Toppers Interview

#AboutMe

• Hello Everyone, My name is SANJITA MOHAPATRA. I am an old ForumIAS Community Member with the username “BeTheChange”. I was born in Rourkela. I have done my schooling from Chinmaya Vidyalaya (E.M), Rourkela, ICSE Board.
• After that I had done my college from my graduation from College of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar, 2012 batch passout. This was my 5th attempt at Civil Services, but my second serious attempt.
• Before this, I had secured 2nd Rank at OPSC (Odisha Public Services Commission) and had got State Rank 2. I am from a middle class family with my father who is not working anymore, mother who is a housewife. My elder sister Sarita Mohapatra is presently Manager in BHEL, Bangalore.
• I myself have been working as an Assistant Manager in Rourkela Steel Plant ( SAIL ) from 2013-2018.
• I took Sociology as an Optional.
• The Civil Services Examination was a Childhood dream for me. Started preparation while in college with baby steps. Reading newspapers. After joining job started with basic NCERT books, polity, geography. Gave 2 attempts while in college with no preparation. 3rd attempt did not revise.
• First 3 attempts could not clear prelims . 4th attempt failed in mains . 5th attempt I have been successful. However, I would not advice this long path to anyone. It is better to have your first or at least second attempt as a prepared attempt. My fifth attempt was my second prepared attempt.

My Prelims Strategy

• I have been focussing on building up the foundation by repeated revisions, covering basics from NCERT . Also what is important that 2 months before Prelims no answer writing practice should be there. I did solve numerous test series for Prelims
• Weekly twice I used to solve the daily quizzes on various online platforms

My Prelims Booklist

The Mistakes I made in previous attempts

• This was my 5th attempt and 2nd serious attempt . I did not qualify Prelims in 3 attempts, 4th attempt failed in mains.
• The first 2 attempts I gave while I was still in college, so I had basically zero idea about the UPSC examinations. In my 3rd attempt I did not revise well for Prelims. Fourth attempt could not complete the mains paper. This year I was able to manage things better.
• In my earlier attempts , the notes I made from editorial were too huge and I couldn’t revise them completely before mains. Also I had numerous sources and did not stick to the syllabus. There was also lack of revision. This time I tried to fix all these issues.

My General Studies ( Mains ) Approach

• For GS. my constant companion was newspaper. I religiously read The Hindu and Indian Express certain editorials and Explained page
• I had 4 copies (GS 1,2,3,4). I arranged all editorials most relevant under those copies. Wrote the editorials in very crisp, revisable manner, which can be read for mains revision. This note-making was the key of my preparation. Whenever new value addition would come, you can always staple a page to add up the content.
• I was not very regular with Monthly current affairs.
• I made notes for every topic mentioned in the syllabus. The notes could be handwritten, digital, bookmarked sites, but my aim was that when I sit for revision I don’t struggle for sources. I should have everything at one place. And then value addition as and when new topics or CA arises
• I had joined ForumIAS Current affairs class for Mains 2019. I personally found it very helpful because of the teaching way of Sir. I think that for the first time I realised how to prepare a topic and summarily and make it concise. If I had known about it three years back, I would have been in a much better situation.
• The Concise notes of the class helped in quick last minute revision. That was the icing in the cake.

Answer Writing is Important

• Answer writing is irreplaceable and of utmost importance
• I started writing answers from December 2018 for mains 2019. People can start even earlier.
• I wrote answers in bullet forms.
• I used two inks for heading and main content. I have this habit since childhood from school so it has stayed.

My exam hall strategy for GS Mains

• Out of 80 questions of all GS, I attended nearly 78. Some question I dint know, so wrote half a page kind of thing. For optional this time I completed the paper . Strategy was to complete the paper anyhow.
• I start writing answers from Q1. In first one-hour finish 8 questions (10 marks)
• In 2nd hour 7 questions (from Q11 – 20 markers), 3rd hour rest. Focus was to follow this as much as possible.

My Interview Preparation

• I studied Economic times for a while to gain a different perspective. I gave in total 5 mocks before interview. I had gotten Sujata Mehta ma’am Board.
• My interview was on July 23rd. So it was very different with mask, shield and all that. It was alarming at first.
• I belong to Odisha so many questions were focused on the same like issue of migration in Odisha and how to tackle it like
  • Olive ridley turtle
  • How to make Puri a global tourist destination
  • Questions on child labour and its reason for persistence
  • Women issues in Odisha
• I couldn’t answer maybe 20% of the questions.
• They were mostly factual details about Odisha and politely replied I’m unaware

Qualities that are being tested in Interview

• I am not an expert on it so I can’t say it exactly. But my focus was to be “ME” not fake myself, staying composed, saying NO politely to something you don’t know .
• They actually try and test you in-depth knowledge about an issue. The questions except for the factual ones are always answerable. They want to understand your mindset.

Do you thing marks in school or college and the job experience can impact one’s score in the Interview?

• No I don’t think so.

How was the interview experience? Was it predictable? How much did your preparation help?

• It was unique and different. I had not predicted anything. I went to the interview with an open mind. It was cordial and a great discussion
• My preparation helped in correcting many of my mistakes. I used to talk very fast, I did not think before responding, I was too lengthy in answering. These are things that I had fixed.

How much internet did you use for your preparation? How much value did it add

• I completely relied on internet as I did self study.
• Starting from collecting sources my own notes, to solving online quizzes, CA I was completely dependent on it.

