 Chaturjyoti, I welcome you to this program Success Speaks. Thank you so much for having me. And lots of congratulations to you and your family. And especially when the very first attempt you made very to such a grand success with all India 28th rank. That is not a small thing, right? So you deserve a lot of compliments for that, right? I hope you got a chance to watch this program Success Speaks earlier also during your preparation. Yes, I did actually. I listened to Ms. Tina Dabi and Mr. Ahthar Amir Khan also. So there was really inspired me in this journey. So you watched quite a few of the interviews with me on Success Speaks. That's very good. That's the basic objective of this interview also so that you can reveal the secrets of success for the future aspirants, right? That is very good. Every editor of course has his journey. But everyone has some areas of strength and area to focus on, right? So if I ask you your secret of success which you want to value, which secret of success can be something different for every person. Your own strategy will be there. Your own strength will be there. While listening to us, you must have heard many stoppers. Whatever you are listening to, you will make your own strategy. I always say that every person has their own strategy because everybody is unique in doing something excellent in life. So first of all, I would like to know your that uniqueness or your focus area. What was your first goal? Sir, I kept my focus on civil services. I thought like first attempt, I will not think of any backup plans. I will just focus on my goal. That's what I did and which is what got me so far. And secondly, I think this exam requires a lot of motivation. And whenever my motivation was less than myself, so I had my family, my parents especially, supporting me, giving me motivation and my friends were also there with me. So it was a strong support network because of which I got cleared. You have actually used two very powerful concepts. One, you said no backup plan. Just focus on that. The second thing is about your motivation. Most of the parents, they remain bothered about these two things. So first of all, let's take up both of them. You said no backup plan. Usually, students feel that if nothing has happened, then what will happen? Something should be a backup plan. Very frequently, when I am in seminars or webinars, there is a question that what should be a backup plan? Then I say, burn your ship, burn your boat. If you want to achieve something, then don't try to look back. It's a very popular proverb. The proverb goes like this, burn your ship. It means that in the past, whenever the fighters used to go to fight against the enemies, once they crossed the river, once they crossed the river, once they crossed the sea, once they crossed the river, they used to burn the ship first so that they don't look back again. They used to celebrate this burning of ship. No backup plan. If nothing can be achieved in the fight, then we will go back to our territory after catching the ship. So you are strongly using that concept of no backup plan. Naturally, according to the family background, before discussing the matter, what is your motivation? What is your family background? Who are there in the family? So I have my father, my mother and an older sibling. My father is a retired army radiologist and my mom also served in the army. You are also a retired homemaker. So I feel that the concept of no backup plan is very strong from your parents because in the army, people don't look back they want to reach their goal, they make a mission. So in this, what you said that no backup plan is just a focused idea that I have to do it. How did it help you and how it really helps to others? Tell us a little about it. Sir, I would like to say that if it is your first attempt and in your first attempt, you should think I will make it because the first attempt will be your best attempt, I feel. And once you decide I will make it in this attempt and you have no other plans just clearing this examination then you become like Arjuna. He had his eye on the goal and he struck it. So that's how I thought of this examination. I thought if I do not succeed in my first attempt then I will think of something else. But for my first attempt, I thought nothing else only civil services and I think that really worked for me. It goes from the psychology point of view it is called, it is said that our mind is a goal-seeking organism. When you give it a specific goal that you said then your mind, all your energy gets focused when doubts end, then you start getting free from doubts and you have used very nicely the concept of that is the focus of Arjuna that birds are not even there, trees are not even there just birds are there, then your energy starts releasing itself that you have to see what is in front of you, right? But a lot of people are afraid that we do not have a backup plan or what will happen if it does not happen so what would you suggest to people from your experience? Yes sir, so I would like to say I was also very scared that I do not have a backup plan I have only graduated in history and what would I do if my examination is not clear so I shared all my fears and doubts with my parents and they said that we will stand by you no matter what happens so they said give your first attempt and if God forbid you are not successful then you can definitely go for higher education or you can try again or you can do something else but right now you are young and you can work hard right now and you have your goal in front of you so just focus on that do not focus on anything else so they basically removed the fear they helped you to come out of your fears also look what you are talking about UPSC has also kept it at a minimum of 21 there is a lot of enthusiasm in that when you try to enter early there is an enthusiasm in you and this enthusiasm in the service works that well but you have just said that first of all you have worked on it so what you are watching a lot of people can say that their conditions are different they might have economic problems and other things or their demands so for them I would like to say on your behalf that if there is someone in your