[Forest Service] Satwik (Rank-18/IFoS-2017) Satwik with Physics & Forestry optional from IIT-Roorkee

1. Candidate – Profile
2. Education
3. Introduction
4. Typical day in your Online life?
5. Style of Preparation and notes making
6. Prelims (CSAT) Paper-1: General studies
7. Prelims (CSAT): Paper-2: Aptitude
8. Prelim accuracy
9. Indian Forest Service Mains Exam
10. Mains Optional Subject: PHYSICS & ForesTRy
11. Before the interview
12. During the interview
13. CSE-2017 Marksheet
14. Career Backup
15. Views on UPSC reforms
16. Insecurity about profile
17. Struggle of a Senior player
18. Struggle of Working professional
19. Grand wisdom
20. Credit: Friends/family
21. BOGUS Marketing Propaganda

Candidate – Profile

Q.	Details
Name	Satwik
Rank in IFoS-2017	18
Roll No.	0001729
Age	25
Marital Status	Unmarried
Total attempts in IFoS (including this one)	3
Optional Subject	Physics, Forestry
Schooling Medium	Hindi
College Medium	English
Medium chosen for Mains answers	English
Medium chosen for Interview	English
Home town/city	Kanpur
Work-experience if any	None
Details of other competitive exams, including success/failures	CSIR-NET 2016( Cleared), GATE 2016 (Cleared), CSE 2017(Failed)
Details of coaching, mock tests, postal material for any competitive exam (if used)	Physics Classroom Classes & Test Series – DIAS
Service preferences (Top-5)
Preference for the first states in top-3 zonal cadres.	Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand
Contact for any doubts	Email id: vyas.satwik1@gmail.com

Education

Education	fill the details here
% in class 10	77.3
% in class 12	83.6
Graduation course and %	—
Name of college, city, passing out year	Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, 2015
Post-graduation	5 year Integrated Masters in Physics, 83%
Any other professional courses	NA
Hobbies & Extracurricular achievements	Vipassna meditation, Reading and composing poetry, General Secretary, Physics association, Department of Physics, IIT Roorkee

Introduction

Q. Tell us something about yourself, your family, when and why did you enter in this field of competitive exams?

I am from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. I did my Intermediate (12th) from Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Sanatan Dharma Vidyalaya, Kanpur and after that I Joined Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee.

My father works as an Assistant Statistical officer in a state government department while my mother is an Associate professor of Sociology. My sister is pursuing her law degree.

After eliminating career opportunities in the corporate and education sector due to personal reasons, I was left with the option of appearing in competitive exams.

Electronic Vs Paper material

Q. In recent times, there is spur in electronic material- blogs, sites, pdfs, RSS-feeds. Many aspirants feel bogged down by this information overload. So, how do you balance this i.e. electronic material vs. paper material (Books, newspapers)

I used the mixture of electronic and paper material.

I made short notes of almost all the books required to cover the static part of the syllabus on paper. This helped me in quick revisions before the exam. I used to refer to Hard copy of Vision IAS PT 365/Mains 365 for current affairs.

I made a few notes online on Evernote. They were mostly on current issues. As the issues evolved with time, I kept on editing them to make them comprehensive. I also referred to online material provided by Mrunal sir and unacademy.

I never went for every existent resource in the market/online. I used to keep the syllabus in front of me to avoid over doing one topic and leaving one altogether.

Typical day in your Online life?

Online life	Answer
Daily hrs spent on online platforms for predicting cutoff / syllabus change / age-attempt limit change and other “peripheral-bolbachchan“ related to civil services.	Around 15 minutes
Daily hrs spent on whatsapp and telegram studygroups	None
Daily hrs spent on online for exam prep.	1-2 hours
Primary Device for online study: desktop, laptop, tablet, mobile	Laptop

Q. Any other things that you wish to elaborate on above table:

If you have a group to study, it’s good but if you don’t have a group that is also good. Please do not waste time on finding a group instead study on your own. It is hard to make a group of people of similar frequency so stick to your plan and schedule.

