Meet Gaurav, The 2nd Ranker in CA IPCC. Brought up by a single parent, this calm and confident boy from Secunderabad has made his mother so very proud!! He follows the moto that "Success has no shortcuts" and loves reading books in his free time. Read more to find out what message he has to give to the CA aspirants

Thank you so much Sir!!

In the beginning, for some hours, I wasn’t able to believe the fact. The Chairman called me some nearly 10 minutes before the results were released on the net. So, he called me and told that I stood second. I asked him two times that are you sure what you are saying. So, he said that you are the guy who stood 2nd. Because the results didn’t come on the net by then, so, I was checking again and again as the results were not yet declared. So, I waited for the results to be declared and then I confirmed it from everyone.

Mom picked up the phone and then she gave it to me. The first question I asked him was- “Sir, are you sure? Are you really Mr. Raghu speaking?” then he said “yes”. When I asked him that- “Are you sure about what you are telling me Sir?” then he was like “yes, you are the guy who has stood 2nd”.

My mom actually got to know this before me. She was the first person, I mean; the call came on her number.

She started crying and then she gave the phone to me.

Main source of inspiration was my mother because she is a single parent. She brought up me and my brother and has put in a lot of hard work in this. Then, there were many people like my mama and other relatives.

Actually, no hurdles till IPCC. But, ya I decided after my 10th about this. After my 10th, I was puzzled whether to take Science or Commerce. I wanted to become a pilot actually, but I have some eye sight problem. They told me that for being a pilot, you need good eyesight, full vision. So, I opted for Commerce. Then in the Commerce field, I thought that the best field is CA so that is how I decided to do CA. I didn’t want to do engineering / medical actually.

Ya, now I don’t regret it. (Smiles)

Most of the students, I think, go through some coaching institutes- most of them go to some coaching place. I think that the coaching thing, first they should do is that everyday, these courses, actually I realized that they start teaching in the coaching centre, you have to come back, study on a daily basis: 6 hours on a regular basis, then in one day, here and there to attend one event but on a regular basis you should study daily. Then, I think, coaching institute finishes the courses 2 to 3 months before the exams. So, those 3 months before the exams, they have to come out like 12-14 hours so that is some normal thing. So that, they have to put in and again before the exams if you study daily and you study before 3 months, then again just one day before the exam, all three are needed for sure to clear the exam because if you do the whole thing and you don’t study one day before also, you have no surety of passing so that you have to do and I studied the Institute’s practice manual because that covers most of the questions, almost everything is covered and one or two twisted questions comes from here and there. So, institute material is important. More than volume 1, I did volume 2. For the practical subjects, even the volume 1 is very important. So, volume 1, I mean Law and Auditing, especially these two were very difficult for us, I mean I didn’t have time, CPT finished in July and we have to write IPCC in May so we didn’t have the time to do the whole volume 1 of Law and Auditing. Theory subjects, you can follow, I mean if you can read the whole material then it’s very good but if you can’t, you should have something like- someone who can shorten the notes and give you and then practice. Then after studying this, one should go for the practice manual questions, I think.

What Articleship is, I have just come to know of CA. Wherever I join articleship, after that I have to know my schedule like how much time I get to study and things, I don’t know. Because, they say that if you join in a big firm, you don’t get time to study. Let’s see, I have never experienced that till now. I am all exited for CA Final, good time it is. All set.

Now, there are no classes as I have just passed my IPCC and celebrations and parties are being thrown with relatives. I think, today we are going to have another one, so relatives are coming over here, also, I have some calls from IPCC students on how to prepare for exams.

I like watching movies and I like reading books – fiction / crime / thriller books; not the regular books.

My favourite book is The Law of Symbols.

Yes, I am. I downloaded a few important questions based on law that was posted by the members in the sections of law– like what are the important sections. I think, I downloaded the law section, taxation section and auditing. And even after the result, I think some answers of practical subjects have been posted. So, I saw those answers and was relieved that I would pass in those subjects.

Message is that- there are no shortcuts. People call me and ask how I studied, what I eat. Some say- you study normally for exams and you realize later that you have secured a rank. But, you have to put in hard work. It’s not an easy course and continuous hardwork is required in it. Some people study last two months before the exams and say that I have studied very hard and I didn’t get the results. So for that, a bit of continuous hard work is required and try to understand what you are studying. Some people just mug up the things without understanding the concepts because in exams, if one question comes twisted, then they don’t understand what to do then in the exams. So, try to understand what you are studying and enjoy it.

Thank you Sir!! Thank you so much!!