“In my second attempt, I could not qualify CSAT”, Says Swati Sharma, Who Cleared UPSC CSE 2023 with AIR 17

What were you doing when you got the news of your UPSC result?

I could not believe that I can secure rank 17. I was not expecting my name in the first page, it was very surprising. Even after checking it 2-3 times, I told my friends to re-check it and when they confirmed, then it felt as real.

Can you briefly tell us about your family and educational background?

My primary education was from Army Public School, Kolkata till my class 10th as my father was serving in the Defence. He is now retired, post his retirement, our family shifted to Jameshedpur. I finished my class 12th there as well as my graduation from Jamshedpur Women’s College. Post my graduation, i wanted to pursue further studies and complete my Masters but eventually decided to start preparing for UPSC. I started preparing for Civil Services mid of 2020

Earlier, people used to start preparing for civil services after graduating. Nowadays, we see people starting as early as the first or second year of college. What did you do, and what would you recommend?

The college years are precious years of one’s life and one should not let go of that time period. I read some of the NCERT books but it was haphazard. The consistency was missing but if others can balance the preparation with College then its their call because later in life, there should not be any regrets or repentance that the precious years of upgrading education was a miss. The goal of succeeding in UPSC, in itself is big that others should not degrade the college years.

How did you come to know about ForumIAS and what was your first interaction with ForumIAS like, if you remember?

I got to know about ForumIAS through a friend who told me that forumIAS is a one stop solution for getting your concepts clear. I had lots of doubt in Economics and by solving the sectional tests, I could get good marks in Economy.

My first interaction with you (Ayush Sir) was in 2023 when I had problem clearing prelims. When I came for my interview guidance this year, I met you and you recollected the 2023 meet and also told me that maybe I will get my name in the final PDF.

With respect to the prelims examination, what were the basic books that you referred to?

I started my preparation through self-study mode and I followed the same books and resources that the toppers followed. It started with the NCERTs and then the standard books such as Laxmikant for Polity, Spectrum, RS Sharma and Satish Chandra for History. For Geography, I followed NCERT and G C Leong and for Economy, my sources were the NCERT books and Ramesh Singh.

A lot of students say they have an accuracy problem in the prelims, where they attempt a large number of questions but get many wrong. Did you face such challenges, and how did you deal with them?

My challenge particularly was that I could not solve more questions. I was in the loop that I have to get all the questions correct, so I used to solve around 70 to 75 questions, but the negatives were so much that my marks could not increase but later with multiple revisions and attempting multiple mock tests, my accuracy of attempting questions reached to 92-93 where I could score around 120 marks in the mocks till the end of the last month of the actual prelims date.

You mentioned not clearing prelims twice before. What mistakes did you think you were making in those attempts which you were able to correct in this attempt?

Firstly, I could not attempt more questions. Secondly, I was stuck on solving only certain type of questions. I did not allow myself to solve a diversity of questions. Thirdly, I would say I did not analyze the previous years in a proper manner because I only used to solve them and keep them aside.

For this attempt, I started solving sectional mock tests from November where I could get an understanding of my weak subjects and tried to get more conceptual clarity. Also, this time I analyzed the PYQs thoroughly 3 months prior to the prelims, this helped me in arranging the questions in an order so that I could attempt the prelims without much hassle.

In the prelims examination, how many questions do you think a candidate should attempt?

Everybody has a different potential and strategy . For me, it was 92 to 93. Many students attempt 100 on 100 questions. Many students solve all 100 questions. According to me, the practice of mock papers help increase the efficiency to attempt the questions.

How did you deal with situations in the prelims where after eliminating two options, you were left with two choices?

By solving tests only, I gained some kind of idea as to where to apply common sense and use that what we say calculated risk thing. The elimination trick I think comes along when we solve more and more tests.

Do you think rules like avoiding questions with ‘only’ and ‘all’ are hardwired, or is it more about the language interpretation?

I think it is the interpretation problem because this year, many statements were there that contained ‘only’ and ‘all’ were correct.

CSAT has become more difficult in recent times. Did you ever flunk in CSAT, and what was your strategy for handling it this time?

In my second attempt, I could not qualify CSAT. I could qualify GS but could not qualify CSAT. But for this attempt, I started the CSAT preparation at a very early stage.

How many CSAT mocks did you write, and what is the ideal number people should now attempt given that CSAT has become a bit difficult? In your CSAT preparation, did you focus more on the English reading comprehension or the mathematical part?

Rather than focusing on how much you are attempting, accuracy should be the main focus in CSAT.  For this year, the question paper was such that I focused more on solving all the questions from reading comprehension and a mix of the quantitative aptitude questions and also reasoning ones.

What was your typical day like one month before the prelims examination?

One month before I used to wake up around 7:30 AM and I used to sit to study around 8:30 AM after having my breakfast. Around 9 AM to 11 AM, I used to solve one paper daily whether it is PYQ or some institute’s mock test and then I used to analyze it for around an hour or so. In the evening time, I used to revise and focus on Current Affairs.

