CS Professionals December 2016 examination results have released and we are glad to bring to you the success stories of this year topper. It surely motivates, guides and inspire everyone!
Meet Suryansh Agarwal, All India Rank 1 CS Professionals December 2016. Suryansh is a confident, diversified and a very balanced student. He likes playing football and volleyball and he also likes to sing. He gives credit for this success to his parents and friends. He believes in holistic learning and with that thought he started pursuing CA, CS and B.com from the prestigious college SRCC simultaneously. Let us find out what his strategy was & how he has achieved this milestone:
Suryansh, first of all many congratulations to you from the whole team CAclubindia.
Thanks a lot, Sir.
How are you feeling now after securing the first rank in CS?
It feels wonderful and amazing. I am really happy and it feels what all the hard work that I had put in, in the last few months has finally paid off. So, it’s really a great thing.
And how is your family feeling about this?
They are very happy. Basically, I am away from my family. I have been studying in Delhi for the past 5 years now. So, when I informed them over the phone, they were extremely happy and it was really a proud moment for them.
Are you pursuing your graduation also?
Ya, I am pursuing my final year graduation from SRCC.
Is it difficult to cope up with the two courses simultaneously and securing a rank?
Well, sometimes, it feels like there is short of time or something like that for managing two different courses but then at the same time there are number of subjects which are common in both the curriculum. So, that helps as well, because once you get a particular subject in one of the courses, then it becomes very easy to deal with the same subject again. So, I think, that has helped me as well. I faced a bit of problem but it became quite manageable.
Being CS as a correspondent course, how did you manage your studies?
Basically, I based my entire preparation solely on institute materials – the institute modules that we get under practice manuals which are available in the website for the practical subjects. And the books are really comprehensive and very much efficient to get into overall depth of the subject because it starts from the very basic and the beginning of the concept is in a very huge manner so that you don’t realize how much deep you have studied and it makes a very great experience to read from that.I mostly relied on self-study. I did not take any coaching as such. I didn’t face any difficulty as I had taken coaching while preparing for the CA examination earlier. I had taken coaching for Financial Management and Taxation at that time. That helped me a bit in the practical subject and for the theory subjects I studied from the study manuals.
Wow, you are also doing CA along with your graduation and you have already completed your CS course!!
Ya, I am also pursuing my CA course. I have already cleared my CA IPCC. I did it in Nov’15 attempt. I secured a rank – 27th in that and I will be starting my articleship soon.
That’s very interesting!! So, what is your aim of doing B.Com / CA / CS combination together and do you suggest this for other students as well?
What I have seen is 5 to 10 years down the line – what will matter the most is the knowledge that you pursue and the kind of work that you do – not the ranks and everything. So, basically being a CA, you have to do different amount of work and being a professional, you have to a have a good knowledge regarding the legal aspects as well as the taxation and accounting aspects as well. So, I think it helps in getting an overall knowledge about the major subjects and makes you complete professional so that when you move into the industry, you are up-to-date with all the major changes that have been happening and you have a total overall insight of the various aspects of the commerce and financial industry. So, I think it’s a good combination to do both of them together and the courses supplement each other very well, even though we cannot practice both of them together but the knowledge that we gain – that certainly helps in whatever profession we practice later.
I hope you are not planning to do Law after this!!
No Sir, not as of now. (Smiles)
As far as CS is concerned, who helped you in this journey and in attaining this success? Whom would you like to thank?
First of all, I would like to thank my parents for the constant support. They have already been a motivating factor for me and during my course of study – the only thing that motivated me was – “Mummy, papa ke liye kuchh karna hain.” That was the first thought that I always kept to myself. Moreover, I would like to thank number of my friends and all my colleagues over here because we had been studying together which really helped, organized small mock examinations, interviews of each other. So, that we can know how much we remember and we discussed it with presentations as well. So, I learnt a lot from them by preparing along with them.
What was your strategy and time table that you used while preparing for this exam?
