(Success Story) UPSC 2021 TOPPER, AIR-23 Ashish Strategy for Cracking UPSC Exams

(Success Story) UPSC 2021 TOPPER, AIR-22 Ashish Strategy for Cracking UPSC Exams

Ashish has secured the 23rd rank in the UPSC Civil Services Examination, 2021. He is a native of Patna. He cracked the exam in his first attempt. After graduation, Ashish got the job. But soon he realized that he could not dedicate time to pursue his passion. Therefore he quit his job and started full time preparation for CSE and topped the exam with flying colours. During an interview by India Today when the question was asked why he chose civil services, he replied

“The most important was that a civil service was one of the most promising sectors in which I could get career out of working at the grass root level at least in the past few years. I think this was my primary motivation. There were other careers also with this type of profile but in the longer I thought that I was suited to this kind of service”.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND AND HIS UPSC JOURNEY

In 2013, he was selected for IIT. He has completed his Mechanical Engineering degree from IIT BHU, Banaras. After that, he worked in a Multinational Company for 3 years in Pune. Ashish wanted to prepare for the UPSC exam, so he left the job and started his preparation. He chose Sociology as his optional subject. In a very first attempt he cracked the exam with AIR 23rd and made his parents proud.

ASHISH UPSC PREPARATION STRATEGY

GIVE YOUR PREPARATION A CLEAR DIRECTION

Ashish said, in his very first attempt, he had a clear direction. Ashish urges aspirants to study from a limited source of materials and says that wherever possible stick to the tried and tested textbooks only. When you are studying, you must cross-check with the syllabus to ensure that they are covering everything in it.

MAKE THE NOTES, ITS BETTER FOR YOU

Ashish said, many aspirants make the mistake that they don't making notes. This may prove to be a costly mistake. Ashish said he made notes for the GS paper as well as his optional paper. Aspirants also must have a ready reckoner they can keep going back to. During the revision stages, it would be important to only go through the notes and not go back to the source materials. Having to recall points from different sources while attempting the paper is not advisable and having all the notes collated in one place is always helpful in answer writing.

APPROACH THE EXAM WITH A CLEAR MIND

He advised the aspirants, just focus on the exam and not thinks of ‘what if’ scenarios. In stress, it is difficult to apply intelligent guesses, extended concept application, examples usage to solve prelims questions, etc. The examination requires you to be completely invested in the preparation and not have a wavering mind. Do not make mistakes in the questions, for which you know the concept.

At last Ashish advised the aspirants to make their own strategy based on your personality. Don't blindly follow to others.

Conquer yourself and the whole universe is yours.