Did you make notes? Why yes or no? Did you find them any useful (if you made them).

• Yes I made self notes. I completely relied on them for my whole preparation.
• My revision was based on the notes which acted like my one-stop destination

What do you think is the most essential quality/qualities needed to clear this exam?

• Patience, Perseverance, Consistency and above all Hard work ( it should be smart as well )
• Couldn’t think of one… they form an inseparable group.

Did you join any offline and/or online coaching? What relevance do you find of coaching in preparation of this exam?

• I joined Upendra Gaurs’s 3 months course for Sociology which made my foundation very strong.
• I joined ForumIAS Current affairs class post prelims which helped in quick wholesome revision of CA

What is your advice to the young aspirants who look up to you?

• Hardwork has no substitute and Consistency is the key.
• Stay focused

What is the best advice that you have received?

• Don’t think if you would crack it or not, just give your best shot

What did all hurdles you face while preparing for it? And how did you tackle them

• Depression and helplessness. Feeling that I am not good enough. Self-doubts. But I think that this is something that we face in every walk of life when we are not able to get what we want.
• Self-reflection on what motivated me in the first place to choose this career path, self-motivation, talking to friends was how I tackled it.

Hello everyone, I am Partyush Pandey. I graduated from IIMA in March 2019 and had decided to appear for the exam this year itself. I didn’t have a mentor so I had to spend a lot of time reading about the process through online blogs by previous year toppers. When I left college, I had a slightly better understanding of how to proceed, and that greatly simplified my preparation. I believe UPSC is more about understanding the path you will take – walking along the path is the easier part.

PLEASE MENTION YOUR STRATEGY AND BOOKS/NOTES DID YOU REFERRED TO FOR GENERAL STUDIES AND CSAT?

GS – same strategy I use in life. Look at the cost and look at the benefit – spend as much time as you can in high benefit low cost area, then move to high benefit high cost, then move to low benefit low cost, and only then if you feel you need to study more then go to low benefit high cost. You must see past year papers to know – subjects like environment, Science and Tech, modern history, and topics like Buddhism, Jainism are very high benefit.

• Similarly world map and monetary policy (conceptual question), and even national parks/wildlife sanctuaries – at least 1 come almost every year. These must not be neglected.
• Things like dykes, sills in geography, or random ocean currents I hadn’t seen in papers in last 5-10 years, and personally always found boring – low benefit high cost for me, so I skipped. I never studied for 200 marks for prelims, only to qualify – prelims won’t give you a rank.
• Nothing for CSAT, didn’t feel any need, but I’d advise giving a mock test if you’re unsure, and if you score <100 then you might want to spend a little time.

GS (STRATEGY AND BOOKS)

BOOK LIST:

In addition, ForumIAS created a document with handwritten notes ( Current Affairs Classes ) on important topics some weeks before Mains – I found it relevant, it covered many topics in a short space.

WHICH TEST SERIES DID YOU JOIN? HOW HELPFUL DO YOU THINGS SUCH TEST SERIES ARE?

• Forum IAS MGP and Lukmaan IAS for mains, Triumph IAS for sociology. Test series are as useful as you make them – what you get out of them depends on what you put into them, how you think about and act on the feedback. I think I spent as much time writing test series as I did on revision – it’s a generalist exam and frankly, you don’t need as much content as it seems you do.

HOW MANY QUESTIONS DID YOU ATTEMPT IN GS? HOW MANY DID YOU GET RIGHT?

• Attempted 93 or 95 or so, I don’t recall. I made a lot of mistakes that day, more than I ever did, somewhere around 30 wrong (don’t recall exactly, I never live in the past – give the exam and move on).

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE OPTIMAL NUMBER OF QUESTIONS TO ATTEMPT IN PRELIMS? DO YOU ADVISE ACCURACY OR MAXIMUM ATTEMPTS?

• You need to figure it out for yourself; one size never fits all. Whether you go for the accuracy or maximum attempts, you must practice that strategy in the mock tests you give before prelims. I barely “knew” 20-30 questions for sure, I always went for maximum attempts; very rarely did I not attempt 100/100. It worked for me; I usually got 120ish in mock tests; though a lot of guesses went wrong on the day of the exam, I’d attempted so many that the right ones compensated for it and I probably cleared with a 5-10 mark margin. Which is what I wanted – prelims doesn’t get you a rank, and I spent as little time as I could on it.

IF YOU HAD TO PREPARE AGAIN WOULD YOU CHANGE YOUR STRATEGY IN ANY WAY?

• Not really. I spent quite a lot of time deciding my strategy before I actually prepared because I didn’t want to have this regret that I could have changed my strategy and succeeded. So I’ll say – sharpen your axe for 4 hours, then you’ll only need two hours to cut the tree. Otherwise, you’ll find it takes much longer.

Mains examination

HOW DID YOU PREPARE GS?

• Have listed the books on my blog. The most useful thing I found was a blog by Gaurav Agarwal (Rank 1, 2013) – GS is a generalist paper, you DON’T need to know a lot to write great answers. This sounds very simplistic, which is why I’ve written in great detail on my blog about it (it would be too long to repeat here)

HOW DID YOU COVER CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR MAINS?

• Would read editorials, newspaper at breakfast on my phone or while cycling in the gym. I referred to popular monthly compilations for Mains. If you understand how you need to answer questions in the exam, you can read much faster (again, explained in blog with example of an article on EIA changes).

