Dr. Diksha Joshi has secured the 19th rank in the UPSC Civil Services Examination, 2021. She is a native of Uttarakhand. She belongs to the medical field but later she chose the Civil Services because she thought that she can give to society more by joining this field. She gave her first attempt in 2019 but she couldn't qualify it. Again in 2020 the same thing happened. Despite her failures, she kept preparing for the UPSC exam with the same enthusiasm and finally in 2021, she cracked the exam with flying colours and secured All India Rank 19th in her third attempt. During an interview she said, "She chose Civil Services over Medical field because she thought that the health system can be strengthened by going to the administrative service".

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND AND HER UPSC JOURNEY

She did her schooling from Dehradun. After that she joined medical college and completed her MBBS degree at Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences in Jolly Grant of Dehradun district, Uttarakhand.

While doing her internship, she made up her mind to prepare for the UPSC CSE exam. 

She started preparing for the UPSC exam in 2019. UPSC exam, 2021 was her third attempt. She already gave her two attempts. Despite her failures in the first two attempts, she didn't give up and kept preparing for the exam with the same hard work and consistency. She joined the coaching also in her earlier attempts, but it was not of much help, so for this year 2021, she relied on self-study only. She chose Medical Science as her optional subject. She scored a total of 1020 marks and made her name into the final UPSC list.

DIKSHA JOSHI'S UPSC PREPARATION STRATEGY

RELYING MORE ON SELF STUDY

Diksha said, as coaching did not help as much, she decided to rely on self study only. Diksha believes that there is no harm in taking coaching but self-studying gives you a more focused approach. When you indulge in self-studying then you are completely able to focus on your study material and not go on adding more to it. Making your own notes is the best way to prepare. In this way, you are able to evaluate yourself better. Diksha used to study for 8 to 9 hours a day. She divided 24 hours into three parts, morning, day and evening. She sets daily targets, weekly targets as well as monthly targets and sticks to the schedule.

INDIVIDUALISE YOUR PREPARATION

Diksha advised the aspirants, once you have acquired enough information about the syllabus and pattern of exam, now your focus should be to make a plan or strategy for yourself. It works the best for your preparation. Try to make your own plan, not follow the other's strategy. Making a proper plan is very important for those who do self-study. Try to avoid all sorts of distractions.

At last she advised the aspirants that you should individualise your preparation. Rather than following someone else's strategy, you should be focused on your strengths and weaknesses. The second suggestion would be to have faith in yourself whatever you are doing. Keep your resources limited and focus more on revision. Whatever you are reading keep checking the PYQs both prelims n mains.

Dr. Diksha Joshi wishes you all the best for your preparation. Good luck.

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