 Hello friends, I am A.K. Mishra, Founder and Chairman of Chanakya Academy. I welcome you to this program, Success Speaks. As you know in every program, every episode I introduce you to one successful candidate who has a very different kind of success story. In this episode also, I am going to introduce you to Rastmi. Rastmi has got all India 216 rank in civil service exams in 2018 and now she has been allocated IPS, Indian Police Service. So this has been a very interesting journey. This was her fifth attempt in the earlier attempts in first, second and third attempt. She could not qualify free although she was a serious student but why she could not make it you will be able to understand from her better. In her fourth and attempt she went up to interview, she could not make there in the final interview and finally in the fifth attempt she got Indian Police Service. So welcome Rastmi to this program, congratulations Rastmi. You have got Indian Police Service now finally in your fifth attempt. How are you feeling? So feeling is of relief and happiness of course. The word relief when you say this is really very interesting, how it has been painful or it was a challenging journey, how did you see all through your five years? So it was definitely challenging and it did become painful at times especially when I reached the interview level and did not get in. So because lot of expectations get attached when you are each phase of this exam, each time you attempt the exam it is almost two years. So after the journey if you cannot make it, so it becomes very painful at that time because you keep castigating yourself what went wrong and what more you could have done. So that way I would say that it is painful as well as challenging. This is the beauty of bearing this pain ultimately to get a final result of course will discuss all your journey. But let me know something about your background, your family background, who are your parents, what has been your background? I come from a defense background. My father was in the army, he was a colonel, doctor, ten years ago almost, I think when I was in second year college, I lost him in a militant attack. Achu, where it happened all day? He was posted in Arunachal and as a commanding officer in a medical unit and he was on his way from Assam to Arunachal at that time, he was ambushed by border militants in Assam. So this happened when I was in second year of my college. Okay, this must have been a very tough time for the family, who else are in the family? My mother is there, she is a homemaker and my brother is also in the army now, he is a dental, he is part of the dental corps in the army. My brother is married also to another AMC officer, now recently. So all the army background, now you are going in police service here in civil light, right? Yes, sir. So it must have been a very tough time, how the family came out and what was your psychological condition because you were quite young at that time? Yes, sir. So at that time it was of course very shocking and suddenly life changed, totally our life changed totally because before that we were part of the, like every two years, three years we would be moving to different parts and it was a, suddenly we moved to Hyderabad permanently after that. That is your native place, Hyderabad is in there? So we relocated, my mom is from that place so just shifted to that area. My dad is originally from AP, Andhra Pradesh. So earlier it was one state only, so there was. Right, right. So earlier you were moving from one state to other state, it could have been there. But how this idea of civil services came in your mind? Yes, sir. I was always fascinated with civil services since my school days, my mother is the one who actually motivated me towards, I was a good student academically, so she used to say, you know, you should try for civil services. So from there the idea took root, later on when I lost my father, I took it seriously then because in my continuous interaction with government departments at that time, I was motivated to join the service because we keep complaining about how government officials don't function properly. But I wanted to be part of the system because once you are in it then only you know what actual problems are there and how you can improve on them. So my real motivation came from there. While interacting with the civil servants in that time around, you could feel that even you can contribute to the system by being a part of that. Then what happened? You did your graduation in law and you joined some corporate organization also. But when it comes to the first, second, third attempt, you could not make in the pre. So what do you think would have been the reason of not getting success there? Sir, my first attempt, I did not prepare at all from the serious point of view, like I didn't read any newspaper, I just read some magazines. I was not very serious about it, I just gave it in a lighthearted way. So that was a mistake. Same goes for the second. For my third attempt, I moved to Delhi to take coaching and all. I missed, narrowly missed Williams by a mark. So what I realized was that I'm not very good at objective kind of paper solving because that required a lot of preparation on my part, trying to in a time-bound manner, trying to get the right answer. There are a lot of techniques to get to score high in MCQ kind of questions. So let's discuss here first while you're talking about preliminary examination. Although you say you are very good in writing and communication skill. But to be sure, because that is with large number of students appear and that is just a screening test for this examination. If you don't cross it, you are nowhere. So what do you suggest to the students, future students, how seriously they should take, how they should make their strategy which could help them to really ensure their success in preliminary examination? So first thing I would say is to