Dr. Subhadharshini (CSE-23 AIR-83) Motivational Journey & Comprehensive Strategy
Hello everyone, this is Dr. Subhadharshini, AIR 83 in UPSC 2023.
Introduction & Journey
I’m a small-town girl from Tamilnadu and I’m a qualified dentist. I graduated in 2015, worked for a year and quit dentistry for a career in Civil Services. This was my 7th attempt and in all my previous attempts I had not even crossed preliminary stage..
There were many challenges during my journey from financial to emotional and a lot more. But, the hope and trust and to achieve the goal I had set for myself, I continued to persist and now I have finally ticketed the box in 2024 after 9 years of struggle.
You are bound think why Subhadharshini invested these many years in preparation while she could have had a grand career as a dentist. I asked her the same and this is what she replied:
“Sir, as soon as I started my practice.. I joined a private dental clinic. Just as I started, they asked me to quit as they recruited another candidate in my place. That was very humiliating for me and that day I decided that I should build my own career not depending on others. So that incident was a major motivation for my UPSC journey Sir”.
Strategy
Let’s start with my preparation strategy. I did not have a well defined timetable for studying. Apart from day to day activities, I spent my time for studying mostly. But I also did indulge in entertainment to preserve my mental peace. I
Sources: I used to allot solid 3 months for preliminary in all my attempts. For preliminary exam, I started with basic NCERT texts and also studied standard text books for each subject as every topper does. (Lakshmikant for polity, spectrum for history etc). For CSAT I used RS Agarwal’s quantitative aptitude book as my base and also learnt a lot from a youtube channel called “Feel free to learn”. It was really helpful in learning concepts as well as shortcuts. Along with these, for current affairs I diligently followed Hindu paper and supplemented it with vision ias compilation. I mostly did not make any separate notes for current affairs except for unknown things that I learnt in mock tests.
Another question that might ring some bells is what different did Subhadharshini do in her 7th attempt that she cleared prelims. I asked her the same and this is what she replied:
“Sir, I did not drastically change anything new this time apart from increasing the number of mocks and consistent revision of mock tests. In my previous 3 consecutive attempts I failed in CSAT only by a margin of 1-2 marks. Last time by 0.5 marks”.
Mocks: I wrote many sectional tests for every subject during the preparatory phase and nearly 30 full length tests before actual exam. My prelims preparation generally revolved around mock tests and revision of them. To overcome fear of crowd on the exam day, this time I attended all tests in offline mode only . It was very much helpful in boosting my confidence.
Answer Writing: I have been preparing for mains since 2018 and I did practice writing answers on a daily basis. I relied upon vision ias materials only for mains subjects like internal security, disaster management,world history etc.. In addition,I utilised current affairs covered in prelims preparation for value addition. I used to write essay on weekends and get it evaluated by my friends.
Optional (PSIR): For my optional subject (PSIR) I had not taken any classroom coaching but had taken test series only. I utilised Shubra ranjan Mam’s notes entirely for my optional preparation. Also regularly following articles of eminent scholars in newspapers and following ORF articles greatly helped me stay updated in IR part.
Mistakes & Learnings: During the initial years of my preparation, I did waste a lot of time running behind materials and taking notes. But from 4th year of preparation I started limiting the resources ( one source only for one subject). So because of that, it wasn’t necessary to make notes. Thus, inorder to keep everything in memory, I planned my revision strategy well.
Revision: I would have weekly targets planned ahead for a month and stuck to the plan for revising. In every 3-4 months duration I would have revised major subjects in both GS and OPTIONAL. For effectively studying, I used to teach my friends who are in preparation, various concepts, interlinkages etc.. (win -win for both).
Interview: I personally feel there are ample guidance from every where regarding prelims and mains preparation. But interview guidance is rarely found. For me, interview was the most difficult stage of preparation. Continuous failures shattered my confidence and my soft spoken nature was adding to that burden. I would recommend every aspirant to start interview preparation too right from day 1.. You can start from simple things like summarising news articles to your friends etc for that confidence and articulation of correct words.
To sum up, UPSC journey is not only test of knowledge but of personality, mental strength, resilience etc. There will be failures for all as we are not experts. So, do anticipate failures but learn from it quickly. Have determination, faith in your own abilities and continuously cross examine your path, whether on right track or not..
To everyone reading this, I extend my heartiest wishes in your endeavours. Thank you 😊
I gave 5 attempts and got selected 3 times including twice in IPS and IRS(IT) in 2017 CSE.
I have started DecodeCIVILS initiative to reach Aspirants with my strategies and notes. Aspirants can connect with me at:
Youtube.com/muditjainupsc
Facebook.com/decodecivils
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