Style of Preparation and notes making

Q. What is your style of preparation and notes making? (e.g. I continue making notes no matter what I’m reading, I just read multiple times but don’t maintain notes, I make mindmaps on computer, I use xyz software etc.)

I followed a simple suggestion given to me by a wise senior: If you can’t revise something then don’t read that thing at all.

I kept this suggestion in my mind all the time. I made online and offline notes of the relevant things.

 

Prelims (CSAT) Paper-1: General studies

Topic	strategy/booklist/comment
History Ancient	New NCERT
History Medieval	New NCERT
History Modern (Freedom Struggle)	Spectrum
Culture and society	Nitin Singhania Hand written notes
Polity (theory + current)	Laxmikant+ Vision IAS PT 365
Economy (theory + current)	Mrunal Lecture series+ Vision IAS PT 365
Science (theory + current)	Shankar IAS booklet( Theory)+ Vision IAS PT 365
Environment (theory + current)	Shankar IAS booklet( Theory)+ Vision IAS PT 365
geography physical	New NCERT 11th + Mrunal Videos + Mahesh Kumar Barnwal Book
geography India	New NCERT + Mrunal Videos+ Mahesh Kumar Barnwal Book
geography world	New NCERT + Mrunal Videos+ Unacademy videos
other national/international current affairs	Vision IAS PT 365+ InsightsonIndia Prelims current affairs
Schemes, Policy & Filler Stuff	Schemes by IAS4Sure

Q. Candidates are complaining that compared to earlier years, Prelim 2017 GS paper was very tougher, Tickmasters’ 90+ strategy (and its perverted & populist version known as Guessmaster-giri) and E-learning materials had limited utility. What are you views and wisdom on all these?

Prelims 2017 paper was different from the previous year papers but this happens with this exam all the time. UPSC asked too many current affairs questions in 2016 prelims paper which was also unexpected. So, my suggestion would be to prepare for anything in the exam. Complete whole syllabus instead of guessing the paper on the basis of last year’s paper and revise your sources again and again to avoid making silly mistakes.

My experience with the exam says:

It is the easy questions that you make wrong on the judgment day make you out of the list instead the tough questions that you haven’t heard of.

Q. Suppose, If you had to prepare for Prelims-2018, then after going through this 2017 paper, what changes would you make in your preparation?

I would not have made any changes.

Prelims (CSAT): Paper-2: Aptitude

Topic	strategy / booklist
Maths	I practiced nothing specifically but I would suggest that this portion should be practiced because UPSC has raised the bar of questions. One can take help of any easily available coaching material to practice some questions.
Reasoning	-do-
Comprehension	-do-
Decision Making	-do-

Q. In the recent two prelims (2016 and 2017), the comprehension portion becoming quite tough and lengthy. Candidates struggle even to finish the paper-II. Kindly provide some words of wisdom:

I never attempted all the questions of paper 2. There are always around 35-40 simple questions including English and mathematics. I used to solve them only. As these marks are not getting added anywhere so I never thought of putting an extra attempt to solve the full paper or tough questions. There is no need to prove yourself in every battle.

Prelim accuracy

Q1. Did you attend any ‘mock tests’? do you think they’re necessary for success?

I specifically did not join any test series. I had access to mock tests provided by different coaching centers in Delhi so I used to solve them at home.

I believe mock tests are very important. They reflect your level of preparation at every stage. A beginner should start with sectional tests of any coaching centre and then should move towards comprehensive tests.