start at least eight to nine, at least eight to nine months if time permits at least a year before the preliminary exam that you take. And it would be better if you're not working at that time. You should, full time, you should dedicate to that. Of course, part-time also you can do that, but I would suggest full time. And that you should first start off with going thoroughly reading the syllabus because that will give you a great idea of how, what you should expect from the exam itself. The first step is to get a thorough understanding what has been prescribed in the syllabus should go in the mind very clearly, right? Because the syllabus is so vast that and the topics are so general in nature that you can easily get branched out into areas of knowledge rather than exam oriented learning. So for that, I would say thoroughly read the syllabus and then have form an approach for prelims separately and main separately. Because for means, you need answer writing practice. For alpha prelims, you need to practice the question solving thing. Here, I think it will help engineering students more since we have already written several exams to earlier, but for other people from art streams, I think it's better to solve at least 50 to 60 papers, test papers. Because that will give you an in time-bound manner. So it'll tell you how much time you take to actually solve a question and how to get the right answer of when you're stuck between two choices. But in the preliminary exam, there are a lot of things to read, right? And so how do you make it possible, concise, so they become really doable? Yes, for preliminary, particularly, there are subjects like history, geography. So you should pick out each subject and have at least not more than two books for each subject and then totally thoroughly read the newspaper. You should because current affairs forms a major part of prelims these days. It varies from year to year, but current affairs forms a major part. So if you're thorough with your newspaper, your current affairs will be done. Now, this is a very interesting topic you are talking about the study of the newspaper, right? That is also a big question because many of the students just keep reading the newspaper five, six hours that they don't know what to gather out of that. Whereas the most practical way to get hold of newspaper reading should be ideally not more than under one hour, one and a half hour. So what do you suggest? What should we focus on? How to make a relevant study of newspaper and how to internalize it? I would say first you should divide like if you're giving one and a half hour, you should first give 45 minutes to read for reading the newspaper only and then 45 minutes for writing the essential points. It can vary according to one's speed and reading speed and writing speed. When you do that, when you do that in a time bound manner, you will be focusing only on the relevant. The light. If you say that, okay, I'll sit down and start reading. This word relevant is very important. How to be clear that what is relevant for an ISS parent in the newspaper? What do you say for that? So sections like the first page and the editorial page and I would say the economics page which is there, economic news which is there. These three I think are more than sufficient. If a person reads these three thoroughly, it's more than sufficient. So the first page is the editorial page and maybe some specialized pages which are coming. Did you make some notes out of reading newspaper or you just had to remember the things? No, so I think the best, you should not leave anything to memory when it comes to this exam because the time is too long between exams. So you should immediately as soon as anything which is seen relevant, it should be noted down because then you can't go back to the newspaper again but you can always refer to your papers. A lot of things appear in the newspapers. So how can you make notes of everything? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I think you should refer to your, a person should refer to the previous year's papers. Previous year's papers and also the syllabus. What is relevant if any issue has emerged in the coming time which will be building up or some problems? Especially for brilliance, it is more important to read the previous year's papers because then you can get a better idea, for example, GI tag related questions or animal discoveries or plant discoveries. These kind of questions keep coming, recurring every year. So whenever you read the newspaper and something like this comes up, you can immediately make a note of it. So it will stay with you. Rashmi, in the whole study, where from to begin, what to begin, that's of course always the practical suggestion is to begin from the NCRT books. So what do you suggest for the NCRT book? Because many students have confusion whether they should read the old NCRT books or they should read the new ones or they should start from 6th standard or 9th standard or 11th. So that's a dilemma, always in the mind of students who do not have right guidance. The idea of this program is also to demystify a lot of things there. So just suggest your opinion of that. So ideally I would say 6th to 12th NCRT for subjects like history, geography, polity, this should do. But there are a lot of repeat, the material is repeated a lot, say 6th, 7th, 8th and then the same is repeated in 9th, 10th and then same is repeated. So I think first a person should have a general reading of all the NCRTs and then only pick out the points which are seem relevant to the exam. Because before the exam, reading all the NCRTs all over again won't be possible. You're right. And for especially for subjects like history, I think only 11th, 12th, if you're thorough with 11th, 12th. That will take you. That will, like I refer to old NCRT because I like the the storytelling form of the old NCRT. Some other person might prefer the new one. So