Yagya Lalit Chandak, an 18-year-old from Bhayandar, Maharashtra, has achieved the All India Rank (AIR) 2 in the CA Intermediate examination, sharing the spot with Yug Sachin Kariya. With a score of 526 out of 600 marks, equivalent to 87.67%, Chandak has brought great pride to his family.
"I received a call from the President of ICAI, and he congratulated me. After that, I just hugged my mother, and we both cried," Chandak recalled, brimming with joy.
"This was the first time I felt happy when my mother was crying. Usually, when our mothers cry, it's a sad occasion, but this time, I was actually happy that she was crying because of what I've achieved," Chandak said, smiling.
His father, a salesman at a jewelry shop, and his brother, who is also preparing for the CA Finals, were also thrilled with the news. "My father and my brother even brought me roses to congratulate me. I am very grateful for this," Chandak said.
Chandak's inspiration to pursue a career in chartered accountancy came from his family background. "I come from a Marwadi background family, so in my relatives, I've seen many chartered accountants. So I always had this, you know, in my blood that I want to get that CA degree, so that was the driving force behind it," he explained. Regarding his preparation strategy, Chandak said the importance of understanding concepts, revising regularly, and practising as much as possible.
"My preparation strategy was simple. I just had to first understand the concepts and revise them as much as possible. Every time I revised a particular subject, I used to make sure that I had the questions marked for the next revision, which shortened my time for the next revision and helped me with that 1.5-day preparation before the exams. So that was pretty simple, to be honest, and yeah, that was it," he said.
Chandak is currently pursuing his second year of B.Com from HR College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai and plans to prepare for his CA finals through online lectures. "To be honest, the feeling is not yet sunk in. I'm still yet to digest that I've secured this seat, so has not thought much about CA finals right now. But yes, I will surely be pursuing CA finals through online record lectures mostly and from different faculties all over India, and hope to have a great journey ahead," he said.
When asked about the sacrifices he made during his preparation, Chandak mentioned limiting his outings with friends and reducing his use of social media. "I avoided going out with friends for the last 3 to 4 months and moderated my social media usage. Although I never had a strong addiction to social media, I limited myself to about 1 hour of content consumption per day and used it in moderation." He felt in control and had no issues with it.
Chandak also mentioned that he referred to YouTube only for revision purposes and used the ICAI mock test series to prepare. "I generally did not refer to YouTube, but yes, for some revision purposes, I used to refer to YouTube, my faculty and past papers of some subjects."