Q2. Approximate no. of attempted answers vs. correct answers. in Prelim-2017

	attempted Q.		Official score
GS	95		122
aptitude	36		74.18

 

Indian Forest Service Mains Exam

• English: Grammar is quite scoring. Practice last 10 years question paper of IFoS/CSE English papers. This will give you a comprehensive idea of the paper.To practice questions one can also refer to any Intermediate state board English books.
• GK paper had elements of General Studies paper 1/2/3 of Civil Services Examination. So the same strategy works here.
• Geography:  New NCERT 11th/12th, Periyar Geography, Mrunal Videos and Mahesh Kumar Barnwal
• Ancient History: Tamilnadu NCERT
• Modern History: Spectrum
• Economics:  Economic survey, MRUNAL articles/videos, VisionIAS Mains 365(Current affairs)
• Diplomacy: VisionIAS Mains 365(Current affairs)
• S&T: VisionIAS Mains 365(Current affairs), MRUNAL articles
• Polity:  Lakshmikanth’s book, VisionIAS Mains 365(Current affairs)
• Social issues: VisionIAS Mains 365(Current affairs)
• Environment:  VisionIAS Mains 365(Current affairs),  Shankar IAS booklet

 

Q. What was your approach in the exam (I wrote all, I only focused on the questions where I could answer perfectly, I just not to high quality points to reach the word limit etc.) Because the UPSC aspirant Community is divided over what counts as a ‘good’ paper. Some experts claim you should attempt all- even if it involves “making up” an answer with filler lines, some claim attempt only those questions you know perfectly. Where do you stand on this? [Based on your experience and of your seniors/buddies]

I attempted all the questions in all the papers. My experience with the exam says that one should always maximize one’s ways of getting marks. It is hard to write quality answers for all the questions due to sheer vastness of the syllabus. I avoided making up answers but considering the fact that one studies so much during the exam process so if the question is from the syllabus, one can always write something relevant.

 

 

Q. How was your experience with the ‘fixed space’ answer sheet?

Fixed space allows you to frame your answers accordingly. It helps in giving almost equal time to all the questions. In essence it saves us from getting swayed away by our own emotions. So, this format helped me in completing my paper.

 

Q. Did you write answers in bullet points or in paragraphs? Some players (who cleared mains and got interview call letter) were claiming that they wrote entire paper in bullet points, so it doesn’t matter…. whether examiner is asking ‘examine, comment, discuss or xyz’….simply write in bullets and points.

I always preferred writing down in bullet points because it helped me in giving a diverse answer. It also keeps me away from putting too much emphasis on one single point. UPSC rewards diversity in answers. If one can manage to bring that using paragraph format, they can also go for it.

One should not put too much emphasis on the keywords used by the UPSC. Answer as per the demand of the question and move to the next question.

 

Q. Did you follow the “introduction-body-conclusion” format? because some mains-qualified candidates claim they simply wrote the points they could recall within the time, instead of bothering with proper introduction and conclusion.

 

I tried to follow the introduction-body-conclusion format in all the papers. This helps in providing a holistic answer to a question.  One can leave introduction and conclusion in 1-2 questions due to scarcity of time but I would advise not to do it in every question. Some examiners take this very seriously and might cut your marks for this negligence.

 

I don’t like asking following rudimentary questions, but these are the most frequently asked questions by new aspirants.

Q5. Did you use highlighters / sketchpens in your answers?	No.
Q6. Did you draw any diagram in any paper? (e.g. in Forestry )	Yes. I tried to make diagrams for maximum questions because it helps in explaining the answer very easily.
Q7. If yes, Did you draw diagrams with pencil or pen?	Pen.
Q8. Did you use ruler to draw the lines in diagram? Or did you just make it by hand?	No additional stationary was used.
Q9. You wrote the answer in blue pen or black pen?	Blue Pen ( V5)

Mains Optional Subject: PHYSICS & ForesTRy

Q. What’s your optional subject and why did you chose it and not something else?

Physics and Forestry

I opted for physics because I graduated with Physics so it was easy to handle.

I chose Forestry because one gets good marks in it with relatively less efforts.

 

Q. If a new player wants to pick your subject, would you advice for it or against it?

 

Physics:

Pros:

1. The course of physics doesn’t change every year so once you have practiced derivations/numericals, you can expect good marks in successive attempts.

