 ॐ drummer' Briwan Universe good afternoon please sit town Gauri come I hope you all remember you're meeting with Gauri right gauri who addressed you before interview when I was grooming her personally for the interview and she was delivering talks also with you in other centres of as a matter of her practice तो रई कर भारक्त कर बश्यात के लियार ते कर बरस्नाः के ना ड़ेरा सम परकाहते है सरह कुई। फरिस की आँई वेख़्ा सकिट वीख़्े कि रवार्ग़े के आप रई लोगे है एक वग़्े है। एक तो समाल प्रसंथे थान कर थी के रवार ग़ाई ौf the first time she had got 186 and we had made a plan and me and Gowri made joined effort the Gowri not less than 200 ृ and she said yes sir that is the thing which will ensure the rank ृ So, I'm happy and I'm really proud of her that she has got 206 in the interview and she is finally IS with 47th rank ृAnd naturally you have a connect being attached with Chanakya ु आब और लग भाजा इसा किना जाने बी श़ासारुएक अंफार प्रशत्या साथने कषीग तुर्न्थ जए विगा कहाँ। । । । । ।। ।। । ।। । । । ।। । । । । । । । । । । । । इतृदिम बनुनapter आप कब पासाशालीटी वैन। ऐसे जान। अगर पीटाद़ा मार्फीं म्दिष्षणता, निश्ज्छा सर, अगरवाशा वेजी ईक तुर्भीसभाशा, निज्ज़ा सर आच मैंदेजा देरेगा कर्घाता, छे बगोन्ता, सच्यटम्यासि। मिश्रसर अंकसाद्या लगाव्याव्याष्टुछ़। सी और सहाठा। मुऽद्ऩी चुट्चित। शिठ्टा। क्या टौब लोगे में नईच्णाचाद। साहठा। अइंब आश्परलाजी ये जेड़ने। सहाच़ासि। हI was a very often a source of confidence and motivation for me. I remembered that before going for my interview,it was on the 12th of April, I spoke to him twice. A number of feelings one is going through, nerv natness is one of them. But talking to him always served as a source of confidence and relieved stress and gave you that kind of motivation that one should go and perform out there. Because he believed in me. टीक्टीटा टीक्टीटीटी को हुग । । । । । । । । । । । ।। । । । । । । । । । । । । । । । । । । । । । । । । । । । । औरने नहीं वहने दीगवाँ करगाचा करूकाची और धीखा कर्चा करकाचीके आपजागी के लिए लेँग हमादी उसोग मैं, तो ब्हता,calm everything that somebody else suggested may not be the wise thing to do for this exam. Okay. So the first thing I would like to share with you is that during this journey there were a lot of ups and downs for me, particularly in my first attempt I could not clear the preliminary exam. वाजा छ़ापची है, मेर्टे आप झे इसकोखात को वी एक में ख़िरती मैगा ज्यात् है. मैं्गोगा मैं आफ गादे रहुग प्लिए ज्यात् है. वो मैं वी ज़ुप आप गादाचा लेजा के लागा से लिची मैं, ब्र मिना और अगोगा ऎस प्रष्हित है। वहाँ कि बवहाँ लोगाँ लीक। में भी वोनागा लोगाँ वोनागाँ वोनागाँ tochा भी खेजा मुवाँ, ईवें उसी श्वरिजट तवाँ आण जत, and यो सब जाएजों एक चल 1890 और तो देखाँ थागय, भी ओ़क्डाट देवर नकबायाल जोर जोरोंगे लेगे एक ञादडीग कर दधादन और अवर वो जी तरजाडेश़ा कुई रचन्दों के आए वागद थ मुग कुई तभी अगदेवाよ, पर दूगदर तवाद और सचैताथनो, जोर के रहें, तो बहो कोगंो टलगने ल Because when you would have a setback or when you would find it hard to continue this journey of the exam, it will be that motivation that will keep you going. That drive within you, that result within you that will help you. that will help you. That is what helped me. Also, I did my graduation and post-graduation in economics. And I wanted to, I mean, I was fortunate enough to receive a good education and I wanted to use my education productively for the people around me. I had the chance to sit for placements both during my graduation and post-graduation but I did not wish to work at a company. Personally, I did not want that for myself. I wanted something that is more at the grassroots level, more real, more connected with the people, the kind of challenges and dynamism that I had seen my parents face in this job. I wish that I could also get that and use my education to kind of sail through it. So, one of my advice would be that do not be motivated to sit for this exam because of superficial reasons. Because the real motivation lies in your inner drive, what you want to do, ask yourself that. And there is a very real answer which if you can get, you will find yourself motivated even during the loads. That is what happened to me. So, my father used to say this phrase in Hindi, करना है, तो करना है. तो मुजे जो मन ता करने का, जो मेरे अंदर जाए ये जनुन ता, that is what kept me going during those low phases. And hopefully if you also find that motivation within you that is all within you, it should help you also. Okay, so after this, the next thing I would like to elaborate a bit about some pointers for the preparation, some important things that I feel you should definitely incorporate if you think that you would be okay doing those things. One is about the importance of current events which are given in the newspaper. I don't think I can ever emphasize enough the importance of reading the newspaper for this exam. Both, in fact for all three stages, preliminary mains and interview. So, I'll begin with the preliminary stage. If any of you would have either written the preliminary exam this year, it was on the 28th or would have gone through the paper, you would have seen that a lot of the questions are questions that cannot be solved by reading static books. And the kind of knowledge that the question requires for you to be able to answer it is found in newspapers and articles that come over a period of time. So, for example, maybe some of you will relate there was a question on the animal which does the waggle dance. Then there was a question about the flag code of India. There was a question about countries having satellite constellations of their own. So, all these questions have been mentioned in the newspapers in the past few months. So, it's important that you read it, not just rely on the compilations given monthly or weekly or six monthly, but read the newspaper and so that you're able to recall. For example, say an article has come in November last year brillances many months afterwards. So, it's important that for you to remember it, you note it down. Ideally, I mean, I did this, I maintained a register and I noted down facts or pieces of information that I thought are likely or can be asked in the preliminary exam. It is highly advisable you do that because