1. Bio
2. Education
3. Introduction
4. MCQ Paper
5. Essay/Descriptive paper
6. Physical Test
7. Interview
8. Tempo
9. Service Preference
10. Career Backup
11. Wisdom
12. Credit: Friends/family
13. Marketing Propaganda

Bio

Education

Introduction

Q. Tell us something about yourself. When and why did you enter in the competitive exam field?

Ans. Well I belong to a predominately business family but in my upbringing my father really focused on our education. I’ve always been interested about G.K and awareness from my early days in school and got a great support from my teachers there. During my college days I decided to give competitions at national stage where I could put my knowledge to use at the same time my passion to serve the country could also be realized. Hence I started preparing from 3^rd year of my engineering for the same.

MCQ Paper

Q. List of Essential books and tips for success in the CAPF written exam?

1. Current affairs- The Hindu, Civil services Chronicle
2. History-6th, 7^th NCERT, Spectrum Modern History
3. Geography-NCERT’s of XI,XII
4. Polity-Laxmikanth
5. Economics-business section in The Hindu+ Wikipedia for important terms and concepts
6. Other references-Year books, Wikipedia for references

I thoroughly feel that more than just trying to read these books, its important to understand the trend of UPSC.  No questions are irrelevant in UPSC papers, so try to relate between subjects and the importance of topics in contemporary world. Fundamentals need to be strong, so also give yourself time for preparation. Preparation should not be a burden but should be enjoyed through the process.

Essay/Descriptive paper

Q. How did you prepare the Essay, grammar, précis and report writing?

Ans. Since I am an avid reader, I didn’t do any special preparation for these papers. Reading newspaper editorials and non fiction novels help us to frame and add quality content to our essays. Grammar is gradually improved in the process of reading and writing. The expression best comes out if grammar is right. You need not have excellent vocabulary but grammar should be up to the mark.

Reading and having good analytical ability is important for précis writing. How in brief time you can catch essence of the article and write down the same. Report writing can be practiced by reading newspaper reports.

Q. In CAPF-2012 Exam, Which essay did you write in and what keypoints did you include in it?

I wrote on “Emergence of regional parties and its effect on the federal structure of India”

I had sufficient knowledge about this topic and included how various regional parties were formed in India, what has been the result of it and how did it effect the constitutional democracy like India.

Q. In CAPF-2012, they asked counter-arguments for following, in 75 words. Please provide your answer.

Physical Test

Q. To pass Physical Efficiency Tests (PET), what preparation did you do at home? Where was your PET held? How was your experience, share some tips.

Ans. Honestly, I didn’t do any special preparation for this. Since I was a working professional in Mumbai, I hardly got any time to work on my fitness. Since I have always been sportsman in school and college, I cleared pretty easily. My PET was held in NISA, Hyderabad. Just stay calm and composed through PET and do run and work out regularly , it does help.

Interview

Q. What specific preparation did you do for the interview? Who was the chairman? Provide the list of questions asked in CAPF Interview. (and if possible, the answers as well). How was the overall interview experience? And any tips for future aspirants.

Ans. I didn’t join any coaching for interview or not any special preparation for interview. But it’s very important be thorough with your DAF. Questions from your educational background are too usually asked. My interview was taken by Madam Alka Sirohi board. The board was very cordial and gave me time to answer the questions. My interview went till 40 mins. Following were the questions which were asked from me in the interview:-

1. Questions relating to Electronics(which is my graduating degree subject)
2. My role in TCS and compare TCS and Infosys. Why they are doing differently in today’s market.
3. Why I want to leave IT sector and come to this sector.
4. What is the procedure to make a new state in our country.
5. Which places I have explored till now and difference between north Indian and south Indian temples
6. Have I read wings of fire? Who has written it? What is it all about? In this two religions are mentioned, which are they?
7. What is Fibonacci(In relation to Dan Brown’s Novel)
8. You remained most disciplined student in school for 3 years but why not the fourth year? Role of discipline in today’s armed forces?
9. What is total strength of Battalion? What do you know about CAPF.
10. 3 puzzles  were put by chairman

Q. How was interview: normal, stress, mixed? Did they ask any uncomfortable questions, if yes how did you answer it?

Ans. For me interview was mixed. But the board was very cordial and made me comfortable. They didn’t ask too uncomfortable questions but yeah some tricky and analytic questions were there, which was more expected since it brings out the character of a person in a better way. I was to the point, simple straight. Don’t beat around the bush. Answer if you know and apologize if you don’t. Keep smile on your face throughout the interview.

Tempo

Q. How did you maintain the study-mood, motivation and tempo throughout this period? There are ups and downs- phases of mood swings, sometimes boredom and even depression. How did you fight that psychological battle? On an average, how many hours do you study?

Ans. Before starting my preparation I worked on my mental framework a lot. I mean I did self introspection and set my priorities right. Then I gained lot of internal motivation. Then throughout my preparation I loved studying, since my morale was up. I was not definite on number of hours of a day. But, sometimes I even studied 13-14 hours a day and sometimes 4-6 hours was enough. One has to be mentally tough throughout the preparation, be ready to work hard, and keep that belief in yourself, only then success will come your way.

Q. Are you appearing in Civil Service (Mains) 2013? If yes, how are you approaching/preparing the ethics, and other new topics of GS?

Ans. I didn’t give CSE 2013 since I was working with TCS.

Service Preference

Q. What was your service preference order (CRPF>CISF>SSB etc) and why did you pick up the particular order?

Ans. CISF>>BSF>>CRPF>>ITBP>>SSB

I selected the same because CISF is posted in diverse industries and institutions in diverse areas and climates posing many challenges in itself. And off-late security of national Assets have become big challenge and I wanted to take up this challenge as well.

Career Backup

Q. If you were not selected, what was your career backup plan?

Ans. I was working with TCS in IT domain. Otherwise I’ve also been preparing for Civil services.

Wisdom

Q. Through this journey and success, what wisdom did you gain about competition and life? What is your message to the aspirants?

Ans. Through this journey, The most important thing which I realized is that we have to continue working hard and keep that belief in ourselves even if we come across Failure. We don’t know how close we were when we give up. So never think of giving up and just keep working hard. Secondly, motivation is a big factor. But let not any external motivation burn that flames in you because external motivation is like a battery which will exhaust after sometime, but internal motivation is like a Powerhouse which is always connected to Mains. Introspect yourself and find that internal motivation. Then I am sure you’ll be hard to stop. I would like to share two quotes which motivated me through my preparation.

1. “Man is not limited by his potential but by his thought”
2. “If you think you can and you think you can’t, either way you are right”

Credit: Friends/family

Q. Behind every topper are many people who stood by him/her during those uncertain times when he/she was merely an ‘aspirant’. Would you like to tell the world, who were those people in your case? Any specific incidence that you would like to share with the readers?

Ans. I would like to thank first and foremost to my father Mr. Raj Kapur who despite all ups and downs made me get best education and never compromised with the same. His belief and support helped me immensely. Secondly my teacher in school Ms Sukhraj Sandhu, who was the 1^st person in my life who believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. That gave me a lot confidence. She really helped me a lot.

Then I want to thank my family and friends for constant support. My mom for love and affection all this while and my elder brothers to stand like fatherly figure with me. And blessings of my elders and teachers have really helped me a lot.

Marketing Propaganda

Q. Did you use Mrunal.org for your preparation and if yes, how did it help you?  And you can even reply “No”. I’ll publish your answer as it is.

Ans. I opened Mrunal often for discussions but not for study material. But it’s doing a great job with articles and discussions on various important topics and guiding aspirants towards their goals.