HOW does finding a place in the 'Limca Book of National Records' make you feel? I am very happy that it has provided me with an opportunity to meet the expectations of my parents and make their dream come true.

Any specific reason you chose to study commerce over engineering, science, etc? I always had a preference for commerce, particularly in the capital markets since I was a child. I used to regularly go through investment journals like Dalal Street/ The Economic Times, even during my school days. Needless to say, this liking resulted in having a preference for commerce over other streams.

How did you make the decision to do all three professional courses? I had not thought of doing all three courses initially. Like any other CA student, I was planning to complete my CA and then start my own practice. However, on completion of CA Intermediate and graduation in the same academic year, I thought it would be a good idea to do a Company Secretaryship course along with CA final so I could acquire advanced knowledge of corporate laws and secretarial practice. Fortunately, in 2000, at the age of 21, I completed my CA final and CS intermediate courses simultaneously. Since, age was still on my side, I decided to try for ICWA course along with the CS final in order to join the coveted 'Triple Crown' club. Indiacom Limited, my then employer, assured me that study leave would be granted for the CS/ CWA exams.

How did you manage your time? Did you have any study techniques? I had taken three months study leave for the CA final exams and three weeks each for the CS final and CWA final exams. I had relied on study modules/ suggested answers given by all three institutes for most of the subjects and used Bare Acts for Taxation/ Corporate Law. I studied one subject at a time in reverse order, so that I finished studying the first paper at the end. It helped my memory during the first few papers, which in turn boosted my confidence for the remaining papers. Further, I had also made effective use of the publication, 'Scanner', which helped me understand weightage given to each of the topics and decide my strategy accordingly. However, I had studied all the topics in their entirety without leaving anything to chance.

What are your suggestions for students who face failures in these examinations? Failure is very difficult to digest for every human being. I have tasted failure twice, while completing my BCom, due to some technical/ clerical errors on the part of Pune University, which were corrected by them subsequently. I was fortunate to have the support of family, teachers and friends at those moments. I would advise students to do a SWOT analysis on their own and identify weak areas so that they can work on them to improve their scores. One must have a positive attitude and should never give up. However, in the event of recurring failures, students should approach a career counsellor/ teacher to get appropriate guidance for deciding their future action plan.

How can students update their knowledge base besides the course modules? All three institutes publish monthly journals/ newsletters for the benefit of the students, which provide an array of useful information on professional topics, latest amendments, recent case-laws, etc. Further, the students can also join knowledge sharing forums like yahoo groups, etc to get solutions to their queries and remain updated.

What is your message for aspirants of CA, CS, CWA? India is currently going through a strong phase and is expected to witness sustained growth over the next 25 years. Obviously, there's always going to be an increasing demand for qualified CA/ CS/ CWA professionals. The only thing you need to have is a focused approach with an urge to excel. Go ahead with full confidence, and success will definitely be yours.

FROM: Anand Wadadekar PUNE