WHAT’S YOUR OPTIONAL SUBJECT AND WHY?

• Sociology, partly because I had interest since I’d taken a couple of courses on it in college, and partly because I didn’t have time and could find useful material easily. And I wanted something new, not the same subjects I’d learnt in college. Though I’ll say sociology didn’t live up to my expectations – I’d mostly read Marx and Weber before, and no one else came anywhere close.

PLEASE SHARE YOUR STRATEGY AND BOOKLIST FOR SOCIOLOGY OPTIONAL?

Optional 1

STRATEGY: This is a paper mostly about the six thinkers. Interlink each of them – for example, use Parsons/Weber/Husserl to criticize Marx if the question is about Marx. It’ll become much easier, you’ll have lots more to write. I gave as many names of sociologists as I could, and some examples from news wherever I had any. Rest, I felt the paper very similar to GS.

BOOK LIST: Referred IGNOU books, Tusharanshu notes, yourarticlelibrary.com

Optional 2

STRATEGY: Two distinct parts in this. One is the Indian sociologists, you need to know about them. The other is very GS type – feminism, caste, poverty etc. Point is this is a SOCIOLOGY paper not GS. So I always threw in as many names as I could in all my answers. I would say “According to Veena Das/ Dipankar Gupta” before my point – otherwise it would just become a GS answer. Also tried to use current affairs examples wherever possible – so questions on youth/women would have Greta Thunberg, Nadia Murad, questions on SC would have Bhim Army and so on.

BOOKLIST: Tusharanshu notes, yourarticlelibrary.com

DID YOU JOIN ANY CLASSES FOR YOUR MAINS PREPARATION? IF YES THEN HOW USEFUL DID YOU FIND THEM?

• Did not join, always preferred studying by myself. Had referred to Current Affairs Class Notes of ForumIAS which they released before Mains 2019.

HOW IMPORTANT IS ANSWER WRITING? WHAT WAS YOUR STYLE OF ANSWER WRITING?

• Answer writing is everything in my opinion – you’re only judged by what you put on the paper, not what you know. I read Gaurav Agarwal’s post for answer writing (it is hands down the best thing I found in this exam) and spent some hours studying Anudeep Durishetty’s answer sheets. In a nutshell: Go wide, – give more dimensions and fewer, shorter points. My answer writing strategy literally WAS my preparation strategy – I’ve written on it in great detail in the link I’ve shared, I think it might help.

HOW MANY QUESTIONS DID YOU ATTEMPT? WHAT STRATEGY DID YOU FOLLOW FOR MAINS EXAMINATION IN THE EXAMINATION HALL?

• Attempted all questions – I never leave any. It’s hard to say how many were right – I didn’t know quite a lot of the questions – I’d never heard of CyberDome project, never come across overground workers specifically, and some questions in GS 2 were the size of a paragraph and made little sense in the exam – but I always wrote answers, using a framework I’d developed.

IF YOU HAD TO PREPARE AGAIN WOULD YOU CHANGE YOUR STRATEGY IN ANY WAY?

No, not too much, maybe wouldn’t have used some of the books I first referred to, but I think this is something you find out for yourself only once you begin. Don’t get bogged down by the mystique and aura around this exam -I’ve always believed in thinking for myself, and there is ALWAYS a simpler way if you’re willing to look for it. I’ve elaborated in my blog.

• I joined ForumIAS MGP. Very very professional. It was impeccable. – I never had to waste time asking for my copies, they came right on time. The feedback helped me a lot – Mains is all about answer writing when you come down to it.
• I made significant tweaks as per the feedback in my answer writing, which frankly I think is the key.
• Sharing some of my Answers ( which I kept improving upon )
• I didn’t particularly follow the blog, but I have read some of Neyawn’s articles and enjoyed them. Not the usual clichéd content you see far too often, he shares ideas of his own. That helped.

Interview

HOW DID YOU PREPARE FOR THE INTERVIEW? DID YOU ATTEND ANY MOCKS?

