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see story of topper-NameNEHA NAUTIYALRoll number235262Rank (CSE 2011)185Optional Subjects1. History2. Public AdministrationMedium for Mains ExamEnglishMains Examination CentreChandigarhNumber of Attempts2Details of Graduation and Post-Grad.http://1.B.Sc. B.Ed 4 yr integrated coursehttp://2.M.Sc. (Zoology)Schooling (Medium)Kendriya Vidhyalaya (English)Extracurricular activities,hobbies, achievements etc.Listening songs,Internet Surfing,Cooking,Playing BadmintonAre you a working professional?YesIf yes, then did you leave your jobor prepared while on the job?No I prepared while on job.Did you take Coaching?Prelims: Yes (From Dehradun)Mains: Yes (From Dehradun)Interview: Yes (From Delhi)Did you buy any postal courses?Yes from Cracking IASDid you join any Mock test series?Yes for Interview onlyDid you appear in any other competitive exams?YesIf yes, provide the details:IBPS PO, SBI PO (qualified written of both but didn’t gave Interview),CASE( The present job I am holding was by this exam)InceptionQ. When and how did the inspiration and idea of joining civil service come in your mind?Ans: It was when I was doing my post graduation (during 2009) that I started thinking seriously about Civil Services. I was interested in teaching but slowly I realized about the Impact of various other factors on education. This was a major driving force which inspired me for joining the services. Besides there were many other factors like good career profile, varied opportunities etc. etc.The Choice of Optional SubjectsQ7. After a person decides to appear in civil service exam, the first big obstacle is “Choice of optional subjects”. What factors did you consider before selecting your optional?Ans: Definitely the choice of optional is the first major obstacle. My basis of selection of optional was based on many factors:My interest and aptitude towards the optional.Relative popularity of the optional.Availability of good books related to that optional in Dehradun (Since Doon being a small city there is always a lack of good books related to many subjects particularly the science one).Subjectivity and objectivity of the subject (For example, I took History due to its objectivity apart from my interest in it).MomentumQ. People initially prepare with much enthusiasm but then a boredom phase comes – they don’t even find the motivation to read the daily newspapers, let alone studying the books.Sometimes they get diverted because of external factors e.g. heavy workload in office, family responsibilities and so on. How did you sustain the study-momentum throughout the year?Ans: Whenever I got bored during preparation I took a break of 1 or 2 days. During the break I watched movies, read novel (which I love much), went for an outing. So it all depends upon you and your interest. If at any point of time I became de-motivated I thought about why I am preparing it? The inner motivation coupled with the motivation and support of family and friends kept me sail through the difficult phase of examination.HoursOn an average, How many hours did you study per day? How many months did it take you to complete the core syllabus of GS and optional subjects?Ans: I never gave much importance to hours. I believed that one should be honest to himself/herself while studying. If you don’t feel like studying don’t do it. It will not be much productive. Rather take interest while studying even if it is for a short duration of 15-20 min. Believe me it will give good results.If I calculate on an average it will come around 2-4 hours. As I was a working professional I was not having much time on weekdays so I stretched it during weekends.I started the preparation approx. 1 year before appearing in the prelims of 2010 so I took nearly 6-7 months in completing the core syllabus of G.S.InternetHow did you use computer and internet for your exam-preparation?Ans: The IT boom is really very helpful. Besides entertainment I used it to add up study-material. I used many forums like IO, Orkut to clear my doubts. Lok sabha channel for listening discussions . Many other sites to clear my doubt. Mrunal’s blog for economy and any other site which was helpful for preparation. One can arrange study material from net like IGNOU notes, ARC report, Economic survey, NCERT’s etc.EssayHow did you prepare yourself for the essay?Ans: Specifically I didn’t prepare much for essay. During preparation I wrote some essays on common topics like Corruption, Women empowerment, Judicial System, sustainable management etc. I purchased a book related to some common essays so as to get some points related to essay writing. Saw essays on net.Which Essay did you write in Mains-2011?Ans: Creation of smaller states and the consequent administrative, economic and developmental implication.How many marks did you get in that