static books will not give you the kind of answers, will not give you the kind of knowledge that is required to answer the questions. Secondly for means, a lot of your notes and answers if they are heavy in current affairs, you're able to add value to your answers using current affairs. So, your notes should be heavy in the newspaper content and your answers should also majorly comprise of them. That is how you will be able to score better. If they ask you a question, if you give static information, definition, advantages, disadvantages, whatever the question asks you, you will get normal marks, average marks. If you add examples from news, if you add schemes, government programs for the issue, occurrences, international relations, disaster management, if you have the recent examples, those are things that will add value and they will help you score better. So, both for prelims and means, newspaper form a major chunk of the preparation you put in content-wise and knowledge-wise. So, I'll give you an example. For example, last year in the GS3 paper, there was a question on climate change and Kyoto Protocol. So, anybody can write on climate change if you have studied basic preparation you have done. But if you would have been reading the newspaper, you would know that an IPCC report has come. It has stated that this much temperature increase has happened. You would read, for example, many disasters that are occurring in different parts of the world because of climate change. So, I remember writing that floods in Pakistan, wildfires in Europe and the US, more specific examples. All this happened last year. So, if you maintain a note of such examples from the newspaper, when the question comes, your answer will be very specific. So, imagine if somebody reads it, they will feel that, okay, this person knows about the topic. They are well read. They are aware about the happenings related to this topic. So, keep the syllabus in mind and when you read the newspaper, jot down the examples, keep going through the examples so that when you have to answer in the exam, you are able to put in a lot of those examples there and add value to your answer. Okay, the next important thing I would like to talk about is referring to past year questions. UPSC keeps on surprising you. Last year, the preliminary exam introduced a new pattern of questions in which you could not use the elimination technique. You had to know exactly which of the four matched the following or statements are correct, which are incorrect and only then you could answer. So, these kind of questions come and so as to be prepared as much as possible till before you enter the exam hall. That was my target. Till I reach the exam hall, I should do as much as I can prepare myself as much as I can so that I can give my best in there. So, when you will go through these papers, you will see the variety of questions that UPSC asks. The pattern, it keeps on evolving, it keeps on changing, they introduce new types of questions. So, it will prepare you for the diversity of questions that you are likely to face in the examination hall. Also, I realized this when I was going through past year question papers, particularly for prelims, I am talking, that a lot of the topics are UPSC favorites in the preliminary exam. I found some of those topics on my own, I had my own list that these topics are repeated every year or every second year. So, it is good to focus on them because if one or two MCQs are assured from that topic, if you study it well, you will have the benefit, the cost-benefit ratio will be in your favor. So, for example, Buddhism, Jainism was one such topic. I found that almost in every preliminary exam, one question or two questions came. So, it is worthwhile to Google it, to read different material on it, note down the terms, go through it 3-4 times. For example, Ramsar sites, very frequently asked. It was asked last year also, it's in the news. For example, minor minerals. I think, if you don't read it specifically, you will not be able to answer the question. So, it's worthwhile. When you go through the past year questions, you will see that some topics are very, very frequently repeated. So, it may come next time also. You can have specific sheets for it, jotting down your notes, go through it repeatedly. So, this should help you. For mains, past year questions helped me realize the depth and the expanse of which I should be studying topics because the main syllabus is very vast. There are 4 GS papers and you have to at some point know, you cannot study everything about all the topics mentioned. So, when you go through the past year question papers, you realize, okay, again, some topics are more frequently asked. What are the kind of questions that are asked? In how much depth am I required to answer those questions? How much do I need to study about a certain topic so that I can write a 3 page answer on it or a 2 page answer on it within the given time frame that I have. The nature of questions in the mains exam is rather indirect. So, the question won't be explicitly asking you, okay, what are the pros and cons of this? It makes you think. So, it was for me a skill to realize that this is the question, this is the material and I have to be able to fit my material, my knowledge into what the question is asking. There is this gap that you need to bridge and you need to answer what the question is asking very specifically. So, for example, in this year's GS2 paper, the last mains, they asked a lot of case laws. The very first question about environment problems and the constitution, they said, answer with the help of specific case laws. So, you know that now when you prepare for GS2, you need to focus on case laws. You need to have those examples ready with you. It is likely that it can come again. It's a new pattern to introduce last year but you have the advantage now. You know that it has come, it can come again. So, when you go through past year questions, it helps you realize how much and how you need to study. I also used to do this other thing that when I used to go through