Preksha Agrawal IAS Rank 30 | UPSC 2022 – Sample MGP Test Copies | Background | Preparation Strategy

UPSC Topper Preksha Agrawal from Barelliy has achieved the remarkable feat of securing the All India Rank 30 in the UPSC Civil Services 2022 exam. His remarkable achievement in conquering a challenging exam is a testament to his unwavering dedication, hard work, and intellectual prowess.  

Here’s a comprehensive look into his journey, marksheet, optional subject, background, and the strategies he employed to achieve this monumental success.  

UPSC Topper Preksha Agrawal IAS Rank 30, answer sheets isn’t just a collection; it’s a revelation. It provides a backstage pass to the meticulous preparation, the intellectual acuity, and the emotional fortitude required to crack the UPSC. Emulating the strategy of UPSC topper, Preksha Agrawal is an invaluable approach to fortifying your UPSC preparation. 

As you explore the answer sheets of UPSC topper Pavan Datta AIR 30 of UPSC 2022, you will discover the nuances of answer writing, UPSC syllabus ,the art of time management, and the intricacies of subject mastery.

Preksha Agrawal has achieved the remarkable feat of securing the All India Rank 30 in the UPSC Civil Services 2022 exam. Her name has become synonymous with determination and perseverance. Here’s a comprehensive look into her journey, background, and the strategies she employed to achieve this monumental success. You can download her test copies that she wrote at ForumIAS during her preparation journey.

Background and Education of Preksha Agrawal

She has given 4 attempts starting from 2019. She qualified prelims in all of these. She qualified Mains in 2021 for the first time, and was recommended and achieved AIR-303, and allocated Indian Defence Accounts Services. She again gave the 2022 attempt, and achieved AIR-30.

Family of Preksha Agrawal

Preksha Agrawal’s family has been her pillar of strength throughout her journey.

Her father and mother both work in the government sector (BSNL and LIC respectively).

Preparation Strategy of Preksha Agrawal IAS Rank 30 | UPSC 2022

Preksha Agrawal has suggested the following strategy regarding the various facets of UPSC preparation:

General strategy to write Mains answers:

Make notes of the topics given in the official syllabus.

Memorize those once or twice.

Begin writing answers with notes in front of you. Your first answer may take 2-3 hours. That’s not a matter of worry.

Check for value additions which can be added to your answer. It may be some PIB data, diagram, or a graph etc.

After writing 40-50 answers this way, start putting a timer, say of 60 minutes and start reducing it gradually. Now practice writing the answers within the time limit.

Your answer quality may be really bad initially. Feel proud that you are atleast making an effort to write answers.

Everyday, revise that answer’s content, value addition and the answer itself. Have variation in your topics. If you are writing an answer on 1857 revolt today, attempt a question on globalisation the next day.

This way set 20-30 days for each paper. Keep on iterating this.

Within 1-2 months, you will find the quality of your answers has improved tremendously.

Only after this, attempt the test series.

Points to be noted in Essays:

Make essays as multi-dimensional as possible

Always stick to the main theme. Play with the words but come back to the topic.

Have some extra readings for essays- develop a knack to learn some famous anecdotes, quotes and use them. They are not mandatory but they do increase your marks.

Trust the wisdom of the examiner.

Do not attempt topics just because they are tough.

Treat essays as an area where you can present yourself as a worthy future civil servant. Don’t be afraid of them.

Practice writing an essay every 7-10 days.

Time spent in thinking should be 20-25 minutes per essay. The more you think before the actual essay begins, the faster you will be able to write it down.

Language should be among less important things. Accord higher significance to organization, flow and ideas in your essay.

Notes Making Strategy by Preksha Agrawal:

Note-making is a process which not all of us have been familiar with. It appears to be enigmatic or understood only by a selected few. Today, I will try to help you out in a small way. A large part of my technique is what I learnt from Shabbir sir and I am hugely grateful to him.

Purpose of note-making: To be able to write whatever you have studied in the exam. I used to make notes write from 2018 but made a mistake of forgetting the purpose. So, by 2021 I had huge piles of notes which haven’t been used at all. Then I decided to actually apply them in an answer. I have elaborated this in points 7,8. Check it out and see if it makes sense to you.

Notes should be a concise way of writing the matter. Ideally, font size should be small and information should be densely packed.

Précis writing, also asked in English language paper, is the original matter compressed in 1/3 words. You should also aim for same.

While making the notes, make use of abbreviations and symbols which should remain consistent throughout to avoid confusion. Initially, you may need to make an index to remember the symbols. Eg. I used CVD for civil disobedience movement.

Divide the page in 2-3 columns vertically and then pack your matter in that.

Make use of small diagrams, graphs, numbers to use less words.

Note-making is NOT a one-time process. You will need to refine them repeatedly and also make them more crisp.

Coming to the purpose of notes, to be able to use the notes, you need to go through them, learn them and rewrite them in as few words as possible. Only then you can use them

For editorials, I made sure to write the date and newspaper and convert it into Q and A form.

Then, you should learn the précis by heart and try to use them in answers. Now, I can use these notes on answers related to environment, which is the umbrella topic for biodiversity.

Use A4 size sheets and not a notebook. This is to add content easily. When you find some current issue related to static notes, simply add one more sheet. For e.g. You have notes on tribal revolts during colonial times. Now comes the event of 150th birth anniversary of Alluri Sitaram Raju. Add this to the static notes.

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