Cracking UPSC exam was no easy task for Pavithra

With a great zeal of becoming a civil servant since her childhood, Pavithra Mutyap shares her sheer excitement of finally cracking the UPSC exam with the 608th rank in her second attempt. However, sticking to the dream was not a cakewalk for Pavithra as she had to devote more than what was required to be able to manage between her ‘well-paying and satisfactory’ corporate job and her dream of cracking the UPSC.

Here are a few tips from the young achiever you can follow:

Managing work and study

After pursuing engineering from IIT Hyderabad and an MBA from IIM Bangalore, I landed a job with a corporate company and was very satisfied with the salary and work (was also promoted early). However, since Civils was my dream, I had to make a tough choice between staying where I am and making an effort to climb up the ladder. I chose the latter and since then, there has been no turning back.

Doing both at once is definitely not easy. I would invest time – at least 4-5 hours – after my work hours on weekdays and would make complete use of weekends for study. But since I was enjoying studying and since the zeal of cracking the exam was strong in me, I would look forward to studying after working all day. It is very important to enjoy what we are studying, otherwise it might get furthermore challenging.

Stick to the syllabus

There is an ocean of syllabus that needs to be covered for the Civils examination. But we need to know what and how much has to be covered in a topic and make sure to invest time in doing just that and not go unnecessarily deep into the topics. Ultimately, you need to write 20 answers of 2-3 pages each at least. Keeping that in mind, I made notes for every topic to help me understand how much is required and only focus on the points that need to be covered in the topic.

Observe previous years’ question papers

Understanding the patterns of previous years’ question papers is of utmost necessity as it will help you decipher what kinds of topics need more attention and are surely expected.

For example, there are umpteen sources for a topic like Post-Independence India, but I have observed that there was only one question maximum expected from the topic in the previous years. So, I decided to just stick to the material provided by my coaching centre and not invest further on the topic.

Similarly, considering a topic like Indian Society, I observed that there were a minimum of 2-3 questions from the topic almost every year and also since the material was also concise, I put in a little more effort on this topic.

Practice

At the end of the day, you can crack the exam only if you are able to write all the 20 answers in detail in the given three hours and for the same, practice is very important. You have to work on your speed and also be able to give the required information in an answer. Also, make sure you attempt mock tests or previous year question papers for every topic to understand how much of what you study you are able to put on paper. It is very important to have sync between what you read and write ultimately.

Take adequate breaks

Attempting the Civils examination is surely a long journey of a minimum of a year. It is a marathon, not a sprint. So, you need to have a workable timetable and make sure you stick to it. Also, take adequate breaks and do some stress-buster activities. On Saturday evenings, I made sure to mandatorily take a break. Otherwise, your mind gets overloaded after a complete day of studying.

There are times when I felt I can study for three hours instead of watching a film or going out. But I would convince myself as it is very important to give yourself that break so you don’t reach a burnout stage within weeks of starting your preparation.

— Sarada Gayathri