2. Objective marking in this optional makes it a better choice for everyone. If you are able to reach the final answer, you can expect good marks unlike humanities optional.

 

Cons:

1. One might find it hard to finish the syllabus in comparison to other humanities subject.

2. This optional requires a lot of revision and numerical/derivation practice before the actual exam because you need to have formulas/derivations on your finger tips to ace the exam.

 

Forestry:

There are no cons. If you don’t have any learning disability, take this optional and clear the exam.

Q. First the essential book/resource list. (Also mention which one is the “Base book” for covering the theory? + Whatever comments you’ve for a particular book e.g. “my seniors said read xyz book but I found that ABC book was better”.  “xyz topic not given properly in this book, so prepare from xyz website or book…” OR and so on.)

 

Forestry:

I studied only Manikandan and Prabhu for both the papers. I also studied online notes provided by Rishav Gupta sir and Aishwarya Raj sir to enhance my understanding of the subject.

Try to make diagrams in answers and if possible, color them. Coloring might sound a little weird but that would make your answer copy different and would help in getting more marks relatively.

Physics:

If you can attend classes at DIAS, it would be better for your understanding. As the syllabus is huge, one can take more than sufficient time to finish the course for the first time. I took help of these books.

Paper1

• Mechanics: JC Upadhyay
• Optics: Ghatak
• Electricity and magnetism: Griffith and SP
• Thermo: Garg, Bansal, Ghosh

Paper2

• Quantum: HC Verma
• Atomic and molecular: Rajkumar and ban well
• Nuclear and Particle: SBPatel
• Solid state and digital electronics: Puri and babbar

Please try to solve examples of these books.

 

Q. How much of internet-research / current affairs is necessary for these optionals? OR can one simply rely on the books and be done with this subject?

Physics: You can take help of online videos to clear your doubts and to make notes of some topics that are not available in the above  books.

Forestry: Not much research is required. Make use of internet to understand keywords.

 

Q. How many months did it take to finish the core optional syllabus?

Physics: It took me around 6 months.

Forestry: It can be done in 1-1.5 months.

 

Q. How many days/ weeks before the exam, you started answer writing practice?

I joined Mains Guidance Program(MGP) of ForumIAS to practice mains answers. This helped me a lot me in Civil services (Mains) and Indian Forest Services (Mains).

No writing practice was done for Forestry. If you have revised your notes properly before the exam, time would not be an issue during the exam.

DIAS conducts a test series for physics optional students. I joined that too.

Q. Do you maintain self-notes for revision of optional? In which format- electronic or paper?

I kept self-notes for both the optional on paper. They were quite comprehensive and hence I was able to revise them multiple times.

 

Q. Your observation about the difficultly level of 2017 mains vs previous papers. And what precautions / rectifications are necessary in the future strategy for given optional subject?

A simple suggestion: If you have covered the syllabus and have already revised your notes a couple of times so no need to worry about 1-2 tough questions. Those questions are tough for most of them so don’t get panicked during the examination.

Please practice numericals for physics before the examination so that you can answer questions correctly during the examination.

Before the interview

Q1. How did you prepare for the interview? – for college grad, hobbies, place of origin, current affairs at national and international level?

I followed following strategy.

First of all I prepared my DAF (Detailed Application Form) because I believe if someone is not able to respond to questions from his DAF then it sends a wrong message to the board. I made online notes during DAF preparation.

I sent my DAF to some of my friends and asked them to send me questions related to the given information. This exercise helped me in preparing my answers from different perspectives.

I also referred to the questions asked to the candidates last year to understand the demand of the interview.

I watched Rajya Sabha channel and listened to AIR radio news for a month to enhance my analytical capabilities.

If you can find a small group of people who are also appearing in interview, it would help in refining your personality.

Q2. Did you attend any mock interviews by coaching classes? How were they similar / different than official interview? Do you believe it is necessary to attend such mock interviews?

