You require audacity to learn by doing and it is the only way I know — to knock on doors even though I know it may never be opened to me. To always ask "why sit here till I die?"
@Ozedikus One could say 4. With the fourth being relationships/networks but in my head I have also argued out a way the 3 you mentioned helps acquire the 4th.
Are we all created for a purpose?
Yes. A purpose. One singular purpose: To create. It is the definitive answer to why we are here—to create life, and to create things.
The universe is the answer. The creator is the question: Who is he? Where is he? Everything we see around us is the physical answer, and I am convinced they were put together by him for us to continue from exactly where he stopped.
Until we meet him, there is only one cardinal sin—the sin of idleness.
When we look closely, what unites us with all life forms is the capacity to create. We create other life forms similar to ourselves, and things that make our stay here better. See the birds: they make their chicks, build their nests, eat, and repeat.
Perhaps humans must also keep it that simple. Make babies, provide the resources we need, put the universe to use for our own satisfaction, and build for the future—the next generation of humans we have created. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Don’t try to ask for meaning out of the meaning (life, the universe, our consciousness); rather, we should make the existing meaning more meaningful until we find the answers to the real questions: Who is the creator? Where is he? Why is he not physically present with us?
Put simply, I am convinced that the reason he put us here is to be him—a creator in our own right. This is the exact reason why the most celebrated humans are those who have dared to walk in this purpose—the innovators, inventors, founders, creatives, and leaders. They are the ones creating and organizing things to make life more meaningful for the collective.
But what do I know? I know we humans have an unlimited capacity to complicate the uncomplicated.
Lol. I am on both sides of the professions you are comparing their qualification process.
Without mincing words, the ICAN is an harder exam than the Bar finals.
However, the process of becoming a lawyer in Nigeria is harder than becoming a Chartered Accountant.
Like you said, it’s “easy” to PASS Bar Finals but the real difficulty in the process of getting called to the Bar is not exactly the exam itself, but the discipline required to stay locked in from start to finish—the Nigerian Law School (NLS) has other quality control mechanisms beyond the bar finals exams. Hence, the infamous saying that you must be “Fit and proper” to get called.
ICAN on the other hand relies “solely” on the exams for quality and quantity control. Hence, the difficulty. For ICAN, you fight for your entire 100 marks in one sitting writing 2 courses/day (if you don’t opt out of any for the diet), all within 3 days.
For NLS, you can’t opt out of any course but you write 1 exam/day over 6 days starting with MCQ (20 marks/course) and 80 marks theory. For ICAN, no MCQ. You have 7 problem questions— compulsory question 1 and any other 4. NLS, 6 problem questions—compulsory question 1 and any other 3.
The ICAN exams test both your ability to apply the information you have read to the problem questions at hand in essay form (just like NLS) and still test your arithmetic, computational, retention and application of formulas abilities (which the law school doesn’t).
For Volume both rank pari passu. An ICAN study pack on average is 400 pages per course and no area of concentration just like the NLS. I know an argument someone might want to make in respect of volume is that the NLS “requires” you to study various regulatory frameworks (statutes and subsidiary legislation) so does the ICAN. For the ICAN, you have to study some Nigerian Statutes— the CAMA, the Nigerian Tax Laws, the Nigerian Startup Act (this diet there was a full question on this) etc. then 29 International Accounting Standards(IAS), 16 International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), about 27 International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and a good number of International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) etc which are applied during the exams.
Thus, by sheer difficulty on the day of exams, ICAN is harder but by difficulty and sheer intensity of the entire process of qualification into both professions, NLS takes the win.
Passing all the ICAN exams automatically qualifies you to be inducted as an ACA but passing the bar finals is just one of the criteria for getting called to the bar. You can pass the bar finals and still not get called.
For all avoidance of doubt, I am a Nigerian qualified Lawyer (8 months PQE) and I wrote the ICAN skills level exams just last week. Both exams and processes are as fresh as they can be in my head.
Cheers.
I see people saying CFA or ICAN is harder than Bar Finals.
Let me tell you something — it’s easy to PASS Bar Finals. The hard part is surviving the process before the exam.
One full year of classes.
Daily reading.
Attendance.
Pressure.
Mental exhaustion.
No social life.
Then your entire fate is decided in just 5 days.
That’s the real difficulty.
Nothing is harder than Bar Finals in my opinion because it is not just an exam — it is a system that consumes you for a whole year before testing you in one week.
And unlike some other professional exams, there is barely any area of concentration. You are expected to know EVERYTHING.
At least with ICAN or CFA, you generally know the scope and structure of what you’re reading towards.
Bar Finals feels like preparing for war every single day.