Meet S Sri Ram, the Tamil Nadu student who topped the CA final exam in his first attempt

Twenty year old S Sri Ram, a Salem resident made headlines when it was announced that he had emerged as the all-India topper in the highly-competitive final examination of the Chartered Accountancy (CA) course and the Common Proficiency Test. The results of both these examinations were announced on Monday.

A student of the Salem branch of the South India Regional Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Sri Ram secured 613 marks out of 800 (76. 63%) in the examinations that were held back in May.

What’s even more commendable is the fact that this was Sri Ram’s first attempt. And, if the Salem branch office is to be believed, it was also the second time in 66 years of the ICAI’s existence that a student from Salem had passed with such a high score.

However, this is also the second consecutive time that a student from Tamil Nadu had secured the All-India first rank in the CA final exam. Last year, James John Britto of Chennai secured the first rank with 74.38% (595/800).

Sri Ram, whose father K V Srinivasan is a retired Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation employee and his mother R Badma, the district library officer in Perambalur was visibly elated after the results were announced and understandably, so. “This is my first attempt and thus I’d prepared well and was expecting to clear both groups as well get a rank within 10,” he admitted.

After finishing his higher secondary from Vidhya Mandir Higher Secondary School, Sri Ram had immediately joined the CA foundation level, where he secured the seventh rank in the all-India CA intermediate level. He then completed the foundation course in June 2012 with 180 marks. Two years later, he secured the all-India first rank in the intermediate level of the Company Secretaryship course of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.

What more, he had also reportedly taken the Company Secretaryship course while doing his articleship for the CA course with CR chartered accountant C Narendran in Salem.

Sri Ram’s success no doubt is an example of determination, passion and extreme hardwork.

On being asked about the secret behind his win, Ram disclosed that he followed a method that his father taught him. “Most of the students procrastinate and rush through the books in the last four or five months. But I resolved to study at least two hours every day in a consistent manner,”

Ram, who at the moment is in his last month of the third year articleship training, a three-year mandatory training period for CA students is yet to make up his mind on whether he wants to take up a corporate job or go ahead with professional practice.

Lucky for him, time and luck- both are on his side.

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