it is better to have a first have a thorough reading and say 10 days you can NCRTs are very thin books. So the idea here is that one should first go through the syllabus, see the previous year questions and then decide to start it. Then one can also always assess how much one person is familiar or candidate is familiar with the subject. If you have a background of that subject, you can start from the higher level also. If you don't have background, then to get hold of the fundamental start from within the section if it is required. But did you prepare some notes also while reading the NCRT book? Yes, definitely. Like I said, going back and reading all the NCRTs again won't be it will be time consuming and won't be possible also and it will give you more stress. So I would like say 6, 7, 8, I made notes out of them. Since the books are very thin also. So you don't need, there is not too much material for your problems or mains. So I just made the relevant points, any points which can come as an MCQ. I just made notes of that and let's say subject wise like history of India and also in the means you have the history of the world. So how did you manage this? Did you read all through only the NCRT book or you added some value out of some other reference books? So for NCRT, for history particularly, I did only 11, 12 old NCRT main for I mainly focus that for problems also and for mains also. But international history, there's 9th and 10th NCRT is there which covers lot of aspects of international history. For rest, I used internet because international history is very vast. So I used the refer to the syllabus and followed the topics according to the timeline provided in this. You downloaded it right from the internet. And I made notes out of that so because international history is also quite vast. So I just made notes out of what kind of questions come and then So the future experience, it should be clear. That is a very one to one candidate's basis. One should know the strength. And you should not just jump into voluminous books to read and complete that. You should be checking now the syllabus, question papers, and then pick up some standard books and keep adding as per the need of that. That is the thing we want to suggest. This is wonderful. Now let's talk about the preparation. Do you suggest a pre and main separate preparation or you want integrated preparation for board? So what's the strategy which you adopt for pre and main should be different. But the subjects are same. So when you are reading it, you will be reading it for both. But if you are making notes, then you should make a separate notes for mains and for... This is very interesting. So the first part is that it should be integrated reading for both of these things. But keeping in mind the previous questions for pre and mains, you can make separate points and notes for that. So when you are talking about separate... Hello friends. My name is Dilip Pratap Singh Shakawat. I have secured all near rank 72 in this year's civil services examination 2018. And now I am here to share my experiences of the mock interview for UPSC. I would like to mention the role of China's IS Academy. The mock interview which I gave at the China's IS Academy was very helpful for me. It was the last mock interview which I gave before the actual interview of UPSC. And it really helped me to gain that confidence level back. Because I was facing very low because my final mock interview didn't go really well. Because I was facing problems like I was nervous before the interview. And hence I went to China's IS Academy, gave a mock interview there. And the board was very professional. It was very cordial. They asked me all the questions related to my bio data. They assessed my personality in a very nice manner and boosted my confidence in the right time. What is the basic fundamental difference in the whole approach for pre-invades? So for example, for priests you can, for example, you are reading a history and CRT. When you are writing notes for the prelims exam. So you can just note down, you can just note down small, small points which can come as an MCQ. If you refer to the older newspapers, you will see some, some names or some titles of older officials. These are the kind of questions which come for history. So you can just write down in a piece of paper, in a separate notebook that this is for prelims. For means, you need longer analysis and analytical kind of a answer, an analytical kind of notes. So in that you can write rows, cons, that kind of elongated answers, which you can, or points which you can elaborate later on. So that kind of approach. So according to you, while reading like it is history or to polity anything, one should keep the facts and figures which are required for pre and do practice on that. But at the same time, to develop an elation opinion for the main's point of view. So if he goes simultaneously, it will be of bigger health to the candidates, right? That's very interesting. Time management is a very crucial thing in the whole exam. Some people, if they don't know, they will think that they have to read for 15, 16 hours, something like that. What has been your average of hours of working? You were in job also for quite some time. So I would say aiming at 10 hours a day is more than enough. It can vary 8, it can vary to 8, 6. But if you are regular. Impresitivity is going to be around 6, 6 to 8 hours. That will also take care of that. Yes. But main thing is to finish, I think it's like if weekly agenda, if you manage to finish your weekly agenda earlier on also. Efficient, effective approach and also to meet with the targets. And the target which is doable, not that abnormal target, you make it and every day you fail. Instead of the counting the hours, it's better to see how much portion you've completed. Completed. So that is a better approach, I think. And the target which should be doable, not that it is