• I was working after mains so didn’t have too much time, I attended 4 or 5 mocks on the weekends. Mocks can help you as a rehearsal for the main event, especially if you’ve not given interviews before. But you still need to apply your mind, not just blindly follow everything you’re told.
• I faced R.N Choubey Board.
• I don’t recall all questions exactly, will do my best – C = Chariman, M1,M2,M3,M4 are members, my answers are in italics, and in brackets I’ve added any comments I have now, looking back at it)
• C: What are you doing currently? Working as a Risk Analyst (seemed to make a good impression when I mentioned my role and firm)
• Why is it not mentioned in the form? I joined immediately after my exam, I found I couldn’t simply sit at home. (Again it seemed to make a good impression, I think because I meant what I said)
• C: What is your work? What’s the role, what do you do, how is it useful? Gave the big picture – identifying customers at risk of defaulting on loans, predicting in advance which segments of customers are likely to face high stress in repayment,
• C: How do you do that? Isn’t there a credit score already known? Mentioned about insights generated from the firm’s internal metrics that go beyond simple credit scores
• C: Don’t you think AI can replace you? I don’t deny it can take over many of our functions, but I think that, at least in the near future, it cannot. The broad strategy is laid out by humans based on their goals, not by AI. And there are always outlier events – take the pandemic, which has triggered a recession and led to huge defaults. So I think AI couldn’t replace humans completely just yet.
• C: You are just saying that because your job depends on it. Just smiled, didn’t answer – I don’t think it was a question.
• M1 (only female member): So you must have heard of the Nirbhaya case (it was March 20, day of the hanging of the convicts) – what is your opinion on capital punishment? (I’d expected either violence against women or capital punishment. Interview isn’t like Mains – don’t quote committees or blindly parrot answers. I also don’t believe in giving the same bland answers especially if you don’t agree with them so I didn’t say we should abolish it or just answer “rarest of rare”). Many countries, especially those in Scandinavia have abolished capital punishment (CP). But I feel that our circumstances are different, we have a less stable neighborhood, so we cannot simply imitate them. For example, in the Kandahar hijacking, hostages were used as a bargaining chip to secure a terrorist’s release – in these cases, CP could be justified. And, there are some crimes, such as the Nirbhaya case (that was the Question, after all), which are so barbaric as to be a crime against humanity- this is the rarest of rare, where I believe CP may be the most just punishment. And I feel our judicial process has a lot of safeguards to prevent a miscarriage of justice.
• Something about violence against women: I don’t think it’s as easy as changing attitudes; attitudes are hard to change and that will take a long time. Security and deterrence, along with providing women the independence to stand on their own feet, are as important, especially in the short term, while also working on reforming mindsets in the long term.
• M2 (I think he was from the Air force): You mentioned terrorism. Why do you think India hasn’t been able to eradicate it in seventy years? (Rather surprising, didn’t have a ready-made answer – you might have to think on your feet in the interview). I think that, for a long time, we focused on attacking the symptoms and not the root cause. We only worked on defending against the aggression of our neighbours. That has changed in the recent past with the air strikes conducted – we’re no longer simply defending against the symptoms but attacking the root cause.
• Is that all? It doesn’t help that we have a hostile neighbourhood, with one neighbor committed to attempting to bleed us through a thousand cuts and another supporting it. I think it’s not reasonable to compare India with other countries, say in the West, which have a far more peaceful environment.
• M3: What would you do to develop a district? Tell me 3 things you would focus on. (I never give big, fancy answers in these questions – I’ve seen too many presentations, all those ideas remain on paper. I only say what I personally would do). I’d concentrate on education. Quality control is much harder when schools are scattered, and many schools have very few children and teachers. I’d work to consolidate these schools into one large institution, where I could ensure high standards. Then I’d focus on healthcare, following a similar approach, to aggregate and automate purchases and bring down costs while raising quality, perhaps leveraging e-consultations and retired medical personnel who could be motivated to volunteer. Third thing would be employment…I think that, if we handled education and healthcare, employment would take care of itself. To get good teachers and doctors, you have to provide good roads, good houses, good facilities – so only through this would education and healthcare be improved, and once it was done, we would see investment coming of its own accord.
• M3: Have you heard of ___ scheme in UP (don’t recall the name)? No, sir. I haven’t heard of it.
• M4: What is organic farming? What do you think of it? I described it simply, as farming done without the use of chemicals in fertilizers/pesticides, with natural inputs as far as possible. (I sort of got a bit carried away then) First I mentioned about Zero Budget Natural Farming that had been quite popular in the media and in some states. But I went on to say that there have been allegations that the yields are low, that it requires a very high labour cost, and that it’s an unscientific and unproven method not backed by any studies. So I ended by saying that in my opinion, the decision should be left to farmers – we’ll support them by subsidizing a new technology and then allow them to choose if they want to adopt it. And that I believe a pilot based approach would be best – carry out scientific estimates in a few areas, and if the results are favorable, scale it up.
• M4: So you are such a person who has been to Sanskriti School, then IIT and then IIM – why are you coming to civil services? (This is the hardest question. There are 2 answers – the simple one like diversity/challenge which doesn’t require thinking and is for the consumption of others. The other is you own – it takes hours of thinking.) I spoke about myself – I’ve worked in the corporate sector, and I joined IIMA because I enjoyed learning at IIT and again loved it at IIM. That IIM isn’t just about jobs and packages – I chose courses in public policy, infrastructure development and financing and economics. And at IIMA, I interned at the Clinton Foundation in my second year because I wanted to see how it would be. Only after all this did I decide to appear for the exam. (One suggestion, if it helps you adopt it – I never spoke about civil services in Why IAS – the board knows much more about the job, what can I tell them that they don’t know? I always use interviews to talk about myself instead)

WHAT QUALITIES DO YOU THINK ARE BEING TESTED IN THE INTERVIEW? SOME STRICT DO’S AND DON’TS FOR THE INTERVIEW FOR ASPIRANTS AND INTERVIEW CANDIDATES?

• I think a personality test is basically about the Board deciding whether they can see themselves working with you – would you be a colleague/junior they would like to work with? In consulting, they call it the airport test – can I sit with this guy for 8 hours in a flight without being bored? I decided long ago I wouldn’t put on a fake face for any interview, since then all my interviews are either really good or really bad. I haven’t got my marks yet, but I’m confident they’ll be high or low, not average. Try not to be boring – the board sees dozens of candidates, if they all follow the same script no one will remember you. If you be yourself, no one else will be like you. The rest is the same – you can admit you don’t know a question, nothing matters. Dress/Manner of walking etc are tiny things- whole point of these are that no one should notice them, meaning it shouldn’t attract adverse attention – don’t get fixated on them. It’s the easiest and most fun part, don’t worry about it till you clear mains. Focus on prelims and mains first. So I can’t give you any strict Dos and Donts!