As this was my first ever UPSC interview, I appeared for a lot of mock interviews. I attended mock interviews at  Samkalp, ALS, Vajiram and Unique Shiksha etc.

My actual interview was different from these mock interviews because I was asked almost nothing from my DAF. It was a bit shocking but I was prepared for anything.

I believe that sweating before the battle is better than bleeding in the battle so it’s always good to have a reality check time to time. Please do not neglect interview preparation because it has the potential to make you out of the list. Do attend some mock interviews before going for the official interview; this would enhance your confidence.

One thing I would like to mention here is that do not implement every suggestion that these coaching centers are providing to you after mock interviews. Always remember that you are attending mock interviews to fine tune your personality not to change it altogether.

 

Q3. Where did you stay for the interview? (Hotel / friend’s home …) and what books/material did you bring for the ‘revision before interview’?

 

I was staying in Delhi so it was not a problem. I took nothing with me to revise. It is better to relax in the morning then to take stress.

Q5. Describe the formal-dress worn by you in interview.

White colored shirt, Navy blue tie and Black suit.

 

During the interview

Q1. Who was the chairman of you interview board?

P.K Joshi sir

 

Q2. How long was the interview?

Around 30 minutes.

 

Q3. Why do you want to join Indian Forest service? Why don’t you continue in your graduation field? Social service can be done from private sector too.  [Since I don’t know whether they ask you this question or not. But if they had asked- what will be your reply?]

I believe, I have an aptitude for the service. This service provides me an opportunity to align my vocation along with the values of environmental ethics. This rare opportunity cannot be offered by any other sector.

 

Q4. Please narrate your entire interview- what questions did they ask and what did you reply and other pleasant or uncomfortable experiences during the interview. (Earlier some toppers only tell me their question but not their answer. I would appreciate if you give both Question + your original answers]

 

Chairman:

1. What is the similarity between integral humanism and Gandhian philosophy? (Related to my DAF)

Me: Both of them talked about the Antyodaya! Benefit to the last mile is promoted by both of them.

2. How are you going to use GIS and GPS in forest?

Me: Text book answer

3. Why has Kanpur lost its top spot from Industrial sector?

Me:  Poor industrial set up, Electricity problem, Labor issues etc.

 

Member 1: This 5-7 minute conversation was based on my understanding of Globalization and protectionism. Is it good for India? Why didn’t we open up our economy just after independence?

Me: I just used my basic understanding to answer these questions because nothing specific was asked.

Member 2:  The most deadly member of the board.

1. What is the definition of crop definition of crop?

Me: I do not know.

2.  What is the year of Kyoto protocol?

Me: I gave a simple textbook answer.

3. How many members have signed Kyoto Protocol?

Me:  Isn’t this a prelims question? (Obviously I didn’t say that loud) I simply said I am not sure.

4. Name some chemicals that are required to treat eutrophication?

Me: Had this been by Mains examination, I would have made some guesses and filled the sheet but didn’t do anything like that here.

Again I had to settle down with ‘I do not know’.

5. How would you recycle water at home?

Me: I was already under pressure because I had already said too many ‘I do not know’ and so I made a guess here. I talked about kitchen gardening etc. I also fumbled while answering this question.

 

Member 3:

1. What do you think Ganga rejuvenation programme?

Me:  A text book answer was given.

2. What are your views on translocation of lions from Gir?

Me: I told that translocation should consider a lot of factors like climate, availability of prey and adaptability of the species etc.

3: Have You visited any national par/Sanctuary?

Me: Yes, Jim Corbett national park.

4. Do you find any problem in tourism inside the sanctuaries?

Me: Yes.

5. What is it and how would you deal with it?

Me: A lot of vehicles are allowed every day. There should be an upper limit on the number of vehicles per day to reduce the pressure on the forest.

6. What is the difference between wet sal and dry sal?

Me: I don’t know.

7. How many months did you take to prepare Forestry as an optional?

Me: Around 1 month.

8. Why did you spend so less time on it?

Me: I got a little nervous here but told them the truth that I appeared for Civil services (Mains) too.