mind who is different from your circumstances then basically you do it for two years and increase your strength to finish the fear factor and then you give an exam that exam should be 100% focused in that particular year in which you want to give an exam your circumstances may be different that your financial strength does not support many things or your family does not support many things but whenever you want to give an exam that should be a year that feels that this is my final year if you want to study then give an exam again that you have an option but when you want to appear in that year that should be 100% I say it is better to give 100% in one year and then realize that it will happen or not rather than you put 20% every year and after five years we know that we have not focused on your work that is very important so burn your ship, burn your boat when you take a chance your second important point is very important again motivation in a lot of webinars I face all the questions there is a lot of motivation but after a few days motivation ends and there is a long journey for a year and a half if you take at least one year then you have to be focused in such a situation more than a year you have to suffer in such a situation how to keep your motivation in such a situation tell us from your experience how you remain motivated all through so basically I had two motivations for clearing this examination first and foremost I had seen my parents do their bit for the nation as army officers so I thought I would like to join the civil services and do my bit and that was one motivating factor that even when I felt the lowest I would keep coming back to it and the second thing was that this is such a prestigious examination and I wanted to make my parents proud as well so that is why I thought whenever I was low whenever my marks would come in mock tests I used to just think about these two things and these would carry me forward you have seen again some very important things have come out of your thoughts there you have said purpose basically what you want to say is your purpose behind your goal what you want to do you have said that the background which is attached to the satisfaction attached the kind of rewarding career civil services is there so if you are keeping that thing in mind that whatever you are trying to achieve what you are ultimately going to achieve the answer is why why you want to go for civil services that is why you might have seen in UPSC you might have asked a question in the interview why do you want to become my here it is a very very common question that is why one's conviction is known so I can see that kind of conviction that kept you motivated and then of course your whole family system, parents, brother they stood by you we are all together with you in your educational background as I know about you you are a graduate from college in Delhi and you studied history honors there so just after graduation many people have this thought civil services is there that post-graduation is important now you have proved it and most of the toppers they are proving it that even after graduation you can get a good rank you can be a topper so what do you want to say is it really needed for such a government that they should do MA what do you want to say sir I thought of it in very simple terms I thought that as young as I can join the civil services the longer I can serve the nation like the earlier I joined the longer I can serve the nation so I thought I would not I didn't want to go for post-graduation or anything I thought I've done my graduation and since the youngest age you can join it is at 21 I decided to go for my first attempt then only so I think it's not necessary to go for post-graduation you can do it just after graduation in fact basically one again very crystal clear thinking you have that how young you can enter in civil service if the UPSC has given this opportunity to call you find 21 year of age to appear in this exam then why to keep waiting for such a long time then civil services then civil services then civil services then civil services then civil services then civil services then civil services then civil services I think even I would like to advise those students in case the concept clear that you have to go for civil service you should try to reach earlier and even graduation is fine well begin is half done it's very important said right when did you have this idea when your mind first this idea came that you have to go for civil services and make it your career how did you develop this idea I think as young as standard I saw civil servants their names appearing in the newspaper and then contributing to the society in a meaningful manner so since then I had in mind that I have to go for civil services but I never thought until I came to college I never thought seriously and then after college during my college years I decided that yes I really want to be a civil servant and I took it up after that this idea came to you by reading in the newspaper or at home did you discuss this because your father has been in army so naturally you had the option that you could become one of the army officer yes so actually my parents really loved reading the newspaper and my mom had started reading the newspaper since childhood so as early as 3rd or 4th standard I think to read the newspaper together actually so I saw the names of civil servants and then I asked my mother what do these people do and how their contribution is so meaningful so then she explained it to me and I think it was an impressionable age that time and then I felt that this is something I could definitely do so the very basic idea came about IAS as a career very early in your age when you had a discussion with your mom or you developed your concept from there yes sir definitely Chhade Jyoti you just talked about the newspaper and I am very happy to know that at a very young age you started reading the newspaper and the credit goes to your mom that she encouraged you you have a lot of problems with current affairs and a very different question comes up which newspaper should I read what is important let's discuss this because you developed this habit very early so first