DO YOU THING MARKS IN SCHOOL OR COLLEGE AND THE JOB EXPERIENCE CAN IMPACT ONE’S SCORE IN THE INTERVIEW?

• Not much, what you say in those 30 minutes matters. If you make a bad impression, your marks/job will not save you, if you make a good impression, your below average marks won’t hurt you. Don’t be cocky if you’re from a good college – let’s face the truth, we just cleared one exam to make it there, and most of us in these colleges aren’t as brilliant as the outside world thinks us to be. If this sounds harsh, it’s because I’ve seen so many IIT/IIM guys think they’ll clear the exam like a breeze and failing repeatedly. One thing I want to tell all those from top colleges – I know this exam is in some ways crueler for you, you have my sympathy – if you fail, you will see surprise/malice, and if you clear, you will hear, “I’m not surprised you cleared”. It doesn’t really matter, learn to focus on yourself and not what others say, for they will always say something (if you clear, you’ll hear, “Why IIT/IIM and then IAS? Why “waste” a seat?”)

HOW WAS THE INTERVIEW EXPERIENCE? WAS IT PREDICTABLE? HOW MUCH DID YOUR PREPARATION HELP?

• Some of it was predictable, some was not. Preparation helped – pausing before speaking to collect my thoughts was especially useful, which I had focused on in my mocks.

Miscellaneous Questions

HOW MUCH INTERNET DID YOU USE FOR YOUR PREPARATION? HOW MUCH VALUE DID IT ADD?

• My whole prep was through the internet. Value added depends on you. There is so much harmful misinformation, I’ve created a list on my blog of what helped me.

HOW DID YOU BALANCE SO MUCH RESOURCES AND DATA? WHAT SMART TECHNIQUES DID YOU USE TO MANAGE YOUR PREPARATION IN A BETTER MANNER?

• Written extensively in my blog, it’s very detailed. Hope it helps someone.

DID YOU MAKE NOTES? WHY YES OR NO? DID YOU FIND THEM ANY USEFUL (IF YOU MADE THEM). PLEASE SHARE A HIGH QUALITY SAMPLE IF YOU MADE NOTES. ALSO WERE YOUR NOTES ONLINE OR OFFLINE?

• Very scattered notes, relied a lot on Google. Some online, some offline – I realized I don’t need to mug so much information, there’s a better way to learn (I’ve shared it)

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE MOST ESSENTIAL QUALITY/QUALITIES NEEDED TO CLEAR THIS EXAM?

• Think for yourself. No one can do your thinking for you, and no one will, for no one cares as much about your success as you do. If you ask me to tell you which book to read or which optional to take, you are not likely to make it frankly. DON’T expect spoon-feeding, it doesn’t help.

WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE TO THE YOUNG ASPIRANTS WHO LOOK UP TO YOU?

• Don’t look up to me. Don’t over-hype this or any other exam; there are far better things to life, and clearing an exam doesn’t make you great, it’s what you do after the exam that counts. I’ve never listened to “motivational” or “inspirational” stories, I want to make my own story. So be your own hero, don’t make me or anyone else one.

WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED?

• Too much to go into now. There are too many amazing things I’ve read and tried to make a part of me, I’ll share only some I can think of right now. If you REALLY understand even one of these, your life won’t be the same.
• “You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish. I have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be. It’s their mistake, not my failing.” Richard Feynman
• “I want to learn more and more to see as beautiful what is necessary in things; then I shall be one of those who makes things beautiful. Amor fati: let that be my love henceforth! I do not want to wage war against what is ugly. I do not want to accuse; I do not even want to accuse those who accuse. Looking away shall be my only negation. And all in all and on the whole: some day I wish to be only a Yes-sayer.” Friedrich Nietzsche
• “Beautiful things of any kind are beautiful in themselves and sufficient to themselves. Praise is extraneous. The object of praise remains what it is—no better and no worse. Does anything genuinely beautiful need supplementing? Are any of those improved by being praised? Or damaged by contempt? Is an emerald suddenly flawed if no one admires it?” Marcus Aurelius

WHAT ALL HURDLES DID YOU FACE WHILE PREPARING FOR THE EXAM? AND HOW DID YOU TACKLE THEM

• College schedule (for all those in B-schools, you know about free-riders, I was blessed with countless study groups where out of 6 people I usually was the only one who did the project), People telling me not to drop out of placements (apparently that’s the only purpose of an MBA and IIMA). Nothing very great – I’m lucky enough to come from a financially comfortable middle class family and I know others have it much tougher.

WHAT ROLE DID FORUMIAS PLAY IN YOUR PREPARATION? DO YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR US?

• MGP was highly beneficial. As I have said in my video interview, it was impeccable. No suggestions.

C.S.C. Achieving top slot in the Judicial Services Examination is no small feet, accept our heartiest congratulations on your splendid success.

Ans: Thank you so much. Much obliged.

C.S.C. Can you recall the exact moment when you realized the importance of Judicial Services?

Ans : When I was pursuing LL.B., one of my seniors cracked this exam. That was the time I determined myself towards Judicial Services.

C.S.C. Finally, at what point of time did you make up your mind to make career in ‘Judicial Services’?

Ans : While pursuing LL.B., I was very clear in my thoughts that I have to become judicial officer to make my parents feel proud.

C.S.C. You must have read Toppers interviews in newspapers/magazines; what inspired you the most? Any particular success story which influenced your journey to this result?