9. Are you appearing for civil services interview too?

Me: Yes sir.

He congratulated me for clearing civil services (Mains) and I left.

 

Q5. Was your interview on the expected lines of what you had prepared or did they ask you totally unexpected questions?  Was it a stress interview, did they ask any uncomfortable questions? If yes, how did you handle it?

No, it was mostly not on expected lines. They did not ask much from my DAF or my Physics background. There were some totally random questions but before I could understand, I had already fumbled once till then. To overcome the situation I took a pause and gained back my senses and proceeded with the mindset that they want me to get panicked and that is why these questions are asked. Once I realized that this is a stress interview, I was able to handle it.

 

Q6. Any side details about technicalities like “make sure you bring xyz document or do xyz thing, or you’ll face problem”?

UPSC has a lot more direct ways to send you home so no need to worry about any particular document.

Q7. Any word of wisdom / observations about medical checkup?

None.

CSE-2017 Marksheet

Q1. Please provide both prelim and final mark sheet:

Prelims Paper-1	122
Prelims Paper-2	74
Mains Subjects	Marks
Forestry Paper-1	105
Forestry Paper-2	151
Physics Paper-1	103
Physics Paper-2	104
General English	155
General Knowledge	141
Written Total	759
Interview	174
Final	933

Career Backup

Q1. If you were not selected, what was your career backup plan?

Even though I had cleared NET/GATE but I was not sure of utilizing them. I had already made up mind for not going for the corporate sector. So, there was no permanent back up plan.

 

Q2. When were you going to “execute” that backup plan? (e.g. after __ number of failed attempts/ after I cross __ age/ after dad retires/ after girlfriend dumps me etc.)

I think I would have given a few more attempts before quitting the exam process.

Views on UPSC reforms

 

Q. UPSC should disclose official prelim answerkey and cutoffs, immediately after prelim is over, instead of postponing it till interview phase is over.

Yes, I also believe that answer key should be released after prelims is over. Releasing the answer key after a year takes away its relevance.

 

Q. UPSC should disclose the evaluated mains- answer sheets like some StatePCS are doing.

They should disclose evaluated answer sheets so that aspirants get to know their mistakes. Currently the exam has become a black box and no one knows with certainty what went right and what went wrong.

Insecurity about profile

Q. Many candidates prepare sincerely but constantly live under fear about ‘profile insecurity’. I’m not from a big college, I’m not from English medium, and I don’t have work-experience. What if they ask some stressful questions in the interview about this? Did you suffer from such insecurities? What is your message to these candidates?

 

Everyone has his/her own fears. It’s just some people are quite vocal about it and some are not.  Everyone from IIT/IIM/AIIMS does not have all the required qualities. If you know that you lack a skill, develop it. We cannot change our past so accept it as it is. Do not find excuses for your prior poor performances. Let them be. However, try to change the future by working in present.

I also suffered from insecurities but I worked on them. Even though I have cleared the exam, it doesn’t mean that I don’t have any insecurity now. So, my short message for those who believe that they lack the qualities that are required to clear the exam would be that work upon your insecurities. Take them down one by one and get over with your fears.

Struggle of a Senior player

Q1. How did you survive through this mental prison of UPSC  and what’re your words of wisdom to other senior players? If any specific inspirational incident(s), please share.

I cleared this exam in my 3rd attempt. In my previous 2 attempts, I could not even clear preliminary stage. I believe I survived because of my discipline and a constant family/friends support.

I would only suggest one thing to senior players and that is DO NOT STOP LEARNING. If you are not getting selected, find the reason and try not to make the same mistake again. If someone is suggesting something different, listen to him/her attentively. Don’t let your ego to burn your bridges. Learn from everyone around you.

Disclaimer: You can also get rejected even when you are doing everything right because UPSC is the biggest gamble I have come across in my limited life experience.

 

Q2. What went wrong in your previous attempt? What changes did you make in this current attempt?