of all how to read a newspaper let's talk about it what is important and what is not important so sir I think once you take the newspaper the most important I feel is issues of international as well as national importance and the UPSC civil services examination these issues only they will not delve into state specific issues until and unless they are having a marking or a bearing on a national matter so I would say focus on issues of national as well as international importance that is a major thing and after that these may seem like just two things to focus on but the newspaper is huge and the issues related to these topics are so many so interlinking a lot of issues come you need to open up the international issues students do not know which issue is important they feel everything is important there is burning news so from the UPSC point of view civil service examination point of view in the newspaper a candidate who does not have experience or confusion how should they identify what is relevant for you in the newspaper so according to me what is important for this examination is that any news related to a government body an international body any news having an importance on the society on the polity on the economy or any news related to history also basically your social science subjects at the same time you also have to keep in mind science and technology so in the Sunday newspaper if you look at the Hindu there is an entire section of science and technology so basically whatever subjects that are required in the UPSC civil service examination like economy, society, polity, history environment any news related to these you have to focus on and look at the national importance look at the international importance and that would be my you have cleared a very good thing basically what you want to explain is that the syllabus of UPSC is its base that is its base so as you have just said in history, in politics, in the international economy, you have talked about all the syllabus so basically that is the reality students should be first cleared about the syllabus very very clear about the syllabus and when you read the newspaper in the syllabus when you are in the syllabus in the paper 1, paper 2, paper 3, paper 4 or in the pre-cured syllabus what is there in the GS the topics so anything which appears in the newspaper and has a current relevance that will be of importance to the candidate that is one thing very important to understand this students should look at the questions from the last 4-5 years so how the questions are framed in pre and major and current they will also clear you the second important thing is that and the third important thing is how you correlate assume that it is a political crisis now there was a political crisis in Rajasthan so last time we made a program so what are the political leaders in Rajasthan political classes but more important than that is what is the issue behind it so we discussed the anti defection law the loop falls related to that so that became relevant for civil service exam point of view these things are needed so you have already told this very clearly because you have already read the newspaper that you will not have many concepts naturally developed but you have answered very nicely and I hope this will help the students our discussion in the newspaper should you make some notes yes sir definitely I would recommend you make the notes of your own and I would recommend to the students to make notes on online medium like ever note one note and try to and try to sort out your notes topic wise so I would have a topic on which I would get news related to quality and governance international relations defense and security history and culture whatever news I could find I would sort them out into these topics and then I used to revise them weekly and later monthly as well and supposing if I had a doubt or I had to find a specific topic I would just type it out search it there and it would be in front of me I didn't have to flip through a notebook or anything so online note making for current affairs is what I would recommend you have said a lot of things and very powerful things so I will break it and explain the candidates what you wanted first of all you said making notes so you immediately said that all the subjects were made by classifying and whenever something came in the news you immediately made it clear that this is our work in politics, current affairs in international relations, in the economy and then you said use of technology that is very very good nowadays in the age where everyone has an android phone access to using of app like evernote which you just talked about before this I was talking to a candidate he said a lot of amazing things that all the notes are made in evernote so that is very very important so how to use the technology at this point easily this was a very very big strength so that you can just flip through and get all the points and you made it in brief now there is a small question that should you keep the notes in a codified form so I would recommend that you make it in detail because I had integrated my preparation in prilims plus main so I kept current affairs in detail and I would just highlight some key points which were important for prilims but overall also current affairs are required for your mains so you can't just keep them short and crisp you have to know some detail some background about whatever current affairs matter is going on so I would say make it detailed and keep some key points so that when you are revising for your prilims quickly revise you have just talked about revision again that is a very very important point that I would revise it once a week so before going into this revision the question that comes out is that there are a lot of things students have this problem that how many are studying how many are remembering they forget so naturally it comes out remember and how to revise talk about it a little bit yes sir so I think human brain is the same for everyone if you don't revise then you will forget so what I did was Monday to Saturday sat on Sunday and I would revise them all then month end also I used to revise them and then again you have urine compilations