past year questions, say I have read my notes for GS2. So, I'll take the GS2 paper of last few years and then I'll read the question and I'll draft the answer in my mind. So, you don't have to write it down. That's time consuming. You draft your introduction. Then you think of, okay, what points can I write? What diagram? What map? What examples? What committee? What articles can I quote? What conclusion? In your mind, I used to just jot down not even the point, just one-one word. So, somebody else who would read it would not understand anything but to you, you've written five points. You can expand it into a three-pager there. So, this is practicing answer writing without actually physically writing. You can practice a variety of questions like this very quickly. So, it helps you think quickly and organize your thoughts. So that in the exam because it's very difficult to get time to think. In three hours, you have to answer 20 questions. You have seven minutes for a 10 marker and you have 11 minutes for long questions. In the beginning, you usually take more time. So, you're very short on time. So, you cannot see a question and be like, okay, should I write this or should I not write this? It has to be quick. Thinking and writing has to happen simultaneously. So, if you do this exercise, I did it and it helped me. You go through the questions and you draft the answer in your mind. Okay, so this was about past year questions. Then, the next thing I want to emphasize is the need for self-study. For me, it was the only and the one major thing I did. Personally, I felt that I did not require classroom guidance. So, I majorly devoted time to self-study but it's different for different people. If you feel you require that kind of confidence, then you should definitely seek mentorship or coaching of that sort. For me, self-study allowed me flexibility to set my own targets, make my own schedule. I knew my own weaknesses and strengths and I learnt during the course of my attempts, okay, I need to focus more here or not focus. So, major chunk used to go in that. If you come to the class for coaching, please go back and study. That is what's going to stick with you. Revise what was done in the class or do according to your own schedule but that is what is going to help you and do it as per your own plan. So, for me, my planning used to work in reverse. How it used to work is say, I kept five days for my optional first paper. My optional was economics. So, if I kept five days and there are five units, that means one unit a day. So, whatever may happen, that one unit a day has to happen. Whatever number of hours it takes, I never personally kept account. So, that is how it helped me. So, I knew that, okay, this day to this day to this paper, then this day to this day to this paper. Sometimes you can interchange. You don't feel like doing optional. You want to do constitution. So, you can change it but this should be fixed and you should plan and strategize your self-study. I used to take breaks every day while studying. The reason for that is that you need to sustain a certain level of effort you put in for a long time. Usually, even if people get in in the first attempt, it is one year of entirely devoted studies and that one year of the exam, prelims, mains and interview. So, usually minimum two years, you need to sustain a certain level of effort for which it is necessary that you have certain stress busters, certain ways to relieve yourself. So, for me, I used to go in the evening for a walk with my father almost on all days, particularly between the prelims and mains exam, that is a stressful time of about three months and you have a lot to cover. So, those walks used to help me kind of re-energize myself, revive myself for the session of studying at night. And I was never particularly of social media or of my phone deliberately but I think that it happens automatically a lot of it because when you have to put in so much effort and you have to cover the syllabus, every day you have your plan, you will automatically see yourselves withdrawing from things that take up your time. You will not even miss not doing these things because just there is so much to do at hand. So, if you are honest with yourself and disciplined and focused about what you want, I was and I did not require deliberate outside intervention of not using my phone. I did not even know where it was that is just how it is because you have to put in that much effort you cannot afford to waste time on such things. So, know yourself if you feel that you cannot discipline yourself like that then no harm to ensure that you are putting in the required effort but focus is enough to maintain a balance between fun things and studies. I used to talk to my friends also very often share them with a bit how my day was maybe crib a little bit about how much and how much I had to do. So, all those things used to help me. I used to do all that every day but in a very regulated kind of way so that my preparation is not affected. Then some people have asked me in the past few days about the CSAT exam after I have not been through the recent one but from what I have heard is that it is increasingly becoming difficult and is becoming a challenge for a lot of the students. So, in my personal experience what happened was that I have studied in English medium and my bachelors and masters both were in economics which are quantitative skills heavy courses so you require mathematics. So, I felt that I have a certain base in the CSAT syllabus so I did not put in extra effort in that. However, to check whether I will be able to get the qualifying marks, 66 marks in my first attempt I had solved the past 5 or 6 years CSAT question papers and I did it in a simulated environment I timed myself for 2 hours and I solved and I was getting around 100 or 110 around that so then I realized that 66 is the cut off and if you are making that by a good margin then you do not you can completely focus on the first paper the GS paper so a good way for you to test if you need to put in extra effort for CSAT is by solving past