Did you face the problem of running out of time in the prelims examination?

In the initial two attempts I did find it, but this year I gained a lot of confidence so I did not have this problem.

Did you make elaborate notes or short notes, and what was your strategy for note-making?Did you maintain a separate register for errors or something like that? Did you use paper notes or digital notes?

Earlier I used to just jot down the points that did not help me. This year I used the help of maps and I used to underline the books so that I can revise them easily.

I used to maintain a separate notebook in which I used to write if even if there was an easy question and I did a silly mistake I used to write that.

Earlier I used to make notes on paper but later on I shifted to digital because it becomes very bulky.

Do you think there’s a change in approach between the prelims preparation and the mains preparation, or is it just an extension of the prelims preparation?

I think both should go hand in hand. In fact, prelims, I think, is an extension of the mains exam.

In General Studies paper one, there are sections like post-Independence history or world history that are not part of the prelims exam. When did you study these parts? How did you handle the Society section in the GS papers?

As it was my third attempt, I had a lot of time for Mains preparation earlier also, so I had done it before prelims itself. For the Society section, I started with the NCERTs and I followed this same one pager, two pager notes for each section for topics such as communalism, etc.

For General Studies paper two, which involves polity and governance and just, was Laxmikant sufficient, or did you go beyond that?

Because my optional was PSIR, I did not face a lot of challenge in completing that but  for governance and social justice, I think notes should be made.

What was your overall approach for General Studies paper three, which covers a variety of topics like economy, international relations, and disaster management?

For GS3, for the economy section, I had read Ramesh Singh book. After that, for topics like agriculture, e-technology I used to Google them and read in-depth about the same.

For the Government schemes, I think the PIB is an useful resource.

For Science and Technology part, I used to google the terms and concepts and read in-depth such as the implications on the country and so on. The articles found on Google is very useful.

For Disaster Management, I read the entire document of NDMA guidelines because I had lots of time. I jot down the contents from that document itself. But in order to save time, students can refer to any notes.

What were your sources for General Studies paper four, and what was your overall approach for this paper?

In the beginning, I started with the Lexicon, I made some notes but my content was lacking enrichment so I just referred to ForumIAS red book for ethics which added value addition to my answers and it helped me in presenting my answer in a better manner.

In your mains answer writing, how useful did you find the MGP for improvement, and what was your experience with its evaluation? How important do you think presentation is in answer writing, aside from the content?

It was wonderful because before Prelims I had my concise note but I did not know if I presented them in a good manner. I used to do a daily answer writing program earlier but it was like in the starting but what we do in those 3 months between the prelims and the mains make a lot of difference.

The evaluation was timely and with the feedback I could restructure my answers, especially, GS 4 where I had to use more examples and improve my case studies.

Presentation of answer writing is very important. If we are understanding a thing but we are not able to reciprocate in the paper, I think it makes very less sense. The answer should be written in sub parts and explaining each topic with subsequent flow charts and maps will add your marks.

In the last 2-3 weeks before the main examination, how did you divide your time between the optional subject, essay, ethics, and the General Studies papers?

Mainly, it was divided into three parts. In the morning, I used to revise things. In the afternoon, if I could write a paper, I used to write it. I used to write one mock test paper every alternate day for my GS, especially.

For my optional, I used to revise it in the evening time. Due to paucity of time, I could not write full length tests but I focused on sectional tests.

In the last 3 weeks before the mains, the students should focus on revising and solving multiple tests because completing 20 answers in 3 hours is a challenging task.

Did you get sufficient time to prepare for the personality test (interview)? What was the most difficult question asked to you during the interview?

The schedule came on 19th December, and my interview was around 15th January, so I did not have much time. After my mains, I lost touch with Current Affairs which was really a big challenge for me because CA holds an integral part of personality test. My schedule was hectic.

The most difficult paper was a question of economy that I could not answer. It was about a law under which the government bans import.

How did you keep yourself motivated during the times when you were not achieving the success you wanted?

At that time I was at home, it was my parents and my brother that was my constant source of motivation.

What advice would you give to students currently preparing for the prelims?

The first foremost is, I think, PYQ analysis is very important. This really helped me this time, not only for GS but also for CSAT. Secondly, it is very important to analyze the strengths and weaknesses around every subject. The third and the main thing is the confidence that one needs to keep to excel in this exam.

How satisfied were you with the courses you took with ForumIAS?

ForumIAS has been a part of my journey in all the three stages (prelims, mains and interview. It helped me gain a lot of confidence. Everyone motivated me and helped me work on my weak areas.

The CA classes of Dipin Sir helped me articulate my current affairs.

CONFIDENCE IS THE KEY TO EXCEL IN THIS EXAM.

Read – Biography, Testimonials and Answer copies of Other toppers