Dr. Anshu Priya has secured the 16th rank in the UPSC Civil Services Examination, 2021. She is a native of Bihar. She belongs to the medical field but later she chose the Civil Services. In the first two attempts she didn't qualify the UPSC Exam, but in 2021, she cracked the UPSC examination with All India Rank 16 in her third attempt. During an interview she said, “Her motivation for joining the civil services is many folds. During her MBBS period, she had much rural visiting in which she had to go to the ground level and address people’s issues. She thought that there are so many things which can be done at the ground level, but it won’t be possible by only being a doctor. She decided to chose Civil Services.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND AND HER UPSC JOURNEY

She completed her schooling in Bihar. After that she went to Kota for the Preparation of medical entrance examination. After qualifying the entrance exam, she took the admission in MBBS at AIIMS Patna. After her graduation she also worked as a Resident Doctor at AIIMS, Patna. After completing her residency, she started preparing for the UPSC Civil Services Examination. She chose Medical Science as her optional subject. In the first two attempts, she didn't even qualify the prelims exam. After that she moved to Delhi to get the idea of UPSC examination. She joined the coaching. When she didn’t qualify exam in her first attempt she decided to leave her job and focused only on the preparation. Finally in 2021, she cracked the UPSC exam with flying colours. 

ANSHU PRIYA'S UPSC PREPARATION STRATEGY

READING NEWSPAPER IS VERY IMPORTANT

Anshu advised the aspirants don't take the newspaper lightly. Newspapers are very important for the Civil Services Examination. She said aspirants can read the newspaper ‘The Hindu’ and the explanation page of ‘The Indian Express’. With newspaper follow one current affairs magazine. It will help you in mains examination. Anshu said, she used to read the newspaper digitally and took screenshots of most important articles. She revised those articles before Preliminary Examination. 

DON'T IGNORE THE PYQS

Anshu said before starting the preparation one should get hold of the two most important things that will help you in sailing through this examination. Those two things are the syllabus and the previous year question papers. The syllabus will draw the arena for you and the PYQs will help you draw the core area for your civil services preparation. Don't ignore it. She said practicing PYQS gives a sense of confidence. 

OPTIONAL STRATEGY FOR MEDICAL SCIENCE

As she chose Medical Science as her optional subject she said, many candidates have a question, is medical science a worth optional for medical student. Anshu said, she think it is. During an MBBS period, aspirants already read basic books. If they read basic books, they also don't require any coaching. With books she used to take help from the internet such as the WHO/ Medscape website etc. She also followed the some videos of Anand Sharma sir on YouTube in which he has discussed the keywords of medical science questions and how to approach them. She joined a test series also because paper in medical science is generally lengthy so practice a lot as much you can.

She used flow charts, diagrams in her answers. She advised the aspirants, they can collect all these flow charts and all from their basic books and compile at one place. Further she added, diagrams are very imp in Anatomy / Physio.

DON'T  UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPORTANCE OF CSAT PAPER

Anshu said; the CSAT Paper is very important, so don't underestimate it. UPSC CSAT is a qualifying paper Prelims Exam. However, it is important to score 66+ marks out of 200 to ensure selection in Prelims. In one of her attempts, she couldn't clear the CSAT Paper. She focused more on it by practicing many mock test papers.

At last, Anshu advised the aspirants that UPSC is a long journey, stay positive during the preparation phase. Just focus on your goal and keep struggling consistently.

Anshu wishes you all the best.

© IASEXAMPORTAL

Yaswanth Kumar Reddy has secured the 15th rank in the UPSC Civil Services Examination, 2021. He is a native of Andhra Pradesh. He had also qualified the UPSC examination, 2020 and he was already a trainee IPS Officer. Again, he appeared in the UPSC Exam, 2021 and secured All India Rank 15th in his third attempt. 

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND AND HIS UPSC JOURNEY

He has completed his graduation in Computer Science Engineering from JNTU Kakinada. While doing graduation, he also prepared for the GATE. He got admission in M.Tech in IIT, Delhi. Within a month of taking admission in M.Tech, he got a job as an Information Systems Officer in Indian Oil Corporation. After that he left the M.Tech. Basically, he had started his career in IOCL, but he didn't satisfy with it. He started preparing for the competitive exams with job. His UPSC journey started in 2016. In 2019, he secured the 3rd position in Group-A conducted by APPSC. He worked as an Assistant Commissioner of State Tax in Government of Andhra Pradesh. After that he secured 93rd rank in Civil Services Examination, 2020. Finally in 2021, he topped UPSC exam with AIR 15th. 

YASWANT REDDY'S UPSC PREPARATION STRATEGY

READING NCERT BOOKS IS MUST

Yaswanth said that NCERT books are very essential for preparation of UPSC exam. It is an integral part of the UPSC syllabus. Basically, NCERT books helps in building a strong foundation. 

FOR PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION HE IS RELYING ON ONLINE STUDY MATERIAL

For Preliminary examination, he relied on online study materials. Before the preliminary examination, he solved few mock test series and practices the PYQS. He analyse the results in the mock tests and work on his weak areas accordingly. It helped him a lot in UPSC prelims exam. 

STRATEGY FOR CURRENT AFFAIRS

Yaswanth used to follow the newspaper regularly. He believed that newspapers are an utmost important resource for the preparation of current affairs. In mains examination especially for the Ethics paper, the newspaper provides many case studies and many real-life relevant examples which can be quoted in the case studies as well as in the normal ethics questions. If you read the current affairs daily it covers a major portion of GS Paper 2 and 3. Yaswanth advised the aspirants to maintain regularity in daily newspaper reading. This will help you in linking various events.

STRATEGY FOR MAINS EXAMINATION

Yaswanth said UPSC mains examination is the most crucial phase of our preparation journey. Mains exam scores will be extremely crucial in determining our selection as well as rank. Yaswanth advised the aspirants that since the mains paper is descriptive in nature, it is important that aspirants give enough time to answer writing in their UPSC mains preparation strategy. After reading any topic, try to summarise in your own words at the end of the day. 

Get your answers evaluated by your mentors or seniors to get a bit of idea of where you stand. Don’t panic about writing bad answers in the beginning. Practice does make one perfect, hence it is important that practice answer writing as much as you can. Give the mock tests regularly and solve the PYQS of UPSC mains examination. 

CONSOLIDATE YOUR STUDY MATERIAL

Most important thing consolidates your study material and revises them again and again. At the end of the day what you read it is not important, what you remember it is important. Just focus on limited content from limited resources.

 At last Yaswanth said, aspirants can prepare for the UPSC exam while working also. It can be said that Civil Services Preparation along with a job may seem challenging, but it is possible. If you stay disciplined, calm and focused, you can achieve this goal of yours.

Yaswanth wishes you all the best.

© IASEXAMPORTAL