In my first attempt in 2015, I just came out of college so I could not get sufficient time to prepare.

In my 2nd prelims in 2016, I did not give sufficient time to current affairs and hence I could not clear because the paper was over loaded with current affairs.

In my 3rd attempt in 2017, I tried to study almost everything to clear prelims.

I studied current affairs from 4 sources: Mrunal+ VisionIAS+ InsightsonIndia+IAS4Sure. I attempted more than 60 mock test papers for prelims to improve my accuracy. I revised around 4 times in the last month before prelims.

 

Struggle of Working professional

If you’re a working professional, share some tips on how to manage studies with job.

No

 

Grand wisdom

Q. People know what books and syllabus points are to be prepared. But most of them lack consistency in their preparation. So, how do you keep study momentum going on? How do you fight against the mood swings and distractions?

Consistency comes when one maintains a routine. Maintain a schedule in your day to day life can help you in achieving anything.

Exercise in the morning is very helpful. It releases cartisol- the stress harmone and hence regular exercise keeps you energetic all the day.

Take a half day/ full day off in a week to rejuvenate your body. Go out for a movie, a dinner or anything else. This half day is for you so make sure you spend this time wisely.

Talk to friends who are more concerned about you instead of your success.

These activities helped me in fighting against the distractions.

 

Q. Through this struggle and success, what have your learned? What is the wisdom of life and competition? What is your message to the new aspirants?

In essence if you are an observant person then this exam prepares you for life. It is as unexpected as life. When I started my preparation I was naïve and arrogant. I used to take get disturbed due to poor marks in the exam. However, I have realized with time that it’s okay to lose too. I realized that there is no point in fretting about things that are not in your control.

Keep your ego aside and enjoy the process. You will become better with time. Remember that one day this process will end and when it does, I don’t want you to remember this process as an excruciating process. I don’t want you to look back in the past and curse the time you spent preparing for the exam.

There is famous couplet by Javed Akhtar,

Kyu dare ki zindagi me kya hoga,

kuch nahi hoga to tazurba hoga||

 

Q. Many hardworking candidates have failed in Mains/Interview of CSE-2017. They’re feeling cynical, hopeless and depressed- what is your message to them?

Sometimes it’s okay to lose and to feel depressed. You can’t force happiness. If you want to cry then cry but get over it. Take a week to feel sad about the whole scenario but then start afresh.

If I have learnt anything from this process then it is the patience. You don’t need to be from some IIT/IIM or be a state topper to clear the exam. You just need to be regular with your schedule for a couple of years and things will turn around.

Don‘t get scared from the process until you are getting to know what went wrong because there are a lot of deserving candidates out there who are doing everything right yet they are not getting any rank, be scared when you reach such a stage.

Keep this quote in mind whenever you require a nudge.

Na Daniyam, Na palayanam. #Shrimad Bhagwad Gita

Neither I seek pity, nor will I surrender.

Credit: Friends/family

Q. Behind every topper are many people who stood by 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?

Family: Mother, Father and my sister

Seniors: Mudit Jain, Abhishek Surana, Chinmay Jain

Friends: Siddharth Jain, Titas Ganguly, Puneet Jain, Ashmeet Singh,  Vimal Swarnkar , Shantanu Vishnoi Mayank Malviya, , Uday Bhardwaj.

All of them played an indispensable role in my journey. Apart from them there are many other people also gave direction to my life and preparation.

BOGUS Marketing Propaganda

Q. You are well aware of the sacred rule of conducting toppers interview- the last question must be about self-marketing. So, Did you use Mrunal.org for your preparation and if yes, how did it help you?  And you can even reply “No”. I’ll still publish your answer without tempering.  

Yes, I used Munal.org for my preparation. Mrunal sir’s lecture series before Prelims and Mains helped me a lot. Comprehensive articles saved my precious time. If I have to choose only one reliable source among all the online sources, I will go with Mrunal.org. Thank you sir!