In June 2026, I opened a result I had been waiting ten years for, and my name finally had a title in front of it: CS Rutu Jethva.
I started the Company Secretary course in 2016. I want to tell you how it really went, because the version people like to hear skips the middle, and the middle is where I spent most of a decade.
It began well
I cleared the Foundation in June 2016 on my first attempt. I remember thinking the course would be kind to me. That belief lasted exactly one level.
The Executive programme broke it. I appeared in June 2017 with one group and failed. I appeared again in December 2017 with both groups and failed. June 2018 brought the same result, and so did December 2018. Four failures in a row, and each one landed the same way: a few days of hoping, a page that said otherwise, and then back to the books because there was nothing else to do. In June 2019, I finally cleared both groups.
People say failure teaches you something, and it does, but nobody mentions how repetitive it gets. The same books, the same revision schedule, the same silence after a result. By the fourth attempt, I was not learning new lessons. I was learning how long I could keep going.
I assumed the hardest part was over. It was not even close.
The final level
The Final level asks for something different. The syllabus is only part of it. The rest is stamina. In December 2020, I sat for two of the three groups and failed both. In August 2021 I tried again and failed both again. December 2021 finally gave me one group, and I held on to that result for a long time, because it was proof that the years had not been wasted.
Then came the long stretch with the same stubborn group in front of me. I attempted it in June 2022 and failed. December 2022, failed. June 2023, failed. I skipped the December 2023 attempt.
And just like that, the third level started slipping from my grasp. 2023 turned into my darkest year. There were teary nights, a lot of self-doubt, and a future so blurred with uncertainty that I could not picture much beyond the next few weeks.
A submission on a whim
One day in 2023, I came across a firm inviting articles for publication. I had no plan and no expectations. On a whim, I submitted one on a legal topic.
It got published.
I have thought about that moment a lot since. For years, my sense of worth had been tied to one result on one day, twice a year. Now something I had written was out in the world with my name on it, and it had nothing to do with whether I had passed an exam. That was my breakthrough.
From a random submission to a calling
What started as a random submission became my calling. I kept writing, entering competitions, winning, and getting published. Over time, I collected five national-level awards for article writing. One of my articles was featured in the magazine of IIM Amritsar, and another in the magazine of SRCC, Delhi. Articles I wrote began ranking on Google and have driven more than 9,000 views.
Writing also gave me something the exams never had: feedback that arrived quickly. A published article, a prize, a reader who stayed till the end. After years of waiting months for a verdict, that mattered more than I can explain.
In 2023, I started working as a full-time content writer, and I have been promoted twice since. Somewhere along the way, I realised that I enjoy writing even more than I enjoy law. That is a strange thing to learn about yourself after years spent on a law course, but I do not see those years as wasted. The hours spent with dense legal text taught me to read closely, build an argument and write under pressure, and those are the skills I now get paid for.
Back to the last group
Writing gave me steadiness, but it did not make me forget the title. I cleared another group in June 2024, which left me with just one. I skipped December 2024. Then I failed that last group in June 2025, and again in December 2025.
By then I had a career I liked, and I could have walked away with a respectable story. I registered anyway. The difference was that I was no longer trying to rescue my self-worth, because writing had already done that. I simply wanted to finish what I had started.
June 2026
I appeared for that last group in June 2026, and the result said cleared. Ten years after I began, I became CS Rutu Jethva.
A course that many people finish in a few years took me ten. I failed eleven times along the way, and I have made peace with that number.
When I look back, I do not just see the failures. I see the girl who kept showing up even when she had every reason to stop. I see the nights she cried, the mornings she woke up without hope, and every result that broke her heart. And I see her choosing to try one more time.
What ten years taught me
I used to think a late finish meant a failed one. I do not think that anymore. Everyone around me seemed to move faster, and I measured myself against them for years, which only made the dark months darker. My timeline was mine. It was never wrong, only long.
I also learned that the lowest point can quietly point you somewhere. Had I cleared my exams when I first planned to, I would probably never have submitted that article. My worst year led me straight to work I love.
And I learned that persistence rarely looks dramatic. Mostly it looks like opening the same book again on a morning when you do not want to, and then doing it again the next day.
If I had to describe myself after these ten years in one word, it would be resilient.
Now, my days look different too. I travel and work at the same time, and I am slowly building my fitness, because I want my body to be as steady as my mind has had to be.
This is my story, of raw passion, unshakable grit, and never giving a damn about what society thinks. Because when you follow your stubborn, relentless heart, success has no choice but to follow you back.