Ans : Yes, toppers' personal experience and their strategies inspired me the most. Selection of toppers with similar educational background as mine. (as I did Computer Engineering)

C.S.C. Was JSE a planned decision or your parent’s wish? Did you keep in mind some time frame, for the examination preparation and number of attempts?

Ans : My parents have always wished that I should go for Judicial Service. (both my parents are themselves Class - A Gazetted Officers in the field of education and public health). No, because my parents had put faith in me that I will definitely succeed.

C.S.C. Describe the exact moment when you came to know about the importance of Judicial Services?

Ans : When I visited Court for the first time and witnessed the fame and respect received by the Judicial Officer.

C.S.C. About Interview Boards, many candidates have set impressions. Do you consider such thoughts help or hinder one’s performance in Interview?

Ans : No, not at all since the Board is there to select you & not to reject you. So one should focus on his own personality, fresh up legal knowledge & work on building own confidence. (Instead of setting impressions about Interview Board)

C.S.C. What was your first step when you were really serious about making a career in Judicial Services?

Ans : I joined Ambition Law Institute, Delhi which I consider to be my first step towards my journey.

C.S.C. Were you confident of your success in this examination and how did you react to this news of your success?

Ans : Though I was confident but the real news actually surprised me.

C.S.C. In how many attempts have you achieved this success? How do you visualize your preparation/previous attempts?

Ans : This was my fourth attempt. I used to analyze each attempt and tried to make amends in the next attempt.

C.S.C. Were you preparing for other career opportunities as well while preparing for your ultimate goal i.e. Career in Judicial Services?

Ans : No, I prepared for the Judicial Service only & wanted to focus on it. I thought that my best effort would come out only when I dedicate better part of time to preparation.

C.S.C. While the changing economic environment offers immense lucrative career opportunities in various sectors, still what kept you motivated towards Judicial Services?

Ans : The dignity of this post & opportunity to serve society and my family's support kept me motivated.

C.S.C. What's important and what's not? Share your thoughts and opinions.

Ans : Most important thing is to have faith in ourselves despite of many unsuccessful attempts. Secondly patience is very important. Surround yourself with people who motivate you and stay away from negative thoughts (just cancel them out)

C.S.C. 'Time Management' - is a key factor while making preparations as well as in writing examination papers. Did you come across such a problem during this period? If yes, then how did you manage things?

Ans : Definitely, while I was in Ambition Law Institute, Alok Sir always told us to focus on answer writing. Answers should be specific and must also be done in a time bound manner.

In Ambition Law Institute, we used to get a topic daily for answer writing, which certainly helped me during Mains preparation because through that I did daily exercise of answer writing. I had covered quite a number of topics already.

C.S.C. Was Judicial Services Examinations a planned thing for you? Had you thought of some time frame for this examination?

Ans : Yes, Judicial Services Examination was a planned thing. My main focus was to give my best in the exam.

C.S.C. List some of the Magazines, News papers, Books etc. which you read for 'General Studies’ preparation.

Ans : For magazine Civil Services Chronicle and for newspapers, I read The Hindu as well as Indian Express.

C.S.C. How did you prepare yourself for Interview? When and which Board did you face? How did your interview go on, how much time it lasted and what were the questions asked during the Interview?

Ans :My strategy was to be thorough with the Law subjects & also be aware of recent judgments of Honorable Supreme Court and High Court. I also did research about the latest amendments. My interview board was very polite & my interview went well. It lasted for about 10 minutes.

C.S.C. What is the importance of medium of examination for exams like JSE?

Ans : Medium doesn't really matter if one has good command over his language.

C.S.C. Does the educational, financial and demographic status of the family of an aspirant have any impact on the preparation?

Ans : I didn't think so. Constant support is all what an aspirant needs from his family. In my case, throughout my journey, I had constant support from my family and friends who never doubted & had faith in me.

C.S.C. According to a recent report published by reputed survey agency, Civil Services Chronicle is the largest read Career & Competition magazine. What is your opinion?

Ans : So true, I along with my other fellow aspirants highly relied upon Civil Services Chronicle for GS preparation.

C.S.C. What is the secret of your success?

Ans : My family, my teachers, my friend & definitely my hard work & patience.

C.S.C. To whom would you like to give the credit for your success?

Ans : My parents, they constantly supported me throughout my journey. I believe that god has been very kind to us. I would also like to thank Ambition Law Institute for guiding me through this journey.

C.S.C. Your favorite person.

Ans: My parents.

C.S.C. Your Strong Point.

Ans: Hard work & positive attitude.

C.S.C. Your Hobbies.

Ans: Reading & volunteering in animal care.

C.S.C. Any suggestion/advice you would like to give to the future aspirants.

Ans: Never give up. Keep working hard and have faith in your preparation. Hard work always pays off.

Thank You very much and wishing you all the best for your future endeavors.

B I O - D A T A

NAME : KIRTI

FATHER'S NAME : Dr. Anoop Kumar

MOTHER'S NAME : Dr. Santosh Kumari

DOB : 20.07.1990

EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS :

PREVIOUS SELECTIONS :

C.S.C. : Heartiest congratulations to you from Civil Services Chronicle for your success. How are you feeling about it?

Dipankar Choudhary : I am very happy. I am also very excited for new challenges and opportunities. Finally all my hard work and patience has paid off and I can take a sigh of relief.

