(Success Story) Medical Science Optional Strategy - Dr. Dheeraj Kumar AIR-64

Dr. Dheeraj Kumar hails from the town of Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. He did his schooling in Hindi Medium till 12th, after which he proceeded to do his MBBS, and then MD in Radiology, both from Banaras Hindu University. His father is a retired police constable. He found his calling for public service when he realised that the less fortunate receive no aid from officials and vouched to change that. After his UPSC attempt in 2019, which was his first attempt, he went back and joined a hospital in Gorakhpur as a consultant radiologist awaiting his results.

Roadmap To His Journey

Dheeraj started his journey on 7th June 2018. He joined classroom coaching with Insights in Bangalore but felt self-study was more his forte. He immediately started by looking up toppers’ strategy. He streamlined and planned his preparation, continuing his mains cum prelims preparation, and moved completely to prelims preparations starting January.

The Syllabus Is Your Best Friend

Dheeraj made notes of 400-500 words for each keyword/topic mentioned in the upsc syllabus. He has studied the UPSC previous years’ papers and noticed how the paper set has been meticulously designed around these words. He recommends that all aspirants take special care in knowing and understanding each topic mentioned in the syllabus.

Why Medical Science Optional?

As an MD doctor, Dheeraj chose to take up Medical Science as his optional as it remains his field of expertise. It is a technical background and the UPSC syllabus is quite lengthy. It might be the downfall for many. But if you have studied well in your MBBS, and can right to the point answers, you will score well.

How Notes Helped In Answer Writing :

Dheeraj made notes for each topic which has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. The body had all positive, negative, and any social and government efforts in the field. The conclusion showed the way on how to make it work even better. Making notes this way helped him develop answer writing skills.

How To Prepare Your Medical Science Optional

The first step should be going through the UPSC syllabus. MBBS has 19 subjects across semesters. But one need not study them all during your UPSC preparation. Stick to the syllabus, use minimum resources, use diagrams and flowcharts as best as you can, and prepare notes keeping all these points in mind.

As there is a word limit, for cramming all the information in one answer, Dheeraj used flowcharts extensively. As most of the questions are from disease management, Dheeraj believed this is the best way to follow.

Medical Science Optional Notes By Topper

Test Series For Medical Science Optional

Unfortunately, there was no standard test series available for the Medical Science optional. Dheeraj had to stick to writing notes for the syllabus topics as a way to practice his answer writing.

Message To Aspirants

Don’t let the information overload get to you

There is an overload of information out there, both online and offline. Don’t get overwhelmed and stick to whatever is mentioned in the UPSC syllabus. Once you have finished the syllabus, only then move on to any other information. 

Write answers, time yourself. Keep your head down, and give it your hundred percent. 

All the best!

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