As a young boy, he used to often dream of becoming a civil servant one day. However, life took him to NIT-Bhopal where he completed his B.Tech. Raised by a single mother in Kharkhauda, Meerut, he knew the heavy responsibilities on his shoulder. So he took up the offer of a high paying job in Hero Motor Corp. Yet, the dream did not leave him, and after gathering enough finances, he left his job to prepare for civil services.
He failed once, then made it to the reserve list of UPSC CSE, in 2021. Finally, in CSE 2022, he nailed it by securing AIR 71. But, his success didn’t stop there! That same year, when he was already serving as Municipal Commissioner, Puducherry, news came that he had secured AIR 19 in UPPSC.
He is Dwij Goel, and in an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, he shared some useful tips on how to do self-study and how to prepare for Anthropology as optional.
ON SELF-STUDY
Mr. Goyal gave his first attempt in 2020 where couldn’t clear Mains. In his second attempt, he made it to the reserve list and eventually got PONDICS. He didn’t stop and gave another attempt which got him AIR 71. All his attempts were made with self-study. He prepared for one whole year while continuing in his job.
When asked how he managed the time, he said, “When you’re a professional, you develop a habit of utilizing time in the best way possible. Since, you practice to devote 8-9 hours to work, after you leave the job, it becomes easy to use that time for study.”
He prepared for the exam by himself, only took some test series online. According to him, it’s not a rocket science. After analyzing the syllabus, one should start with basics like NCERTs. Also, for guidance in strategy or books, aspirants can check out blogs and interviews of toppers.
ON PREPARING FOR ANTHROPOLOGY
He said that the blogs and videos of IAS officer Anudeep Durishetty helped him in developing plans for Anthropology. He started off Anthropology preparation by reading the most basic book available on the subject titled, Ember & Ember. The more he read, the more interest he developed. However, in the first attempt, he scored very low in the optional paper. So, he changed few things.
“I started to prepare notes in question-answer format. Also, I started collecting relevant contents from newspapers and used these as conclusions for my answers which enriched my content,” he said.
All this helped and he scored 315 marks in optional which is the highest in that subject. Advising aspirants on preparing well, he emphasized on solving previous years’ question papers multiple times and refer them for notes making. Besides this, he said that everyone should give test series for optional too, as marks in optional will affect one’s rank, and, hence, service and cadre also.
