This is how Aditya Shrivastava Bounced Back, After Failing in the First Prelims Exam and Topped UPSC 2023

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

I was actually in my room and during that period the result was announced so I received the first information from my friend and he called me to his room and then whatever we did has already gone viral.

Can you briefly tell us about your family?

My father is an audit officer in Indian audit and accounts Department. My mother is a homemaker, and I have a younger sister, who is currently studying.

Were you academically bright even in school or did your brilliance emerge specifically for the civil services exam?

I was decently good in school and other parts of my academic life as well. So I was always into studies because my father always motivated me to study so he was the main guiding light behind that.

Can you briefly tell me about your college education?

I did my B.Tech, M,Tech dual degree from IIT Kanpur from 2014 to 19.

When motivated you for preparing for civil services? And why did you leave your high paying job at Goldman Sachs?

It was my childhood dream because I have taken inspiration from my one of close relative.

When I joined the Goldman Sachs, I realised that kind of work I want to do should have certain elements like people interface, grassroot connect and personality development. Also, money is not something that can give you satisfaction that I was looking for. So, I decided to quit my job where I just had to do coding

What qualities do you think made you successful you had and which some of your friends or colleagues did not have?

I wouldn’t say that this quality is rare, many of the people have this quality and that is why they become successful in their respective Fields itself. I always liked challenges not just in academics but also in sports, so when the game gets tough my performance itself tends to improve than from the normal days. Also, my desire to bounce back was another important factor which helped me during this period especially when I could not clear the first prelims itself.

What strategies did you adopt when you did not clear the first prelims?

I was actually doing just hard work, it got me itself very close to the cut off, but I failed by I think two or two and a half marks which was just one question. So, I would say that the major factor there was the lack of smart work.

I was able to make a difference of almost 30 marks just by analysing the previous year questions very deeply and finding out patterns how UPSC is framing wrong statements or right statements. It helped me in actually taking an attempt on the question without knowing much background about that question itself.

Do we need some dedicated months for preparing for the prelims or can we go with an integrated approach until the last date?

In my understanding the preparation should be Mains heavy but then you cannot exactly ignore prelims. Because I remember that I used to study in such a such a way which had an integrated approach.

I would Mark the important points the important facts and those important facts are not just meant for Prelims but they can also enhance your answer quality in Mains itself so that kind of integrated approach I followed till the beginning of February.

The last three or three and a half or four months were entirely dedicated towards prelims in my preparation.

How did you come to know about Forum IAS and What was your experience with the ForumIAS’s Mains Guidance Program?

I got to know about ForumIAS from a few of my seniors who had already given the exam.

About MGP, I would say it was a good experience. Writing a type of series whether you write it by yourself or by purchasing some test series is very important to develop the kind of pace which you need to write 4,000 words in three hours that itself is a challenging task. I definitely feel you need some kind of simulation to be able to do that on the actual exam day.

Broad overview of how exactly you are attempting your questions what are the major mistakes you are making what are the good things which you are doing and should continue doing those are the kind of feedbacks which made me like MGP.

Were you satisfied with ForumIAS as an academy?

Yes, sir, I was satisfied with the experience.

Coming from an engineering background and switching to a Humanities dominated civil services examination, what changes or adaptations did you make?

Sir, transitioning from an engineering to a humanities-dominated field required significant changes in my study approach. Initially, my preparation was more technical and objective, focusing on problem-solving and applying theoretical knowledge.

I always think that my balance between electrical and GS was what helped me survive because after mugging up things for half day, I had entirely half day meant for problem solving and doing numerical, so that was a kind of load lifter and providing me the diversity to not make me burn out.

To adapt, I shifted towards a more comprehensive understanding of social issues, governance, and public administration, which are central to civil services. I incorporated a lot of reading from diverse sources like newspapers, magazines, and humanities books to build a strong base in general studies, which was new to me. Additionally, I worked on improving my essay writing skills and answer presentation to better articulate my thoughts on a wide range of topics.

What approach did you follow for answer writing?

I had adopted a very objective approach towards answer writing. I had always tried to identify what exact elements need to be there in the answer in order to enhance the marks, be it from the Toppers copies or be it actually talking to certain Toppers, I tried to adopt the strategies that people say that you should.

For example, it was told that you should write at least 10 points in 10 markers 15 Point 15 markers so I tried to reach as close to that as possible. Also, I came to know of the importance of judgments or articles so I tried to learn them and put them in my notes itself so that if any topic comes, I would write those judgments and articles.

