31 October 2026
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Quality Matters, Not Quantity, in UPSC Preparation, Says CSE 2021 Achiever Rituraj

AIR 296 ranker in UPSC CSE 2021, Rituraj, believes that what matters is the quality of preparation that one does and not the time spent on it. Just staring at the book for five hours will bring lesser results than studying with full effort for one hour, he says. He himself studied for just a year and a half for the UPSC exam and cracked it in the very first attempt.
Indian Masterminds Stories

For some people, UPSC CSE is the beginning of their professional life, while for others, it is the culmination of a much sought-after goal. Similar is the story of Rituraj Pratap Yadav, who left his cushy engineering job to crack the UPSC Civil Service examination and achieved his goal in the very first attempt.

Today Indian Masterminds presents the story of this young new officer for everyone to get motivation.

EARLY LIFE

Born and brought up in the Nagla Buncha village of Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, Rituraj studied at the Suditi Global School in the city, from where he passed his high school in 2012. For completing his intermediate education (class 12), he got admission to the CRB school and passed his exams in 2014.

Once out of school, Rituraj decided to explore the engineering field and enrolled himself in NIT Surat in the year 2015. He graduated from BTech in Electronic Engineering in the year 2019 and almost immediately received a job placement in a very big firm.

LEFT HIS JOB FOR UPSC

When people the world over were being laid off from jobs due to limited resources during the Covid pandemic, Rituraj’s luck sided with him and he landed a cushy job as a Maintenance Engineer at Reliance Refinery, Jamnagar. The job gave him a package of Rs. 18 lakhs annually!

He was very happy with his job but his conscience coaxed him to fulfill his father’s dream to see him as a civil servant. Therefore, Rituraj made up his mind to crack the UPSC CSE examination, get into civil services, and fulfill his father’s dream.

UPSC PREPARATION

In the year 2021, he left his job and came to Delhi to study and prepare for the Civil Services Examination. He enrolled himself in online coaching and started preparing with full motivation and zeal.

He revised his notes thoroughly and studied for 10 hours at a stretch. He may not have given as much time to his preparation as others do, but the quality of his preparation was appropriate enough for him to clear the examination in the very first attempt itself.

Rituraj believes that success can also be achieved with just a year and a half’s preparation. One need not spend hours locked inside their room to prepare. They can have a social life simultaneously. What matters is the quality of preparation that you do and not the time spent on it. Just staring at the book for five hours will bring lesser results than studying with full effort for one hour.

PARENTS – THE PILLARS OF SUPPORT

Rituraj’s father, Satish Chandra Yadav, a resident of Nagla Boocha of Mainpuri block, works as a teacher in East Secondary School, Kharimganj. His mother is a homemaker and takes care of the family. His younger brother, Pushpraj is completing his BTech from IIT Roorkee and is simultaneously preparing for UPSC.

Rituraj gives the biggest credit for his victory to his parents who supported him in every decision that he made and provided him with a life of comfort and ease, till he became independent. He believes that it was because of them that he could clear the tough UPSC Civil Service Examination in one go.


Indian Masterminds Stories
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