Detailed Preparation Strategy by K N Chandana Jahanavi, AIR 50, UPSC CSE 2023

What were you doing when the result came and what was your first reaction?

We were expecting the result to come on that date, so I was just refreshing the results page multiple times and, I immediately opened the file when it was put on a couple of telegram groups and the first thing I did was put my phone on airplane because I was not ready to take any calls or receive messages.

Can you tell us about your family and educational background?

I always tell that I come from extreme privilege, for that matter of fact, my grandfather was in the Indian Administrative Service and because of the awareness that it created,  he was ready to send his children to different fields.

So my father studied engineering and he went on to complete his Masters and then work in the US and I also lived abroad till my 4th- 5th standard and then we came back to India. My mother is a teacher. She was earlier teaching up to 8th standard and now she’s only a Pre-primary teacher.

I finished my education in Hyderabad. I did up till 10th in Bharti Vidya Bhavan, Jubilee Hills and post that my 11th and 12th in Vijay Ratna Junior College. There’s a separate entrance exam to get there and post that I went on to do chemical engineering from BITS Mesra and I passed out in 2017.

I did my MBA post that from IIM Indore and from there I got a campus placement. I went to Deloitte to work for 14 months and that is the place where I decided okay now I want to give civil services exam.

Why did you decide to pursue the civil services after working in the corporate sector?

One thing was about a self-doubt. I didn’t clear IIT JEE and that was always in the back of my head, can I compete with IITians because when I was writing or seeing the people in the top 50 my statistics were telling me 25 out of 50 were always IITians, so there was this factor about can I ever compete with people. So that self-confidence but, after IIM and a private job I realized that there was a level of consistency I was maintaining in everything I was doing.

I believe with consistency I can probably attempt in the examination. I was never sure of a rank but I thought at least with consistency I would be able to write the examination. And the second thing was always about the nature of job satisfaction.

When I was working, I had certain targets, weekly target, monthly target or pitching about what is the work I’m doing and everything but there was no sense of satisfaction because I didn’t know what is the final result it was going to yield. And I believed civil services was one way where I could be so satisfied that if I came back and slept that night I would be so peaceful and I wouldn’t have a second thought about getting up the next day morning which was not the case when I was working in the corporate.

When is the right time to begin preparation for civil services?

A right time to prepare would always be after graduation because I believe graduation in itself is something that can teach you so much more. It’s just not about going to classes it’s about your peers it’s about what you learn from other activities be it extracurricular activities, leadership activities and a student who starts preparing in a second year or a third year is giving up on a lot more that they’re supposed to learn that a college is offering.

So my advice would always be for them to start a little later or if they’re starting to start in such a small level that it should be half an hour or 1 hour of their schedule and they should be able to academically sustain what they’re doing even in their graduation because, I believe statistics also tell us that the probability of success in this exam is so low,  so if your graduation which is your base for a career going forward, a person should be ready to invest a specific amount of time in it.

How did you come to know about ForumIAS?

I think it was during COVID and I happen to see in a couple of telegram groups that there’s a forum group there’s a lot of motivation that goes on for people during COVID and who don’t have any other source of contact.

I didn’t do any coaching so I didn’t have any source of peer group or anything so when COVID happened and I was feeling a little low on targets or I was just not having the mood so that was when I opened the group and I remember ‘Neyawn’ and some people.

I came to know that Neyawn happens to be you very late. Posting messages saying just think about today or just think about these few hours everything will pass, some of these messages were very instrumental for me so that is the point but I didn’t know of any courses at that point it was just following some messages, some guidance, some pointers for people who are not clearing examinations to not feel disheartened so that my starting point was the blog back in 2020.

How did you make improvements in your ranks in subsequent attempts?

So for the first attempt I was not mentally prepared for Mains, so I was only focused on clearing prelims so, that year when I gave Mains, whatever I studied was on those 100 days between Prelims to Mains.

Whatever notes I made were very, very, very short so the advantage of it was that the notes were very specific and it was a very important revision time also for me but the negative side was it was not good enough that if I went with those notes for 2021 I would probably not be in the list.  I knew this at 2020 attempt itself so, I didn’t even apply for 2021 because I believed that this attempt itself will tell me if I’ll at least be in the list or not be in the list.

When the result came and I was just the borderline candidate that’s when I thought, okay so I will write 2022 and then I re-did my entire notes for every subject in Mains . I took five six months and re-did everything from the scratch so my focus then was on bringing notes down to 250 words for everything and to write a lot of tests along with it and at the same time read newspaper and try to build on the content so this is what I did for my second attempt but when I saw my mark sheet of that year my GS marks improved from 370 to 417 but my essay score which was 128 in my first attempt dropped to 85 so that marks was enough to put me to a rank 311.