available in the market from different institutes so take any one institute and then I would revise from there again you have created a formula to remember how many it is crucial that you organize it and how periodically you can have your own time plan to revise it or practice, revision and practice these two are very very important things for this examination where you have to study that is very important now in the whole process because in one attempt you did your graduation in 2018 exam in 2019 and in 2020 you have become an IS so this is a big smart work naturally you must have done so this preparation time management how did you manage your time did you study for more than 10 to 15 hours daily or you have this is also a big question how many hours do you have to study this is a very very vague type of question I would like to explain to people how important it is that you organize your own quality so tell me what was your routine and what was the consistency right sir so I would say that quantity and quality both are important your number of hours you study is important but quality is more important you know how much you grasp while you are studying for the first 6 months of my preparation when I was focusing on completing the static part I used to definitely study for longer hours like 10 to 12 hours every day but then at the same time you have to take breaks every one hour or so I would take a break and then every 15 or 20 days also I would take a longer break like 3-4 hours just not studying or not do anything related to preparation so you have to know your own to relax and revive your mind after the first 6 months of preparation when my revision actually began then I studied for 8 hours about 8 hours a day and after that I would just relax my mind and I think you have to plan out your year like how much you are going to study for one part of the year then next part of the year then just before prelims then just before mains and I think I planned it out perfectly in the beginning only which is why I did not get super tired which a lot of people get tired when they are facing this examination if you plan out your study schedule then you will not get tired you talked about time management and you said that in the initial 6 months you studied for 10-12 hours but gradually you caught it and now you started in youth so one good topper should tell his timetable what was my lifestyle in daily life people think that I left everything to prepare for everything so there will be a lot of doubts about you you must have left everything so please share what was your daily routine how you made your daily timetable and how you balanced your life with your preparation right sir so everyday I used to wake up at around 7 and then after you know basically exercising for 10-15 minutes I would have my breakfast and everything and I would start studying then again I would study till lunch and after like during my lunch and after my lunch I would take a break like while I was having my lunch I would watch something and then after my lunch I would just take a break, take a nap and then evening again I would study but evening also you know I would take like a small coffee break, half an hour watch something on YouTube or anything again begin my studies and that would continue till dinner and then after dinner study for a bit again and then sleep so I think while I did study a lot but when I used to take a break then I used to take a break from my mind like you know I have to begin studying right now after this I took a lot of breaks so I would say when you take a break keep your mind calm and enjoy the break but at the same time learn to control yourself also like you know 30 minutes break and that's it so that's what I did what discipline you maintained and there is a complete this is called you are exercising the concept which is called power of now which is a very powerful thing so when you take a break you are eating food so even when you are not eating we are stuck in our traps so you don't get rest in your mind so you must and how many hours used to sleep broad is your average 6 to 8 hours sleep yes 7 to 8 hours I used to sleep almost every day because I think you know you really need to rest your mind because this is a tiring exam if you don't rest your mind it will get really tired that is again something very important for the audience to understand the future aspirants that your rest of mind and your proper sleep is also very very important for you because this is where your mind processes everything whatever you study with body and mind the processing your study will be there when you are in rest right so that is the like in whatsapp the backup of whatsapp in morning hour around 3 or so so this sleeping time so that your entire mind processes it organises it yes sir when you go to sleep differently from what you are saying that you are sleeping they say go to sleep yes sir yes sir so don't keep that you are revising in your dreams what is in history what is geography so the next day you won't be able to work so you should sleep then I will break and explain everything you have a very balanced timetable time for sleeping time for exercise time for breakfast time for lunch time for Netflix time for YouTube time for social media time for your intract and naturally to spend time with your family because your family was your support so you have balanced it and then see the thing is there is a difference how you see it that is important if your goal is clear that you want to achieve something big then you have a lot of fun time to spend time or the time passed by your peer group you will have to save it that is very very important for you like you also get that attraction a lot of your classmates friends how did you save it how did you maintain that so I was only on WhatsApp and I left you know Facebook or Instagram any other form of social media even on WhatsApp I used to talk to people so I would text my parents and like you know 2-3 friends of mine not more than that I actually limited my social circle who were my friends I didn't talk to them I used to talk to some gay friends and that's it I mean I think even when I used to tell my plans I would you know just curve