Ashish Kumar cleared the Union Public Service Fee (UPSC)’s Civil Service Examination (CSE) in 2019 and secured an All India Rank (AIR) of 53. This was his second try. Having spent his early years in Kurseong, Darjeeling, Ashish was all the time clear that he wished to try the UPSC examination.

In 2017, Ashish graduated in Economics and publish that in 2018 he selected showing for the CSE. Chatting with The Higher India he says, “Since I used to be clear about wanting to seem for the CSE I selected to not take up any job or project publish my commencement. Nevertheless, the primary try in 2018 didn’t finish effectively for me. I didn’t make it previous the prelims stage. Not clearing the examination, in hindsight, was good as a result of it allowed me to focus extra on my preparation.”

The cut-off mark for the 2018 CSE was 98 and Ashish says that he missed it by only a few factors. He scored 97.67 that 12 months.

“Whereas I used to be unhappy I knew my preparation for the mains in 2018 was not up to speed and due to this fact I welcomed the end result and deliberate my time to organize for my second try.”

In his second try in 2019, Ashish cleared the examination and tells us about what modified and the way others can do the identical.

1. Give your preparation a transparent path:

“In my first try, I didn’t have a transparent path. I might choose up numerous useful resource supplies and begin learning from it. I did not seek advice from the syllabus whereas getting ready and that was an enormous mistake I made,” he says. Ashish urges aspirants to review from a restricted supply of supplies and says that wherever attainable persist with the tried and examined textbooks alone. As and when one is learning they have to cross-check with the syllabus to make sure that they’re overlaying all the things in it.

2. Undertake earlier years’ toppers’ methods:

Whereas every aspirant finds their very own technique of preparation it will be useful to speak to friends and see what technique they’ve chosen to examine, says Ashish, “Don’t attempt to undertake the identical technique since that may not give you the results you want. Nevertheless, you should use sure components from their examine sample that may be useful. Chatting with your friends may also assist in clearing a few of your doubts.” Carefully understanding the technique, he says, adopted by earlier years’ toppers can even assist strengthen your personal examine sample.

3. Make notes that give you the results you want:

Yet one more mistake that Ashish made the primary time was not making notes. He says this proved to be a pricey mistake and he learnt from it for the second try. “I made notes for the GS paper in addition to my elective paper the second time. Aspirants will need to have a prepared reckoner they’ll preserve going again to. In the course of the revision levels, it will be prudent to solely undergo the notes and never return to the supply supplies,” he says. Having to recall factors from totally different sources whereas trying the paper will not be advisable and having all of the notes collated in a single place is all the time useful in reply writing.

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4. Rote studying will not be the important thing to success in UPSC CSE:

“Don’t go down the trail of mugging up all the things that’s written within the useful resource materials. Use reference factors to create thoughts maps that may show you how to recollect all the things you want from an examination perspective,” says Ashish. Doing it will show you how to visualise the place you must begin pondering from – guarantee that you’ve got a psychological framework for all main parts lined within the syllabus. Remembering your notes by-heart will not be what is anticipated of you.

5. Try as many mock checks as attainable:

Ashish says that in his first try he solely solved just a few mock checks, which in hindsight was a mistake. He says, “Attempt to remedy questions which you don’t know or which you aren’t utterly sure about. This can even show you how to develop the knack of elimination in the course of the examination. Don’t strategy the examination with a set mind-set, be open to connecting numerous matters whereas trying the paper. The extra mocks you try the extra assured you’ll turn out to be.”

6. Strategy the examination with a transparent thoughts:

Ashish shares that he approached the examination with a really clear thoughts and says that he had given himself three makes an attempt and was certain that if he didn’t clear the UPSC CSE inside these makes an attempt, he would decide to discover a job. “Concentrate on the examination readily available and don’t consider ‘what if’ eventualities. The examination requires you to be utterly invested within the preparation and never have a wavering thoughts,” he provides.

In conclusion he says, “Calm your nerves whereas trying the prelims. Bear in mind, if a query is tough for you, it’s in all probability tough for everybody else trying the paper as effectively.”

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)