My journey of the magnetic Civil Services Exam

Greetings to the readers! 

I am Archana Kumari.  I have secured AIR 110 in UPSC CSE 2020 in my third attempt. 

This post shall walk you through my preparation journey which involved three years, three exams and three attempts at CSE.

I did not get through first UPSC CSE prelims in 2018 but secured 6th rank in 63rd BPSC (Bihar Civil Services) Exam. I did not get through UPSC CSE prelims for the second time in 2019 but passed Indian Economic Service Exam that year. Successes at these two exams helped me keep my calm, and enabled me to give my best in this third attempt in UPSC CSE 2020 where I finally succeeded. Some of you might relate to this journey but for most of you, my message is simple 'keep calm and work hard'. 

I would begin talking about my initial days of CSE preparation by quoting Nelson Mandela 'it always seems impossible until it's done'. Right from the day I started my preparation, time and again I felt that this was simply too big a goal, it felt unrealistic too as I had no body immediate to look upto, several questions used to hover in my mind -will I be able to qualify all the three stages of this exam? Even if I manage to qualify, will I be able to get a good rank ? Given financial constraints, can I do it with self study? And given information bombardment, which online resources should I follow? etc etc. These typical questions come up in the minds of most of the aspirants and I want to reiterate that this is normal. What you need to do is deal with them one by one, for clarity is very important to move ahead in this exam.

The best part about this exam is it's simplicity. There are three key aspects to get going. First, a simple, clear and straightforward planning. Second, following that plan diligently and third, sticking to that plan for atleast one full preparation cycle. You don't need to read or refer to something very exclusive to get a lead. All you need to do is keep the preparation resources concise, standard and ordinary. Now you may wonder, how you are going to get selected when everybody around is reading the same thing. To this, my view is that your way of studying, grasping, understanding and expression is going to make the difference. Apart from hard work, you must believe in yourself and use your common sense to the fullest coupled with syllabus and past year papers in deciding what to read, what to leave, to what depth should you read a topic, how to revise in lesser and lesser time subsequently etc. Even if you are guided by a coaching, don't ignore self study as that is when you internalize concepts. No matter how many tests you give and read their feedback, take out your "me" time of assessing your preparation level. This will boost your confidence. 

There are times when you feel clueless and dejected despite giving your best. And for many, prelims 2021 might have been one such moment. You start pondering as to which stone did you leave unturned. You wonder what to do now? That is when remind yourself of Einstein 'Doing the same thing again and expecting different results is foolish'. When I failed my first prelims by small margin, I resolved to shift to online note making so that I could access my notes anytime anywhere and could edit, organize it easily. However, I did not address the basic issue with the strategy which was lack of Revision. Again when I failed in prelims in second attempt, I introspected and finally made a commitment to myself to limit my sources and do multiple revisions of these patiently. And, that did make a difference.

Usually, you delve so deep into your preparation routine that you forget to take a look at the entire strategy from a vantage point, from a second person's perspective. Even after failure, you tend to go with the flow. Here it is very important to remind youself that CSE is a journey that has no one single way to succeed. Every single aspirant has carved his/her own path. These paths not only differ significantly but also depend on the unique needs, requirements and constraints. I believe you have to undergo your share of hit and trial with your strategy to know what works best for you. And at the same time, it is extremely important that you do not make CSE a matter of life and death or ego, it is an exam so treat it like one.

I hope it was useful. Subsequent post will talk about 'The mighty prelims' in detail.