your question papers simulate the actual exam environment and give them and see how much you are scoring in case you are not getting reasonable margin over the cut off it will be worthwhile to devote some time so get the study materials for CSAT and attempt it also this other thing I realized in CSAT was that there are 80 questions even if you do 40 questions with the reasonable accuracy rate you will get about 100 marks which is well above the cut off you are required to clear it is a qualifying paper so when I used to be doing CSAT I used to skip the questions in which the mathematical questions in which I felt that the solving would be long calculation would be long, the equation is complicated or if at the first go you feel that this question will take time I will have to write a lot I used to skip it because if you think about it you can skip every one out of two questions you can afford to skip that is not to say that if you know do not do it but so I used to not because CSAT also has time constraints it is difficult to do those 80 questions in the two hours so I used to skip those questions and then it is better to attempt the easier ones in those 80 and reach your target number of 40 45 I used to I think last year I attempted maybe 48 or 50 so so that is the other thing while attempting the paper because if you attempt similarly you will suffer by a negative mark the next thing I would like to speak about is the interview in which I had special guidance from sir that during the interview process some things I focused on particularly the DAF which is basically like the information in your CV current affairs and brushing up my optional which is also economic so it is relevant generally also so I thoroughly prepared these things DAF specially where you are born where you studied any question that can be remotely asked read upon it form opinions practice speaking practice talking so practicing on my own was a very major part of my interview preparation because I used to pose questions to myself from current news topic you know what is your opinion on this what is your opinion on that and you actually when you say it out loud you realize how you sound and what words sound like what how you come across as what you might think you sound like is different from what you actually sound like so I did a lot of self correction by practicing on my own I attended some mocks I attended mocks at Chanakya in my previous attempt and I attended one in this attempt as well that helps you kind of gain confidence because you actually face a panel of bureaucrats former bureaucrats so it was a good confidence booster for me and that kind of helped me at the interview stage the next thing that I would like to speak to you about is the choice of the optional subject because it is very important you have two papers and it makes a lot of difference to your marks so personally speaking for me there was never a doubt about the optional I was going to take I did both my graduation and post-graduation in economics and I liked studying the subject so I thought that I would be happy taking it as my optional and studying it again for the UPSC exam so I my parents although they had suggested that I look through some other optionals but I was pretty clear that I did not want to dive into something new at the point I had been studying the subject for a while and I liked it so I would say that when you want to decide your optional you should take into account some things of which the first thing would be your interest in the subject it may be that it is your graduation subject that is the subject you like it may not be the case but it is very important that you like studying it because you will be required to put in a lot of hours studying your optional so if it is a subject that you are not fond of then it will be very difficult to do that I really liked economics so I was very happy when I had to shift from GS to my optional preparation I liked doing that secondly please see the syllabus for whatever optionals you are considering see the books that are majorly recommended go through some of those books it will give you a good idea as to what exactly the optional paper consists of what the syllabus is of UPSC so that is another thing you can do if you want to decide your optional and I would advise because I did that please do not look at the scorability of an optional subject if you look at the people who score ranks year after year they are from a variety of optionals which tells you that whatever subject you may have chosen if you prepare well, if you give your paper well you will have chances of success so scorability is not the correct criteria in selecting your optional subject it was not for me it was my base, my knowledge and my interest in the subject and that is what my advice would be to all of you lastly I would like to say that it is a it is a difficult and challenging process and I always stayed true to myself during my preparation journey I never try to comfort myself in a fake way if I was not meeting my targets I knew it I analyzed my weaknesses yes whenever there were failures in the first attempt it was emotionally a setback for me so there were days I was very bogged down by this failure I had faced but eventually you come out of it when you remember your drive the reason you want to give this exam that happened to me and then it is course correction this is what I should have studied more I need to pay more attention to this I need to correct myself I need to change my strategy these are the questions I answered in my attempt thereafter staying true to myself helped me do this course correction you are the best person to judge where you need to work hard and do not be afraid of hard work it I think it is a necessity you need to put in the kind of hard work because the syllabus is so vast it is such a long process be focused throughout so those are some of the things I think that helped me and hopefully some of this will help you too don't forget to like share and subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon to never miss an update