C.S.C. : What is your inspiration for becoming an IAS officer? Whom do you give credit for your success? What is the role of family and others (teacher, friends) in your preparation and success?

Dipankar Choudhary : My father who is a retired civil servant was my primary inspiration. I could see myself working like him. Civil services give you diverse opportunities and the chance to grow to your full potential. That itself was a huge inspiration for me.

I give credit to my parents, my elder sister, my mentor Mr Smar Ranjan he is associate members of indian institute of public administration. He has always stood besides me throughout my preparation. He is truly my mentor in all respect.

my friends and my fiancé (Tanwika) for my success. Family, friends and your mentor are your support systems, your pillars of strength and a source of constant motivation and guidance in this long and arduous preparation. They help in every possible way be it mental support, emotional support, financial support or guidance of any sort.

C.S.C. : What strategy one should follow for preparing for General Studies Prelims & Mains? Did you integrate your Prelims and Mains preparation or was it separate?

Dipankar Choudhary : Yes, the strategy should be integrated but there are times when you need to prepare separately too. 3 months prior to prelims, you should be more prelims oriented and after prelims you have to be Mains oriented.

C.S.C. : How much time did you devote for Prelims, Mains, Interview, Optional ? How did you manage your time in both prelims and mains examinations?

Dipankar Choudhary : I started preparing in 2016 and in 2018 I was selected with a rank of 166 and was serving as an IPS in Kerala. So almost 2.5 to 3 years of dedicated preparation. Intially, like I said my preparation was integrated. For optional, it took me 5-6 months to finish it once and cover my basics. Thereafter I polished it; added more material, examples, theories; wrote test series and kept discussing with Smar Ranjan Sir.

I used to put in 8-10 hours of dedicated study everyday after I left my job.

C.S.C. : Did you prepare notes? How helpful are the notes? What is your advice on notes-making?

Dipankar Choudhary : Yes, I prepared notes for optional, ethics and modern history. For current affairs and everything else, I relied on the books and magazines but I used to scribble at the margins, cross reference everything and highlight using a marker. They served as my notes and I revised them over and over again for, maybe, I guess 7-8 times. I also prepared diagrams and flowcharts for many topics in my notes.

Notes are very important. They help you to revise speedily. As far as my advice goes, you can and should make notes specially for optional. The notes should be as concise as possible. You should be able to revise the entire paper 1 or paper 2 of your optional with the help of those notes in 2-3 hours.

The same goes for any subject you choose to make notes for. Making notes for current affairs can get very bulky in my opinion, so better rely on magazines and newspapers. But if one feels that some topic for current affairs is difficult to follow and understand then one can make notes for it.

C.S.C. : What was your optional?What was the basis of selecting this optional? What strategy one should follow for optional?

Dipankar Choudhary : My optional was Public Administration. I chose it because I had a very good mentor and the syllabus was simple. Moreover it overlapped with GS Paper 2, Indian economy, social issues and ethics.

For optionals it is very important to make notes and read good books. One shouldn’t completely rely on readymade notes but make it for oneself. Also keep reading Yojana, newspaper, NITI Aayog website etc for case studies, examples etc. Write test series to gauge your level of preparation.

C.S.C. : What was your preparation strategy and books which you referred for Ethics Paper?

Dipankar Choudhary : I relied on class notes of Mr Sanjeev Kumar, my public administration notes wherever they overlapped and examples from various sources like newspapers and Yojana. I also wrote test series for it.

C.S.C. : Tell us something about preparation of Essay paper.

Dipankar Choudhary : For essay I practiced a lot and focused on my flow and lucidity. The essay shouldn’t look abrupt and bumpy. The connection from one paragraph to another should be smooth. You don’t have to prepare extra GS topics for essay. All you should do is practice and focus on your writing skills.

The trick is moderation. Use of examples, stories, anecdotes, facts, case studies, personal life examples, quotations from eminent people, poems or couplets etc, but all in moderation. To develop these practice a lot and get it reviewed from peers and mentors. Read good essays written by toppers.

C.S.C. : What was your style of writing in the exam? How was it distinct from the general writing style? How did you develop this writing style?

Dipankar Choudhary : I focused a lot on presentation i.e. use of diagrams and flowcharts. I used it in almost 8-9 questions in every paper. Don’t overdo it though. Interlink your content by using cross referencing when revising as I have already mentioned. Focus on an edge of 1-2 marks in each question. Write answers point wise and also number all your points. You can use paragraph for introduction, conclusion and to connect two different parts of the answer but these should be brief, to the point and crisp. Avoid flowery and flamboyant language.

C.S.C. : How did you prepare for interview? Which type of questions were asked in interview? Did you answer all? Was there any specific area they emphasised upon?

Dipankar Choudhary : I prepared my DAF in detail and went for some mock interviews. They asked me questions mostly about my engineering background, my home-state and hometown and some situation based questions like-

If you have to make one amendment in the constitution of India, what would it be?

If you were asked to explain Fourier transform to a student of 9th standard, how would you do it?

What should India emphasize on, education budget or defense budget?

No, I didn’t answer a few questions. I simply said that I don’t know and I will look them up for the questions I didn’t know the answers to.

C.S.C. : Importance of coaching in the preparation of exam.

Dipankar Choudhary : Test series and the guidance of a good mentor is vital. You don’t have to join classroom classes necessarily.

C.S.C. : What is the role of Civil Services Chronicle in your success?

