skills acquired during the three year practical training helps students to develop the requisite professional competence. Practical training assessment, thus, serves as an indicator of the level of knowledge and skills acquired in the course of practical training.

The skills are assessed at two stages, namely, after completion of the first and second year of practical training. The practical training assessment is online and MCQ based.

The Board of Studies invites application of interest from members in practice and members in industry for development of high quality MCQs for practical training assessment in the following subject areas:

• Accounting
• Auditing
• Law
• Direct Tax and International Taxation
• Indirect Tax
• Internal Audit

The requirements for development of MCQs for practical training assessment are as follows:-

• Each MCQ should have four options, out of which only one option should be correct. The reasoning/justification for the answer on the basis of the relevant provision of law or accounting/auditing standard needs to be provided. In case of computations, detailed workings should be provided.
• MCQs should be framed in such a manner that the relevant provisions of laws/accounting and auditing standards would need to be applied to the scenario to choose the correct option.
• MCQs for practical training should be such which assess the application of knowledge gained in academic education in practical problem solving during the course of practical training i.e., all MCQs need to be application-oriented assessing the analytical and problem solving skills of candidates.

• The level of difficulty of the MCQs for second stage assessment in practical training should be significantly higher than the MCQs for first stage assessment.
• The MCQ should be based on the position of law prevalent on the date of developing the questions. For direct tax laws, the MCQs should be based on the position of law as amended by the Finance Act, 2020, and notifications, circulars and other legislative amendments made till date. The relevant assessment year for computation of income under different heads, total income and tax liability would be A.Y.2021-22.  In the case  of indirect taxes, MCQs should be based on the position of law as on date.
• Sample MCQs for practical training assessment have been hosted at https://icai.org/post.html?post_id=14836.

II. Development of MCQs for 30:70 assessment in select subjects of CA course

In certain core papers at the Intermediate and final levels, MCQ based assessment has been introduced to assess higher order application and analytical skills of students. These MCQs may be independent application-oriented MCQs or integrated case scenarios with few MCQs based on such scenario. For this purpose, we invite expression of interest from experts in different subject areas to contribute to the development of MCQs (independent application-oriented or case scenario based) in these subjects –

The  syllabus of   these            subjects            are                  available          at https://resource.cdn.icai.org/45571bos35676-intermediate.pdf.

The syllabus of these papers are available at Https://resource.cdn.icai.org/45573bos35679-final.pdf. The syllabus of Final (Old) Paper 6 is webhosted at https://resource.cdn.icai.org/53969bos43334finalold-p6.pdf

The requirements for development of MCQs for 30:70 assessment are as follows –

I. Independent application-oriented MCQs

• Each independent MCQ should have four options, out of which only one option should be correct. The reasoning/justification for the answer on the basis of the relevant provision of law or accounting/auditing standard needs to be provided. In case of computations, detailed workings should be provided.
• Each MCQ should be framed in such a manner that the relevant provisions of laws/accounting and auditing standards would need to be applied to the scenario to choose the correct option. All MCQs need to be application-oriented. MCQs should be such which assess the application of knowledge gained in academic education in addressing issues and problem solving.

II. Integrated case scenario based MCQs

• An integrated case scenario should comprise of a case scenario followed by 5 to 6 MCQs based on the said case scenario.
• The length of the case scenario (including MCQs) should be for around 2 pages.
• Each MCQ should have four options out of which there should be only one correct option.
• The MCQs should be application-oriented and should arise from the case scenario  [i.e., they should be framed in such a manner that the relevant provisions of laws/accounting standards/standards on auditing/ concepts and principles would  need to be applied to the facts of the case scenario to choose the correct option].

Common specifications for both independent MCQs referred to in I above and Scenario based MCQs referred to in II above

• The level of difficulty of the MCQs for Final level should be significantly higher than the MCQs for Intermediate level.
• The MCQs should be framed keeping in mind the scope of coverage of the different topics in the syllabus of the subject.
• The MCQ should be based on the position of law prevalent on the date of developing the questions. For direct tax laws, the MCQs should be based on the position of law as amended by the Finance Act, 2020, and notifications, circulars and other legislative amendments made till date of development of MCQs. The relevant assessment year for computation of income under different heads, total income and tax liability would be A.Y.2021-22. In the case of indirect taxes, MCQs should be based on the position of law as on date.
• Sample MCQs (both integrated scenario based and independent application-oriented MCQs) are available in the Revision Test Papers (RTPs) for May, 2020 in the above subjects webhosted at the BoS Knowledge Portal, the links to which are given hereunder:-

However, it may be noted that the MCQs given therein are based on the position applicable for May, 2020 examination.

Honorarium for development of MCQs:

The honorarium is –

• Rs.300/- per MCQ developed for first level practical training assessment and 30:70 assessment in intermediate course subjects;
• Rs.500/- per MCQ developed for second level practical training assessment and 30:70 assessment in final course subjects.
• For integrated case scenarios for 30:70 assessment, the honorarium is Rs.1,000/- per integrated case scenario (inclusive of all MCQs based on that scenario) for intermediate course subjects; and Rs.1,500/- per integrated case scenario (inclusive of all MCQs based on that scenario) for final course subjects.

For expression of interest, please click link below  to  google form https://forms.gle/Q4rEgqrhaT2tWsnN7

Director, Board of Studies

Official Link of above said notification can be accessed from below –

https://resource.cdn.icai.org/59026bos48130.pdf

That’s all for now. Stay Connected for more such authentic updates.

Jai Hind, Vande Mataram
Team CA Study