Dr. Arpit Jain, IPS (Prob)
(Air -194,UPSC- CSE 2013)
Hi friends,
Greetings for the Day !!!
I prepared for UPSC 2012, but without professionalism and then again for 2013, with better approach , I just want to share the mistakes I made and what I learned from them ..so that you don’t commit them and have best outcomes in this Exam. Hope you will be able to connect with me.
2012 attempt failed badly …. Reasons:-
- Unrealistic targets
- Not able to complete syllabus in time .
- Unprofessional studies…Not oriented to exam…. studying everything to become encyclopedia rather then focusing on syllabus and demands of Exam..
- Some of my friends who always said that ‘ yaar tera to ho hi jayega ‘ and things like ‘u will be topper ‘ which made me to day-dream more rather then focusing on my ‘work’ (‘karma’).. and subsequently unnecessary OVERCONFIDENCE..
- Not worked on my perceptible weakness like bad handwriting , slow speed of writing etc.
From 22 feb (Date on which result of 2012 Mains declared ) to august 3,2013 (Date on which result of 2013 prelims declared ) … I was filled with self doubt and lot of cynicism.. .led to poor studies…On 5th august,2013, I decided ..that I’ll study consistently without thinking or unnecessary day dreaming …
After this …Up to the interview .. I personally never thought of any result ..my mantra was to put best..(and to do what Lord krishna has said in gita of putting your best karma rather then thinking of fruits) ... Finally It paid off with AIR-194 ..
After analyzing my preparation of this year (2013) (which although has numerous flaws ) .. I came to know many areas of improvement….
I just wan’t to share some positives and Negatives of this attempt (2013) :-
Positives (2013) :-
- Stress on working with commitment rather then undue day dreaming .
- With discipline I appeared for my GS and Essay test series
- Optimism … “if I’ll work Hard … I’ll not have regrets “
- A lot of Writing Practice.
- Was Lucky enough to get personal guidance from most of the best teachers.
- Filled my DAF with much Analysis ..which really helped me in interview..and I was able to guide most of my interview
- Got My leg fractured in august end ..was handicapped for about 5 weeks but kept on doing my Karma of studies.
- Wonderful Friends ..
Negatives(2013) :-
- Lack of discipline and time management in studies… gave much time to Ethics , GS paper -2 …while was not able to cover enough the GS -1 and 3 (So please play at least game of average…your preparation should not be below avg. in any paper ….don’t sacrifice preparation of one paper at cost of other. )
- Over confidence in Optional … it became a nail in my death bed…got least marks among the candidate in final list…even if I might have got the average Marks then I would have been around air – 40-50.
- Not giving test series of Optional (over confidence and unprofessional approach )
- Never analyzed the mistakes I was committing in mock tests for mains.(Just gave test and threw the paper ).Proper analysis would have improved my score in real exam by 50-60 marks .
- Not worked much on my slow and poor handwriting…(Left almost 200 marks in exam …this is suicide !!! )
In interview lack of organization in content and very unstructured answers.(although I guided most of my interview and got 70% Marks .. but better structured answers would have further improved my marks )
So friends ,I believe life and exam is all about Optimism, Perseverance and Discipline along with regular SWOT analysis ( Overcoming weakness and optimizing on strength.)
So synchronize your strategy in context of the Exam…Be a professional and don’t just be a person who merely desires… Hope you may get some insight from my experiences of UPSC…
Work Hard !! Dream Big !!
With Best wishes and Regards
Dr. Arpit Jain