my heart this exam becomes clear after that you know you can have fun but let them enjoy and you focus on your studies that's what I told myself there is an important question again that what focus on what group study was yours was there a group to be with you and you were more focused on your self-study I did not have any group I just focus on my self-study because I thought you know it will be more distraction if I am a part of a group and like I focused that's why only on studying by myself okay that is excellent because you have licensed the entire time there is some material now comes to understand what and what the problem is that a lot of people are getting ready to get ready they will collect so much material they will bring there is too much overload of information also there is a lot of material in google photos, there are a lot of coaching materials there are a lot of collections what should you say how to filter and make study only relevant material should you look at the sources and you feel that you should have source of material also to study I think one should definitely first limit their sources for clearing this examination like people often ask that current affairs should I read this magazine that magazine or all these magazines so just limit your magazines also like for instance before my prelims I focused on reading two current affairs compilations but after my prelims I realized that if I don't do these two magazines so again I cut that too I also focused on one magazine so again if you look at the books there is a lot of similar information in the books just pick one book which you think is easy for you to read easy for you to grasp and you can do well in this examination so identification of source is again a very very important thing because in compiling and piloting the books take this and that too so basically how to start now the preparation next we will talk to you how and where from to start your study when you are a student that you have to do that so your experience gathered how and where from to start what do you understand so because I was a history student so it was very clear in my mind that I wanted to take history as my option because I studied well in graduation so I did not have to take even coaching for my history option I myself divided my history option time schedule and according to that I studied now you look towards GS in GS1 the syllabus it overlaps with your history option and you get a lot of content from there so that's why I thought let's shelve GS1 for a bit and start from GS2 for that again quality if you see Lakshmi Kant is the Bible I completed my studies finished my GS2 then I reached GS3 GS4 and then when there was geography and society I did that so I divided my month wise and it took me about 5 or 6 months to finish the entire syllabus and by dividing month wise I finished all the syllabus you identified the standard books that I have read all these subjects I would like to know did you find it useful for you or did you read books to begin with or not so NCRT books are extremely important I think but you should also know which ones to choose and which ones to leave out for instance if you see so Lakshmi Kant covers everything and you don't really need to go through the 6 to 12 NCRTs at all because if your basics are weak so definitely brush up your basics but me because I was a humanity student and I didn't go for NCRT for Paul Sain and if you see history so history because I had graduated then I thought I want to go through the basics once more that's why I read NCRTs according to my level old NCRTs and then I focused on my preparation if you see geography NCRTs are really important for geography and that's why I read NCRTs so again you have to pick and choose the subject according to that you choose whether you want to read NCRTs or not but again for the basics I definitely recommend that you read NCRTs in this your discussion is clear that let's say you don't go for a traditional thought or you don't go with what you have to do pick and choose you used a very good word what is your background which is your background so naturally you studied history so you didn't have to go for a fundamental geography NCRTs you have focused more on that you have picked up Lakshmikanth so selecting books not necessarily that you don't want to but if your background is not clear of the subject and you from such a background where it seems that the fundamentals are not clear then NCRTs you can read from anywhere you should clear once so it depends on the need of a student but then making the fundamentals clear NCRT books can play very important right what you are reading what you are leaving this is a big question everything seems important everything seems to be something that the UPSC can ask can ask from anywhere what you want to say right it is definitely true that the UPSC can ask any question but UPSC has given syllabus for civil services examination so definitely follow that in it any topic whatever they have mentioned definitely go through that and for that you prepare well I have taken out my syllabus from the UPSC in front of me and in it I used to do tic-ma the topics that I used to finish and I used to pay attention that if the topic was gone then I would cover it up no matter online no matter the topic do it well don't leave anything from the syllabus and that would be my advice you should know something clearly about each and every part of your syllabus if there is any delay if there is no question then you have to complain and the syllabus clarity will help you that is very very before we do pre and mains and studies I am especially interested in whether I want to take an option so first of all we do not have any background of the subject and then we choose the subject so what is yours how to select an optional subject what do you want to say so I would say when you are choosing an optional then once just go through the syllabus you will get the standard books you don't need to buy them just watch them online that you think that this is something you can read for long hours and enjoy so like if these this is the criteria if your criteria is being fulfilled so definitely go for that optional don't go