going to be abnormal. And every day you have the backlogs. So that won't be good for that all day. And how to manage stress? Because stress management is very, very important in this exam. Did you have some any hobbies also you practiced? Sir, hobbies, not so much since my hobby is also reading books only. I used to watch some TV programs or some web series. I just go for a walk if I'm feeling too much pressure on the brain. I just go for a walk. These are the, I did not dwell too much on too many hobbies. So by large you were having a relaxing time, walking, maybe watching some program. And you could concentrate more on the reading part itself. And when it is a question of managing your stress, I told again, because you must be feeling sometimes very low, whether I can do it or I cannot do it. So what motivated you and kept you back on the track? Sir, like I said, my experience from what I learned from my father and my mom also constantly motivated me that, I can do this, I can, this is what this is my dream as. So I kept thinking back why, what is my why for writing this exam? Whenever I felt demotivated, I would think, why actually I chose this to get into this exam thing? So after, whenever I used to think that, I used to again get back on track. It means you had a clarity of your goal and you had an answer for why? The reason why I'm actually writing this exam, if this is certain, then there's no need for excerpts. Why is it always giving a drive to a candidate there? Let's talk for some time about the main examination. On the whole, the strategy of course writing skill is important. Other thing, but if we talk specifically about the paper, like ethics and integrity aptitude, which is paper four of gender studies. So what is the nature of the paper? What exactly examiner wants to see in this paper? So I think the examiner basically wants you to write realistic solutions, not too idealistic and not overly practical. He wants you to write something which will connect with the people, like empathize with the people. That is the main aim of the ethics paper, is that to see how much you can actually understand the people's problems from their perspective, not from your perspective. So that kind of a realistic solution, they seek for most of the problems and they expect you to a real life solution, real life examples also. Like if any question is asked regarding any moral dilemma, they would expect you to answer it in your own personal experience also. They usually frame the question in such a way. After all, this is a test of your whole personality, how as a civil servant you will be practicing an ethics, integrity, and aptitude in your practical life. Would you like to define this T3, what's ethics, integrity, and aptitude? Sir, from the exam perspective, I would say that ethics is something which is very general. It is like value oriented. While integrity is something which is personal. Ethics is something which is expected out of people. Well, integrity is natural. Well aptitude, it will tell you what kind of job are you actually fit for. And do you have fit for? In other words, you can say ethics, there may be different kind of social ethics, political ethics, public ethics, and private organizational ethics. Ethics, there could be a lot of things. But how to remain effective efficient and to abide by the system as per the directions of the constitution of the country and the law of the country. And you still did how to maintain ethical values at the same time to maintain also the efficiency of the job. That is the dilemma. Integrity, I think you will be able to tell that. Integrity with the job, the profile in which you are going to be there. So, how you are going to maintain integrity with the job. And you still maintain the character for that, right? Is it clear then? And what about the aptitude? So, aptitude I think is more about the skills. Like what kind of skills? Later save, emotional management, different traits. EQ, IQ, everything is included in aptitude. Basically, how much are you fit for the service that you are doing. As per the requirement. Right, that's it. Now, regarding the case studies, what did you do for the case studies which you would like to suggest? So, solving as many case studies as possible is one good approach towards this. Because no matter how many, like if you, main thing is that you should expect the kind of answer that some kind of a skeletal answer you should already always have in your mind from the exam perspective. Because there was not much time to think like what kind of answer you want to present. Of course, you can change the details depending on what kind of question is asked. But the basic format of the answer should be the same. There you will save time and you can write the answer in a much better way, which is more pleasing to the exam then also. Now, overall to conclude, what three basic qualities you would like to suggest in a success oriented candidate wants to qualify in this exam? So, three qualities I would say. First, of course, a positive mindset is very important. Second is discipline, because this exam requires long, long hours of studying and then self-introspection and everything. Third, I would say is keeping your reason why you actually want to write this exam. It should always be foremost. You should write it down and if you can't remember it, you should put it somewhere on the wall where you are actually studying. These three things I would say would make all the difference. Always keep you motivated. Yes, motivation is, it will keep you motivated throughout this. Thank you very much, Rashmi. I hope this will help many of the future experts who also take a lot of inputs and inspiration from you. Wish you all the best and a great career in women police service. Thank you. God bless you. Thank you. Don't forget to like, share and subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon to never miss an update.