{"id":64984,"date":"2020-09-02T18:09:18","date_gmt":"2020-09-02T12:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=64984"},"modified":"2020-09-02T18:16:17","modified_gmt":"2020-09-02T12:46:17","slug":"scoring-120-in-prelims-uma-shankar-prasad-cleared-both-ifs-and-cse-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/scoring-120-in-prelims-uma-shankar-prasad-cleared-both-ifs-and-cse-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"“Scoring 120+ in Prelims” – Uma Shankar Prasad, Cleared both IFS and CSE, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Prelims draws closer, there is high anxiety among everyone. At this point, we are sharing the strategy by Uma Shankar, one of our diligent students who did SFG very religiously last year and secured Rank 47 in Indian Forest Service. He has also secured Rank in Civils as well.<\/p>\n

Here is his story.<\/p>\n

#about<\/h3>\n

Hello everyone, I am Uma Shankar Prasad. I have secured AIR-358 in UPSC Civil Services Examination-2019 (AIR-47 in Indian Forest Services). My Optional subject was Maithili Literature (Mother tongue)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0I am from\u00a0<\/span>Madhubani<\/span>, Bihar, did my schooling from\u00a0<\/span>Raebareli<\/span>\u00a0district, UP. Scored a decent 94.8 % in 10<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0standard (CBSE board) in 2008 and headed for Kota for IIT JEE preparation. Secured around 89% in 12<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0board exam and was lucky enough to get a rank in IIT JEE exam-2010.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Graduated from the Department of Chemical engineering, IIT\u00a0<\/span>Kharagpur<\/span>\u00a0in 2015.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Have worked for three years with Dr\u00a0<\/span>Reddys<\/span>\u00a0Laboratories as Research and Development scientist.<\/span>\u00a0Resigned in 2018 and headed to Delhi for UPSC preparation.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0I am youngest in my family. My father was a teacher in government school. My elder brother is in Indian Forest service.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0It was in my 3rd year when I decided to pursue my career in Civil Services but had no clue how and where to start from. Just after graduation I joined Dr\u00a0<\/span>Reddys<\/span>\u00a0Laboratories- Hyderabad (Pharmaceutical firm) and worked there for 3.\u00a0<\/span>Din\u2019t<\/span>\u00a0directly come for preparation because of financial constraint and wanted to have some savings to bear my preparation cost.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

It was in 2017 when I gave my first prelims but was unprepared and failed terribly. Again in 2018 missed prelims by 4 marks and hence 2019 was my third attempt.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I gave two attempts (2017and 2018) while I was in job. It was in July 2018, after prelims I resigned from job and came back to Delhi for preparation. I knew it was a big risk leaving a well-paid job and preparing for an exam which involves a lot of uncertainty, but I think that is the demand of this exam.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Having not been able to clear prelims two\u00a0<\/span>times,<\/span>\u00a0was quite under confident, afraid and anxious.\u00a0<\/span>Did\u2019t<\/span>\u00a0actually\u00a0<\/span>know<\/span>\u00a0what was lacking in my preparation. Felt like crying on my first day in ORN but within hours I was able to overcome that fear of uncertainty.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I took coaching for my Optional (Maithili Literature) form\u00a0<\/span>Surender<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Raut<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Sir<\/span>. He takes Classes in\u00a0<\/span>Mukharjee<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Nagar<\/span> as well as ORN. I didn’t take any coaching for GS and did it on my own.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Book List for prelims<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Topic<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nResource<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
History Ancient<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nLUCENT GK<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
History Medieval<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nLUCENT GK<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
History Modern (Freedom Struggle)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nRAJIV AHIR (SPECTRUM)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Culture<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nNITIN SINGHANIA+ Lucent GK+NCERT<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Polity (static + current affairs)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nLakshmikant<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Economy (static + current affairs)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nShankar Ganesh, <\/span>Mrunal<\/span>\u00a0Videos (<\/span>Sabka<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Baap<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>hai<\/span><\/i>) <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Environment (static + current affairs)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nShankar IAS<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Geography(Physical +<\/span>Indian+World<\/span>)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nNCERT Class XI + G C Leong<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Did all the above sources religiously.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Prelims Strategy<\/h3>\n

Few important things which helped me score around 120 in prelims.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1. CONSISTENCY and DISCIPLINE: <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

The syllabus is vast and needs regular revision and solving papers regularly. To stick to regular time table I joined the SFG (<\/span><\/strong><\/span>Select Focus Group<\/span><\/strong>)<\/span> <\/strong>programme of Forum IAS<\/strong><\/span>. It started on 3<\/span><\/strong><\/span>rd<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0December<\/span><\/strong> and continued till April. I found this programme to be extremely helpful for me because:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n