 Hello everyone, I am Atulesh Ha and I have got rank All India 131 in UPSC CSC 2021. I would like to discuss with you how in my five successive attempts I was able to improve and build upon my preparation and I finally got this success. So a lot of us right from the start realize that bureaucracy is something that has charmed us, we wish to be a part of it and we want to be aspiring to join it. So that is something that has always fascinated me right from my youth in my school days and I also began preparing for it in my college. So in the last year of my college I thought that okay I would like to give an attempt. So as soon as I was out of my college in 2016 I gave my first prelims. I was testing the waters for the UPSC, however it so happened that UPSC tested me and I flunked the prelims. I realized one very important part that you cannot take this exam lightly or any of its aspect as unprepared. There are three steps, prelims, mains and interval and we have to be diligently prepared for all three of them. In my second attempt of 2017 I could clear the prelims because I had dedicated time and effort into it. However I could not qualify the mains because I was lacking content and answer writing. We need to realize that these two are the pillars of success in mains. So we have to have good content and we have to have good answer writing. In 2019 I again qualified the prelims and I had better prepared for the mains. I had more content practiced answer writing as well. However, unfortunately it so happened that my marks did improve in mains but they were not good enough for an interview call, therefore I failed my prelims again. In the 2019 mains I realized that structuring of answers was very important and it was something that was missing. I discussed it with my peer group, I discussed it with my mentors and I realized that I need to work on that. In 2019 as prelims do near, I was confident of clearing the prelims as I had done it in the past two attempts with flying colors. But here UPSC again proved unpredictable and I could not qualify prelims by a very small margin. This was earth shattering at that moment. That was my fourth failed attempt and I was very devastated when the prelims result came out. However, I gathered myself up and restarted preparing for my fifth attempt. This goes on to prove that we cannot be overconfident about ourselves at any stage of the examination. All three stages of the exam need dedicated, diligent preparation every year or every attempt that we are about to give. Then finally in the fifth attempt of 2021, I was able to clear my prelims. I wrote my mains, I also got my interview call and then finally I achieved all India rank 131. However, it was a long journey, it was an arduous journey and there are few important pointers that I would like to share with you to help you understand what mistakes you can avoid going ahead in this preparation. The first and foremost learning that I have from my journey is we have to treat each stage with equal respect, give ample amount of preparation and time. We cannot procrastinate at any stage, don't bluff yourselves least of all try to bluff the UPSC examiner. If you are feeling stuck at any stage, take help from coachings from your mentors, discuss and deliberate your answers with your peer groups, they help you a lot especially if they are also into UPSC preparation. The syllabus is very important, we need to memorise it very clearly, we need to know each aspect of it and prepare accordingly. Answer writing is also a very important aspect, fortunately my peer groups and my mentors always helped me work on it and therefore I never gave up hope. I kept myself motivated because I was backed by them and I also felt that I am making improvements over the years. At the end, we need to realise very sincerely that not everyone is going to qualify this exam. There are very slim chances of either of us qualifying even if we give our heart and soul for this preparation, therefore there is no need to take failures as the end all be all but rather as a stepping stones to success. The failure doesn't define your intellect, it does not quantify your wisdom, it only is an indication of your preparation for this specific examination. Whether your heart was not into it, whether you missed something is something that we need to analyse and assess and work upon. There is no shame or stigma in having a plan B during your preparation as well. It can be regarding other government jobs or state services or even private sector jobs which you have an efficiency in. Because there is no certainty in this exam, the only certainty is that it will help us to understand and realise the status of our country and the various institutions. It helps us make a better individual but it does not define whether or not we are going to qualify this exam. Also having a plan B keeps our mind at ease when we are preparing for this examination and we are able to better focus our resources during our preparation. Each of us who has been through this journey, whether short or whether long, has realised something very important. We have learnt some things that are very important and we need to keep reminding ourselves that whatever we have learnt we will apply that in our life whenever we come across be it the constitutional ethos or values of our society that we have imbibed during this preparation journey. That is the foremost lesson UPSC examination teaches us. Thank you.