So, I was not sure about what had to be done, so when I, I took your advice also, which was that I should take up content, I should take up current affairs classes and Ethics+ classes and you thought Ethics+ plus would help me in my essay. So I did take those two courses apart from that, I wanted to focus on Ethics also so I took a separate specific test series for it.

Sociology was one place where I consistently maintained my score at 280 in both my attempts.  I was ready to again take a content building course which was ForumIAS ATS+ sociology, so I was ready to improve even if I thought I was getting consistent scores and something. So I think some of these factors might have helped me in seeing a better mark but, one thing I would also want to tell is, the way I wrote the test did not really change in all my three attempts so there is an element of luck also which I believe is very strong.

What was your strategy for the prelims examination?

I’ll first come to the first part of how I thought I would attempt, so in both my previous attempts I got above 105 both the times I was clearing Forest cut off so my approach to prelims has always been to do 100 mocks.

I will not suggest it to everybody I am extremely scared of prelims and for me the only way was to do a certain number of mocks and to come at a scientific number of average marks that I’m getting in mocks and average number of questions that I’m getting right, in mock again it’s not a one coaching Institute I diversify them around 10-15 coaching institutes, papers, simulators, open simulators everything put together and my average has always has been around 85 to 86 that I have to attempt to be able to get a 100 mark.

So I have utilized that in both my previous attempts but 2023 when I tried to do the same thing I do not think I was so successful mainly because the paper was not of an elimination strategy but it was more about accuracy so, I think if people are attempting,  they should have a dynamic mindset that they shouldn’t go with a mindset that I attempt 85 or 86.

If realistically this year I would want to change my strategy I would probably look at an 82 -83 also I wouldn’t probably attempt more I attempt on the lesser side.

How did you handle the newer kind of questions in prelims exams?

I attempted all those questions also I was ready to take the risk but I think people should take calculated risk, now instead of attempting all, just attempt four or five out of the 10 when you are eliminating options.

What do you think is an appropriate strategy for the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT)?

First I would want to set a disclaimer because I am someone who has studied a lot for GRE and CAT  in my previous years I have had a basic level of aptitude and because of which I never even done any specific mocks in both my previous attempts and even in 2023 I have mostly walked into the examination hall without any formula revision anything because I think I could at least do bare minimum, that was my confidence but the paper was on the trickier side and even for me I think I would have one two questions here and there and I would be out of the list.

So if somebody were to do CSAT and  if it was just to be me,  if I were to give 2024 CSAT the things I would do are, first is do a normal analysis of the kind of questions that are coming in numerical part which is number system

What are the kind of questions that are coming question type,  I would go on a question type and not question syllabus and practice the last five six years previous year questions and take a question type and try to solve tougher questions of that question type for example ‘there is normally a question that comes a work done by five people is 10 days and what is the kind of work that three people can do in 8 days’ something like that so if I’m not able to solve this I’ll pick the toughest of the questions which will have maybe 10 sets of questions and try to practice that and to get the question type correct.

But again everybody will have a different strategy so people who are coming from Mathematics background or coming from engineering background should practice what they’re good at and devise the strategy in such a way that they’re optimizing on it.

People who are coming from humanities I think their strategy should be that first half an hour they’re doing mathematics and then the next one bulk hour is where they’re solving all the 29-30 English questions as a stretch where they should get almost 80 to 90% accuracy and then come back to the last half an hour of Maths, something like that,  a strategy where they optimizing their strength.

Did you make notes for the Mains examination? How did you approach it?

Yes, I made notes. I made different notes in all the three attempts. It was not the same notes. It was making, redoing the entire thing, destroying the earlier notes because most of the times it becomes a habit that we have notes we will read them so every time I used to go with a mindset that I will make notes from the scratch and that way I’m revising.

I’m also adding new content, new ideas or something that I saw from a topper copy and every year we get a different topper answer copy so I used to take that year’s rank one’s copy as the benchmark going forward so I used to always redo my entire notes for everything even optional I have redone my notes all the three times.

Which toppers’ copies did you refer to for your preparation?

One topper copy that has always been standard was Vishaka Yadav ma’am which was 2019 that was the first copy I saw and Divya Mishra ma’am, her ethics copy specifically and for Vishaka Yadav ma’am her GS copies. These two were my standards.

For sociology it was Dhatri Reddy ma’am’s copy and for this year 2023 for sociology Gunjita Agarwal ma’am’s copy and for Ethics I saw Garima Lohia ma’am’s copy and also Uma Harathi ma’am’s copy.

Did you use digital notes or paper notes?

