(Success Story) UPSC 2022 TOPPER, AIR-02 GARIMA LOHIA SUCCESS STORY AND TIPS

SUCCESS STORY UPSC 2022 TOPPER AIR 2: GARIMA LOHIA

Garima Lohia has secured the 2^nd rank in the UPSC Civil Services Examination, 2022. She is a native of small town in Bihar (Buxar). In the first attempt, she couldn’t get through the UPSC Prelims but this time she made it into the toppers list, scoring a total of 1063 marks. During an interview by Media she said, her mother was her constant companion as she went through ups and downs. She wants to work for Women’s empowerment.

Educational background

She completed her secondary education at Woodstock School and pursued her higher secondary education at Sunbeam School in Varanasi. Taking her academic journey further, she enrolled at Kirori Mal College, Delhi University, where she pursued B.com. After graduation she decided to prepare for civil services in 2020 during Covid-19 lockdown. After returning home, she started self-study and also took help from online study platforms. In her first attempt, she could not clear the prelims examination. She didn't give up and again worked hard and cleared the exam in the second attempt. She chooses commerce and accountancy as her optional subject.

GARIMA LOHIA'S PREPARATION STRATEGY

MAKE A WELL PLANNED STRATEGY

She said proper strategy will ease your UPSC preparation and make it more streamlined. With deadlines, you would work better and complete the upsc syllabus faster.

IS UPSC PREPARATION POSSIBLE WITHOUT COACHING?

Garima cracked the UPSC exam without taking any coaching classes. She had prepared using strategies used by previous toppers and online material, which also includes YouTube content.

PRACTICE MOCK TEST AND PYQs

Like every topper she also used to refer to previous year question papers and mock tests. She advised the aspirants, solve the previous year question papers, you get the idea about what kind of questions are asked from different topics, which areas are more important, whether questions are more from the static part or the dynamic part, etc. Regular mock test practice gives you a sense of writing the actual exam

APPROACH THE EXAM WITH A CLEAR MIND

She 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 Garima said, she aims to work towards the welfare of marginalized sections of society, bringing about positive changes at the grassroots level.

Sources: Internet and various journals & newspapers