for an optional just because someone has recommended you the syllabus is small or it is scoring in the past few years because if you do that then it can be scoring for someone but not necessarily it can be scoring for you so if you are choosing an optional just see you enjoy that subject you are able to grasp it very perfect you just get an interest in that subject if you are enjoying if you have a background of subject and if you are conscious that you are doing the background migration then if you already have clarity then you should carefully develop that subject from the time of migration it is a good thing but it has not happened then you don't have to go for an optional subject so students don't go for an optional subject this subject is very good so let me go for that next year someone else will have a subject another important thing is that a lot of people are taking it our friends should take it basically it is a very very personal judgment which is very very important that you are so comfortable your compatibility with the subject how much at least till the time you are giving an exam it is so that you don't become a burden that is very good and this is an important thing that you have a choice that you can take your subject in this you have to support so here you can increase your strength how much maximum you can bring maximum now tell what is the background of history but they want to take the history tell them that they want to take the history what do you want to say and where from they should start so I would say that if you want to take the history option and you have never studied history before so first you should read your basic NCRTs for a basic background then go for the history optional books so written by Arash Sharma Satish Chandra and Bipin Chandra for Professor Upinder Singh's book Ignore Notes and other such sources once your mind will clear the basic framework after that it will be easier to read the history optional books so first and foremost I would say clear your basics and then go for the standard sources for history optional secondly what I would like to suggest is that don't think that history is just a narrative of the events that have happened if you think about it you won't be able to write very well the answers in this paper so I would suggest that you understand history as a story of change continuity and change once you understand that you will be able to grasp the subject very easily and I think these are the two important points people have to keep in mind while studying history as an option you said about history you said about history that we have to read facts or battles and because of that it gets boring because of that there are continuity and change what is continuity because whole human civilization has gone has gone up with these experiments after all human civilization culture there have been various experiments things that have been of the past some changes have come you get all these things through history but yes chronology in history is very very important that history is medieval modern India modern what becomes your two papers so we will discuss a little more that in ancient India some special standard books or strategies should be suggested in brief right so for ancient India if you have basic steer then you can go for professor Upinder Singh's book history of ancient and early medieval India I think that is really all-encompassing book is very good you will clear the basics you can make it a standard book for history if you see modern India then if your basics are clear then you can read the book from plastic to partition and lastly for world I would say read it online it will be very useful and if you want to complete the basic sources then you will feel that you are not getting any lack of topics in these books so you can go for online sources or you can also go for ignore notes you will get every topic in detail so these would be my basic sources for history option and I think they are enough for the subject now if you talk about overall what is important? because the syllabus is very long very much you will have to read all the topics so what about your is it really that lengthy? I would say yes definitely history becomes a little lengthy as compared to other humanities optionals like sociology and all their first and foremost if you can do really well in your map section 50 marks are there for maps and if you can do well in that you know you can score really well and secondly another good way to score well in history is focusing on historiography that is the study of the writing of history so in that you can add the views of scholars to give an X factor so that will really carry you forward right important areas that can be the types of questions so about that where is the focus of the exam I want to ask you what is the focus of the exam on political history or on sociocultural history so first if you see history option was mostly about political history but nowadays if you look at the paper so they focus more on social history on economic history or even on the sources of the period so the written records or the archaeological evidence so they have also become really important so handwritten records that you get or traveler records like Ibn Battuta all these records are really important now so I think focus has definitely shifted from political history to social, cultural, economic and the sources have shifted on them here I'd like to mention that I appeared for a mock interview at China where my final interview and the atmosphere provided here at the mock was quite similar to my actual interview and it helped me remain calm the feedback provided at the interview was really really helpful because it not only helped me understand the areas that I needed to work upon but at the same time the positive feedback helped me stay motivated in the run up to the interview because the time is very very crucial so I'd like to thank Chanakya IS for all the help offered thank you so much in this a particular area which is post independence period it is a bit disturbing to how to read and how to focus on that and what you should read about it so for the post independence period I would say that from last