essay?Ans: 94PhoenixQ. What had gone wrong in your previous attempts? How did you fix those issues in your 2011’s attempt?Ans: I would say that yes failure is really depressing but its important to rise again with full vigor. Analyze your mistakes, areas which need more focus, work out for a new strategy.The mistake which I committed during 2010 was that I didn’t have much writing practice for mains. As a result the quality of my answers was not good at all. Besides I resorted to reading many books. But this time I did continuous revision, tried to memorize and relate different topics as much as I can. Apart from that mainly in Public Administration I focused more on theoretical part related to thinkers and used it in many other questions also.ProfileMany aspirants fear the interview, thinking that “my profile is not good becauseI’ve low marks in SSC/HSC/College,I don’t have any extra-curricular certificates,I don’t have work experience,I graduated from some unknown college,I’m from non-English medium and so on…”So, How important or relevant is the profile of a candidate during interview?Ans: I don’t feel like the profile plays much importance. It can only give a plus point during the interview to a very limited extent. Even if you don’t have any such advantage you have to prove to the interviewer that you possess skills to do the job. You just have to impress the interviewer with your attitude.How do you rate your own profile?Ans: I myself rate my profile to be average or less than that. Neither I am a student of any reputed institute nor have any extra stars attached to my profile. The only positive point was that I am a working person.How much portion of your interview centered on your profile?Ans: There were few questions related to my PG subject, Job related, Hobbies and some were general.Did they ask any uncomfortable questions from your profile?Ans: NoBackupQ. In case you had not cleared the UPSC exam, what was your career/future backup plan?Ans: I would have continued with the job I am currently doing.Working professionalWhat is your advice and tips to working professionals – particularly on time Management?Ans: For time management I resorted to the tips given by Mrunal somewhere in the IO Forum.I didn’t indulge in office gossiping, used free time of office for preparation. Did proper utilization of internet facility given by the office. Read newspaper during office hours.Besides I resorted to studying daily even if it was only for an hour. I stretched during weekend upto 7-8 hrs.Family and FriendsQ. Behind one 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?Ans: In my case my parents, brother and friends were the constant motivating factors.Your Study planCSAT (Paper I) General studiesTopicSource of your preparationremark, if anyCurrent AffairsFrom Chronicle (monthly edition) and from net. During the peak time any book covering the entire period (I used Wizard special edition for pre preparation)InternetHistory Ancient/Medieval/ModernPrepared it alongwith optional preparationPhysical GeographyFrom Khullar, Wizard special edition for geographySome topics from internet for clarity.Geography of IndiaFrom Khullar, Wizard special edition for geography, Atlas is mustGeography of WorldFrom Wizard special edition for geography, atlasPolity and GovernanceD D Basu, P M Bakshi, Polity special editionPublic PolicyMonthly magazineRights issueMonthly magazineEnvironment and BiodiversityChronicle special editionMany of the topics from internet.Economic and social DevelopmentFrom India Year Book and monthly magazineScienceNCERT’s, Internet, Special edition of magazines.EconomyMainly relied on net for this.About the CSAT aptitudeI had study material of TIME given by one of my friend so all the topics related to paper II were prepared from that only.Mains ExaminationCompulsory Language papersSource of your preparationEnglishNo preparation at all.Indian language paperNo preparation at all.There are some instances of candidates failing in Compulsory Indian language (Hindi / Bengali etc.) so please do provide your source of preparation for it.Ans: If one is not confident in a language paper it is imperative for him to prepare it well as it is important for clearing mains. For that one can resort to very basic books of the subject concerned. For English one can use Wren and Martin whereas for any other language any basic grammer book will suffice.General Studies paper ISyllabus TopicSource of your preparationRemarks, if AnyHistoryBeing optional subject same booksCultureFrom spectrum for art and cultureGeography of IndiaKhullar,PolityP M Bakshi, D D Basu, Some topics from Special polity editionLatest issues from Chronicle monthly magazineIssues of social relevanceFrom Chronicle magazine and news paperIndian economy and planningFrom internet (I have mentioned the sites which I used), rest some