I have referred it for current affairs and a few other topics. I read topper’s strategies from it and used it to enrich my preparation.

C.S.C. : What is your source of Preparation? Which Books, Magazines, News Papers and Online Sources were used by you during your preparation?

Dipankar Choudhary :

C.S.C. : Suggested Book list for Optional paper 1 & 2.

Dipankar Choudhary :

Paper 1

• Nicholas Henry
• Stephen Robbins for selected topics,
• BL Fadia,
• MP Sharma,
• Prasad and Prasad administrative thinkers,
• Three books by Mohit Bhattacharya-Restructuring Public Administration, Public Administration: New Issues and Perspectives, Social theory and development administration.
• The public administration theory primer by H George fredrickson and Kevin smith,
• The public policy theory primer by Kevin smith and Christopher Larimer
• Post Modern Public administration by Hugh T. Miller and Charles J. Fox
• Selected IGNOU material.

Paper 2

• 2nd ARC report,
• Punchhi Commision report,
• Yojana which are relevant.
• RK Arora,
• BL Fadia,

Current Affairs,

Updates from NITI Aayog website

• Books: Ancientand medieval history: IGNOU Material.
• Modern history: Bipan Chandra andS.Chand publication BL Grover- A new look at modern Indian History.
• Geography: DR Khullar and Savinder Singh.
• Economics: NCERT of class 11 and 12; and current affairs of 2.5 years.
• Social issues: current affairs of 2.5 years and Public administration material.
• Polity: Covered in Public administration.
• Ethics: Sanjeev Sir's notes and Lexicon.
• International relations: current affairs of 2.5 years and online material to look up background.
• Art and culture: IGNOU and CCRT.
• Environment: Self made notes, NIOS and current affairs of 2.5 years.
• Newspaper: Indian express and Mint.
• Online news portals like: Scroll, HW News English, WIRE, Firstpost, The Print etc.

C.S.C. : Heartiest congratulations to you from Civil Services Chronicle for your success. How are you feeling about it?

Pradeep Singh : Thank you I am feeling very happy and satisfied.

C.S.C. : What is your inspiration for becoming an IAS officer? Whom do you give credit for your success? What is the role of family and others (teacher, friends) in your preparation and success?

Pradeep Singh : My inspiration for becoming IAS to is to work for the downtrodden sections mainly farmers and daily wage labourers. There has been immense support from family friends and teachers during my preparation. I would like to give them all the credit for my success.

C.S.C. : What strategy one should follow for preparing for General Studies Prelims & Mains? Did you integrate your Prelims and Mains preparation or was it separate?

Pradeep Singh : I think prelims and mains are the two different phases of the single exam and therefore one should prepare for each phase with a different mindset.

However there is some syllabus that is common between prelims and mains and one need to focus on the factual aspects for the prelims and need to focus on building the opinion for mains.

C.S.C. : How much time did you devote for Prelims, Mains, Interview, Optional ? How did you manage your time in both prelims and mains examinations?

Pradeep Singh : I've been giving this exam since 2016 but started preparing seriously for this exam since 2017. I think one need to give focus to the mains and optional upto 6 months before the exam but last 6 months should be totally devoted to the prelims preparation.

C.S.C. : Did you prepare notes? How helpful are the notes? What is your advice on notes-making?

Pradeep Singh : Yes I also prepared the notes. notes are very handy when you have very less time for revision. One should make notes at least for the miscellaneous topics which you will not find normally in the conventional books.

C.S.C. : What was your optional? What was the basis of selecting this optional? What strategy one should follow for optional?

Pradeep Singh : My optional is public administration. I chose this optional because I have done BTech in Computer Science in Engineering which was not an available optional in the UPSC optional list and also I find it interesting and relevant to the service for which you are preparing.

C.S.C. : What was your preparation strategy and books which you referred for Ethics Paper?

Pradeep Singh : I have prepared some handwritten notes for the terms that is being given in the ethics paper 4 syllabus. for case studies I have practiced them enough before going to the exam.

C.S.C. : Tell us something about preparation of Essay paper.

Pradeep Singh : Essay is one paper which gives you the freedom to write freely in the exam. one should feel the freedom to write the essay. for preparing essay one should take cues from the topper’s copies of essay and from videos available on YouTube etc.

C.S.C. : What was your style of writing in the exam? How was it distinct from the general writing style? How did you develop this writing style?

Pradeep Singh : I did not have a single writing style in the exam . Actually one has to write the answer to the question according to the demand of the question. one needs to do enough answer writing practice to develop a style.

C.S.C. : How did you prepare for interview? Which type of questions were asked in interview? Did you answer all? Was there any specific area they emphasised upon?

Pradeep Singh : I prepared for the interview from various sources like internet newspaper magazine etc. interview mainly emphasized upon the government schemes , farmers problems , india china relations etc. there were some of the question whose Answer I wasn't able to give.

C.S.C. : Importance of coaching in the preparation of exam.

Pradeep Singh : The requirement of coaching depends upon various factors like availability of resources, study material , proper guidance. If it is available by any other means then there is no need of coaching. Otherwise you need someone while you start preparation and teach you if you are a fresh candidate.

C.S.C. : Suggested Book list for Prelims, GS & CSAT and Mains Paper 1 to 4 and Essay.

Booklist for prelims

• Spectrum for modern history
• Laxmikant for polity
• NCERTs for geography,
• Ramesh Singh or coaching notes for economics