Dr Apala Mishra, a dental surgeon, joins the rank of a long list of medical professionals who have chosen civil services as their career. Apala has created quite the stir by scoring a whopping 215 out of 300 in the UPSC personality test/interview round, making her the top scorer in this last stage of the examination. 2020 was Apala's first time clearing prelims and she made it to the top of the list by securing an all India rank of 9. This was also her 3rd attempt; however, this is her first serious attempt as well.

Why Civil Services?

Apala decided on pursuing civil services in her final year of graduation. She says she chose this path once she realised the varied scope and wide opportunity that this career allows one to pursue, where they can impact a much larger section of society than they ever could as professionals in their respective field. Apala's choice of service is the Indian Foreign Service, which she chose so that she can represent our country's interests on a global platform.

How Dr Apala Mishra Topped UPSC CSE 2020

1. Science Students Are Not At A Disadvantage

As a STEM background student, Apala was initially intimidated by the number of humanities subjects she would have to deal with to be successful in this examination. But she soon realised that the strength of humanities subjects such as society, polity, international relations, etc. lies in the fact that they can be easily connected to real-life scenarios. Besides, as adults of a certain age, we can grasp any subject given we put enough time and effort into it.

2. Self Study Can Be Enough 

The next hurdle of course is grasping basic expertise over these subjects. Although guidance is a helpful tool, Apala truly believes that in the end, it is hard work and dedication that pays off. As a result, she is a believer in self-study. 

3. Conquering The Syllabus One Bit At A Time

Apala also realises how massive a goal cracking UPSC CSE is and how looking at the bigger picture in this scenario can be crippling. She recommends breaking UPSC Syllabus down into smaller weekly and monthly targets and celebrating with small breaks and activities one enjoys after achieving each of these goals. This will allow one to keep focussed and motivated, without losing hope.

4. Preparing For Prelims+Mains+Interview Together

Under no circumstances should an aspirant look at the three stages of the examination as separate when preparing. All information one needs for mains is relevant in both prelims and interviews. It is only a matter of perspective. Besides, there is not enough time gap between the three stages to allow for separate approaches. Another important part is answer writing – start with it as soon as you finish one section; do not wait till you are one with the whole syllabus.

Message For Aspirants

Apala has a fair warning to all aspirants that this examination takes a toll on everyone's mental health. 

So remember to take care and prioritise yourself.

Best of Luck.

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Jivani Kartik Nagjibhai is a serving IPS officer of Gujarat cadre who secured an all India rank of 8 in UPSC Civil Services Examination 2020. A mechanical engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, this is Jivani's 3rd attempt. He was successful in getting selected on his second attempt into the Indian Police Services. However, he kept trying to reach his IAS goal and has finally found success this year. He also holds the record of scoring the highest marks in Gujarat state civil services.

Coaching And Self Study

Jivani did not take any coaching classes in his 2017 attempt. However, having been unable to qualify mains, he decided on taking some guidance. His 2018 rank of 94 is a testament that this was a well thought out and successful move on his part.

Strategy

Jivani has cracked prelims on every attempt. His scores were always 10-15 marks above the usual cut-off, which allowed him to start his mains preparation immediately after prelims and gave him the peace of mind to progress. 

Jivani kept his sources limited to standard sources. He revised every source 7 to 8 times combined in all his attempts. He started each source by reading it in a very relaxed and open-minded manner, much like how one would read a storybook. This allowed him to understand the source material's structure and content so that the next time he picked up the same source to study in more depth, he already knew which topics to cover and how.

Jivani also made crisp notes for each subject. For example, his whole general studies Geography was consolidated into a 50 pages note. This allowed him to revise everything multiple times in very limited periods. For books like Laxmikant or Spectrum, which are already in notes format, he simply highlighted the main keywords. This allowed him to revise the entire Laxmikanth in just one day.

Cracking UPSC Prelims every time

There are certain tricks that Jivani followed for the actual exam that he believes allowed him to achieve this difficult feat.

Elimination Techniques

A lot of this comes down to proper practice. When you have taken enough tests and solved enough previous year's papers, you realise there are ways of making choices even when you are not 100% certain as to which is the right answer. By eliminating options based on which are least likely to be correct, you can make an informed guess as to which of the options is most likely to be the correct answer. 

Equal Weightage For Options

Jivani realised by going through the previous year's question papers that in prelims, each of the four options is correct 25% of the time. This trick may not be very helpful towards the beginning, but at the end of the exam, if you are unable to solve only a few questions, you can use this tip to figure out the most likely response.

Overall, UPSC Civil Services is about smart work, the willingness to study hard, and perseverance. Candidates that embody these qualities will always find success in this exam.

Best of Luck.

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Hailing from the Jamui region of Bihar, Praveen Kumar is one of the toppers of the Union Public Service Commission's Civil Services Examination for the year 2020. A graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K); Praveen has previously cracked the GATE examination with an all India rank of 5 and Engineering Services Examination with an all India rank of 3 in 2018. He even chose Civil Engineering as his optional for CSE, such is his expertise over his core field. This was his 2nd attempt. In 2019 he had qualified prelims but failed to qualify mains.

UPSC Study Sources

 Praveen followed the usual sources such as Laxmikanth for Polity and Spectrum for History. He followed the PMF IAS's Geography book and believes it to be an excellent source. He also followed Shankar IAS for Environment and believes similar books by PMF IAS are equally good sources. Praveen believes popular books suggested by toppers are all good sources. It matters how well you study them by following the UPSC syllabus and previous year's questions, and revising them multiple times, instead of moving from one source to another. For current affairs, Praveen followed The Hindu Daily Current Affairs and supplemented it by following the PT365 by any leading coaching. Keeping your sources limited and revising multiple times is key.  

UPSC Prelims Strategy

Praveen's prelims strategy pivoted around its 3 components – static, current, and test series. Praveen focussed on revising his static portion 5 to 6 times and his current affairs compilations 2 to 3 times at least before prelims. Solving the previous year's papers starting from 2011 is important. He took 2 to 3 full tests from different coachings to get a broader idea.

UPSC Mains Strategy

The most important step is making notes for each topic mentioned in the syllabus separately using both static and current materials. Revising these notes multiple times ensured Praveen could recall information at the drop of the hat during the examination. Concentrate on creating notes for the static part first and then add the current affairs sequentially to them. He had revised these notes 5 to 6 times before the exam.

Answer writing is the next step. Unlike most toppers. Praveen did not practice any daily answer writing series. Instead, once he had completed a subject, he started solving 2 or 3 questions asked in upsc mains previous year's papers on the subject by UPSC each day. Taking a test series and ensuring you complete each test of 20 questions within the allotted time is also one of the keys to being able to complete your mains paper during the actual exam.

Last Words

Praveen believes if you take the time to understand a topic completely while reading it, you need not face any difficulty recalling it and writing answers related to it when the time comes. However, if you try to simply learn information without actually analysing it, chances are, your answers will never be up to the UPSC standard. So study well, concentrate on developing a deeper understanding, revise and practice to the best of your ability, and you too can crack this exam.

Best of Luck.

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