CA Final Topper 2018: AIR 1 Atul Agarwal shares his success story

Atul Agarwal with his teacher and mentor RC Sharma.

Jaipur boy Atul Agarwal emerged the topper of CA Final June 2018 exam by scoring 618/800 marks (77. 25%). The 22-year old All India Rank 1 is also the only candidate in the history of ICAI, to score the highest ever marks (83) in Audit paper. And, he achieved this double feat by relying on self-study more than any other aspect of CA preparation.

Atul completed his Class 10^th and 12^th from Kothputli, Jaipur. Once he completed his Higher Secondary (Commerce stream) he immediately moved on to CA as it was his childhood dream.

Although Atul was confident that he will secure AIR rank 1 in the CA Final June 2018 exam, he was nervous on the result day. Even though he didn’t believe his CA rank initially, his teacher and mentor wasn’t surprised as he was confident of his student’s capabilities.

In a brief chat with Shiksha, Atul shared his CA journey and revealed that the concept of studying for 18 hours to crack CA is not a good idea. One has to be consistent throughout. “After completing CPT, IPC and training, I got a six month preparatory leave. It was only during this leave that I increase my time from 2 and 2:30 hours to 8-10 hours," he said. “For CPT and IPC, I used to do self-study for 2 hours besides attending my classes,” he added.  

Atul scored the highest ever marks (83) in Audit paper in the history of ICAI and he gives credit for it to himself and his diligence. “In IPCC Audit paper, I didn’t score good marks. I worked on it again and I really worked hard which is why I scored the highest ever score in this paper,” he said.

He only prepared from ICAI study material and recommends the same for all. Apart from coaching, on should focus well on self-study and study only from the Institute books. They are the best,” he suggests. The second most important factor in CA preparation is the mock test. Atul says CA mock tests are important. He attempted 24 mock tests, 3 each for all the papers and so should every CA aspirant.

Becoming AIR 1 is nothing less than a dream come true for Atul, as he was not an exceptional student in school. He scored 86% in Class 10^th and 85% in Class 12^th. It was his sheer hard-work, dedication and single minded focus that resulted in AIR 1 in CA Final. To avoid distraction, Atul did not go for a regular course after 12^th but chose IGNOU to complete his graduation in Commerce.

Atul belongs to a middle class family. His father is a medical shop owner and his mother is a home maker. But it seems Atul and his two younger brothers have decided that the Agarwal family be called the family of CAs in future. His two younger brothers are also pursuing CA.

Surprisingly, Atul does not want to pursue CA as a career, instead he wants to engage in social work. “Although cracking the CA exam was my dream I want to go for social work for now,” he revealed.