issues from Economic survey, Budget and the monthly magazine. Any book related to special addition of economics.Public healthFrom magazinesLaw and orderFrom Chronicle magazineGood governanceFrom magazineEnvironmentSpecial edition by ChronicleDidn’t study it much due to my bio background.I also read some of the topics from India Yearbook mainly the topics related to Welfare, Environment, Art and culture.General Studies paper 2Syllabus TopicSource of your preparationRemarks, if AnyIndia and the WorldFrom newspaper and magazineIndian diasporaFrom the study material of Cracking IASIndia’s Economic interaction with worldMainly From InternetStudy material of Cracking IASInternational affairs and institutionsInternetPrepared self notes for these topics and added latest issues related to it in them.StatisticsFrom the study material of BT tutorialScience & Tech.From the monthly magazine and study material of cracking IAS.Study material of Cracking IASOptional Subject #1 and #2Instead of reading many books I mainly relied on reading single book many times.Public AdministrationPaper ISharma and SadanaSome topics from Mohit BhattacharyaThinkers from Prasad and PrasadNotes of R.V. Varun Kumar (which I got from IO forum)Paper IIIndian Administration from Arora And GoyalReport of 2ndARCSelected topics from IIPA journalsSome topics from internet also.Some of the topics for both papers from IGNOU notes.HistoryPaper IAncient India: D. N. JhaRomila ThaparMedieval India: By Satish Chandra (Both Parts)An atlas (Spectrum)IGNOU notes mainly for the pre historic period.Paper IIFor Modern IndiaIndia’s struggle for Independence by Bipan ChandraModern India by Grover and GroverFor World HistoryFrom Jain and MathurIGNOU notes for selected topicsThe major focus of History preparation was on society, Art and architecture, culture. This helped me in writing quality answers.InterviewHow did you prepare for the interview?Ans: For interview preparation I focused mainly on bio-data. I did a scrutiny of my DAF and identified the areas of preparation. Try to formulate questions related to that. Read two newspapers during the month of March so that I didn’t miss any important news.I did a mistake as I didn’t prepared my PG subject (Zoology) much and so was not able to answer some of the questions related to zoology.Who was the chairman of you interview board?Ans: Dr K.K. PaulWas your interview on the expected lines of what you had prepared orDid they ask you totally unexpected questions?Ans: Some of the questions asked were related to the Biodata, Mainly related to Zoology, Uttarakhand. Besides some were general like Land acquisition, Privatization, difference between regulatory adm and development adm, your area of priority, mountain peaks of Uttarakhand etc. etc.Marksheet20112010ESSAY(PAPER-III)9497GENRALSTUDIES(PAPER-IV)143102GENRALSTUDIES(PAPER-V)114101OPTIONAL-I(HISTORY)(PAPER-VI)177161OPTIONAL-I(HISTORY)(PAPER-VII)172137OPTIONAL-II(PUBLICADMIN.)(PAPER-VIII)174103OPTIONAL-II(PUBLICADMIN.)(PAPER-IX)153147WRITTENTOTAL1027848(not qualified in Mains)PERSONALITY TEST129FINAL TOTAL1156MessageQ. What is your message to the aspirants?Ans: Be honest to yourself and always believe that yes you can do it. Its not easy to think about preparation of Civil Services but you have thought about it which means you have the caliber.Work smartly and think about what the exam demands? Perseverance, Self-confidence and positive attitude is the key to success.Finally two questionsWhen you’ll give interview in the famous competitive magazines, the last question is generally a loaded question “how did your magazine help us in preparing for IAS Exam!?”In the era of blatant marketing campaigns, I too have to ask two similar but unloaded questions. Although you can answer “No”, yet it’ll be published without distortion.Did you use indianofficer.com for your preparation? If yes, How did it help you?Ans: Yes I used IO very much during the preparation. I was the passive follower of the forum. The dignity maintained by the candidates on this forum is what I like most about it. It helped me in covering many important topics, to have another opinion related to many topics, in relieving tension during the result time, for optional preparation.Did you use mrunal.org for your preparation? If yes, how did it help you?Ans: Yes I used your website quite often. I love your website very much. Believe me I was very poor in economics. And one of my friends gave me the link to your website and yes it helped me very much in understanding the core principles of economy. The explanation given by you was so easy that the economics which gave me nightmare earlier was now being interested by me much.Even till day I use your website. The Diclophenac and vulture, graphene etc. quest in pre was solved bcoz of your website. I love the economy part of your website most.