year partition after is really good because it covers after partition period and also you know you can also look at political science which is a 12th class book its chapters 1 to 4 cover well after independence period of India and I think that is quite sufficient for that part of the paper it means that political history development can be very less with post independence post independence with this period and that is connecting even to the recent past that will be important then I would like to know something about your world history the area of modern world the focus areas in modern world where is the examiner where is the most focus actually I think in the recent past you know you can't actually define one particular focus in world history they are asking from all over the place but according to my experience I would say some of the important areas are philosophers enlightenment period is quite important and you can definitely focus on the different revolutions that have taken place French Revolution American Revolution the industrial revolution Russian Revolution is always focused on all of these and then definitely do look at world wars world war one world war two and then you can look at Nazi Germany fascism in Italy these are I think according to me these are some of the most important topics and the topics are coming focus more on these topics and serve me well in some questions your quotation is best in a question may do you want to say something about how to approach these type of questions when you get questions it's very important to explain the background of the quotation in social economic political environment once you successfully explain the background of that quotation then you can delve into whatever the examiner has asked you and in the end you can give the consequences as sort of a conclusion to that answer but what is important is that you explain the background in which a particular thing was said I want to say last year which is a quotation best question pick up one question and try which you tried last time I think structuring your answer is very important so in introduction again you have to explain the major issue of the question is in introduction once you explain you can delve further in your body about the various aspects and whenever you are answering a question whether it's history option or whether it's your GS try to do a 360 degree analysis of that so different aspects you can delve in your body and in the end if there is a suitable conclusion then you write that conclusion and if it's open-ended because in history there are debates of historians and these debates are not resolved so it's often open-ended and that's fine because history as a subject there are a lot of debates and you can leave the answer slightly open-ended also Jyoti since you had an integrated preparation of pre-termins then your selection was so good so natural advisable for everybody that we should always integrate the civil service exam but still pre-mainst interview they have some specific requirement right? to be sure to qualify in the pre what you want to say that you should take care of important things what's that keeping the mind the nature of the exam so for prelims what is important is each and every detail like so details are very important the nitty gritties are very important so whatever current affairs for instance you should know the details and revise it again and again for instance three months before the focus was on prelims and I did not look at what are the mainst books or whatever I only focused on prelims and on that I started revising my basic books again so I would suggest to revise the nitty gritties again because many questions come from there and again look at year and compilations and year and compilations each and every word which is given details which you should assimilate in your mind and then you appear for your prelims that I think would be a basic strategy and the exam is also about skill which you prepare when you reach the exam but during the exam there are a lot of mistakes so the skill which you should utilise tell me about that so I would say before the prelims you should give a lot of mock tests once because what happens when you go into a stressful situation your mind tends to you know get stressed and anxious so sometimes you are scared that your mind won't work in such a stressful situation so for that first take a mock test and you learn the skill of eliminating options because everyone doesn't know the prelims I also don't know what people do is they eliminate certain options like if an extreme option you eliminated it sometimes there are observed options which are not related you eliminate them and at the end you can reach the answer through the method of elimination also I would say that really trust your mind in the examination because you have read something in the newspaper and it will just strike you then so trust your mind and you have revised before the prelims so definitely your mind will be there to help you in this for instance in my prelims remember there was a question regarding a fossil called Denizovan and I had just read it once in the Hindu paper but still I was able to recall it because I had revised a lot and a lot of confusion but I could pinpoint the right answer because of multiple revisions and because I did not let my mind get too stressed in the examination yes when you are with a relaxed mind you have always a chance that you have any knowledge from your past with your gut feeling with common sense you can clear it so they need to take rest before the exam they need to have a restful mind there also so that you can attend and selecting questions which are you know first maybe and then a common sense a wide guess then it becomes if you work with a cool mind then it will be good now we want to go to the strategy about that tell me what should be kept in mind so for the mains I will say that once you have read your syllabus well so focus on writing answers practice writing even there you can give test series and when you are giving test series the teachers comments keep them in mind try to improve on those comments secondly I would like to say that examples from current affairs because