Meet Akshay Pillay who got 51st rank in UPSC 2021

Having been born to parents who were both civil servants, becoming an IAS officer
was Akshay Pillay’s destiny. After he completed his bachelor’s in engineering, the taxing journey of preparing for UPSC Civil services exma began. Though he was unsuccessful in his first three attempts, with revised strategies he acquired an All-India Rank 51 this
year.
Speaking about his biggest struggles initially, he says that he lacked proper guidance and since he was from a technical background, General Studies subjects were difficult to cope with. “I initially  thought that self-study would be enough. But after three attempts,
I understood that I needed support in a few subjects and then started looking for resources that could help me.”

For anyone preparing for UPSC, Akshay says that finding resources you could rely on is vital. His advice is to first understand your requirements and then look for options. In
case you are considering joining a coaching institute, he stresses checking the quality of coaching along with the number of evaluations they provide and the flexibility
with which you can take those tests. He also strongly recommends exploring online resources like Unacademy for understanding concepts you’re unfamiliar with.

Elaborating on time management while writing exams, he says, “For prelims, I divided
the time and answer questions accordingly. First 45 minutes, I answered questions
I’m sure about. Next 30 minutes, I tried eliminating the aptitude and other questions
that needed solving. In the time left, I made sure to go through the whole paper
again. When it comes to Mains, I targeted a fixed number of questions I have to complete hourly and tried to follow-through that timeline.” Apart from making sure
to keep tabs on current affairs daily, reading previous years’ question papers
and adding flow charts in answers to break the monotony of it are a few of his other recommendations. For the interview process, he suggests being thorough with the details mentioned in the application, in addition to appearing for mock tests.

“My top three tips for cracking UPSC – be familiar with the syllabus and question paper
pattern, be aware of your strengths and weaknesses and choose the optional carefully, and revise,” he says, adding that one must not take stress by studying for 14-15 hours
per day as it is also impractical

 

• Epsita Gunti