If the old man’s saying “Morning shows the day” is anything to go by then this UP boy from Farrukhabad could be someone to look out for in the UPSC list of successful candidates.
With an inspiration at home in his sister, who was an SDM of the 2016 batch, and undivided attention from his father, Abhinendra Singh had no problem deciding his career in the civil services.
In fact, he started so early, that in 2020 he was not allowed to sit for the UPSC CSE for being underage.
But who could keep him away from achieving his goals, as just at 23, he became a sub-divisional magistrate clearing the UPPCS-2022 exam with 32nd rank after fighting Dengue in 2021.
Speaking with Indian Masterminds, Mr Singh said,“I did not have many ups and downs in my life. But, Dengue before exam was a major setback for me in 2021. It took me almost four months to recover and disturbed my studies. But where there is will there is way.”
YOUNG STARTER
Abhinendra Singh began his preparation in July, 2019 after his engineering degree. He prepared for UPSC and later appeared for state civil as well.
Despite a great preparation,he could not give UPSC or PCS exams in 2020 for being underage. He was 20 at the time and did not fulfill the minimum age criteria for the civil services.
In 2021, he was confident of cracking both, but dengue struck and his Mains examination was not up to mark in both UPSC and PCS. He failed in both.
In 2022, although he could not clear the UPSC CSE Mains but he cracked UPPCS and got the deputy collector’s post.
FATHER’S MOTIVATION
Son of a retired serviceman and homemaker, Singh grew up with his five siblings.
After completing his class 12 from St Anthony Senior Secondary School, Farrukhabad itself, he did his B.Tech in Civil Engineering from MNIT, Allahabad in 2019.
“My father motivated me for civil services and my sister guided me, but Covid was a big blow and my studies were disturbed for almost 6 months,” he shared.
But the worst enemy was dengue of 2021, when he was left weak for four months. Before his UPSC and UPPCS mains, Singh’s platelets dipped below 18,000. His condition was critical. “Even though I recovered and gave the exam with fever, I was terribly tired, and could not clear both UPSC and UPPCS mains.”
BASIC FOCUS
Singh relied on self-study, he joined online coaching only for his optional Anthropology.
He said, “I was preparing for UPSC primarily. There is lot of things from PCS, which is not asked in UPSC. And the ‘Study for Civil Services’ notes were really helpful. I got almost 50 to 60 questions from there.”
His strategy was simple basics preparation for 6 to 8 hours daily.
“I read newspapers regularly, made short notes of 5 to 10 pages for all GS papers with basic studies of syllabus,” he said. He focussed on mock test series religiously.
CONFIDENT OUTLOOK
Although he could not answer many questions in his interview yet he managed to get good rank. How?
Mr. Singh said, “In the Interviews, they do not just check your knowledge, but your behaviour, pressure handling quality and reaction to tough situations.”
He was asked 10 questions from civil engineering and he did not have the best reply well.
Some of the questions he faced were: Where does Psychology come in Anthropology? How many international airports does UP have? And name the smart cities of UP.
This young achiever believes nothing is impossible to achieve with perseverance and strong will.
