Why do SFG at 7AM?

A common question people often ask is that why we make young folks wake up at 4AM/5AM/6AM ( depending on where you live ) in Delhi winters and write a test at 7AM in the morning.

In this blog post we will describe why we decided to this 7AM thing.

In 2016 when we first started our offline academy – there was one core value we had at heart. That we’ll do things differently.

And help people who haven’t found success, find success.

And we started with MGP.

We got 84 people who knew us to join MGP 2016. And we promised we’ll do our best to get people an Interview call.

And 74 people did. Out of the 86.

( In those days, getting an Interview call was easier than now, and ways and means to achieve them were known by serial interview goers – many of them who were a part of the academy ).

So the next avenue for us was to help young folks not clearing prelims, clear prelims.

And from the first batch of MGP, there was one Mr Prajit, getting Rank 87 that year – sending us a message.

“Guys, from our group there is a certain girl. Her name is Minal. She hasn’t cleared prelims. Like 3 times. See if you can help her out.”

We got the young girl with an orange TShirt do a near-foundation course with us. But we knew that in the end if kids don’t study – in fact – if they don’t train hard, they won’t make it.

And one of the jobs of an academy is to make her students work hard.

And training is hard.

No one likes it.

Plus they’ll give you a 1 star rating and write bad things on Quora. Or reddit these days.

But we gotta do what we gotta do.

Because the purpose is way more important. Than absolutely anything else.

Even if it means a bad internet feedback, as long as we can help a few hundred people clear the damn exam.

Just as we got started with the program, there was a sealing activity in Delhi.

We decided not to stop the program, and went on to conduct the 7AM tests in the park.

We were helped by the students who had written Mains, and were appearing for the Interview.

Here is an old pic.

( The person distributing copies would volunteer to do this work in return for support and guidance. He would go on to clear the exam, get IPS, then IAS the subsequent year )

The first SFG would produce a few hundred success stories.

Some of them are sitting in the pic above.

When Uncles & Aunts in the park protested because it disturbed their morning laughter therapy, we shifted to a building which now houses some major coachings including ours.

The landlord had given it to us for 2 months until we found a new classroom. Once we occupied it, we never left.

If the park was the 0th classroom of ForumIAS, this was Classroom #1. We got chairs. Some halogen bulbs from a tent wala, so that the program would not be disrupted. Water would be sprinkled every morning so that dust would not be too much.

At first we asked students to wear a mask. (About 12 days later SPM 2.5 pollution dawned on Delhi for the first time that year and government advisory required people to wear a mask.)

This is Thakur Bhaiya at 4AM before the class, on January 2nd, making sure water is sprinkled on the floors and the chairs are in place for people to sit.

We have always been the kind who try hard no matter how tough things are.

Even if things look impossible.

And we were lucky to have students ( the post 2000 born crowd hadn’t come back then ) who were willing to sit in the class while we built a floor around them.

There was this family which stayed there making the floor while classes went on covered with curtains, with a baby that slept peacefully amidst all the classes, loud speakers, student gossip’s noise and what not.

And build we did – the floor and a few hundred officers.

About 6 months after doing what we do, we decided to put a board telling the world who we are. By that time, Anudeep Durishetty, our MGP student would get Rank 1 and make us kinda famous outside the core crowd. ( The core mains writing, Interview going crowd already knew us ). We kinda expected a top 100 rank, and he was like 1.

Here is his DAF from an old google photos.

Here is a picture of how we put a board.

( Some students have asked us why we don’t have a board outside our new classroom – above Kalyan jewellers – even after 2-3 months now –  in New Delhi – here is the reason, we’ll put a board when we’ll get a rank from that classroom. If you want to help, get a rank. )

And the girl in the orange T- shirt who slogged and wrote every single SFG test?

She secured a Rank 35, after flunking prelims every single time before.

And wore the same orange T shirt even when she got a rank.

Here is an old  video from the past.

Why do SFG

And the one reason why we decided to do it at 7AM is because we had students who hadn’t cleared prelims before.

When we fail, we fail to see the brighter side of life. A certain negativity creeps in. We lose faith in ourselves.

We lose faith in our mentors, coaches and guides. And everything around us.

In short, we lose hope.

And life isn’t much without hope.

And the next thing we do is get surrounded by more negative-and-misery-loving people – who’ll tell you – resign to your fates. Nothing works, nothing will ever work – and nothing will work particularly for you.

Misery loves company.

Of more miserable people.

As an academy, we realised that for getting a student selected, teaching was less than half the thing. In fact like 1/3rd.

The other half is training them, making them work hard. And developing faith in their own capabilities. In hard work.

And sometimes because of a certain kind of exposure.

Imagine if you woke up at 4AM studied 3 hours to write a test at 7AM – all alone – you would feel that you are a superhero – and you are the only one working hard.

But when you suddenly realise that sleep-at-2AM or wake-up-at-4AM is a normal if you want to crack the mother of all exams, your new normals will help you set higher benchmarks.

The 7AM discipline is indispensable.

We thought, and thought and thought about it.

If we allowed folks with past prelims failures to write tests at say 10AM, they would already be consumed by negative thoughts – sometimes by a negative roommate – sometimes by a toxic friend – or sometimes consumed by their own minds – that by 9:30AM they would be sure nothing has worked for them so far and nothing will ever work – and they would never come to write the tests.

Worse, when they would walk down to ForumIAS, they would read posters like – “Clear Prelims or 100% refunds / Clear Prelims and get rich by getting 200% of fees” – the kind of posters that only happened in MKN and not ORN until few years ago – which usually had a more aware crowd – they could be caught / misdirected by one of these and lose their way.

We built SFG around good competition, discipline, quality and studying environment.

And we did it at 7AM so because we wanted prelims failed students to succeed the first thing in the morning.

So that they succeed in the end.

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If you know someone who has not cleared Prelims before and needs help, you may share with them about SFG. Click here to know more about SFG and here to register for the entrance Test. SFG is a merit based program that works on inculcating good discipline, study ethics, and exposure to a highly competitive mainstream upsc crowd. Previously selected candidates from SFG with prior unsuccessful attempts at prelims include Rank 1 – & Rank 4, CSE 2022  in Top 5 ranks.

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Good folks at
ForumIAS Academy