Any topper whom you followed and appreciated?

I referred to the copies of Shruti Sharma mam quite a lot. I tried to learn the way of writing and presenting. I also got some good content and examples from her copies.

How did you do note-making? Were you a digital sort of person or all pen and paper? 

I always made my notes using my digital platform. I actually used MS Word itself and then took a printout but I found typing easier than writing because any ways we are writing too much when we are practicing answer writing so I prefer to type my notes.

What did your typical day look like when you were preparing for the civil services exam?

I generally slept from around 11 to 6-6:30. I used to wake up early and divided my day into slots in a way that initially I would study a subject which required more mugging up in the morning and in the evening technical studies.

I had my half day reserved for GS and rest of the half day for electrical. So early in the morning I would go for GS1, GS2, GS3 that require mugging up then I would practice electrical after lunch till dinner and after dinner I would go for answer writing or ethics whichever was scheduled for that particular day.

In between, I would also go for whatever I want to do that day like sometimes I would just scroll social media sometimes I would go for a run sometimes I would pursue my hobbies like reading about dinosaurs, etc.

How many hours did you study during your preparation, and how did you manage your time?

I didn’t believe in hour count. I usually believe that whatever targets I had for that particular day should get completed. But generally, I think that they definitely took 10 to 12 hours every day to complete those Target itself. Apart from that the rest 12 hours I had in the day I would sleep or pursue whatever Hobbies I want to.

I think 10 to 12 hours would have been the approximate, but when the exam comes closer then definitely that time shoots up because then you ignore your hobbies and all other things and try to focus maximum of your time on studies itself so I think that’s how it varied.

The interest in dinosaurs, how did it really arise?

It’s a story dating far back to when I think I was in Nursery or LKG. My father made me watch movies like Godzilla and Jurassic Park which actually sparked that interest.

I think I was more amazed by their magnificence, which initiated it. Then, I read about the critical analysis of the movies and soon I was reading books about dinosaurs so that’s how it progressed.

During moments of demotivation or disappointment, how did you manage to bounce back?

Yes sir, after the first prelims when the result was out, I was definitely demotivated. It took one or two days to bounce back.  It took a lot of family support and motivation by them that okay no worries, you should try to find out your mistakes and bounce back. It took a bit of counselling from my seniors at about what mistakes I could be doing.

On general days, to manage demotivation, you just go out have a walk or go out and run or do whatever you like and that get you back on track because that takes out the momentary stress that you are facing.

What specific improvements did you implement in your preparation strategy between your second and third attempts?

With regard to Mains particularly, the most important thing was to find out which papers you are not doing well. Like you should have a clear idea about in which papers you are getting the satisfactory score and in which papers you are not getting good score. Then it is important to put more of your focus on those subjects where you are not satisfied.

So, between my second and third attempt I did this particularly. for example, from my experience I can tell that in GS1, I was not satisfied with my score and I thought that I need more marks in it so I talked to few of my batchmates who got 10 or 15 more marks than me and I talked to them what different they are doing which I am not doing and tried to implement those things like making more diagrams even in history or making more maps in every geography answer. So those kinds of tips I got from them and I tried to implement it to the best of my ability.

Similarly, in GS4 I was not having any planned preparation so far, so I made my notes crisp and also tried to find out newer examples. I also took a bit of mentorship for ethics.

In electrical, a lot of practice went in like, I was making calculation mistakes very frequently in my previous attempt so a lot of practice went in along with one of my friends who was preparing together with me

So that kind of targeted approach I think worked in my favour in improving my Mains score.

What pen did you use during your exams, and did you stick to one kind or change between attempts?

I used the same pen in the initial attempts, but in the third attempt my sister suggested that use a gel pen it would be more appealing to the eyes and because it is brighter and has more ink so even the width of the line is more.

So, my sister suggested me to use gel pen and I switched from dot pen which was gripper I think to gel pen. I’m not able to recall the name so it was a simple pen not much costly, around 10 rupees pen I think which I was using.

What message would you like to give to students who have not found their names in the final list?

It is a devastating experience of course, so I would say that keeping hope at this point in time is definitely most important and trying to find out your mistakes and rectifying them is even more important.

So I think these are the steps you should take after taking a break of maybe a week or so if you want to bounce back and then work towards your Target in order to achieve whatever you have dreamed of I think that is something uh which I’m would like to suggest.

This article has been created based on Aditya Srivastava’s interview with the ForumIAS Founder Ayush Sinha. 

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