IAS officer Pratibha Verma’s journey into civil services was not that easy. She had to overcome health issues on the way. Being from Hindi medium also brought challenges of a different kind. But, she still managed to obtain the All India Rank 3 in the 2019 UPSC CSE exam!
Coming from the small town of Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh, this was by no means an easy feat. On top of that, she kept falling sick during her UPSC preparation. Yet, she qualified for civil services in style, by emerging as a topper in the exam.
IAS JOURNEY
Ms. Verma studied B.Tech in IIT Delhi after completing her 10th from the UP state board and 12th from CBSE.
After completing her B.Tech in 2014, she started working in a reputable telecom company with a good pay package. She decided to leave this job after two years to start preparing for the UPSC exam by staying in Delhi.
Her first attempt was unsuccessful but her second attempt got her the 489th position in the exam. She was allotted Indian Revenue Service and she joined it, but she still had a different goal. Hence, she continued to prepare for CSE, and in 2019, in her third attempt, she got the third rank in the exam and finally achieved her IAS goal.
HEALTH PROBLEMS
Ms. Verma contracted dengue in 2018 and typhoid in 2019. These health issues made it challenging for her to focus on her studies and the exams. She practised power yoga, meditation, and followed a special diet, and luckily for her, her interview got delayed by two months due to the pandemic, which gave her time to recover.
EXAM STRATEGY
While talking to media, she said that she worked on building a strong base by concentrating more on core subjects like political science, history, geography, science and technology, environmental science, etc.
She also mentioned some crucial points for UPSC aspirants to take note of while preparing for the exam.
Firstly, she said that aspirants should get a source through which they can constantly revise. According to her, it is futile to learn a lot if you don’t revise. Secondly, she laid emphasis on preparing well for current affairs. Lastly, she mentioned that practice is a very important part of the preparation.
CONTINUING HER WORK FOR CHILDREN & WOMEN
During her college days, she used to work through NSS (National Scheme Service) in two major areas, namely, improving the quality of education for children and women empowerment.
After joining the civil services and getting a proper platform, she has targetted these two sectors to especially work on. Indian Masterminds wishes her all the very best on her onwards journey.