For Mains it was always paper but for interview it was always digital.

What was your approach to reading newspapers and handling current affairs during your preparation?

I was mostly able to read newspaper and I used to read Hindu but unlike what a lot of toppers suggested I would not read editorials because most of the time I thought I didn’t understand from what context somebody is writing it so my focus always used to be reading the first page and then moving on to reading explained columns like that and on Sundays there used to be something on Science and Tech so to read that.

My idea was to basically get to facts and from 2022 attempt I moved to Indian Express online where I used to only read explained five articles that come of that day that’s it and just glancing through whatever is there in the main headline, never the editorials but for interview onwards I started reading a lot of editorials because it becomes very opinion oriented so that is when I started reading editorials.

How did you handle the topics like world history and post-Independence history in the Mains?

There will be like two different strategies, one for an attempter who’s going into Mains who doesn’t have any notes on it then the number of hours that they should put into these two should be significantly lower maybe one day is maximum is the time that they should give to both these subjects combined because we’re seeing hardly a 10 marker or 15 marker and they shouldn’t be wasting more time on it.

What should they should do is pick out the last five-year paper see the questions that have come make broad notes out of it and move forward. But immediately after Mains, most candidates try to take a break in that pace that is when you can probably pick India after Gandhi as a book to read and make notes out of it for Post-Independent India.

For world history to pick some small topper notes such as Bhavesh sir’s notes that I used to read them in that period immediately after Mains when you are taking a study break or when you’re not sure about the next attempt that is when if second attempt or more they should have solid notes even in these two topics.

What was your strategy for the geography section in GS paper 1?

For me, geography is a weak area so one thing that I thought was to fill the first page of a geography answer with always a map so I would try to make a map or a diagram or anything for that specific question.

There was a question related to gorge where I didn’t exactly know what it was but I knew that it was a glacial feature so I tried to draw something so I tried to cover at least half a page or one third of a page with a diagram and then the rest of the things I try to add some points or pointers so that is how I have dealt with geography.

How did you find the difficulty level of the last Mains examination you wrote?

I thought GS1 was on the tougher side and GS2 was a little on the easier side. GS3 was a little on a specific side like it wasn’t easy for anyone you had to have specific content to score and GS4 was on the tougher side.

Is Laxmikanth sufficient for the Mains examination?

I do not think Laxmikanth in itself will be enough. We need to do a lot more value addition to be able to write a Mains answer but Laxmikanth is a base because if somebody’s thoroughly revised it some 10-11 times any polity question that they see in Mains they would at least be able to write the first line which is state the basic article from which that question is originating. If emergency is there people should be able to quote article 352 and that comes from Laxmikanth as a broad base.

What was your strategy for the Ethics paper in the Mains?

This year I attempted the first five questions first and then I went back to case studies and then I came back for the rest of the questions later.

How did you balance note-making and answer writing during your preparation?

Here the balance for me was because in my first attempt itself I had 100 days to write Mains and I really didn’t have notes so then I did a 70-30 where 70% of my time which was 7 hours was to just make notes and the 3 hours was to write an exam.

The advantage when I did that was whatever I wrote I was able to replicate in the exam which is a main advantage for a first timer that whatever notes that they’re making they’re able to replicate at least 20-30% of that notes but while I went into the later attempts I noticed that whatever new notes I’m making I’m replicating very little out of those notes into my exams so I think the main balance always would be to kind of redo your notes because that helps you build a different mindset towards examination and the sweet spot will always be about how you manage reviews or whatever writing style that you have and whatever criticism you’re getting for it versus how you think you need to keep improving your content.

How did you manage your time during the Mains examination?

I was writing exactly in 3 hours and sometimes I know that I’ve left one whole page in an answer and so on but my point of view was to just focus for 3 hours and to be able to get my entire answer writing for 3 hours for be it sociology, be it ethics or be it any GS paper.

How important is the presentation of your answers?

I think presentation is a very important aspect of how we are conveying something.

One, it helps our answer to stand out. The second part of it is how uniquely are you thinking or uniquely you can think about it. So instead of writing a single line, can we represent it in a  small diagram or small, way of representing showing a arrow saying from this leads to this or something some of these are very important when you are doing your presentation.

I think it helps but we shouldn’t be extremely innovative because we are going beyond answering the point also so it must be in that context. So I think there was a suggestion that you gave ‘which was to make a box and to write a figure saying, this is in relation to this or this figure depicts so and so’.

I think that is very important to be very specific.

How did you handle the stress and preparation in the last few weeks before the Mains examination?

I had an app called Yeolpumpta so where you clock in the number of hours and I was averaging at least 10 hours consistently in every day even one day before Mains examination I was averaging that so I think I was focused on just the process at that point.

