Sometimes you don’t get to decide what your destiny will be. Your destiny decides it for you. RAS topper Shubham Sharma is the perfect example. Before 2016, he never thought of appearing for this exam. But destiny willed otherwise, and he sat for the exam in 2016, just like that, without any preparation. However, this attempt aroused his interest in the service and led the Assistant Forester to sit for the RAS exam again and again with the sole aim to become a SDM, until he finally cracked it with rank 8 in his third attempt.
Indian Masterminds interacted with Mr. Shubham Sharma to know more about his accidental interest in and journey to RAS.
RAS JOURNEY
His RAS journey started in 2016, after a year of his graduation. In his first attempt, made without proper preparation, he cracked the prelims and the mains. But due to less marks in interview (62), he could not get a good rank and ended up with the 640 rank. But, this accidental attempt gave him the motivation for good preparation.
He said, “I cleared the RAS 2016 by chance as I had no proper preparation. But this attempt made me realize my capacity and inspired me to try it again.”
In his second attempt, he gave his 100 per cent and worked hard. But, he again could not get the expected rank and ended up with the 959 rank. But by this time, he had become stubborn that he would get what he wanted, come what may. So he did not give up and continued with his preparation.
In his third attempt, he finally cracked the RAS exam with the top rank of 8 and will now become a deputy collector.
BACKGROUND
He hails from Suratgarh city in Sri Ganganagar district. His father is a businessman, while his mother is a homemaker. He has a brother. His cousin sister is also a RAS officer, with whom, he gave the RAS 2016 exam for the very first time.
He has done his basic schooling till 12th from his home town. Then, he did B. Sc. from Sri Ganganagar in 2015.
After graduating in 2015, he cracked the Assistant Forester exam held by the Rajasthan Forest Department. Since then, he has been working as an Assistant Forester in Pilibanga, Sri Ganganagar.
After the 2016 RAS attempt, he joined the Bhatia Ashram coaching for preparation.
“If you seriously start this preparation, then either you will become a RAS officer or you will become overage,” he said with a smile.
RAS PREPRATAION
His preparation can be categorised into three parts – Study, Practice-Test and Revision. After the first attempt, he joined coaching where he studied all the basic books for RAS and finished the syllabus.
After the 2018 attempt, he relied more on practice for the exam. He practised more and more answer writing, solved PYQs and wrote many test series. For interview, he gave mock tests. He made short notes for revision all the time.
He said, “The mistake I made in my second attempt was, I studied too much but only books. I did not pay attention to practising answer writing or solving test series or discussing the topic with other aspirants. Till 2018, I studied day and night in my room at home. I thought that I knew everything, but I was so wrong.”
So, for his third attempt, he started to discuss the topics with peer groups. He started studying and discussing with a friend who also cleared the exam.
His strategy was simple: to solve test series as much as possible and discuss the topics with fellow aspirants. He firmly believes now that studying alone is not helpful for aspirants.
INTERVIEW
His interview was very tricky, but it went off well. As soon as the interview started, the board members decided not to ask questions from his forest background. He said, “I had prepared well for forest questions as that was my job profile. But, the board was smarter than me!”
He was asked questions on current issues and on Rajasthan. He was also asked about ‘Parliament secretaries’.
MESSAGE
Giving a message for RAS aspirants, he said, “For any RAS level exam preparation, patience is the first criterium. This journey always takes time. Second, don’t focus only on bookish knowledge. Give test series and mock tests; solve PYQs, make short notes, and practise writing. This will bring you success.”
