Nischal Narayan Cleared CA IPCC in first attempt exam held in November 2010.

Nischal Narayana, 15, has become the youngest person ever to clear the tough-as-nails Integrated Professional Competence Course, a crucial hurdle in Chartered Accountancy.

Blessed with a super power memory and razor sharp mind, Nischal also holds a double Guinness World Record — for memorising random objects in 2006 and for memorising numbers in 2009.

Nischal, now a B.Com second year student at the Osmania University, enrolled for IPCC after clearing the common proficiency test, the entrance exam for enrolling in CA at the tender age of 13. The results was declared on February 8. As per norms, one has to complete Intermediate to appear for CPT test which is held twice every year and it is usually 19-year-olds who attempt to clear the IPCC.

“As Nischal has completed IGCSE (Class X equivalent), AS level (Class XI equivalent) and A level (Class XII equivalent) in one year from the Cambridge university in 2009, the ICAI authorities didn’t insist on age,” said his mother, Dr N. Padmavathy, with a smile. “IPCC has seven subjects, of which some are practical and some theory,” says Nischal in a matter of fact tone. “I had to prepare a lot for practicals.”

Nischal also adds that he studied for 14 hours a day in the month before the exams and five to six hours a day in the months before. “I am very happy as it gave immense happiness to my parents,” adds the teenager, who likes to work hard instead of resting on the laurels of his records.

Interestingly, this time only 18 per cent of the candidates who appeared for IPCC cleared the exam. Nischal took coaching at the Digvijay Institute and he was felicitated there on Wednesday evening. But mentors hesitate to claim credit for his success, for obvious reasons. “I only helped in planning and background work as I did not know the subject,” said his mother, accompanied by his beaming father, Mr N. Srinivasa Rao.

Nischal has also designed a Math Lab project which is being used in 50,000 schools across the globe and has been made part of the curriculum of government schools in Maharashtra. He has been acting as mentor of the Nischal Smart Learning Solutions since January 2010 which has been designing educational products.

At a time when most children his age are trying to cram their way through exams, a young boy from Hyderabad has made his way into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Nischal Narayanam can memorise and recall up to 225 random objects in the same order and has become the youngest in the world to hold such a record.

But it wasn’t that easy, it took him two years of training to master this feat.

“It’s important to concentrate. Sometimes, we can’t get up for four-five hours or even to go to the toilet,” he says.

This math wizard started showing his abilities at the age of nine. He would find solutions to complex arithmetic problems and correct errors in his father’s financial statements.

But his number-crunching ability isn’t the only quality that sets him apart from others his age. This 11-year-old also plays chess blindfolded with much ease.

But doesn’t he feel pressurised to perform at times? “No, there’s nothing like that. We aren’t over-ambitious. Its tough, he needs time for school, extra-curricular activities. It’s not easy with such achievements. And of course, he has to play and enjoy his childhood,” says Nischal’s mother, Padmavathy.The youngest to author a basic Maths book, Nischal has also developed his ‘Math lab’ to help make Maths simple.So, what is it that keeps him going? “Almonds and milk is good! But one needs concentration also,” exclaims Nischal.