I was not thinking about what service or anything so I, I was able to maintain my mindset.

What digital devices did you use during your preparation?

My notes were all hand based so I was using that and if I got any of my answer copy also, I would try to get the physical paper because I wrote it in a physical center, so,  I would get back that physical copy and ask them to give me a physical printed key so this was in interest to minimize the number of hours I was using any other device.

But I did have a phone and an iPad but the use of them were very limited. Phone was to just track the number of hours I was studying or because I was in service to if I got any mail or a message from them otherwise not much.

How did you prepare for the personality test?

So key elements for me for interview preparation was to rigorously read the newspaper, spend two and a half three hours if need be because I already had bare minimum done for my DAF, it was only to improve it gradually on it so I would spend maximum time on the newspaper.

Also, I tried to read a lot more editorials, be it even my regional news and so on and to have an aptitude and to be ready to answer any question that came from that area.

The second part was about the DAF, I would prepare on certain areas like Indian Revenue Services something that I that got added so I would gradually read certain things.

I did around 10-11 mock interviews,gathered questions that they’ve asked and try to pick, what is a prior question that they can ask from the question that they already asked me, like if somebody asked me what is a tax I would probably go one level down and think what is the philosophy behind tax and one element after it what is what do you think is future tax rate or something so I would try to link and try to think like that and add question bank and, create a final question bank which I revised before I went into the interview.

Which interview board did you appear before, and what was the most difficult question they asked?

I got Dr. Dinesh Dasa Sir’s board. The most difficult question that they asked was on street children.

The question was that I think I see a lot of street children children on the roads of Delhi and I think they’re a menace and they are causing not only traffic problems but they’re causing so many other moral issues for so many of us, we want to give money but we know that this will never be utilized by them so you tell me what how do you see this and the second question was what what do you think can be a solution to this can we ever stop this.

Now even if you suggest an altruistic thing that the state must keep all of them and send them to schools but don’t you see that we’ll have a flow of such children coming in from other States neighboring states so think of a pragmatic measure from that perspective.

How did you maintain motivation and handle the challenges of repeated attempts?

I think this exam has humbled me in its own way.

I have been able to survive this because every attempt I told myself that I’m going in as a first attempter I have no baggage, I’m not carrying anything, no pride in getting selected prior or no sadness that I was never a top ranker.

My focus is I’m going in as a first-timer and I will do everything that a first-timer will do when they go into the examination but the second part is I think I accepted the element of luck also I believed that I will do my work and leave the rest.

I will not think about service or what happens next or what will I do next.

I was extremely prepared to go for 2024 also. So immediately after my interview to be very honest it ended on 4th and by 5th I already bought materials, prelims mock test that I thought I’ll be giving when I go into 2024 so nobody is ever sure.

I think a lot of toppers of this year also I’m sure are already preparing for 2024 when the result came so I think to be mentally prepared is what helps us at the end of the day even if we saw success or failure.

Have you been loyal to one type of pen throughout your attempts or did you change?

I changed my pens. The first attempt I was using a ball pen but second and third I stick to V5, so this is for left-handers out there, please be very judicious.

I was using ballpoint pens and in the middle of the examination I noticed that I was seeing marks on the other side of the page so whenever you choose a pen please,  kind of always do a practice test in that three hours thing to know how you’re writing with a pen.

V5 is one pen I suggest to a lot of left-handers because I think it is an optimal pen doesn’t come on the other side of the page.

Can you recommend some books that influenced you during your preparation?

I read a lot of books but I don’t remember quotes in general, but, if I had to think, one book that I read was, ‘Remnants of a Separation’ by Aanchal Malhotra.

The exact name was about book on partition. It captures material memories from books and it says ultimately what we hold, what is of material value to us today and generation later might look at it in a completely different view so that kind of is one thing that I remember as of now.

What would be your message to the students preparing for the UPSC exams?

I think there is already enough guidance and enough pointers there but, one element that I stress for prelims is you need to be confident when you’re walking into the exam, you should go with so much of confidence.

Ultimately all of us are reading the same kind of news, same kind of sources also doing the same kind of mock examination. So it ultimately will boil down to those 2 hours and how finely are you able to think through just on the examination not on the result, not on your hard work nothing like

In those two hours how optimally are you able to think about just the question in front of you that’s it nothing more nothing less, and the second part is to not go in with a lot of baggage, not of emotions not of hopes that people have on you or what you have of yourself, the idea is that this is an examination so see it as an examination and to give your best and to not think about anything after it.

Read – Biography, Testimonials and Answer copies of Other toppers