Ya, I would like to tell that one thing which is very important is – regular preparation. Instead of burdening ourselves with lots of study of last 2 or 3 months, it’s better that we start earlier around 6 to 7 months before the exam and we sit regularly. In these months of whatever you study, make a summary note of that particular thing, so that it gets easier for us to revise it during the course of examination because we all know that the examination is on the consecutive day. So, a number of times, it happens that you might have read a particular subject and a particular topic earlier but just because there is no enough time to revise, you may miss on that particular thing. So, keep making summary notes of these things. Personally, I prefer to study early in the morning. I woke up at around 4 a.m and I think that is really a good time. There is a lot of calmness around here. So, that is a good time to study and for the material and everything, I totally rely and I totally recommend following the ICSI modules, even though they are a bit lengthy and everything. You make a summary note of this which would be a lot more helpful compared to taking any other book which has a kind of summarized writing. So, that’s all what I would like to tell others.
Can you share your daily study schedule with us?
Basically, as I said that, I used to wake up early at 4 or 4:30 a.m and study for around 4 to 5 hours till 9 in the morning after which I dealt with my B.Com classes. After attending the college lectures, I used to take lunch at around 2 or 2.30 in the afternoon. Then, I slept for around an hour and again started studying at around 4 in the evening and continued it till 9 in the night before dinner and after that, I basically revised what I had done throughout the day because instead of learning something new later in the night, I preferred to revise what I had done the entire day. So, I made notes of the things that I had studied that became a double revision for the same day itself. So, that improves your task in the same day itself. Then I used to sleep early at around 10 or 10.30 p.m.
As it was a hectic schedule for you, what did you do to cope up with the pressure?
Basically, I used to listen to some soft music as music helps a lot in calming yourself and de-stressing the mind out. Second, what I did was – I used to go out for a walk during evening time that helped me in maintaining a good physical condition as well because a healthy mind always stays in a healthy body. So, I preferred to go for a walk which relieved me a lot from stress.
Was there any time when you felt challenged or stressed?
Yes, there were occasions when I felt really low and I felt as if things are not going where they are meant to be. It was getting really difficult but again what is said is - the persistence and the key to success - So you need to push yourself and keep telling on yourself that - Everything will be fine. Let’s not stop here, give it a best one and let’s see what will happen.
Can you share some tips or guidance for those who also may have faced such stress to motivate them?
Basically, just talk to your family or friends regarding this when you are feeling low or thinking that your preparation is not going upto the mark. So, that helps a lot because if you try to keep it within yourself then that thing constantly bothers you and your preparation suffers because of that. So, it’s better to talk with someone regarding this particular thing and then it will have a good motivating factor for yourself. It may be anything like it may be any kind of incentive – like I have to clear it in my first attempt itself or else it will get very late for me or may be the monetary incentive like I have to start working and earning after this. So, you need to remind yourself constantly regarding that. You need to calm yourself down as well – like you need to watch some television, watch some movies as well – like there needs to be a balance between studies and all the other things, otherwise it will take a big problem. So balancing things is always necessary.
Do you also have your eyes in securing a rank in CA?
Yes, certainly. After this success, my parents are expecting more from me and moreover I am really motivated that I can do well in the CA examination as well. So, let’s see what happens. There are still two years for it and I will start preparing for that as well. Just hoping for the best!!
Apart from studies, what are your other hobbies?
I really enjoy playing volleyball and football and I enjoy singing. These are the two things which I like doing and enjoy doing them at the best. Moreover, I like to participate in different cultural events organized in the college – be it cultural event or management event because participating in such events not only helps you in learning something new but it’s really a good experience in making more friends and speak to new people and yes, I enjoy music and do the basic things that I do.
We wish you all the best and thanks for your insightful thoughts and the journey that you have shared – we are sure that the students will get a lot of help from this interview.
Thanks a lot!! (Smiles)
Also read :
Interview with - Rekha Ghevarram Suthar
(All India 1st rank holder of CA IPC Nov 2016)
Interview with - Aayush Agarwal
(All India 2nd rank holder of CA IPC Nov 2016)
Interview with - Jyoti Mukeshbhai Maheshwari
(All India 3rd rank holder of CA Final Nov 2016)
CAclubindia