sometimes you don't directly ask questions you have to show your knowledge also that yes I have read this in the newspaper you can add statistics in your answer you can cite constitutional articles as well so I would say because of these your answer will stand out from your competition and that will really carry you forward I would also like to add that if you don't know any question in detail if you have any background knowledge do write and you will get that one or two extra which will give you a lead the question shouldn't be left the biggest thing definitely you have left any number in the exam that is gone but you are saying even one matter one marks will matter a lot there there is a big number in the exam you have gone in the same exam so how is your experience and what was the discussion whose board was it that who was the chairman my board was P.K. Joshi's board and I was nervous actually quite nervous before my interview I could actually feel my heart beat so when I went once but in the interview room where all the effort to make me feel comfortable so they were going through my detailed application form and the chairman said oh you have lived in old Rajendra Nagar for a while so what did you find and that was such a smooth start to my interview because I was in old Rajendra Nagar and I knew what the problems were so I could easily discuss that and after that they went for other questions and other details they asked questions so comfortable and they were so cordial and when I didn't even get an answer so I said I'm sorry sir I don't know and they actually burst out laughing and they said no problem because they thought I was actually getting very stressed so they made an effort to make me feel comfortable with them but the way you spoke I'm sorry sir I don't know that itself shows your confidence although inside you weren't conscious because how to say no is an art anyway when you are in administration so the answer to everything is yes and you are not encyclopedia but how you maintain your compulsive how you maintain your balance even when the resources are limited when you say TCSP even then how do you maintain so this should be understood by the candidate in the candidate when the crisis comes and how you maintain your balance that also gives you marks how you maintain such a situation where it seems that you have become a critical condition in an interview and you have tried to leave do you want to share something like that? actually my interview touch was very smooth sailing so they I mean whatever questions they asked if I would come so I answered them to the best of my abilities and they were also very encouraging in the sense like if I was answering a question which had a lot of limited knowledge so I told them so this is my limited knowledge and they were very fine with it they didn't say anything so whatever I felt could be problematic they removed the fear that it's alright if it didn't come then it wouldn't so in that your range of questions the series of questions came to you right so I think they focused on history option the most after that they also asked questions and then thirdly they asked general questions like situational questions they asked so there were quite a wide variety of questions but the emphasis was on history option because I also objected in graduation you said it could be of good interest to the audience also give an example of how the situation was created and how did you manage that and the night starts getting gas leak so what will you do and how will you deal with the situation so first of all I said that sir I will first make myself work mentally you have to maintain your composure in a crisis situation so I first explained that firstly I will ensure that I am working and whatever I am working with whether they are my subordinates or my colleagues I can communicate with them but I can talk to them I also can communicate with them and get the response and think So that was my answer to them and they seemed satisfied with it. Good, good. You have just covered all the dimensions which they were expecting from you. How will you keep a composure? What is the quality of the leadership? Actually, in every answer, you are seeing two personality traits. What is your problem solving attitude? What is the decision making? In all the civil services, in different segments of the syllabus, you can see clearly in this answer that you have a decision making power, you can remain pooled, balanced, leadership quality. All these things matter. So the interesting thing is that there are still a lot of things left to ask you, but I will invite you again in the future on a specific topic. For example, I would like to ask you that you have become an IS, there is a mission in your mind, have you become an IS? So it happens that now we are going to a very important position. So you are going to be in the service for the next 30-40 years. There will be some of your dreams that I have to fulfill in this. Where do you see yourself? How do you see yourself in this? Right, sir. So I have some issues which are quite close to my heart and I would like to focus on them in my career. Because I am a history student and I am very fond of history, so I would like to focus on the conservation of historical sites in India first. And secondly, because I myself am a woman and I have seen what problems women have in India, so I would like to focus on women empowerment. And these are the two most important issues. After this, I would definitely like to focus on health and education of the people. So these are the issues I would like to work on as a civil servant. And you are ready for all the challenges to come there, right? Yes, sir. There will be a lot of challenges and there will be a lot of obstacles. Are you prepared for everything? Yes, sir, definitely. Wish you a great career ahead in your life. And I can see a very bright future for you in this career. Your concepts are very, very clear. You have taken your rank in your first attempt in your young age, that you are telling everything. So you are expressing yourself, right? So it's my pleasure and God bless you for a wonderful career in IAS, right? Thank you so much, sir. Thank you for having me.